'There was, in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a
certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia:
and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elisabeth. 6. And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7. And they had no
child, because that Elisabeth was barren; and they
both were now well stricken in years. 8. And it came
to pass, that, while he executed the priest's office
before God in the order of his course, 9. According to
the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn
incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10. And the whole multitude of the people were praying
without at the time of incense. 11. And there appeared
unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense. 12. And when Zacharias
saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias:
for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall
bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
14. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many
shall rejoice at his birth. 15. For he shall be great
in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine
nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16. And many of
the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their
God. 17. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and
power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'
--LUKE i. 5-17.
The difference between the style of Luke's preface (vs. 1-4) and the
subsequent chapters relating to the Nativity suggests that these are
drawn from some Hebrew source. They are saturated with Old Testament
phraseology and constructions, and are evidently translated by Luke.
It is impossible to say whence they came, but no one is more likely
to have been their original narrator than Mary herself. Elisabeth or
Zacharias must have communicated the facts in this chapter, for
there is no indication that those contained in this passage, at all
events, were known to any but these two.
If we were considering a fictitious story, we should note the
artistic skill which prepared for the appearance of the hero by the
introduction first of his satellite; but the order of the narrative
is due, not to artistic skill, but to the divinely ordered sequence
of events. It was fitting that John's office as Forerunner should
begin even before his birth. So the story of his entrance into the
world prepares for that of the birth which hallows all births.
I. We have first a beautiful outline picture of the quiet home in
the hill country. The husband and wife were both of priestly
descent, and in their modest lives, away among the hills, were
lovely types of Old Testament godliness. That they are pronounced
'blameless' militates against no doctrine of universal sinfulness.
It is not to be taken as dogma at all, but as the expression of
God's merciful estimate of His servants' characters. These two
simple saints lived, as all married believers should do, yoked
together in the sweet exercise of godliness, and helping each other
to all high and noble things. Hideous corruption of wedlock reigned
round them. Such profanations of it as were shown later by Herod and
Herodias, Agrippa and Bernice, were but too common; but in that
quiet nook these two dwelt 'as heirs together of the grace of life,'
and their prayers were not hindered.
The most of the priests who appear in the Gospels are heartless
formalists, if not worse; yet not only Annas and Caiaphas and their
spiritual kindred ministered at the altar, but there were some in
whose hearts the ancient fire burned. In times of religious
declension, the few who still are true are mostly in obscure
corners, and live quiet lives, like springs of fresh water rising in
the midst of a salt ocean. John thus sprang from parents in whom the
old system had done all that it could do. In his origin, as in
himself, he represented the consummate flower of Judaism, and
discharged its highest office in pointing to the coming One.
This 'blameless' pair had a crook in their lot. Childlessness was
then an especial sorrow, and many a prayer had gone up from both
that their solitary home might be gladdened by children's patter and
prattle. But their disappointed hope had not made them sour, nor
turned their hearts from God. If they prayed about it, they would
not murmur at it, and they were not thereby hindered from 'walking
in all God's commandments and ordinances blameless.' Let us learn
that unfulfilled wishes are not to clog our devotion, nor to silence
our prayers, nor to slacken our running the race set before us.
II. We are carried away from the home among the hills to the crowded
Temple courts. The devout priest has come up to the city, leaving
his aged wife in solitude, for his turn of service has arrived.
Details of the arrangements of the sacerdotal 'courses' need not
detain us. We need only note that the office of burning incense was
regarded as an honour, was determined by lot, and took place at the
morning and evening sacrifice. So Zacharias, with his censer in his
hand, went to the altar which stood in front of the veil, flanked on
the right hand by the table of shewbread, and on the left by the
great lamp-stand. The place, his occupation, the murmur of many
praying voices without, would all tend to raise his thoughts to God;
and the curling incense, as it ascended, would truly symbolise the
going up of his heart in aspiration, desire, and trust. Such a man
could not do his work heartlessly or formally.
Mark the manner of the angel's appearance. He was not seen as in the
act of coming, but was suddenly made visible standing by the altar,
as if he had been stationed there before; and what had happened was
not that he came, but that Zacharias's eyes were opened. So, when
Elisha's servant was terrified at the sight of the besiegers, the
prophet prayed that his eyes might be opened, and when they were, he
saw what had been there before, 'the mountain full of horses and
chariots of fire.' Not the Temple courts only, but all places are
full of divine messengers, and we should see them if our vision was
purged. But such considerations are not to weaken the supernatural
element in the appearance of this angel with his message. He was
sent, whatever that may mean in regard to beings whose relation to
place must be different from ours. He had an utterance of God's will
to impart.
It has often been objected to these chapters that they are full of
angelic appearances, which modern thought deems suspicious. But
surely if the birth of Jesus was what we hold it to have been, the
coming into human life of the Incarnate Son of God, it is not legend
that angel wings gleam in their whiteness all through the story, and
angel voices adore the Lord of men as well as angels, and angel eyes
gaze on His cradle, and learn new lessons there.
III. We have next the angel's message. The devoutest heart is
conscious of shrinking dread when brought face to face with
celestial brightness that has overflowed into our darkness. So 'Fear
not' is the first word on the messenger's lips, and one can fancy
the accent of sweetness and the calm of heart which followed. It has
often been thought that Zacharias had been praying for offspring
while he was burning incense; but the narrative does not say so, and
besides the fact that he had ceased to hope for children (as is
shown by his incredulity), surely it casts a slur on his religious
character to suppose that personal wishes were uppermost at so
sacred a moment. Prayers that he had long ago put aside as finally
refused, now started to life again. God delays often, but He does
not forget. Blessings may come to-day as the result of old prayers
which have almost passed from our memory and our hope.
Observe how brief is the announcement of the child's birth,
important as that was to the father's heart, and how the prophecy
lingers on the child's future work, which is important for the
world. His name, character, and work in general are first spoken,
and then his specific office as the Forerunner is delineated at the
close. The name is significant. 'John' means 'The Lord is gracious.'
It was an omen, a condensed prophecy, the fulfilment of which
stretched beyond its bearer to Him as whose precursor alone was John
a token of God's grace.
His character (ver. 15) puts first 'great in the sight of the Lord.'
Then there are some whom God recognises as great, small as we all
are before Him. And His estimate of greatness is not the world's
estimate. How Herod or Pilate or Caesar, or philosophers at Athens,
or rabbis in Jerusalem would have scoffed if they had been pointed
to the gaunt ascetic pouring out words which they would have thought
wild, to a crowd of Jews, and been told that that was the greatest
man in the world (except One)! The elements of greatness in the
estimate of God which is truth, are devotion to His service, burning
convictions, intense moral earnestness, superiority to sensuous
delights, clear recognition of Jesus, and humble self-abnegation
before Him. These are not the elements recognised in the world's
Pantheon. Let us take God's standard.
John was to be a Nazarite, living not for the senses, but the soul,
as all God's great ones have to be. The form may vary, but the
substance of the vow of abstinence remains for all Christians. To
put the heel on the animal within, and keep it well chained up, is
indispensable, if we are ever to know the buoyant inspiration which
comes from a sacreder source than the fumes of the wine-cup. Like
John, we must flee the one if we would have the other, and be
'filled with the Holy Ghost.'
The consequence of his character is seen in his work, as described
generally in verse 16. Only such a man can effect such a change, in
a time of religious decay, as to turn many to God. It needs a strong
arm to check the downward movement and to reverse it. No one who is
himself entangled in sense, and but partially filled with God's
Spirit, will wield great influence for good. It takes a Hercules to
stop the chariot racing down hill, and God's Herculeses are all made
on one pattern, in so far that they scorn delights, and empty
themselves of self and sense that they may be filled with the
Spirit.
John's specific office is described in verse 17, with allusion to
the closing prophecy of Malachi. That prophecy had kindled an
expectation that Elijah, in person, would precede Messias. John was
like a reincarnation of the stern prophet. He came in a similar
epoch. His characteristic, like Elijah's, was 'power,' not
gentleness. If the earlier prophet had to beard Ahab and Jezebel,
the second Elijah had Herod and Herodias. Both haunted the desert,
both pealed out thunders of rebuke. Both shook the nation, and
stirred conscience. No two figures in Scripture are truer brethren
in spirit than Elijah the Tishbite and John the Baptist.
His great work is to go before the Messiah, and to prepare Israel
for its King. Observe that the name of the coming One is not
mentioned in verse 17. 'Him' is enough. Zacharias knew who 'He' was.
But observe, too, that the same mysterious person is distinctly
called 'The Lord,' which in this connection, and having regard to
the original prophecy in Malachi, can only be the divine name. So,
in some fashion not yet made plain, Messiah's advent was to be the
Lord's coming to His people, and John was the Forerunner, in some
sense, of Jehovah Himself.
But the way in which Israel was to be prepared is further specified
in the middle clauses of the verse, which are also based on
Malachi's words. The interpretation of 'to turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children' is very doubtful; but the best explanation
seems to be that the phrase means to bring back to the descendants
of the ancient fathers of the nation the ancestral faith and
obedience. They are to be truly Abraham's seed, because they do the
works and cherish the faith of Abraham. The words imply the same
truth which John afterwards launched as a keen-edged dart, 'Think
not to say, We have Abraham to our father.' Descent after the flesh
should lead to kindred in spirit. If it does not, it is nought.
To turn 'the disobedient to the wisdom of the just' is practically
the same change, only regarded from another point of view. John was
sent to effect repentance, that change of mind and heart by which
the disobedient to the commands of God should be brought to possess
and exercise the moral and religious discernment which dwells only
in the spirits of the righteous. Disobedience is folly. True wisdom
cannot be divorced from rectitude. Real rectitude cannot live apart
from obedience to God.
Such was God's intention in sending John. How sadly the real effects
of his mission contrast with its design! So completely can men
thwart God, as Jesus said in reference to John's mission, 'The
Pharisees and lawyers frustrated the counsel of God against
themselves, being not baptized of him.' Let us take heed lest we
bring to nothing, so far as we are concerned, His gracious purpose
of redemption in Christ!