The Story

The Lord's disciples told and told again the wonderful story of His life. See 1 Peter 1: 16 and 1 John 1: 1, 3. Parts of the story were written down.

But the Lord did not leave us with no other accounts but those that men wrote of themselves. He breathed His Holy Spirit upon four chosen men, bringing all things to their remembrance, whatsoever He had said (John 14:26), and guiding them to write the four Gospels, the Divine record of His life. Luke was one of those who loved to hear the story from the apostles and others who had been nearest to the Lord, though he was not one of the twelve himself. What he wrote to his friend Theophilus, "the beloved of God," is also for all who love the Lord and desire to know the certainty of the things which have been taught concerning His coming into the world. Read Luke 1:1-4.

Now before we read the story, I must show you a picture that is in my mind. It is of a city, standing on its hills. The city had high stone walls and towers and arched gateways. On one hill there was a palace where a king lived; a cruel king, and the people were afraid of him. His name was Herod. On another hill there was a temple, all beautiful with white marble and gold. In front of the shining building was the altar where sacrifices were burned, and priests were there, dressed in white robes, with turbans on their heads. Only the priests came into the inner court around the altar. Down a few steps, under a gateway, there was another court, and below this another and another; and in these a great many people gathered at the feast times, and morning and evening, at the hour of prayer.

It was the time of prayer, on a day probably in the first week of October. The priests had made ready a lamb on the altar. The same priests did not serve all the time. There were twenty-four sets of priests, or courses, which came one course at a time for one week twice a year. Then they went back to their homes in different towns. The priests on duty at the time I am telling you of, were called the course of Abia, and among them was a good old priest Zacharias, who came from his home in the hill country of Judea, perhaps in Hebron. The offering was ready on the great altar before the temple, and now the incense, the sweet gum, must be burned on the little golden altar inside, that the smoke might go up as a sign of the prayers of all the people standing without, and of many more in their homes who remembered the time of prayer and turned their faces towards the temple. It was a very sacred duty to burn the incense in the temple. A priest was chosen by lot to do it, and no one was allowed to do it but once. This time the old priest Zacharias was chosen. I see him going into the temple with the golden bowl of incense. Another priest had gone before him with live coals from the great altar. He was in the holy place, as it was called. The golden lamps were on his left, and the table with piles of shewbread on his right. In front, before the veil which hid the most holy chamber, was the little golden altar with the live coals on it. Zacharias scattered the incense on the coals, and the prayers of all the people went up to the Lord.

Then Zacharias saw an angel by the altar, and heard a message from heaven. It was a promise that Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth should have a son, and that he should make ready the people for the Lord, as had been promised long ago by the prophets. The angel told what the child's name should be. It should be John. And he said that he should drink no wine, but be kept holy to the Lord, like Samson and Samuel. These men were called Nazarites; and another rule was that their hair should grow long and not be cut. The old priest could not believe the angel's words, and a sign was given; dumbness came upon him which lasted until the promise was fulfilled. But that was not at Jerusalem. It was at the old priest's home among the hills of Judea. Now you have the picture in your minds, and we must read the story. (Verses 5-23.)

1. Which Gospel tells us most about the childhood of the Lord?

2. Who were John the Baptist's father and mother? Where was their home?

3. Where was Zacharias when the promise came to him that John should be born? What was he doing?

4. What did the angel tell about John? His name, how he should be kept holy, what his work should be?

5. What sign was given to Zacharias when he did not know how to believe the angel?

When we read in Matthew and in Luke of the Lord's coming "in the days of Herod the king," it means something more than the time of His coming. We remember the cruel Herod who killed the little children in Bethlehem, and who tried to kill the Lord. That Herod was king means that the spirit of cruelty was ruling in the world. But there was a Zacharias, which means "whom Jehovah remembers." He stands for the love for the Lord which lingered in the minds of men, which made it possible for Him to come and to be received.

A child was given to Zacharias and Elisabeth in their old age. Isaac was born when Abraham and Sarah were old, and Samuel was given by the Lord in answer to Hannah's prayer. It suggests that in every one the new birth from above is from the Lord, and comes as we recognize completely our inability to attain heavenly life in our own strength. (P. 83; A. 9325)

Read Revelation 5:8; 8:3, 4, and see if incense there is associated with prayer as in this story of Zacharias. The odor ascending from the glowing coals represents sweet, grateful, humble thoughts rising from a loving heart. The love must be a pure heavenly love received from the Lord, as the coals for the incense were taken from the undying fire of the great altar, which represented the Lord's own love. We read (Leviticus 10:1) of the sin of offering incense with strange fire, that is, fire not from the altar, for it is the pure love in prayer and worship, that makes them acceptable. (A. 10177)

What prophecy is almost repeated in the angel's words in verse 17? See the last words of the Old Testament. What is Elias called in the Old Testament? What was the character of his spirit and work? We see the same fearless, reforming spirit in John the Baptist, working for the Lord and in His strength. (E. 724)

Signs in the Bible were never arbitrary, but were always outward expressions of the spiritual state of the people concerned. What spiritual condition was represented by Zacharias' dumbness? One is naturally dumb when his physical organs cannot articulate words. He is spiritually dumb when from ignorance or disbelief he cannot acknowledge the Lord's goodness and thank Him for it. The disbelief of Zacharias was represented by his dumbness, and by and by when he understood and believed, his tongue was loosed. (E. 455; A. 6988)

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