Luke 1:1 - 25

In Luke's letter to his friend, Theophilus, we read about how the purpose and reasoning for the letter comes from "things which have been fulfilled" or believed about Christ. Information that was "handed down by eyewitnesses and servants" of God. Luke, being a physician, was a very scientific and exact man. He "carefully investigated everything from the beginning" to create an "orderly account" of Christ's life and death. For what reason did Luke write these things? Luke 1:4 states "That you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught".

Luke starts with the preparation before Christ's arrival in the form of John the Baptist. John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were descendants of Aaron and Zechariah himself was a priest. Both were upright people, "observing all the Lord's commands and regulations". However, they were both old and Elizabeth was barren. During his time at the temple, Zechariah was chosen by lot to burn incense inside the temple of the Lord. While there, an angel appeared to him at the right hand side of the altar, scaring Zechariah. But the angel assures him and tells him "your prayer has been heard!" He announces that Elizabeth will bear a son, John. He will be assigned a great mission of bringing many to the Lord and "make ready a people for the Lord." He will even be born already with the Holy Spirit and in the spirit and power of Elijah. Unfortunately, like many of us, Zechariah has a moment of weakness. He doubts the message of the angel because he "is an old man and [his] wife is well along in years." The angel then tells us he is Gabriel and that he stands in the presence of God and is sent by God with good news. As punishment for his lack of faith, Zechariah is struck dumb and unable to speak until John is born at the proper time. John leaves the temple and the other priests can tell he has seen a vision. Elizabeth does become pregnant with John and enters seclusion for 5 months. She is quoted in verse 25 as saying "The Lord has done this for me. In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

I wonder if I would be any different than Zechariah. I try to imagine the things I pray for, and if one day an angel would pop down from heaven and announce that, not only had God heard my prayer, but will answer it with something more miraculous and glorifying than I had dreamt of. We have such little faith sometimes that God will answer our prayers in greater and more glorifying ways than we can think of. Let us trust that he will and rejoice always in the graciousness of our Lord!