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We now pass from the inspirations of the holy women to the birth of the Baptist. We have before us what one has well denominated "a pious family in their good fortune." As this preacher observes, we have here "the mother in her joy, the father with his song of praise, and the little child and his development." We cannot do better than allow our thoughts to group themselves round these three persons in this order.

I. CONTEMPLATE THE MOTHER IN HER JOY. (Verses 57-63.) A mother with a firstborn son embodies as much joy as we can well imagine in a world like this. All pain and anguish over and forgotten in the mighty fruition (cf. John 16:21). Next there would be messages sent to friends, "neighbors and cousins," who would be expected to call with congratulations. And they gave their congratulations without stint - "They rejoiced with her." Next came the circumcision and the naming of the child, and the idea of the neighbors was that they could not do better than call him "Zacharias," i.e. "one whom Jehovah remembers," after his priestly father. But the joyful mother has a new name to give her son, and, though none of her ancestors have borne it, he must be called "John," which, as already noticed, signifies "Jehovah giveth grace." The new name is to herald the nature of the dispensation. The friends are not satisfied, however, until they consult the dumb father. They accordingly make signs to him how he would have him called, and he, with most serious deliberation, wrote on the tablet, "His name is John." It was a revelation to the neighbors, and they took it as such, and "marveled all." The joyful mother had thus the satisfaction of seeing her firstborn son introduced to the Jewish Church by the rite of circumcision, and receiving a name which was itself a promise of great grace from God. What a joy it should be to parents to have their little children thus early introduced into the Church of God, and identified with its brightening prospects!

II. CONTEMPLATE THE FATHER PRAISING GOD. (Verses 64, 67-79.) The dumb priest now regains his speech, and no sooner is his mouth opened than he bursts into praise. Doubtless he praised God for his judgment on himself and for his mercy in the gift of the goodly child. He was able then to sing of both (cf. Psalm 101:1). Moreover, the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of prophecy filled him, so that his praise took the beautiful poetic form here given. And this song of Zacharias divides itself into two portions -first, the establishment of the theocracy under Messiah (verses 67-75); and secondly, the apostrophe to the little child about his part in the work of reformation (verses 75-79). To these let us devote a few thoughts.

1. The establishment of the theocracy under Messiah. As a priest, Zacharias naturally looked at the new movement from an ecclesiastical and patriotic point of view. Hence he praised God for the deliverance of his people through raising up a horn for them in the house of his servant David. This horn, the symbol of "might," is the Messiah who is to be born of Mary. But what salvation is it to be? In the usual Jewish spirit, he speaks of it as a salvation from enemies and all that hate the people of the Lord. In other words, the inspired priest looks and longs for a national deliverance. And the true patriot can long for nothing less. The blessing which he praises God for on his own account, he desires for all his race. At the same time, it is to be noticed that it is pious parents who are to realize the mercy-parents "who had hoped for the blessing of their seed, and had mourned over the misery of their posterity." Such were hoping always on the covenant-promises, and now they were to have them fulfilled. But it is to be further noticed that the national deliverance expected is a means, not an end. It is only that the theocratic idea may be carried out by the emancipated people, and God served by them without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all their days. It is here that the great difference between worldly aspirations and spiritual ones is to be appreciated. If people hope for blessing that they may the better serve and please themselves, then they are simply worldly and selfish; but if they seek blessing to fit them to serve God, they are entering into the nobility of his kingdom. It is the reign of God within us and around us which we should always hope for and try to promote.

2. The priest's apostrophe to his little child. In the father's address to little John we see the spirituality which underlay his hope. His boy is to be a prophet of the Most High, something superadded to the priestly privileges which belonged to the family by right of birth. By word of mouth, therefore, is he to prepare his Lord's way. But his message is to be in the first instance about "remission of sins." In other words, the reformation hoped for is to be moral. Beginning in pardon and penitence, it will indeed be the dawn of a better day to many who have been sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, and the "guiding light" into the way of peace. John is thus to be the herald of the dawn. The Messiah is the "Sun of Righteousness," whose presence constitutes the day. He enables us to say, "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1). John is to be the voice in the desert to apprise the wandering and stumbling "caravan" of the approach of dawn and its guidance into peaceful paths. And, as we shall see, the moral reformation under John became national, so that before Messiah's baptism "all the people were baptized" (chapter 3:21).

III. CONTEMPLATE THE LITTLE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT. (Verse 66, 80.) The result of such prophecies connected with the circumcision of the child was the growth of a wholesome "fear" throughout all the hill-country of Judaea. The people began to hope for important changes. And their hopes were so far confirmed by the development of John. In the first place, "the hand of the Lord," i.e. Divine power and grace, "was with him." He grew up a spiritually minded boy. All who saw the priest's son concluded that God was with him in his grace and love. There are children who grow up with the stamp of heaven upon their whole lives. The Spirit of God is manifestly moving them along the true path. In the second place, he had due physical development. "He grew." A dedicated boy, a Nazarite from his youth, he grew up robustly on his plain fare, physically fit for the life of toil which was before him. In the third place, "he waxed strong in spirit." His whole inward man more than kept pace with his outward growth. He was not only a good and growing lad, but also heroic in his mental progress. The inspired boy was getting strength to become one of God's heroes. In the last place, he betook himself to the deserts until such times as he was manifested to Israel. It was to be a development amid the solitude of the desert down towards the Dead Sea which John was to realize. God was his Teacher. Even the poor Essenes, who lived a life of asceticism in the neighborhood, must have kept John at a distance, and so made his loneliness the more intense. And yet it may be safely said that no one has ever done much for God who has not been much alone with him. It is the communion of the lowly spirit with the Supreme which fits for high service. A desert, and not a garden of Eden, may often be the fittest environment for the consecrated soul, seeing that he is thereby thrown more completely upon God. Like Moses and Elijah, John has his long season of solitude with God, and then he comes forth radiant for the work he has to do in Israel. May such a development as John's be realized by many! - R.M.E.

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KJV: Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.

WEB: Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she brought forth a son.