But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. Sermons 1. ONE TAKING HIGH RANK WITH GOD. "Great in the sight of the Lord." By faith in Jesus Christ our child may become a "son of God" in a sense not only true but high (see John 1:12). "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God" (Romans 8:17). Obedience will ensure the friendship of God (see John 14:23; John 15:14). Earnestness will make him a fellow-laborer with God (1 Corinthians 2:9; 2 Corinthians 6:1). The acceptance of all Christian privilege will make him a "king and priest unto God" (Revelation 1:6). Who can compute how much better it is to be thus "great in the sight of the Lord" than to be honored and even idolized by men? II. ONE IN WHOM GOD HIMSELF DWELLS. "He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost." God desires to dwell with and in every one of his human children; and if there be purity of heart and prayerfulness of spirit, he will dwell in them continually (Luke 11:13; John 14:17; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Revelation 3:20). III. ONE THAT IS MASTER OF HIMSELF. "He shall drink neither wine," etc. By right example and wise discipline any man's child may be trained to control his own appetites, to regulate his tastes, to form temperate and pure habits, to wield the worthiest of all scepters - mastery of himself. IV. ONE IN WHOM THE BEST AND NOBLEST LIVES AGAIN. "He shall go in the spirit and power of Elijah." In John the Baptist there lived again the great Prophet Elijah - a man of self-denying habit; of dauntless courage, that feared the face of no man, and that rebuked kings without flinching; of strong and scathing utterance; of devoted and heroic life. In any one of our children there may live again that One who "in all things in which John was great and noble, was greater and nobler than he." In the little child who is trained in the truth and led into the love of Christ there may dwell the mind and spirit of the Son of God himself (Romans 8:9; Philippians 2:5). V. ONE THAT LIVES A LIFE OF HOLY USEFULNESS. What nobler ambition can we cherish for our children than that, in their sphere, they should do as John did in his - spend their life in the service of their kind? Like him, they may: 1. Make many a home holier and happier than it would have been. 2. Prepare the way for others to follow with their higher wisdom and larger influence. 3. Be instrumental in turning disobedient hearts from the way of folly to the path of wisdom. 4. Earn the benediction of" many" whom they have blessed (verse 14). To ensure all this, there must be: 1. Parental example in righteousness and wisdom. 2. Parental training as well as teaching. 3. Parental intercession. - C.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not. From the speech of Gabriel it is clear that human life, in its beginning', course, purpose, and destiny, is known in heaven before it is manifested on earth. This is not the case with exceptional men only, but with all men. This should throw a joyous solemnity around life. Human life is intended to be the realization of a heavenly plan. Inquire what it is, accept it with all thankfulness or submission, as the case may be, and live in God. John was to be as conspicuous amongst men as a mountain is conspicuous amongst the lowlands. But did not God make the valleys as well as the hills? In great lives we only see the lines of Divine movement and purpose more clearly because of their apparent exaggeration; in humbler lives the lines are all there. This communication made by Gabriel suggests two inquiries.1. Has every life a guardian angel? 2. Is every life reported in heaven by the angelic watcher? (Dr. Parker.) The barrenness necessitated the annunciation. The annunciation transfigured the barrenness. Is it not often exactly thus with trying and bitter and "reproach" bringing experiences of the believer? We are denied what we fain would have; we have what we would fain have been denied. We feel ourselves of those who "walk in the darkness," and have "no light." Well! do we "trust" in the Lord, and "stay ourselves upon God"? If only we do, sooner or later, I am satisfied increasingly, "light will arise." It may not come when we wished it, nor as we wished it, but come it does.(A. B. Grosart, LL. D,)Consider the exquisite connexion of the whole, the gradually-attained climax of the Divine message from the lips of the angel from before the throne. The messenger of joy begins with the mention of the accepted prayer, promises a son, gives him a high name, foretells for him a distinguished office. But the greatest tidings are yet to come: the longed-for coming of the Messiah, whose forerunner this child is to be. To quote Pfenninger: "How tenderly interwoven, how intimately connected, the Divine with the human story I It is one of the chief perfections of a drama that all its occurrences should essentially hang together; that none of them should appear extraneous or isolated; and where are these conditions better observed than in the Divine narratives of Holy Writ? The grandest, Divinest story in the world blended at its first most human commencement with the human heart-history of a childless wedded pair, who pray to God for a son." This is certainly true, although the prayer here referred to can hardly have been confined to such a petition. The heavenly message, however, retrospectively includes former prayers, and has three separate clauses — first, the birth of a son to Zacharias; last, the coming of the Lord Himself; and as connecting link between the two, the announcement that this son shall make ready the way of this very Lord. (Rudolph Stier) The "Fear-nots" of the Bible provide an all-sufficient vade-necum for the timid and distressed. There is no apprehension possible to man which has not its complementary reassuring promise in God's Word.(Anon.) The prayer of Zacharias was most probably an old prayer, going back many years, ere Elisabeth was old. But apparently unanswered prayers are not disregarded prayers. Old, very old prayers often and often bring down blessings unexpected.(A. B. Grosart, LL. D.)The Bible abounds in assurances that all faithful earnest prayer will be heard, cannot but be heard. And Christian experience proves the truth of the Divine assurance. Let us rejoice (1) (2) (3) (4) (Anon.) I can stand in the rooms of my office in New York, and communicate with the men in the fifth story. If I want to speak to the foreman of the printing office, I go and blow the whistle, and talk through the tube. And I know that the message has got up there and that he heard it. I do not see him, and he does not answer back; but I have no doubt that, having received the message, he will attend to my wants. Soft seems to me that sometimes we speak to God in heaven, as it were through an invisible medium. He does not answer immediately, but, nevertheless, we know that He is there, and that, even if we do not conceive of Him, He conceives of us; and we send our thought or prayer up, and let it alone, and do not fret or worry about it.(H. W. Beecher.) Prayers which are not answered at once, nor, perhaps, for a long time afterwards, may nevertheless be accepted. God's people are apt to forget this; and that it is with prayer, to borrow an illustration from commercial transactions, as with a bill, which, though accepted, is often not paid till months or years have elapsed. Our heavenly Father knows best what to give; and also how, and where, and when to give it. Were its answer always to follow prayer, as the peal roars upon the flash, I suspect that we would be as ready in spiritual as we are in earthly matters to look only to secondary causes, and forget God's hand — coming to look upon our prayers as being the cause of the answer, as much as we are in the habit of regarding the flash of lightning, without any reference to God, as the cause of the peal of thunder.(T. Guthrie, D. D.) This promised son is added to a series whose birth has already been miraculously foretold. Isaac, Samson, Samuel. The significant names of both Zacharias [The Lord remembers] and Elisabeth [God of the oath, or covenant] are mentioned by the angel, to point out the rich fulfilment of their prophetic meaning, but the appointed name of this promised son transcends theirs. An era of new and fuller grace begins with him. Later, the name ( = the grace of God) receives its special explanation, in that the stern preacher of repentance is found only to lead from grace to grace. John is the last but one of the seven names [Ishmael, Isaac, Solomon, Josiah, Cyrus, John, Jesus] given by God in Holy Scripture to those still unborn, and the seventh name is Jesus.(Rudolf Stier.) 1. Observe how apprehensive this good angel was at Zachary's surprising fear, and encourages him against it. The holy angels, though they do not express it in words, yet pity our frailties, and suggest comfort to us. The evil angels, if they might, would kill us with terror; the good angels labour together for our tranquility and cheerfulness. 2. The comfortable words spoken by the angel to Zacharias. God sometimes hears our prayers, and bestows His mercies, when we least expect; yea, when we have given over looking for what we asked. 3: The name which the angel directed Zachary to give his son: John, which signifies gracious; because he was to open the kingdom of grace, and to preach the grace of the gospel through Jesus Christ. The giving of significant names to children has been an ancient and pious practice; names which either carried a remembrance of duty or of mercy in them. (W. Burkitt, M. A,) Prayer is the offering of our sincere desires to God. It involves a sense of our unworthiness and necessities.1. Penitence (Psalm 51:17). 2. Faith (Hebrews 11:6). 3. Sincerity (Jeremiah 29:13). 4. Fervency (James v 16). 5. Love (1 Timothy 2:8). 6. Delight in God (Isaiah 25:9). 7. Perseverance (Ephesians 6:18). 8. Humble submission to God's will (Micah 7:7). 9. In the name of Christ (Ephesians 3:12). 10. With confession of our sins (1 John 1:9). Jewish prayers were chiefly praise and benedictions. Always answered, but in God's sovereign way. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.) "Then you have not been modified in any way as to the efficacy of prayer?" asked his visitor. Mr. Spurgeon laughed. "Only in my faith growing far stronger and firmer than ever. It is not a matter of faith with me, but of knowledge, and everyday experience. I am constantly witnessing the most unmistakable instances of answers to prayer. My whole life is made up of them. To me they are so familiar as to cease to excite my surprise; but to many they would seem marvellous, no doubt. Why, I could no more doubt the efficacy of prayer than I could disbelieve in the law of gravitation. The one is as much a fact as the other, constantly verified every day of my life. Elijah, by the brook Cherith, as he received his daily rations from the ravens, could hardly be a more likely subject for scepticism thanI. Look at my Orphanage. To keep it going entails an annual expenditure of about £10,000. Only £1400 is provided for by endowment. The remaining £8000 comes to me regularly in answer to prayer. I do not know where I shall get it from day to day. I ask God for it, and He sends it. Mr. Muller, of Bristol, does the same on a far larger scale, and his experience is the same as mine." (Pall Mall Gazette.) During a long course of years, even to the closing fortnight of his life, in his last sickness, Dr. Judson lamented that all his efforts in behalf of the Jews had been a failure. He was departing from the world saddened with that thought. Then, at last, there came a gleam of light that thrilled his heart with grateful joy. Mrs. Judson was sitting by his side while he was in a state of great languor, with a copy of the Watchman and Reflector in her hand. She read to her husband one of Dr. Hague's letters from Constantinople. That letter contained some items of information that filled him with wonder. At a meeting of missionaries at Constantinople, Mr. Schauffler stated that a little book had been published in Germany giving an account of Dr. Judson's life and labours; that it had fallen into the hands of some Jews; and had been the means of their conversion; that a Jew had translated it for a community of Jews on the borders of the Euxine, and that a message had arrived in Constantinople asking that a teacher might be sent to show them the way of life. When Dr. Judson heard this his eyes were filled with tears, a look of almost unearthly solemnity came over him, and, clinging fast to his wife's hand as if to assure himself of being really in the world, he said, "Love, this frightens me, I do not know what to make of it." "To make of what? " said Mrs. Judson. "Why, what you have just been reading, I never was deeply interested in any object, I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything, but it came; at some time — no matter how distant the day — somehow, in some shape, probably the last I should have devised, it came! " What a testimony was that I It lingered on the lips of the dying Jud-son; it was enbalmed with grateful tears, and is worthy to be transmitted as a legacy to the coming generation. The desire of the righteous shall be granted. Pray and wait. The answer to all true prayer will come. In Judson's case the news of the answer came before he died, but it was answered long before. So we may know of the results of prayers and toils even while we sojourn here; but if not, what sweet surprises shall await us in the great beyond!(North-Western Christian Advocate.) People Aaron, Abia, Abijah, David, Elias, Elijah, Elisabeth, Gabriel, Herod, Jacob, Jesus, John, Joseph, Mary, Theophilus, Zacharias, ZechariahPlaces Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, NazarethTopics Afraid, Angel, Bear, Ears, Elisabeth, Elizabeth, Fear, John, Messenger, Petition, Prayer, Request, Supplication, Wife, Zacharias, Zechariah, Zechari'ahOutline 1. The preface of Luke to his whole gospel.5. The conception of John the Baptist; 26. and of Jesus. 39. The prophecy of Elisabeth and of Mary, concerning Jesus. 57. The nativity and circumcision of John. 67. The prophecy of Zachariah, both of Jesus, 76. and of John. Dictionary of Bible Themes Luke 1:13 1210 God, human descriptions 4140 angel of the Lord 4145 archangels 5155 hair Library July 19 MorningHe that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.--LUKE 1:49. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?--Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.--Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.--Hallowed be thy name. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people. Who is this … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path August 3 Morning September 9 Morning March 24 Morning True Greatness The Magnificat Elijah Come Again Zacharias's Hymn The Dayspring from on High Fourteenth Day. The Holy one of God. The Angel's Greeting Jesus Born the Son of God. The Key-Note of a Choice Sonnet "The Tender Mercy of Our God" A Harp of Ten Strings The Judgment Upon Zacharias Of Fervent Love and Vehement Desire of Receiving Christ Prayer and Consecration Luke's Preface and Dedication. Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus. Mary, Future Mother of Jesus, visits Elisabeth, Future Mother of John the Baptist. Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist. The Birth and Early Life of John the Baptist. Links Luke 1:13 NIVLuke 1:13 NLT Luke 1:13 ESV Luke 1:13 NASB Luke 1:13 KJV Luke 1:13 Bible Apps Luke 1:13 Parallel Luke 1:13 Biblia Paralela Luke 1:13 Chinese Bible Luke 1:13 French Bible Luke 1:13 German Bible Luke 1:13 Commentaries Bible Hub |