Anchor My Faith

Title: Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-7)

With this lesson we begin the next major section of our adventure with Jesus, which is titled: “Birth & Childhood of Jesus” and contains thirteen sections. As we work through those sections, we will advance the narrative from the birth of John the Baptist foretold to where we find the boy Jesus in the temple.

This lesson and several to follow will come from Luke 1:5 – 25. We will begin with: “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth” (Luke 1:5 ESV). The time frame for our event is established to be the days of Herod, king of Judea. Those days were considered to be from 37 to 4 B.C. and during that time there was a priest named Zechariah. There were numerous priests who provided service for the temple. They were divided into 24 divisions, each of which served for a week, twice a year, except during special occasions when all divisions would serve. Zechariah was a member of the division of Abijah. Luke identifies the wife of Zechariah to be Elizabeth, the daughter of Aaron.

“[Zechariah and Elizabeth] were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6 ESV). This description of both Zechariah and Elizabeth as being righteous and blameless is in contrast to the Pharisees and will come into focus when their son John condemns them during his ministry. Being righteous before God is one of the oldest terms of high praise among the Jews.

“But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (Luke 1:7 ESV). Even though they were righteous and blameless they had no child and were now advanced in years. From a physical condition, it would be impossible to now have children and if they did it would be a remarkable event which would gain much attention and clearly show the involvement of God in its birth. What better way could God draw the focus to his coming prophet than to have his birth have miraculous overtones?

The story of this miraculous child begins to unfold in our next lesson.

Prayer

Father, the story that is unfolding is truly amazing. Having looked at the preexistence of Jesus as the Son of God and now we see the first sign of great things that you have planned. We look forward to see what you have planned for Zechariah and Elizabeth. We also wonder what you have planned for each of our lives in the days to come.