For nothing will be impossible with God

Luke 1:57-80

We may not understand what Elizabeth has experienced, being the wife of a priest and not being able to bare him a child especially a son, and the criticism is not from Zechariah but from family and friends, and the neighbors.  In that day and culture it was considered a curse from God for a woman not to be able to have children.  So Elizabeth stays in seclusion for five months and Mary arrives in the six month and I’m sure these words of Gabriel have played over and over in her heart and head; “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”  (Luke 1:36-37 ESV)

Now it’s time to give birth to a male child, and both Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Mary have no doubt it will be a long awaited son, and now the neighbors, friends and family members are showing up for the birth.  There is no question that God has blessed Elizabeth, for she, as her husband has stated to the angel, is “well along in years.”  The same ones who have said all kinds of not so nice things are now showing up, but the spotlight is not on their past but on the present of rejoicing at the mercy God has shown to this family.

We may forget our God is a covenant God and you will find it in Genesis 17:1-2, “When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”  And this was the covenant; “This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised.” (Genesis 17:10-12a)

Have you ever noticed how the group will try to take over, now they are excited, but they are not part of the decision making because God has already given this new born a name, it is John.  But the relatives and friends and even the community at large were going to name him after his dad, they said his name will be Zachariah, but His mother responded, “No! He will be called John.”  The relatives and members of the community would not except anything but Zachariah so they motioned to Zachariah and he asks for a writing tablet and wrote: “His name is John.”

Now it is getting exciting; “And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.”  (Luke 1:64-66 ESV)  “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice