Luke 1 Part 2: So Elizabeth had a baby, Oh BOY!
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron read about the biblical background of Zacharias and Elizabeth here. We know that he could not be a high priest if he was not related to Aaron & Moses.
A woman prophecies
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Elizabeth knew that something special was happening. Even the child inside of her acknowledged his Savior in the uterus of his Savior’s mother. There is no amount of intellectualization that is going to make this palatable to the atheist. This is a matter of faith, pure and simple. One can theologize all we want about this, but this event has never happened anywhere else in the Bible and probably will not occur again. So, either one believes it as much as one believes that it is safe to sit in an iron bird that will take you from point a to point b, or you don’t believe it at all.
56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. Remember that Mary was still betrothed to Joseph, and she was not yet living in his house, Matt. 1:24
An old woman gives birth to the promised child.
57 Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
No, we would not have believed that it would or could happen either. Just imagine the women of the village. Visualize their joy. All of those mothers who were motherless and were looked down upon by all of the women in the village. Visualize their pain, their embarrassment, their agony. Now visualize them melting away. Here they saw hope. Here they saw help. Here they realized that YHWH still answers prayers. What have you been asking Him to do in your life? Pray on.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
Some traditions are supposed to be broken. This one certainly was broken. The Abrahamic covenant between God and his people was fulfilled with the circumcision of the child. See. (Gen. 17:12; Lev. 12:1-3; Phil. 3:5) Elizabeth believed God “Not so, but he shall be called John.“ THERE IS A SPECIFIC MEANING FOR JOHN it is, “Jehovah has been gracious; has shown favor.” This family received and accepted the favor of the Lord their God, all of them – after the child that should not have been conceived was born. Talk about glory hallelujah. Can you hear the heavens roaring with praise? But wait this only steps one. The Savior has not been born yet!
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised od.65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea–This is not talking about dreadful fear, but the kind of fear that is spoken of elsewhere in the Bible. See Judges 6:22; 13:22; Mark 16:5. Luke wove this concept through his gospel. See Luke 1:30, 65; 2:9-10; 5:10, 26; 7:16; 8:25, 37, 50; 9:34, 45; 23:40.
He didn’t believe that it could possibly happen. He was old and dried up. How could his wife conceive and deliver a baby? Again the village – believed. How many other coupled in that village were childless and remained childless? I was telling a person in my town today that I know that God can and will protect His children, yet one should never place one’s self in harm’s way to prove a point to someone. He does not need that kind of “cred.”
66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
Poppa Zacharias started to worship as soon as the miracle that he was sure was not going to happen, happened. The Almighty-when scripture speaks about a person being filled with The Holy Ghost examples of the person prophecying usually occurs See Eph. 5:18-20.
The Benedicts OF ZACHARIAS
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: [P= prophecy Genesis chapter 3:15 P] 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The Abrahamic Covenant
73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the ord to prepare his ways;77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, [P Isa. 9:2; 60:1-3; Mal 4:2; 2 Peter 1:19; Rev. 22:16}
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Jesus Christ is the light of the world: See John 8:12. Zacharias is prophecying of his coming. 80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
No one really knows if John grew up with his parents. Some theologians claim that, like Samuel, he was raised by relatives because his parents were so old. I am not of that tradition. I believe that if God gave a child to “old” people they would be given the ability to take care of him until he was old enough to take care of himself. He was born for a specific purpose. Moses grew up with Jethro until God called him to his purpose. What about you? Has God called you to a specific time in your life? Focus on your calling. Give me Jesus anytime We will travel through chapter 2 tomorrow.
You Are Not the Only One 
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