THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
God Begins His Work With Those Who Fear Him and so the Angel of the Lord Speaks to Zacharias— 1:5-12
The birth of Christ was such a momentous event in the history of man that Luke does not commence his gospel with the event itself but with the history of what led up to it. This is an important consideration because there are certain parallels between the times preceding the first coming of Christ and His second coming.
Then as now, godliness was at a low ebb and the people of God were despised by the world. Joseph, the direct descendant of King David, for example, was a carpenter. The heavens too, had been silent for four hundred years and the canon of the Old Testament closed with a godly remnant clinging to divine things. In days when none among God's people would even shut the doors of His Temple or kindle the fire on His altar unless paid to do so Mal. 1:1010Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. (Malachi 1:10)— we find a godly remnant in whom the Lord took pleasure. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His Name."— Mal. 3:1616Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. (Malachi 3:16). Of this godly remnant was Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, who was of course of Abia Abijah in the Old Testament. King David had divided the priesthood into twenty-four courses —1 Chron. 24— so that in effect the duties of the priesthood were rotated. The incident we are about to consider finds Zacharias present before God in the order of his course. But he was not the only priest present, and in accordance with Jewish custom lots were drawn to see which priest should enter the temple to burn incense. The lot fell on Zacharias. Wedged in between this choice and the introduction of Zacharias in the text is a small comment that Zacharias and his wife were old and childless. To the Jew this was a mark of divine disfavor and he had been praying to the Lord about it.
Zacharias was at the golden altar where incense was burned when an angel of the Lord appeared to him. Incense is fragrant and it was fitting that it should be burned before the story of Christ's birth. In Scripture too it speaks of prayer— "let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice," the Psalmist cried. Psa. 141:22Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2). So as the people prayed outside at the hour of incense the angel assured Zacharias that his private prayer— actually supplication which is stronger— had been heard. His wife Elizabeth should bear him a son whose name should be called John. The angel commenced this assurance with the first of the seven "fear not" utterances in Luke's gospel.
Zacharias Does Not Believe the Angel's Message—1:13-22
How wondrous to receive a son from the Lord with the assurance that he will fear the Lord and with a blessing in advance of his birth! John should be a Nazarite— read Num. 6— the meaning of "he shall drink no wine nor strong drink." Instead he should be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. Also he should "go before him in the spirit and power of Elias"— that is he should have a burning zeal for the Lord's glory and for turning the people back to the Lord through repentance. This message was too much for Zacharias' faith. He thought of the difficulties in nature and forgot the power of nature's God. So the angel pronounces a judgment of dumbness on him until his words should be fulfilled. There are many dumb priests like Zacharias today, unable to pray publicly or serve the Lord. We do not have far to search for the reason either. Like Zacharias they suffer from unbelief. "Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God."— Heb. 3:1212Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12). Departure ceases when the unbelieving heart is judged and the backslider restored to usefulness. Well, everybody soon knew that Zacharias was dumb. He continued that way during his period of duty as a priest and returned dumb to his own house. Then his wife Elizabeth conceived. At this point, Luke suspends the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth to bring before us the story of the virgin birth of our Savior.
Mary Believes the Angel's Message—1:26-56
There was a proverb among the Jews— "can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" But here was a good thing— a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph and the Scripture says, “whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing"— Prov. 18:2222Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22). The virgin's name was Mary and she was of the house of David as Joseph also was. When the angel Gabriel visits her he implies knowledge of her great ancestor saying of the child that she should conceive in her womb— "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David." Joseph is ignored in all this. Indeed Mary's question as to how this should take place seeing she knew not a man is inserted to let us know that in no way could the birth of Christ be traced to Joseph. Joseph was a descendant of David through Coniah, so that his seed was barred from the throne by divine fiat. But Mary, though a descendant of David, did not descend through Coniah, so that the child she should bear would be the true and only heir to David's throne. But how could she have such a son, contrary to nature? The angel supplied the answer— "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born [of thee] shall be called the Son of God.”
The writer once wrote a gospel tract on the virgin birth of Christ and sent one with a covering letter to a liberal minister of the gospel who was in jail for allegedly committing an offense against public morality. He indignantly returned it saying that the dogma of the virgin birth formed no part of his beliefs and was completely irrelevant in his proclaiming the message that God is love. Later, stricken with a disease from which he died, he said in an interview that he had no hope beyond the grave. The man who denies the virgin birth of Christ denies all that is fundamental to Christianity. And "what shall the end be of those who obey not the gospel of God?" 1 Peter 4:1717For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17). But to make the point clear, let me quote from the tract to which I referred: “God's plan for man's salvation can never be understood by a man who denies the virgin birth of Christ. The reason is simple. Every other man except Christ was born into the world with a fallen nature and our lives demonstrate that we are sinners.
“Christ lived a sinless life because God is without sin and His human life came from God Himself, not Joseph. When false teachers state that Christ's human life came from Joseph, they are really teaching that Christ was a sinner. Why? Because Joseph was no different from other men. 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God'— Rom. 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23). When the Bible says that 'all have sinned' it means all except Christ who is THE GLORY OF GOD —Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3). 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' that blessed Man said in John 8:4646Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? (John 8:46). 'Thou art My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,' God the Father said in Mark 1:1111And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mark 1:11). The Apostle John said concerning Him 'And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin!— 1 John 3:55And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5).
“This last scripture really explains why the virgin birth of Christ is so important. The sinless Man, the Man whose life was of God the Holy Spirit, was made sin at the cross that believers might be made the righteousness of God in Him— see 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21). In that way the worst sinner ever born can, if he believes on Christ, get forgiveness of his sins because Christ died for them on the cross. But only a sinless Man could be made sin. Anyone can see that a sinner can't be made sin— he is sin already. That is why John insists— 'and in Him is no sin.'”
The doctrine of the virgin birth then, is a bed-rock foundation truth of Christianity. It ties together— as well as other things we shall not consider here the truth that Christ is the Messiah (king) and the heir to the kingdom, the ruler over the kingdom of God to which we obtain entrance by the new birth— read John 3—AND the gospel of our salvation, for the sinless Man born of the virgin was made sin for us at the cross and so made it possible for us, after receiving the forgiveness of our sins, to enter "the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all"— Eph. 1:22, 2322And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22‑23). The kingdom and the Church are alike based upon the virgin birth of our Lord. It is the duty of every Christian to defend this doctrine, and to believe it in simple faith without reasoning. Zacharias reasoned and became dumb because of his unbelief; Mary believed and is called blessed by Elizabeth for that reason— 1:45, for Elizabeth recognized the contrast with the unbelief of her husband. So Mary enters the house of Zacharias, still dumb under the angel's sentence, and bursts forth into what men rightly term "The Magnificat." If men have given her a place higher than God intended for her let us not fall into the opposite error of slighting her on that account for "from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."— 1:48. Her song, if we may call it that, is much like that of Hannah's long before her. It is full of the delivering grace of Jehovah to be realized through the child she was to bear. Yet she herself, holy woman that she was, remains strikingly humble. She admits that she herself is a sinner or she would not call God her Savior— 1:47 —which confirms Gabriel's word that she had found favor with God.
Gabriel had appeared to both Zacharias— 1:19 —and to Mary— 1:26. In the Old Testament he had appeared to Daniel to explain the vision he had seen of the ram and the he-goat, and to reveal to him the prophecy of the seventy weeks. The measure of Zacharias' unbelief was that, although the heavens had been silent for four hundred years and God broke this silence by sending Gabriel to him personally he said "whereby shall I know this?"— that is he demanded a second sign. He got it in being made dumb, not exactly the kind of sign he had hoped for, but designed by God for his later blessing.
The Birth of John the Baptist—1:57-80
Now let us return to the house of Zacharias, for it is reasonable to assume that the events which close the first chapter took place there. First Elizabeth bears a son and her neighbors and cousins celebrate with her. They want to call the boy after his father's name but the mother intervenes saying that he is to be called John. Zacharias his father confirms this in writing. He writes "his name is John." Immediately his tongue is freed and he breaks forth in praise to God. Everything God has said through Gabriel had come to pass.
Much of what Zacharias spoke by the Spirit is still future and we will pass it by except to acknowledge that it will all be fulfilled in Christ "for all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him Amen"— 2 Cor. 1:2020For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Corinthians 1:20). Zacharias opened with blessing and ended with peace. He spoke of his son as the prophet of the Highest as the angel spoke of Christ as the Son of the Highest. Everything here is Jewish and because the Jews rejected Christ, the blessing spoken of has been deferred. Still God, in faithfulness, had to start with the Jew first. Yet we see signs even here that Israel could not come into the rest of God on the ground of law. When Moses the lawgiver was born, "behold the babe wept" —Ex. 2:66And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. (Exodus 2:6). What else could we expect from a law we cannot keep? But "when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the babe leaped in her womb"— 1:41— and again in 1:44 we read "the babe leaped in my womb for joy." True joy has been deferred for Israel until they too leap for joy at the name of Jesus. They will come into God's blessing later not so much on the ground of grace like the Gentiles although true also but largely on the ground of mercy for they crucified the One God sent to them. It is for this reason that "mercy" is mentioned five times here. God knew the end from the beginning.