Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Luke 1:59-64 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, "No; he shall be called John." But they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name." So they made signs to his father -- what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, "His name is John." So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.
PREPARING FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST WITH HUMBLE SUBMISSION: ZACHARIAS (II)
We have heard how initially Zacharias doubted the Word of God in that he found it hard to believe that he and his wife, Elizabeth, could actually have a child in their old age. We have heard how, because Zacharias did not fully and humbly submit his own doubts to the sureness of God's promises, that God placed upon Zacharias a type of humbled submission, taking away his ability to speak.
Well, as we can see, throughout the course of Elizabeth's pregnancy, Zacharias was moved to humbly submit himself to God and His will. So much so, that He and Elizabeth were not afraid to make clear to those who questioned them about their son's name. It was to be John. The relatives and neighbors thought that was an odd choice, if not a bad one. After all, Zacharias had gone childless into his old age, and now was his chance to name the boy after himself.
That may have seemed like a good plan according to the ways of this world, but that was not God's plan. God said that the child would be named John, and after his initial doubts, Zacharias humbly submitted himself to God and His plan -- right down to the detail of the child's name. And God's plan for this child was more than just a name. God's plan for Zacharias, Elizabeth and John was intimately connected with the plan for the coming of His own Son into this world. Through the humble submission of faith, Zacharias and Elizabeth were being prepared to see the coming of the Christ into this world.
