The announcement of John the Baptist’s birth signals God’s renewed activity on behalf of his people in light of promises made long ago. Many of the details of this event and those that follow in the infancy section recall events of the Old Testament. God is again at work to bring his promise to pass. When God acts to fulfill his promises, he meets a wide array of needs. After a long period of silence, here God acts in the time of Herod the Great to begin realizing key aspects of his plan. Though he is concerned to fulfill his promises to Israel, God is also meeting the personal needs of a righteous couple. Luke introduces the parents of John as pious, law-abiding saints. Thus from its very beginning the new movement of God is steeped in righteousness. Yet despite their righteousness, they have suffered the disappointment of barrenness, a condition Elizabeth will later refer to as a disgrace.
The announcement of John’s birth comes at a high moment in Zechariah’s career. As one of about eighteen thousand priests, Zechariah serves in the temple twice a year, but only once in his life does he get to assist in the daily offering by going into the holy place. This honor had fallen to him by lot. His job was to offer incense, a picture of intercession rising to God. Everything about the announcement’s timing points to a moment of high piety. As Zechariah offers up the incense and prayer, an angel appears. This announcement is unusual, however, in that the father rather than the mother receives the message. The angel’s arrival produces fear in the priest. He senses the presence of God’s agent and is taken back by this surprising development.
The angelic announcement proceeds in stages: the child’s name (v. 13), the response to the child (v. 14), the position and character of the child (v. 15) and the mission of the child (vv. 16-17). The child will be named John. When God names a child, that child is especially significant in God’s plan. This child will be great before God. His greatness emerges from his prophetic role and from his function as a forerunner to Jesus, as the rest of Luke 1 makes clear. More important, the child will be empowered by the Spirit even from birth.
John will be a prophet. His call to the people to repent will be detailed in 3:1-20. Here the angel describes his ministry as preparing a remnant for God: Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord. In other words, he will turn Israel to the Lord their God. John will redirect those who respond to his message toward a walk with God. In fact, he will be like Elijah in his ministry. In speaking of turning the hearts of parents to their children, Luke is indicating that reconciliation with God will produce reconciliation elsewhere. When God touches a life, relationships with others on this earth are also touched. So John will make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This will be a nation of people God has called to himself, a faithful remnant sharing in the realization of God’s promise because they have turned to him.
Zechariah’s response, though coming from a pious man, is very human. He does not take the miraculous as a matter of course. He has a natural objection to the promise that they will receive a child: their old age. Zechariah understands the basics of biology and aging. He and his wife are “past their prime.”
God’s word will be realized. So Elizabeth becomes the next one to encounter his work. The text simply notes this fulfillment by mentioning that she became pregnant. There is no fanfare, just a simple declaration that what the angel had promised in verses 13-17 comes to pass. For some time Elizabeth remained in seclusion. Her withdrawal has no stated motive, though many have speculated on her reasons. What we do know is that she praised God for what he was doing through her. Her disgrace, the reproach of barrenness, was gone. Such thankfulness for the arrival of a child was common. Joy and relief are mixed together in Elizabeth. She appears to be preparing herself for what is ahead. God is powerfully at work again for Israel and for this righteous couple, who are learning anew what it is to trust God. When God speaks and acts, people are supposed to listen. His word will come to pass.