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JUST ONE IN A THOUSAND
Zacharias was just one of 24,000 priests who served at the Temple 2 weeks per year, but God was looking for him–it is he who meets Gabriel. After he hears the good news of his son of promise – John the Baptist, he waits in muted silence for his unbelief.
After 40 weeks of waiting (and studying God’s Word), John is born and his dad sings. What was ZACHARIAS doing while he had no voice?
He spent the time set aside, handicapped as it were, studying God’s Word! If you are incapacitated, crippled, handicapped, out of circulation, laid aside, out of work, and so on – you can waste the time or turn it to gold. The choice is yours!
The song that Zechariah sings summarizes the ministry of John pointing to Jesus. The song introduces the Coming One – Jesus and explains why He came.
Christmas was when God introduces New Testament believers to the songs of Heaven. We need to notice how much singing opens the story of the Gospels. Dr. Luke who starts us further back in the account of the birth of Christ than any of the other gospel writers—also records the songs.
Christ’s Birth is surrounded by the songs of the saints. Since Luke continues with the record of the early church in Acts, and since Paul tells us that Spirit-filled saints sing—we can be sure that the early church sang much and often. We can also see that the joy of these early saints is what called attention to them in the Roman world.
There is the song of Zacharias, the song of Elisabeth, the song of Mary, the song of Anna, and the song of Simeon. So Christmas is introduced to us by a series of five Spirit-prompted songs, with Elisabeth’s being the first.