“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. And yet they had no child, because Elizabeth was infertile, and they were both advanced in years.”
What high testimony is borne in this passage to the character of Zacharias and Elisabeth! It matters little whether we interpret this ‘righteousness’ as that which is imputed to all believers for their justification, or that which is wrought inwardly in believers by the operation of the Holy Spirit for their sanctification. The two sorts of righteousness are never disjoined. There are none justified who are not sanctified, and there are none sanctified who are not justified. Suffice it for us to know that Zacharias and Elisabeth had grace when grace was very rare, and kept all the burdensome observances of the ceremonial law with devout conscientiousness when few Israelites cared for them except in name and form.
The main thing that concerns us all is the example which this holy pair hold up to Christians. Let us all strive to serve God faithfully and live fully up to our light, even as they did.
It was a heavy trial that God was pleased to lay on Zacharias and Elisabeth (v. 7). The full force of these words can hardly be understood by a modern Christian. To an ancient Jew they would convey the idea of a very weighty affliction. To be childless was one of the bitterest of sorrows (1 Sam. 1:10).
The grace of God exempts no one from trouble. Let us remember this, if we serve Christ, and let us count trial no strange thing. Let us believe that a hand of perfect wisdom is measuring out all our portion, and that when God chastises us, it is to make us ‘partakers of his holiness’ (Heb. 12:10). If afflictions drive us nearer to Christ, the Bible and prayer, they are positive blessings. We may not think so now. But we shall think so when we wake up in another world.