“But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”“
Prayers are not necessarily rejected because the answer is long delayed. Zacharias, no doubt, had often prayed for the blessing of children and, to all appearance, had prayed in vain. At his advanced time of life he had probably long ceased to mention the subject before God, and had given up all hope of being a father. Yet the very first words of the angel show plainly that the bygone prayers of Zacharias had not been forgotten (v. 13).
We shall do well to remember this fact whenever we kneel to pray. We must beware of hastily concluding that our supplications are useless, and especially in the matter of intercessory prayer on behalf of others. It is not for us to prescribe either the time or the way in which our requests are to be answered.
Verse 14 teaches us that no children cause such true joy as those who have the grace of God. It is a thousand times better for them than beauty, riches, honours, rank and high connections. Till they have grace we never know what they might do. They may bring down our grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.
Children are never too young to receive the grace of God (v. 15). There is no greater mistake than to suppose that infants, by reason of their tender age, are incapable of being operated upon by the Holy Spirit. Let us beware of limiting God’s power and compassion. With him nothing is impossible.
True greatness may receive little honour in this life (v. 15). The measure of greatness which is common among men is utterly false and deceptive. Princes and potentates, conquerors and leaders of armies, statesmen and philosophers, artists and authors—these the world calls ‘great’. Such greatness is not recognized among the angels of God. Those who do great things for God they reckon great. Those who do little for God they reckon little.