Gabriel's News To Poor Ole Zack!

John baptising Jesus

I love the story of John the Baptist, especially as I grow older and can appreciate this dear couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth, who the bible says were of advanced age. The angel of the Lord said to Zacharias, “Your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son”. Do you think that maybe ole Zack wanted to say, “did my mail get lost I sent that petition 40 years ago, when Elizabeth and I were young!”? He finally did get up enough courage to remind the angel that he and his wife were advanced in years and he wasn’t certain how all this could happen. Did you ever ask God for something only to come back to Him with a “I’m not certain how this will all happen?” The angel, Gabriel did not take kindly to this question as scripture points out. Zacharias was immediately unable to speak because he did not believe this “one” who, in no uncertain terms, told Zacharias that he was from God and this was the “good news” God himself has sent to him. I wonder sometimes if Zacharias was unable to speak because the angel knew that his muteness might keep him from having to explain to Elizabeth that she was soon to be pregnant at her age.

If Zacharias did get up the courage to warn Elizabeth by writing on a tablet, I hope he told her everything the angel said. “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at this birth”. And how about, “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb”. And get this…. the angel shared that her son would be the forerunner to the long awaited Messiah! What assurance was given that day to the sovereignty of God.

"And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Luke 1:16-17

Six months later, an angel tells Mary that she will become pregnant even though she is a virgin. He tells the bewildered Mary that her cousin Elizabeth who has been barren all of her life is with child in her old age. Then the angel told Mary something that we today can still claim, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

I could almost “shout” with the way the hand of God reaches down into common everyday lives to do His will in the lives of His people. Are you always certain as to how it will all happen?

Not only was this promise for Mary, but is also meant for us today “Nothing is impossible with God! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!  This is the GOOD NEWS God Himself sends us today!