Zacharias was a priest who lived in Judea. He was married to Elizabeth. They were righteous before the Lord. They were keeping all of the commandments of God. This pleased God very much. Elizabeth was barren, which mean that she and Zacharias could not have children. They prayed and prayed for a miracle that one day they could have a child.

One day while Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, which was the custom then, and while a large number of people were outside praying, an angel appeared unto Zacharias. The angle’s name was Gabriel. Zacharias became afraid. What do you think you would do if you saw an angel and the angel started talking to you? Chances are you would be like Zacharias and be afraid.

The angel said: “Do not be afraid Zacharias. Your prayer has been heard and your wife will bear you a son. You shall call his name John and you will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord and he will turn many of the children of Israel back to God.”

John would be the one that would announce Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. John would be the greatest prophet ever.

Since Zacharias and his wife were old, he asked the angel how he would know that his wife would have a child. Zacharias was showing some unbelief. After all, like Abraham and Sara in the Bible, they were past the age to be able to have children.

The angel said, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto you and to show you these glad tidings”. The angel is telling Zacharias that he was sent from God to tell him the good news that he and Elizabeth would have a child.  The angel said that b e c a u s e Zacharias did not believe his words, he would not be able to speak until after son was born.

N o w the people were still outside the temple waiting for Zacharias to come out. It was the custom of the priest to come out of the temple and bless the people. When Zacharias came out, he, of course, could not speak to them and they could see that that he had seen an angel. Maybe Zacharias had a glow around him when he came out from praying which made the people believe that he had seen an angel.

Very soon after Zacharias finished serving in the temple, Elizabeth became with child. She hid herself for five months. I’m sure she prayed for guidance from God on how to raise her son during that time. She was very happy to be having a child. After all, after all the years of not having a child, she was finally going to give birth to not only a son, but to the greatest prophet of God.

Elizabeth’s time finally came for her to give birth to her son, John. How happy everyone was for Elizabeth. God had shown her such great mercy by giving her a son that would be the forerunner of Jesus Christ the Lord. On the eighth day after John’s birth, they took him to the temple.

The people there assumed that the boy’s name would be Zacharias, after his dad, but Elizabeth said that his name was John just as the angel had spoken to her. The people did not understand so they asked Zacharias. Zacharias wrote on a tablet: “His name is John.” The people were surprised that the baby would not be named after Zacharia’s dad or after some other family member. When Zacharias wrote down that the baby would be named John, immediately he could speak again. Of course, Zacharias praised God for his son and for being able to speak again.

It took many years for Zacharias and Elizabeth to receive their answer to prayer. In the natural, it looked like they would never have a child. The answer did not come in their timing, but in God’s timing. They didn’t get their answer because they weren’t living righteous. The Bible says they were keeping all of the commandments of God. Many times when we don’t receive an answer to prayer as we think it should come, we think we must be doing something wrong. We must never give up on our dreams. Elizabeth and Zacharias got their answer and what an answer it was. Elizabeth was blessed to give birth to the greatest prophet ever. The prophet who would announce the redeemer of the world – the only One who can forgive us of our sins and give us eternal life. Let’s keep praying until the answer comes.

After all, GOD IS AN ON TIME GOD, YES HE IS.