Luke 1:11-17 NIV
“Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Finally, Zechariah gets the news he is going to have a son. Zechariah’s “prayer has been heard” by God. What must it have been like to hear the angel describe what his son would be like? He would be “great in the sight of the Lord.” Wow!
His son would have the Holy Spirit in him even before he was born. Could Zechariah understand what that meant? The people heard from God through the priests. Four hundred years passed between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Christ. He had read of the “spirit and power of Elijah” or how the Spirit of the Lord would come upon David. But this was different. This was an indwelling of the Holy Spirit even before birth. This must have blown his mind.
His son’s role would be that of one like the prophet Elijah. He would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” If an angel of the Lord appeared to you with this message. How would you parent that child? Would you teach him about the ways of the Lord as we are commanded to in Deuteronomy 6:7-9? This makes me take a step back and pause.
How am I parenting my girls? My girls were given to me by God through adoption. They are not biologically mine. There are times when I am parenting that I think of their birth moms. Am I parenting them the way I would want someone else to parent my kids? The assignment to parent is enormous; now add in the mix that your child is going to prepare the people for the Messiah.
Honestly, isn’t that what we are all doing? Raising children to prepare others to know Jesus. Raising children who will stand up for the ways of the Lord. Raising children who will love the Lord with all they have.
Let’s take today to reexamine how we are parenting. Put yourself in the shoes of Zechariah. What changes might you make today?
