e gradually unfolded the contents of the divine answer; the Messiah
was about to appear, and his coming was to be heralded by a son who was to
be born to the aged priest. The angel spoke with great definiteness: the
child would be named John; many would rejoice at his birth; he would be a
Nazirite, and as such would take the vow of total abstinence from wine and
of complete dedication to God; as a consequence of this dedication he
would be filled with the divine Spirit and thus enabled to lead his people
to repentance. He would labor in the spirit and power of Elijah, calling
men to lives of natural affection and justice and preparing them for the
salvation which Christ would bring.

So surprising a message was too great to be credited at once by the
wondering priest. He had ceased to hope that the longing of his heart
could be fulfilled. He therefore asked for a sign by which he might be
assured that the blessed promise was true. The angel replied with a
statement of his own majestic power and the glory of his mission and he
granted to Zacharias a sign. This sign was at once a rebuke and a
blessing. It rebuked the unbelief of the aged priest, yet it strengthened
his faith. He was smitten with dumbness which was to continue until the
promise of the angel had been realized. Zacharias would not accept the
word of the Lord; he would not praise him for his goodness and his grace.
Therefore, his tongue was to be silent and he was to be unable to speak
until at last his lips were opened in glad thanksgiving. Unbelief is never
joyous; infidelity has no songs.

However, the sign suggests supernatural power. The faith of Zacharias and
also of Elisabeth will be strengthened by the very silence in their home.
So when the people in the court of the Temple waited for the priest to
reappear, when as he came they still waited for the usual benediction,
when they found that Zacharias had been stricken with dumbness, they
concluded he had seen a vision in the Temple, and he himself was assured
that the messenger had come from God. In due time the promise was
fulfilled; a new life came into being. Meanwhile, until it would be
evident that her "reproach" for childlessness had been taken away,
Elisabeth lived in strict retirement. She would not have others, by seeing
her, think that she was under divine displeasure at the very time when she
secretly knew that she was a special recipient of divine grace. She was
jealous for the glory of her