Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story echoes Abraham and Sarah, and surely everyone around them was talking of it. Both are “too old,” both have waited a lifetime, both struggle to believe, and both discover that nothing is impossible for God. This passage builds context for how God often launches His plans through human impossibilities.
Everyone around Zechariah and Elizabeth would have known this story too. Isn’t incredible that the long foretold messenger comes by way of unlikely, too old, Abraham and Sarah type people. And the Messiah himself comes by way of an unwed, nobody young woman. God has a sense of humor! And it wasn’t the way anyone expected it. For those who have ears, and understand that God’s ways are not ours. How do you expect God to show up?
Another story of grief, waiting, shame, and miraculous birth. It parallels Elizabeth closely and highlights how God sees personal pain even while advancing larger redemptive purposes. Its incredible that here, another unlikely story results in a powerful leader for Israel. Do you look for God to show up in unlikely places?
Both Adam and Brad stressed repentance as the way to prepare room for Jesus. John was really clear: he called the people who came to hear him “children of the snake” (think Garden of Eden). John names what real repentance looks like and how it changes daily life. Do you consider the ways in your life you need to “turn around”?
Paul explains how Jesus came at exactly the right time and how His arrival brings us into God’s family. It reinforces that God keeps His promises and advances His Kingdom in unexpected ways, linking the births of John and Jesus to God’s larger work of redemption. Does it require faith for you to see God working “at exactly the right time”?