John the Baptist

John the Baptist - Gabriel visits his father Zacharias

Luke 1

In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zacharias, and his wife's name was Elisabeth.. she was of the family of Aaron (who was Moses' brother). Both of them lived their daily lives by following all the commandments of the Lord, and they were blameless (because they did no wrong). They did not have any children, because Elisabeth was not able to have children, and now both of them were very old.

One day, Zacharias was doing the duties of a priest, he was burning incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. There were a great many people praying outside at the time that Zacharias was burning incense.

Suddenly, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar where the incense was burning.. And when Zacharias saw him, he was very frightened. But the angel said to him "Fear not Zacharias: for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elisabeth shall give birth to your son, and you shall call his name John. And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall not drink wine nor any other strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even before he is born. Many of the children of Israel shall be turned to the Lord their God because of John....he shall prepare the hearts of the people for the Lord."

And Zacharias said to the angel, "how shall I know this? I am an old man, and my wife is old too." The angel answered him and said "I am Gabriel, that stands in the presence of God; and I am sent to speak to you, and to show you this good news. Now, you shall not be able to speak until the day that these things are done, because you do not believe my words which shall be fulfilled at the proper time."

The people waited for Zacharias, but when he came out, he could not speak to them: and they understood that he had seen a vision, because he used his hands to speak to them, and remained unable to speak with his mouth.

As soon as the days of his priesthood duties were finished, he went to his own house, and after that his wife Elisabeth discovered that she was going to have a baby, and she hid herself for five months.....

Memory Verse: Luke 1:19 "I am Gabriel, that stands in the presence of God; and I am sent to speak to you, and to show you this good news."

Questions:
1 Why didn't Zacharias and Elisabeth have any children?
2 What was Zacharias doing when Gabriel appeared to him?
3 How did Zacharias act when he first saw Gabriel and what did Gabriel say to him?
4 Why was Zacharias made not able to speak?
5 What did Elisabeth do when she found out that she was going to have a baby?

Answers:
1 Because ELisabeth was not able to have children and both of them were old
2 He was burning incense in the temple
3 He was very frightened, but Gabriel told him to "fear not"
4 Because he did not believe Gabriel, he thought that he and his wife were too old.
5 She went and hid herself for five months.

Vicki C. Gross/September'04