View source for The Promise of the Birth of John the Baptist

{{bl| The Promise of the Birth of John the Baptist }}

{{bgw| Lu 1:5-17 }} There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife [was] of the daughters of Aaron, and her name [was] Elisabeth.
6  And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7  And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were [now] well stricken in years.
8  And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,
9  According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10  And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
11  And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12  And when Zacharias saw [him], he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
14  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
15  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
16  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
17  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

:Herod - Gk. 'heroic'. Not. 'ignorant ה dominion רד'. 
:Judaea -  י-הוד - 'God;s י splendor הןד '
:Zacharias, Zechariah - זכריה‎ 'Jehovah remembers'  'clear זכ water רה of God (י)'
:course of Abia -  day of 'Jehovah is my Father', 'day of Christ'
:Elizabeth - God has sworn.

Together Zacharias and Elizabeth mean "God remembers that he took an oath".

:incense - 'qetoreth' קטרת 
::ק - resurrection of the Son of God
::ר - revealed
::precious קר - resurrection ק revealed ר
::ט - 'marriage' or 'teaching'
::burn incense - ק(ט)ר 'precious קר because of the marriage (ט) 
::ת - 'revelation ר complete with a new life ו '. (makes verbs into objects)
::precious because of the teaching ק(ט)ר

Incense represents the total devotion of the Son in completing the will of the Father by obtaining a bride.

'''No child''' = They were childless. As a symbol of the bareness of the world; being without the Word of God, they would now have a child. This fits the Virgin Birth motif.

'''Stricken in years''' - The savior was long-awaited.

'''Standing on the right''' - this would be a spiritual message, not a literal. There is a mystery involved.

:John - 'grace of God' 

His prayer is answered, and as the high priest, the corporate prayers of the people are answered. they will receive grace.

'''Drink no wine or strong drink'''
:wine - grace
:strong drink - law
As a type of Christ he will not participate in grace or law because he is the author of grace and law. He is a literal Nazarite from birth as part of the dinner theater speaking of Christ. Jesus will be a spiritual Nazarite.  Matthew records that Jesus was born in Nazareth to fulfill the prophecy he would be called a Nazarene. His birth in Nazareth is part of the theater. Luke adds the story of John as confirmation that Jesus was spiritually a Nazarite. The law of the Nazarite is the prophecy he would be called a Nazarene. It is a cross lingual pun by the time it moves from Hebrew to Greek.

'''Spirit and power of Elijah'''
:Elijah stopped the rain until he spoke. There was no water/word until he spoke.
:There were 400 years of silence before John. There was no word until John.
:The earth was desolate there was no WORD until John announced Jesus as the lamb 'amar' אמר which also means 'word' אמר.