Advent 2017 Devotional - Dec. 15

Luke 1:57-66

When Elizabeth’s son was born, her neighbors and relatives shared her joy.Her Joy was even greater because so many believed childlessness was a sign of God’s disapproval. Now she felt God had finally lifted the cloud she had lived under. When they named the baby John as the angel had said (Luke 1:13), Zechariah Was able to speak again.

Last week we saw that Joseph gave up the privilege of siring his first-born son too bey God. Zechariah here gave up the privilege of naming his son after himself. John was called, not to follow his father as a priest but to challenge that set of religious leaders. How did his father’s submission to God point the way for John’s life mission?

“All the neighbors were filled with awe…throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things….asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ ”We’d say there was “a lot of buzz” about John’s birth. How did God use human curiosity (even our urge to gossip!) to add impact to John’s later ministry?