Continuing with J. C. Ryle’s various writings on advent-related passages, I was struck by two of his comments as I read Luke 1:5-12 this morning…
Concerning the amazing appearance of an angel to Zechariah the priest, we need to slow down and put ourselves in the shoes of a 1st century Jew. Far from simply being a part of the narrative, there is much going on here theologically and in the plans of God for His people. Ryle notes it this way, writing about verse 12:
We can form very little idea, at this period of the world, of the immense importance of this angel’s announcement. To the mind of a pious Jew, it must have been glad tidings of great joy. It was the first communication from God to Israel since the days of Malachi. It broke the long silence of four hundred years. It told the believing Israelite that the prophetic weeks of Daniel were at length fulfilled, (Dan. 9:25)—that God’s choicest promise was at length going to be accomplished,—and that “the seed” was about to appear in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. (Gen. 22:18) We must place ourselves in imagination in the position of Zacharias, in order to give the verses before us their due weight.
Ryle, J. C. 1879. Expository Thoughts on Luke. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Second, Zechariah and his wife are noted as being childless. Some reading this know what it is to deeply desire to have children and yet the Lord has chosen otherwise. Others, perhaps parents or grandparents of those who, for whatever reason, seem unable to bear a child, also know the deep sorrow and weight that comes with this particular burden. Both of these situations are heart-rending, and they would have been no less so for a married couple in 1st century Israel. Ryle pens these helpful and hopeful words about verses 6-7:
Let us mark, for another thing, in this passage, the heavy trial which God was pleased to lay on Zacharias and Elisabeth. We are told that “they had no child.” The full force of these words can hardly be understood by a modern Christian. To an ancient Jew they would convey the idea of a very weighty affliction. To be childless was one of the bitterest of sorrows. (1 Sam. 1:10)
Ryle, J. C. 1879. Expository Thoughts on Luke. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
The grace of God exempts no one from trouble. “Righteous” as this holy priest and his wife were, they had a “crook in their lot.” Let us remember this, if we serve Christ, and let us count trial no strange thing. Let us rather believe that a hand of perfect wisdom is measuring out all our portion, and that when God chastises us, it is to make us “partakers of his holiness.” (Heb. 12:10) If afflictions drive us nearer to Christ, the Bible, and prayer, they are positive blessings. We may not think so now. But we shall think so when we wake up in another world.
