An angel promises Zechariah a son
As the elderly priest Zechariah burned incense in the temple, the angel Gabriel told him that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son who would prepare the way for the Lord.
But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”
Luke 1:13 (World English Bible)
Zechariah (Zacharias in some translations) and Elizabeth were both righteous and both old, and they had no children. When his division of priests was on duty and the lot fell to him to burn incense in the holy place, Gabriel appeared beside the altar. Their son, he said, would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17), the very promise that closes the Old Testament (Malachi 4:5–6).
Because Zechariah doubted, he was unable to speak until the child was born. After four hundred years without a prophet, God was speaking again.
Places
Dating notes
Ussher: 6 BC, about six months before the angel came to Mary (Luke 1:26, 36).