6 Conception of the Forerunner John
6 Conception of the Forerunner John 6.CONCEPTION OF THE FORERUNNER OF CHRIST JOHN
(Luke 1:1-25)
Here we are told about the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to the priest Zachariah during the service in the temple. The Angel predicted the birth of Zachariah's son John, who will be great before the Lord. The Angel told about the punishment of Zachariah with silence for unbelief and about the conception of his wife Elizabeth.
King Herod, who is mentioned here, was a Jew by birth, the son of Antipater, who, under Hyrcanus, the last of the Maccabean family, took over the affairs of Judea. From Rome, he received the royal title. Although he was a proselyte, the Jews did not consider him their own, and his reign was precisely the "taking away of the scepter from Judah", after which the Messiah was to appear (see the prophecy Gen. 49:10).
The priests were divided by king David into 24 sections, and Abijah was placed at the head of one of them, Zachariah was counted among this section. His wife Elisaveta also came from a priestly family. Although both of them were distinguished by true righteousness, they were childless, and this was considered by the Jews to be God's punishment for sins. Each turn held its service in the temple twice a year for one week, and the priests distributed their duties among themselves by lot. Zechariah had the lot to perform incense, for which he entered the second part of the Jerusalem temple, called the Holy or Sanctuary, where the incense altar was located, while all the people were praying in the open part of the temple – the "Courtyard". Entering the sanctuary, Zachariah saw an Angel, and he was attacked by fear, maybe because, according to Jewish concepts, the appearance of an Angel foreshadowed an imminent death. The angel comforted him, saying that his prayer was heard, and his wife would bear him a son who would be " great before the Lord." It is difficult to imagine that Zacharias, being so old with his wife, and even at such a solemn moment of worship, with his righteousness, would have prayed for the gift of a son. Obviously, he, as one of the few best people of that time, strenuously prayed to God for the imminent coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah, and it was about this prayer that the Angel said that it was heard. And so his prayer received a high reward: not only was his sorrowful infertility resolved, but his son would be the Forerunner of the Messiah, whose arrival he had been so intensely waiting for. His son will surpass everyone with his extraordinary strict abstinence and will be filled with special grace-giving gifts from The Holy Spirit. He will have to prepare the Jewish people for the coming of the Messiah, which he will do by preaching about repentance and correcting life, turning many of the children of Israel to God, who only formally worshipped Jehovah, but who were far removed from Him in their hearts and lives. To do this, he will be given the spirit and power of the prophet Elijah, whom he will resemble with his ardent zeal, strict ascetic life, preaching repentance and exposing impiety. He will have to call the Jews out of the abyss of their moral fall, restoring the love of their children to the hearts of their parents, and He will confirm those who resist the right hand of the Lord in the way of thinking of the righteous. Zacharias did not believe the Angel, because he was too old to hope for posterity, like his wife, and asked for a sign from the Angel as proof of the truth of his words. To dispel Zachariah's doubts, the Angel gives his name. He is Gabriel, which means "the power of God", the same one who also announced to the prophet Daniel about the time of the coming of the Messiah, specifying the dates in "weeks" (Dan. 9:21-27). For unbelief, Zacharias is punished by dumbness, and, apparently, at the same time deafness, since they then explained to him by signs. Usually the incense did not last long and the people were surprised at Zachariah's slowness in the sanctuary, but they realized that he had a vision when he began to explain himself by signs. It is remarkable that the mute Zachariah did not leave his turn, but continued his ministry to the end. His wife Elisaveta, after his return home, really conceived, but she hid it for five months, fearing that people might not believe it and ridicule her, and she was happy in her heart and thanked God for removing the reproach from her. The Conception of St. St. John the Baptist is celebrated on September 23 (old calendar)