Righteousness Counts

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea,

a certain priest named Zacharias,

of the division of Abijah.

His wife was of the daughters of Aaron,

and her name was Elizabeth.

And they were both righteous before God,

walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren,

and they were both well advanced in years.

Luke 1:5-7

The good news about Jesus Christ actually begins with another event that is related to, but far removed from, the events that will take place in either Nazareth or Bethlehem. With the exception of Matthew's presentation of the genealogy of Jesus and the visit from the magi, the other three evangelists simply jump into the loud and confrontational ministry of John the Baptist, whose preaching at the Jordan River drew multitudes into a time of Spiritual renewal. But Luke wants his readers to understand the background of that story. Who was John the Baptist and why was he so important to the story, other than that he was the voice crying in the wilderness for the world to prepare the way for the coming of their savior? What was John's full place in the story?

It begins with Zacharias and Elizabeth, an old married couple from the hill country of Judea. Zacharias was a Levitical priest, a member of the order of Abijah which ministered in the temple for two weeks in the late spring of the year. Elizabeth was a direct descendant of the high priests of Israel, here said to be of the daughters of Aaron. Those facts will be important when we discuss future chapters. They loved God and they loved each other, but in all the years of their marriage they had not been able to produce a child. It might be interesting to note that Elizabeth might have been all of forty years old when these events begin to take place.

The Bible is replete with examples of flawed, fallen, failing human beings whom God chose to use. Take a look at my presentation of the women in Jesus' family tree for a look at some of them. It is a testament to God's great grace that He used imperfect people to fulfill His plan. But now He was preparing to send Himself, His Son, His very own Flesh into the world to save mankind; not just anybody would do for this job. And not just anybody would do for the job of announcing His arrival. The forerunner had to be of a certain character, which necessitated a certain background. So when God starts to move this time, He looks not for flawed failures or for cracked vessels; He looks for those who have demonstrated themselves faithful and trustworthy to any task.

He found two righteous people, two people who walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, two people who were completely blameless. It's one thing to be righteous and perfect and blameless in the eyes of men, but Luke says they were these things in the eyes of God Himself. God picked the best in this instance to bless. The one thing they were lacking that they obviously wanted very badly was a child, and what a child he was about to be!

It just goes to show that God knows how to bless those who are His, completely His.