Zechariah's tongue had been set loose by his word of faith, agreeing with the angel, giving his son the name John. After this he did not simply go back to normal. His silence silenced his doubts and taught him the importance of speaking words of faith. His words would no longer be filled with himself, but would instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied
From one trapped in the mindset of the flesh who could not see how a child could be born to those who are old, Zechariah was transformed by faith into one who would let the Holy Spirit show great things beyond even that miraculous birth.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Zechariah had spent a life of fidelity serving the Lord. But that life did not give him the resources to reason out the Lord's plan for him or for the world. It was not on that basis that he could welcome the gift of a son or the gift of a savior whom that son would make known. Those things went beyond what he understood or could understand, which was why he doubted, why he was silenced, so that his doubts could give way to faith.
When King David was settled in his palace,
and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,
he said to Nathan the prophet,
“Here I am living in a house of cedar,
while the ark of God dwells in a tent!”
David too lived a life that was marked almost entirely by fidelity to the Lord. He was a man after the Lord's own heart (see First Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22). David had the impulse that the Lord's dwelling among his people should be glorious, not a mere tent. Yet his desire to make this happen, while not entirely wrong, was still too limited for what the Lord planned. Even David's mind, certainly not without faith, could not imagine what the Lord had prepared for those who love him (see First Corinthians 2:9).
What can we learn from Zechariah and from David? We can realize that the Lord's plan is not finally something we can figure out. It doesn't come down to something we can build. Even his past victories in history and in our lives are too limited of a paradigm for us to predict what he might choose to do next. Far from making us afraid, this should excite us. We should be like children waiting to see what unknown delights await us under the Christmas tree. We should look back at how God always exceeds the expectations of those who love him and realize that nothing will be impossible for him (see Luke 1:37).
Even the victories of the Lord in our lives are only shadows of the glory he wants to reveal. It is not a son we can bring to birth, nor a temple we can build. But he himself can build it and we are the living stones he uses (See First Peter 2:5). That he will do so is his promise.
The LORD also reveals to you
that he will establish a house for you.
And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his Kingdom firm.
What might the Lord want to bring to birth through us? How does he desire to build us into temples of his praise?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (see First Corinthians 3:16).
This temple, where the Lord is worshipped in Spirit and truth, was not something that David could build or even imagine. But it was built by the Lord at the incarnation of Jesus. As we welcome the birth of Jesus we are called to see how that birth not only changed everything but continues to change it. The birth of Jesus is not merely a past reality that made all things new for a moment, after which they again quickly aged, and are now nearly dead. The birth of Jesus is still the way in which God gives us those gifts which are too amazing to ask or even imagine (see Ephesians 3:20), by which he continues to make all things new (see Revelation 21:5).
Your house and your Kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.
The Holy Spirit wants to fill us and make us sing, as surely as he did for Zechariah. Let us sing of his goodness forever.
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