Luke 1:56-66

Luke 1:56-66 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Sometimes our souls need comforting. We need a supernatural encounter with God that confounds the mathematical possibilities of the event happening. In today's passage, we see Elizabeth demanding to name her son John, which was not accepted by those around her because no one else in her family had that name. Consequently, through sign language they ask Zechariah what his son's name should be. He writes, "John." Of course, the angel told him to name his son John, and the above text implies heavily that Elizabeth and Zechariah had not previously communicated with each other about the baby's name. Otherwise, we see another miracle unfolding before our eyes. This miracle of naming John influenced the crowd so much that they were filled with awe and broadcast this story throughout the country. Concomitantly, with this wonderment came the idea that this child was going to be someone special, someone blessed by God For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Over the years, my wife and I have experienced many wonderful miracles that confounded mathematical possibilities. One year, for a Christmas present to our children, we gave them a written account of some of the miracles we have personally experienced. We wanted to share these miracles with them as we had experienced them, so that in the future when we are far gone, our children could relive those events through our words. I think all Christians should do that for their children, for sometimes life gets very hard, and these faith reminders encourage our hearts. Even Christians sometimes wonder where God is in the scheme of their lives, just as the Jews wondered in the above text after some 400 years in captivity where God was in their lives. Yes, Christians also wonder. This is the story of each of us at times; we wonder, our faith wavers, we shrink back into just slogging on the treadmill of life for a while. In those times of doubt, we need to remember the miracles of God.

God is alive, and He has placed his precious Spirit within us. This is the wonderful truth of the Bible, but from time-to-time, as humans we also need a special encounter with God's grace, a special time when our prayers are answered somewhat unexpectantly, but precisely as we prayed them. I believe God knows that. Consequently, prayers are answered, wishes are granted, dreams are fulfilled many times when we least expect a response. However, God is always in control. He determines which prayers, wishes, dreams will supernaturally be fulfilled. This is not always very satisfying to us, for our desires are many. We would want all of them answered according to our will. We would want every childless woman to have a child. We would want every sickness, no matter how big or small, to be healed. We would want every war to stop, every accident to cease, every problem to be solved. That is what we would want if we were God. Thankfully, we are not God.

God's plan is much bigger than ours with our limited vision. He is birthing adopted sons and daughters out of a dark and dying world. He is making something so unique in creation that only He could conceive of the task. He is bringing life out of hopeless death through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. This faith births children of God, adopted into the family of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. This possibility of life with God in such an intimate way stretched the credulity of the angels. They could not imagine who could open the vial of life to those who were so hopelessly lost, but Jesus could. This plan of redemption was in the heart of God before man was even created. This marvelous plan of redemption, this plan of birthing adopted children of God, this plan of eternal bliss with Father God was written eons ago in the heart of God as the galaxies were flung into space. Just as the people marveled at John's name, all creation marvels, for each of us is given a new name in the Lamb's Book of Life: we are the Redeemed!