What Will This Child Be?
Luke 1:57–66
57Now the time came for
Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had
shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59And on the eighth day they
came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after
his father, 60but his
mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by
this name.” 62And
they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63And he asked for a writing
tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64And immediately his mouth was
opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65And fear came on all their
neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country
of Judea, 66and all
who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child
be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
The miracle of Elizabeth’s pregnancy bears the fruit of John’s
birth. (I will comment that since Mary goes to visit Elizabeth when she is six
months pregnant and the text says she stayed for 3 months with Elizabeth, I
cannot help but wonder if Mary wasn’t there for John’s birth. But the text is
silent about that, so it is pure speculation on my part.) Now the last prophet
in the Old Testament mold is thrust into history. The silence imposed upon
Zechariah because of his doubt is ended as he affirms the child’s name and a
new era begins. This miraculous birth brings the people surrounding Zechariah
and Elizabeth questions and a reason to “discuss” this newly enlarged family.
The “fear” that came upon the community was the fear of the Lord that they
should rightly experience. This was a wonderful and unexpected birth that
certainly must signal something marvelous from the Lord.
The most telling verse in this passage is “For the hand of
the Lord was with him.” The concept of the Lord’s hand moving over the lives of
the people was an Old Testament idea with which the people would be very
familiar. The Greek phrase (χεὶρ κυρίου ἠ̂ν μετʼ αὑτου̂) used here implies that
God’s mighty power is at work in the prophet’s life. This was how the people
who were aware of John’s miracle birth saw him. Here are just a few of the Old
Testament passages that indicate the power of “God’s hand” in the life of a
prophet or over the lives of His people.
Isaiah 31:3
The Egyptians are man,
and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches
out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they
will all perish together.
Isaiah 66:14
You shall see, and
your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the
hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his
indignation against his enemies.
Isaiah 41:20
“. . . that they may
see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord
has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
1 Chronicles 4:10
Jabez called upon the
God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and
that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that
it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.
When this child is named and circumcised, his role in
salvation history is established. Later in the New Testament, after the ministry
and saving work of Jesus is done, the Apostle Paul takes up the concept of
circumcision, equating it with baptism. In baptism we too are brought into God’s
Kingdom and His “hand” becomes active in our own lives.
Colossians 2:11–14
11In him also you were
circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of
the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were
also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised
him from the dead. 13And
you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of
debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing
it to the cross.
First and foremost we are forgiven in the death of Christ
for all of our sins. Because our sins have been “set aside” in Jesus, we are
free to experience the hand of God in our lives as He allows us to act with Him
in the advancement of His Kingdom.
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