Luke 1:13-17

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

The angel’s message to John contains good news, great news, and the most incredible news.

First the good news, old Zecharias and his barren wife are going to have a son. That is enough reason for “joy and gladness.” But the angel goes on to give the great news, he would be no ordinary son. The prohibition on wine and strong drink echoes the Nazirite vow that individuals would take to separate themselves to God (see Num. 6). Likewise being “filled with the Holy Spirit” from the womb indicates that God is setting apart John for a special work. His appointed task: to turn the Israelites back to God. Just like Elijah who arrived on the scene to bring a disobedient nation back to faithfulness to God, so we can expect John to do a similar work.

It may be easy to envy John and other prophets such as Jeremiah who were given a clear mission from birth (see Jer. 1:5). But we needn't since we each are described as God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Like John, we’ve each been given a mission.

Returning to John, our text explains that “he will also go before Him” (vs. 17). Who is this “Him” that John is to precede. The immediate context suggests that it is “the Lord their God” (vs. 16). The end of our passage supports this: John is to prepare the people “for the Lord”. Furthermore, we see this in the Old Testament prophecy that the Angel applies to John,

“Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5-6a)

That “Him” who John is to precede and prepare the people for is none other than God, the mighty LORD of the Hebrew Scriptures. In a special and real way, God is coming! Now we are reading about angels, priests, and prophets, but soon we'll be reading about God Himself. This is the most incredible news.