Zechariah was chosen by lot to enter the temple. That doesn’t mean he got the job by chance. That means the Lord chose him. The Lord wanted to get him alone. He had a message for him. The message was “Your prayer has been heard.”

Had Zechariah just uttered a desperate prayer for his too-old-to-have-kids wife to conceive, as Sarah had, in her old age? Or was God responding to a prayer from decades earlier?

Even if Zechariah had just prayed, he certainly prayed decades earlier for a son. He hadn’t gotten an answer.

God had heard. He was waiting for this moment. God has a timing, a perfect timing for everything. There’s a time and place for everything. God knows what it is.

Zechariah is promised not only a son but joy and gladness and rejoicing. There was no fear of Elizabeth dying giving birth, even in her old age. This was going to be a time of rejoicing.

He is also promised that John will be great before the Lord. He will be an outcast before men, living a life set apart, but that’s what God wants from His children, lives set apart to Him.

Yet another promise is that this child will be filled with the Holy Spirit from before he’s even born. What a promise! John will bounce in the womb when he hears Mary’s voice. That was a Holy Spirit leap for joy.

There is another amazing promise that John will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord. Wouldn’t you like to know that your chosen place in the kingdom was bringing many with you into it?

Part of the promise is that John will make a people prepared for the Lord.

Are you ready for Christ’s return? Are you getting others ready? He is coming as judge and righteous ruler. The Lord wants His people prepared.