Zach-a-ri-as ex-e-cut - ed the priest's office, his lot was to burn in-cense, when he went in-to the tem-ple of the Lord. And the whole mul-ti-tude of the peo-ple were pray-ing with-out, at the time of in-cense. And there ap-pear-ed un-to him an an-gel of the Lord stand-ing on the right side of the al-tar of in-cense. And when Zacha-ri-as saw him he was troubl-ed, and fear fell up-on him. But the an-gel said un-to him, "Fear not, Zach-a-ri-as, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife E-lis-a-beth shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and glad-ness: and ma-ny shall re-joice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink nei-ther wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Ho-ly Ghost, e-ven from his birth. And ma-ny of the chil-dren of Is-ra-el shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go be-fore the Lord in the spi-rit and pow-er of E-li-as, to turn the hearts of the fa-thers to the chil-dren, and the dis-o-bedient to the wis-dom of the just, to make rea-dy a peo-ple pre-par-ed for the Lord." QUESTIONS. Who was Herod ? The king of Judea. What was Judea? The country where the Jews lived. Who were the Jews? God's own people. Of whom besides have you been reading? Of Zacharias and Elisabeth. Who was Zacharias ? A priest. What do you mean by a priest? A minister of God. What was the office of the priests? To serve in the temple? What was the temple? God's house at Jerusalem. What was Jerusalem ? The largest town in Judea, the country where the Jews, God's people, lived. What was incense? A sweet perfume God had ordered to be burnt every morning and evening in the temple. What was the son of Zacharias to be called? John. What was he to do? To give notice of Christ's coming to the Jews. And what besides? To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. What does that mean? To cause people to lay aside all disputes and quarrels, repent of sin, and follow holi ness. You have now begun the gospel of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ: the meaning of the word gospel is, glad tidings or good news. It tells us the history of Jesus Christ coming into the world, of his living and dying to save us from our sins, which is the most joyful news that was ever told. Remember that it is God's own word that you have been reading, you must therefore try to understand the meaning of it, and pray to your heavenly Father to give you grace to learn His will, and do it. You have read to-day about Zacharias and Elisabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, who was sent by God to " prepare the way of the Lord," to tell the Jews that Christ, the Saviour, was coming. The Jews were God's own people : all the rest of mankind were called Gentiles and were heathens. They had not the blessing of knowing the true God as you have. Zacharias and Elisabeth were righteous before God. Let us try to follow their example, and then, like them, we may hope for the blessing of God, and though we must not now expect angels to come to us from heaven, we shall have God's Holy Spirit to help and comfort us and give us that peace of mind which the scripture tells us, "passeth all understanding," and which the world can neither give nor take away. Joy to the house of Israel now, The Saviour soon will come, but sends His messenger before; Doth fill him with the Holy Ghost, And with Elijah's power. Faithful and honoured shall he be, And many sons of Israel, Shall turn to serve the Lord. |