Study of All 4 Gospels At The Same Time Post 2

The Annunciation to Zacharis about John the Baptist.  This story is found in Luke 1: 5 - 25.  Verse 5 of Luke gives you a lot of information, if you read carefully.  Luke tells you that Zacharis is of the house of Aaron, and through Abijah, he is related to Aaron.  The importance of this information will become clear later.  Luke goes on to say that Zacharis' wife is also of the house of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.  This couple walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.  Luke is telling you that this couple were God-Fearing people.  Luke states that they had no children and were advanced in age.  Verse 8 says that Zacharis was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.  This verse likewise is full of information.  The above information would make Zacharis part of the group of Levites to be the High Priest.  The Temple needed a large group of High Priests to operate the Temple and Officiate at each Sacrifice.  Levites did not own any property, and were to be scattered throughout Israel,  Since the number of Aaron's offspring were very large, they were broken into 24 subgroups and each of the subgroups would have to serve in the Temple twice a year.  Even these subgroups were still too large to serve in Temple during the Sacrifice's.  This is why they were picked by lot to serve for each service.  Luke said Zacharis was picked to burn incense.  This information tells you what time of year this was.  The High Priest could only enter the Temple to burn incense once a year, during "Yom Kipur", the feast of atonement.  This is a very Holy Day to the Jews, it is the day they come to the Temple, to have all their sins from the previous year covered.  The reason for this feast, will become more evident later in this study.  While Zacharis was in the "Holy Place" on his way to the "Holy of Holies" an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, he and his wife would have a child.  The angel told Zacharis, he was to name his son "John".  The angel went on to say that John could not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be full of the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  The angel prophesied that John would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him (God) in the spirit of Elijah.  If you look at Malachi 4: 5, the prophet said that God would send Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord.
After Zacharis heard all these things, he said to the angel, "How shall I know this?"  For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."  The angel answered him and said, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.  Then Gabriel told Zacharis, that since he did not believe my words, you will be silent until all these things take place. 
Remember, Zacharis is in the Temple on his way to the "Holy of Holies" to offer the yearly sin offering to the Lord on the "Mercy Seat".  After doing so he is to go out of the Temple and address the crowd, telling them that the Lord has accepted their Sacrifice.  Zacharis went into the Temple being able to speak, but when he comes out, he could not say anything.  The people are waiting for his Blessing from the Lord, and Zacharis could not say anything.  The people left bewildered about what had just happened.
Zacharis had time to totally absorb what the Angel Gabriel had told him, in his silence.  Zacharis, being a High Priest had access to the Library in the Temple that had copies of all the books and sacred writings available at that time.  This put Zacharis in the position to train his son John in all the ways of the Lord.  This information is vital in order for John to fulfill his coming role, as the herald for the coming Messiah.  See how God plans every detail no matter how minute to fulfill His Word.