Day 6

Luke 1:57–66 (NIV)

⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. ⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” ⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

After over 9 months of not hearing or being able to talk Zechariah first thing to do is praise God. Why?

Do you share the joy of God? Thank God for the joy you have because of what He has done in your life.

In vs 64 how is Zechariah's mouth being opened and loosed a metaphor of what God does through His salvation?

Notes

the birth is a celebration. just like today friends and family are around

vs 58 shown her great mercy - this birth is more interesting than others b/c of the age of Elizabeth . God must be at work.

Sharing of joy- thought: joy can be shared w/out diminishing the joy of those immediately involved (in this case Elizabeth). In fact the sharing of the joy may even add to their joy. It is not like a item that has to be split up to be shared. The things of God do not diminish but grow when shared. We see this in the rest of the story. The wonder of what God is doing grows as it is shared

vs 59 Name the child after Zechariah- normal thing to do was to name the child after the grandfather but not unusual to name after father(NIGTC)

Elizabeth strong in her desire to name him John . Why? sure that Zech had expressed to her the name the angel had said in the 9 months that had passed even being deaf and mute

vs 62 They go to Zech b/c Elizabeth's naming is so unusual. Shows the lack of weight women had in society.

Having to make signs to him shows that Zech was deaf and mute

vs 63 astonished- was it b/c they could not believe the couple would not use a family name or that both Elizabeth and Zechariah would come up with the same name?

vs 64 Zechariah’s ability to speak makes the neighbors and family realize that this is truly a work of God

After being unable to speak for at least 9 months it is interesting His first words are praise

Opened, loosed - the giving of freedom , removing the bondage of sin. It is what the gospel story is all about (see vs 51-54, Luke 4:18-19) When the bondage is broken praise of God should result!

vs 65 Filled with awe, talking about what happened, - God is at work and the people see it

vs 66 No doubt based on the story that God had great plans for this child. Note the character of the parents effects the belief in the story. (vs 6)