“Both were righteous in God’s sight, living without blame according to all the commands and requirements of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth could not conceive, and both of them were well along in years.”
Luke 1:6-7 CSB
Zechariah and Elizabeth are the parents of the one who will be filled with the Holy Spirit in utero, go in the spirit and power of Elijah, and prepare the way of the Lord. He will be named John according to instructions from an angel and called the Baptizer. He will baptize Jesus and testify to people that Jesus is the Lamb and Son of God.
And these marvelous things will start with… childlessness and an inability to conceive—and these realities when both Zechariah and Elizabeth, both well along in years.
Advent, being about coming and arrival and second coming, is also about…waiting. And, being well along in years, Zechariah and Elizabeth apparently waited for many years. And they seem to wait with great character and integrity for the text also says they were “living without blame according to all the commands and requirements of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).
Are we in seasons of waiting? Seasons that seem marked by forms of barrenness, ineffectiveness, or futility? Let us persevere with integrity. Let us believe that if our Lord can work through Zechariah and Elizabeth in ways similar to how He worked through Abram and Sarai, He can also continue His miracles in us at any time.