5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain Priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : and his wife was of the daugh- ters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the com- mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 And they had no child, because that Elisabem was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
S And it came to pass, that while he executed the Priest's ofSice before
God in the order of his course,
9 According to the custom of the Priest's office, his lot was to bum in- cense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And when Zacharias saw Atm, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
The first event recorded in St« Luke's Gospel, is the sudden apppearance of an angel to a Jewish priest, named Zacharias. The angel announces to him that a son is about to be bom to him, by a miraculous interpo- sition, and that this son is to be the forerunner of the long-promised Messiah. The word of God had plainly foretold that when Messiah came, some one would go before Him to prepare His way. (Malachi iii. 1.) The wisdom of God provided that when this forerunner ap- peared, he should be bom in the family of a priest.
We can form very little idea, at this period of the world, of the immense importance of this angel's an- nouncement. To the mind of a pious Jew, it must have been glad tidings of great joy. It was the first commu- nication from God to Israel since the days of Malachi^
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