The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 41

sin, nnd thus prepo.re them for the advent of the Saviour. No father ever got a more mngnificent future laid before hie son. 'fhe ang-,1 sketched a destiny which was fitted to make the old priest glad. v. UNBELIEF' INBIBTING ON .l FURTHER SIGN. The appearance of Gahriel, the trans- parent honesty of his words, the holy place, the whole circumstance of the vision, oncrht to hn.ve assured Zacharias and rebuked his unbelief. Here, after fonr hundred year; of silence, o. message hns come again from God; and surely it should have been believed. But no I Zo.chnrias asks for a further sign. Has he forgotten Abraham and Sarah ? Iln.s he forgotten Isaac and Rebecca? Surely the priest, though aged and with an aged wife, had every renson to believe the angel-brought promise of his God? Hie unbelief was criminal. He deserves o. chastisement. The demand for miracles at the present day ie on the part of some just as unreasonable. Unless some additional sign is granted, then faith will be withheld. There is a scepticism which deserves chastise- ment instead of sympathy or encouragement. .A.nd Zacharias is struck dumb. He is doomed to speechlessness for the most of a year. His dumbness was to be a sign of his unbelief o.nd a pure judgment from God. We may compare his case with that of the man born blind (John ix. 2, etc.). In this case the deprivation was to be the basis of Divine mercy; in the case of Zacharias it was a clear note of Divine displeasure. Yet with judgment there is mixed mercy. He is promised a release on the day of the birth of John. For God's "anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. xxx. 5). VI. THE PATIENT WORSHIPPERS AND THE DUMB PRIEST. 'l'he burning of incense occupied usually a certain length of time. But Zacharias tarries long beyond this. The people wait, but marvel as they wait. They wish his benediction. But when he at length appears, he can only µiake signs to them, and dismiss them without a word. And yet a sign is there for them. They see that a vision has been vouch~afed in the temple. If the priest is silent, it is because God has spoken. Better that man should be dumb before God, than that Heaven should be silent for ever! Zacharias's judgment !s to the people a merciful sign. The week of temple-work was no sooner over than he went home to his house in the hill-country of J udrea. His affliction must have been very painful and humiliating. He would be regarded by his friends as one " smitten of the Lord." But in due season the mercy and grace of God are realized in the Baptist~ conception. If Zacharias mourned over his unbelief and its chastisement, Elisabeth was enabled to rejoice ov<;r her good fortune and the removal of her reproach. We have thus gone over the announcement of a great man's advent. .A.re not the truly great the gracious gifts of God? They should be called "John," as indicating whence the true heroes come, and to whom we should ascribe the blessing of their lives. A recent writer says that society has progressed mainly through a succession of great men, and he adds," Society makes only so much of the 3reat man as goes to the composition of the average man, leaving an overplus which is not to be put to the credit of society or previous human acquisition, but which is a gift from nature--from the Unknown. It makes all of the great man except his special genius, which is afterwards to improve society." 1 If in this quotation we substitute for "nature," nature's God, we shall have the true idea. Great men are God's gifts, and though the world may, as in this case, misuse nnd murder them, they confer, through confession and martyrdom, incalculable blessing upon the race. It is only right for us to recognize in God the Source of great souls, an<l to use them for his glory.-R. M. E. Vera. 26-38.-" The Beginning of the creation of God." We now enter upon another announcement, more wonderful still than that about John. It is the announcement about the advent of him who is indeed" the Beginning of the creation of God" (Re'>. iii. 14). .A. deeper interest should gather round it than attaches to the beginning of the material universe. Both begin in mystery, but happily we see the mystery by the eye of faith safely lodged in the hand of God. Genesis gives to us the mysterious origin of the ordinary creation, and I.tuke gives to us the mysterious origin of the extraordinnry creation of which Jesus is the real Head. I. WE SHALL NOTIOE THE BOENE OF THIS ANGEL-VISIT. We saw Gabriel last in the temple, holrling intercourse beyonrl the first veil with Zacharias aa ho of'ered the 1 Uroliam'a 'Cn'(.J of Science,' pp. 66, 67. 32 THE GOSrEL ACCOnDING TO ST. LUKE. [oR. 1. 1-80.