Luke 1:10

Zechariah the prophet was the last of the Old Testament that was conversant with angels, and Zacharias the priest the first in the New Testament. How Zacharias was employed in the service of God (

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And the whole multitude of the people were praying without,....

But, when he was compassing the altar, the incense could not be accepted without prayer, any more than the shell without the kernel. (3.) That is not enough for us to be where God is worshipped, if our hearts do not join in the worship, and go along with the minister, in all the parts of it.

This again was a symbol of the "living sacrifice" of themselves and their services offered daily to God by the worshippers. Hence the language of Ps 141:2; But that the acceptance of this daily offering depended on the expiatory virtue presupposed in the burnt offering, and pointing to the one "sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savor" (Eph 5:2), is evident from Isa 6:6, 7.

The first event recorded in Luke's Gospel, is the sudden appearance of an angel to a Jewish priest named Zachariah. The angel announces to him that a son is about to be born to him, by a miraculous interposition — 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 — someone would go before him to prepare his way. (Malachi 3:1.) The wisdom of God provided that when this forerunner appeared, he would be born in the family of a priest.

The first event recorded in Luke's Gospel, is the sudden appearance of an angel to a Jewish priest named Zachariah. The angel announces to him that a son is about to be born to him, by a miraculous interposition — 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 — someone would go before him to prepare his way. (Malachi 3:1.) The wisdom of God provided that when this forerunner appeared, he would be born 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 announcement. To the mind of a pious Jew, it must have been glad tidings of great joy. It was the first communication from God to Israel since the days of Malachi. It broke the long silence of four hundred years. It told the believing Israelite that the prophetic weeks of Daniel were at length fulfilled, (Daniel 9:25) — that God's choicest promise was at length going to be accomplished — and that "the seed" was about to appear in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. (Genesis 22:18.) We must place ourselves in imagination, in the position of Zachariah — in order to give the verses before us their due weight. Let us mark, for one thing, in this passage — the noble testimony which is borne to the character of Zachariah and Elizabeth. We are told that they were "both righteous before God," and that "they walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." It matters little whether we interpret this "righteousness" as that which is imputed to all believers for their justification — or that which is wrought inwardly in believers by the operation of the Holy Spirit, for their sanctification . The two sorts of righteousness are never disjoined.

The whole multitude - This was the regular time of evening prayer, and multitudes came up to the temple to worship. Praying without - That is, in the courts around the temple, particularly in the court of the women.