Today I flew to Dallas, TX for a three day seminar on Self Storage Investing. What is super cool is that I am able to share this time with one of the special men of God I get the pleasure of serving with.
After an uneventful flight and Lyft ride, I checked into our hotel room and settled before R arrived. We then proceeded to sit up and talk for three hours before turning in. What a special treat and our discussions did not disappoint. Just a foreshadowing of several more evenings to come.
Luke 1:5-9 [AMP]
In the days when Herod was king of Judea there was a certain priest whose name was Zachariah,of the daily service (the division) of Abia; and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
And they both were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.
But they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren; and both werefar advanced in years.
Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,
As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter [thesanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
Today was the start of Luke’s coverage of the conception of John the Baptist. Luke introduces Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth. I learned some interesting things from studying up a bit on this couple. Both were of the lineage of Aaron (the first High Priest). Zachariah needed to be of priestly lineage in order to hold a Priest position and had to marry an Israelite virgin to hold to Jewish law; however Elizabeth was a Priest’s daughter so for a Priest like Zachariah to marry a Priests daughter was a special blessing.
Secondly, Zachariah had drawn lots and was selected to be the Priest with the privilege of burning incense on the incense altar in the Holy Temple. What I learned is that a Priest could only perform this once in their lifetime and in some cases (because there were many Priests) a Priest may never get the opportunity. So, this occasion was super special for Zachariah and God chose this moment to send an angel to tell Zachariah the he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son and they would call him John (God is favorable). One, Elizabeth was barren and two, because it was expected for priests to have children to carry the traditions, this couple had prayed for God to give them children.
Now here we have God, using the most special day in this priest’s life, to tell him he would have a son. Not just any sim, but the sim who would go before and prepare the way for the Messiah!