Amazing Arrival

Even today, giving birth to a child in old age is unusual.

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, "No; he is to be called John." They said to her, "None of your relatives has this name." Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. - Luke 1:57-66

According to one source, Elizabeth was 88 when John was born.  That's amazing, if not unbelievable.

If a woman today gives birth in her fifties, we consider that a miracle, so imagine what the people in Elizabeth's day thought.

Surely God played a part in this.  That is what they must have come to realize, since it would take a miracle for people to believe God was involved.

In a way, the birth of John may have seemed more amazing than the birth of Jesus, since Mary was a young woman and no one knew her story.

How could you miss a pregnant woman in her eighties?

At a time when people lived into their forties and not much longer, we may assume the age is exaggerated, but it is clear she was of an age at which no one would expect her to be able to give birth. 

So, the birth of John starts out in an unusual way, and his life takes on unusual qualities.

It is believed he was quite young when his mother died, and we know he lived in the wilderness, so he was a bit of a renegade even in his day.

If God wanted to grab the world's attention, what better way than this?

No wonder people came from all around to see and hear John.

This was God's way of heralding in the arrival of the Messiah.

Not at all what people expected.

More to come...