The Importance of a Name – Luke 1:13

Such a day of contrasts it proved to be!  On the one hand, Zacharias was faithfully discharging his duties as priest that day, offering incense upon the altar in the Holy Place at the Temple.  Nothing much seemed different about the day, nothing extraordinary had happened as he carefully did what countless other priests had done for so long.  In fact, for hundreds of years this practice had been maintained by the Levitical priesthood without any audible or visible presence from heaven at all.  These years had been known as the “silent years,” time during which the Lord God had not answered the petitions of the Israelites, whether by the voice of a prophet or by any supernatural manifestation of His presence and power. Read more