When Herod was the king of Judaea, there was a high priest named Zacharias. A high priest was a special person from the tribe of Levi that worked in the temple of God. His wife was called Elisabeth. They were both righteous before God, keeping all of the commandments and ordinances of God blamelessly, but they had no child. Elisabeth was considered barren. But the greater concern was that they were both very old and even past the age of having children.

Now while Zacharias was doing the duties of a priest in the temple, a large number of people were gathering outside to pray. Zacharias’ duty was to burn incense while prayers were being offered. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias standing on the right side of the altar. This meant that the angel came in favor of Zacharias, but when Zacharias saw him, Zacharias became scared and fearful. With the angel seeing the reaction of Zacharias, the angel said to him, “Fear not Zacharias. Your prayers have been heard and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and you will call your son John. You will be joyful and glad and many will rejoice at his birth because he shall be great in the sight of God. He shall not drink wine or strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many in Israel will turn to God because of him. He shall go in the spirit and in the power of Elijah, which means that just how Elijah preached years ago your son is going to preach. Your son will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, turning those that do not obey to the wisdom of the just, and prepare people to meet God.”

Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this? It is not possible. I am old and my wife is beyond the time for having children.”

The angel answered, “I am Gabriel who stands before God, who was sent to speak to you, and to show you these glad things. Now you will be dumb and not be able to speak until what I have told you actually happens because you did not believe my words, which will happen at the right time.”

Now the people were waiting outside for Zacharias and wondered why it took Zacharias so long in the temple, but when he came out, he could not speak to them. They then thought that Zacharias had seen a vision while he was in the temple. Zacharias tried to talk to them, but he was speechless. All that he could do was make motions with his hands and his face to show them what had happened.

Now as soon as Zacharias’ work was completed, he went to his own house to tell his wife. Then after those days, Zacharias’ wife Elisabeth conceived a child. She then kept herself from the public by staying home for five months saying, “This is what the Lord has done to me. He took away my inability to have children, and now we are going to have a child.”

And a child they will have when the time is right.

PARENTS: Young children love repetition and so they will love to hear this story over and over again. We did our best to include something for all ages so where necessary, please assist your child or adjust it to make it more their level.

Luke 1:9 “According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.”

MATCHING: For each item in the first column, write in the letter for the description from the second column.

___ 1. Angel (Gabriel) ___ 2. Elijah (Elias) ___ 3. Elisabeth ___ 4. Herod ___ 5. Many of the Children of Israel ___ 6. Multitude of People ___ 7. Zacharias

A. Who had the temple duty of burning incense? B. Who offered prayers? C. Who said that a son would be born? D. Who was going to be the mother of the child to be born? E. Who was King of Judaea? F. Who will turn to the Lord their God? G. Whose spirit and power was the son to have?

[Answers to December 2001 matching: 1=B, 2=F, 3=E, 4=D, 5=G, 6=A, 7=C]

CRYPTIC: Each letter represents a different letter to make a real word. Replace the letter consistently in each word to reveal the verse being quoted. (Hint - the verse is from the cover story.)

Z Y X	W V U T U	Z S S U Z T U X		R Y W Q	V P O	Z Y
__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __		__ __ __ __	__ __ __	__ __
.
.
Z Y N U M	Q L	W V U	M Q T X	K W Z Y X P Y N		Q Y
__ __ __ __ __	__ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __		__ __
.
.
W V U	T P N V W	K P X U	Q L	W V U	Z M W Z T	Q L
__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __	__ __	__ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __
.
.
P Y J U Y K U.
__ __ __ __ __ __ __

[Answers to December 2001 cryptic: Each letter in the puzzle stood the place of a real letter as follows: Z=A, Y=N, X=D, W=I, V=S, U=C, T=B, S=R, R=O, Q=U, P=G, O=H, N=T, M=E, L=M, K=W, J=K, I=F, H=L, G=V. The Bible verse was: Genesis 24:67 “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her”.]

UNSCRAMBLE: Rearrange the letters in the following words to reveal the Bible word. (Hint - the words are from the verses in the cover story.)

E D H O R	R E T I S P	C E E I N N S	A G I N P R Y
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
A E G L N	R S T I I P	A E H R S T	B D M U
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __
.
.
B C D E E K N O	A E K P S	E O P R W	A D E G L N S S
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
.
.
A A L R T	E E M L P T	A B E N R R	A A D E J U
__ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __	__ __ __ __ __ __

[Answers to December 2001 unscramble: row 1- BLESSED, SWEAR, DRINK; row 2 - CAMELS, SERVANT, WATER; row 3 - PITCHER, REBEKAH, LABAN; row 4 - ERRAND, BETHUEL, ISAAC]

APPLICATIONS FROM THE COVER STORY: Zacharias and his wife wanting children and yet unable to have children until God granted a son shows that we need not question why certain things in our lives do not go as we think they should. We need to be content and trust that God’s overall will is done.

The fact that Zacharias had a specific duty to perform shows that each of us with our duties need to carry them out rightly and timely for they are not only assigned by parents but by God.

The angel told Zacharias that his prayer was heard or that it would now be responded to because it fits into God’s plans. This shows that even though it does not seem that our prayers are answered, we need to continue to ask God in prayer and ask ourselves if this is good for God’s overall kingdom and not just for ourselves. That even includes when more than one person is praying for the same thing as Zacharias’ wife did.

The declaration of the angel regarding the unborn child is a declaration that can be applied to all of God’s children. To watch what food and drink enters the body as well as to determine God’s purpose for our lives is something that we all can take part in.

When Elisabeth said, “This is what the Lord has done to me. He took away my inability to have children, and now we are going to have a child”, she was giving all credit to God. In everything we receive, even the smallest things, we ought to realize that God is who granted it.

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