Many shall rejoice at his birth
An ideal child
Could some parents foresee how wicked some of their children would become, instead of rejoicing, they would grieve at their birth; they would wish they had never been born.
John, however, was to be a great comfort and honour to his parents. And many besides of their acquaintances, and of the people at large, were to rejoice when they should see that the circumstance of his birth, and of his early life, prognosticated that he was to become a public blessing. Four leading particulars are mentioned, on account of which men should rejoice.
1. His eminence in wisdom and piety. “Great in the sight of the Lord.” A holy and devoted servant of God, and preacher of righteousness.
2. His unworldliness. A Nazarite (Numbers 6:1-27.). Not only the ministers, but all the people of God, should abstain from sin, be temperate in all things, superior to earthly pleasures and cares, and a peculiar people in all respects, distinguished from men of the world.
3. His spiritual-mindedness. Conceived in sin like others, yet “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” Argument in favour of infant baptism: born in sin, and capable of regeneration, why should they not be admitted to the sacrament? Happy they who are indeed filled with the Holy Ghost and sanctified from infancy! They never know what it is to have a mind altogether dark, or a heart altogether depraved. They cannot remember the time when there was not in them a prevalent tendency to what is good.
4. His usefulness. Resembling Elijah
(a) in the bent of his mind;
(b) in the success of his ministry. (James Foote, M. A.)
Prophetic description of the Baptist
Here the angel declares to Zachary, what kind of son should be born unto him, even one of eminent endowments, and designed for extraordinary services. The proof of children makes them either the blessings or crosses of their parents. What greater comfort could Zachary desire in a child, than is here promised to him?
1. He hears of a son that should bring joy, to himself and many others; even to all who expected the coming of the Messiah, whose forerunner the Baptist was.
2. That he should be great in the sight of the Lord: that is, a person of great eminence and great usefulness in the Church. A person of great riches and reputation is great in the sight of men; but the man of great ability and usefulness, integrity and serviceableness, is truly great in the sight of the Lord. They are little men in the sight of the Lord, who live in the world to little purpose; who do little service to God, and bring little honour and glory to Him.
3. It is foretold that he should drink neither wine nor strong drink; that is, he should be a very temperate and abstemious person, living after the manner of the Nazarites, though he was not separated by any vow of his own, or his parents, but by the special designation and appointment of God only. It was forbidden the priests under the law to drink either wine or strong drink, upon pain of death, during the time of their ministration Leviticus 10:9). And the ministers of Christ under the gospel are forbidden to be lovers of wine (1 Timothy 3:3).
4. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb; that is, he shall be furnished abundantly with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, which shall very early appear to be in him, and upon him.
5. His high and honourable office is declared; that he should go before the Messiah, as His harbinger and forerunner, with the same spirit and zeal and courage against sin, which was found in the old prophet Elias, whom he so nearly resembled.
6. The great success of his ministry is foretold; that he should “ turn the hearts of the fathers,” &c. (W. Burkitt, M. A.)
Social joys
There is a joy which overflows the domestic goblet, and goes out to make strangers glad. Every life ought to be a social bless-rag. The religious man always is so--necessarily, because he does not live unto himself. (Dr. Parker.)
Useful lives
How many I could quote to whose labours we owe the precious discoveries which daily add to our welfare and our comfort! Who has not rejoiced at the birth of him who discovered the art, at once so wonderful, and so easy, of printing. What an agent of progress that man has been, and what treasures of knowledge he has helped to spread all over the world. And which of us, when hurried along at full speed over some of our railways towards those we love, or on a pleasant trip to some beautiful country, has not blessed the memory of Papin, the unlucky inventor of the steam engine, who suffered so much for the sake of science. (A. Decoppel.)