Luke 1:7 Commentary and Bible Study

But they had no child for Elisabeth was barren. They were now both elderly, at the time of life when naturally speaking it becomes hard or impossible for a couple to conceive, and yet this was going to be the time that God worked. He knew what he was going to do. He chooses the unlikely, and causes the disadvantaged to have far more than those who seem to have all in their favour. Like Abraham and Sarah, the joy of a child was going to come in old age. This barrenness and the removal of it was to make them appreciate the child when he came all the more, and he was to be a child, like Samuel, dedicated to the Lord. Elisabeth was well aware that God had given her this child and overcome her bodily limitation to provide one who, according to the Lord Jesus, was to be the greatest of all prophets.They must have prayed for many years for a child, but by now perhaps they had given up hope and believed that it would never be, and that it was God’s will that they should go through life without children. This is evident from Zacharias’ unbelieving response to the message of the angel Gabriel. He did not believe, because he had convinced himself that it would never be. His hope had been reduced to nothing.