”In the days of Herod, king I of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.“
Luke 1:5-14, 18-23 ESV
One man. Only one. One man entered. That was the law of God.
”Aaron shall burn sweet and fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims and tends the lamps. When Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.“
Exodus 30:7-8 AMP
And thus God’s ritual of burning the incense in the Tabernacle of God began. Aaron the first priest went in by himself to keep the sweet and fragrant incense burning perpetually throughout the generations. As the incense cloud rose Aaron watched and from the camp outside he could hear the prayers of the children of Israel. The incense would rise higher and higher, and Aaron knew that cloud carried those prayers into the very throne room of God.
Thousands of years later after that first incense flowed upward to Adonai, Zechariah, a priest of the house of Abijah was chosen to be THE ONE to tend to the incense. According to research, priests were divided into 24 groups. Zechariah was of the division of Abijah. Each division served for a week twice a year. Each day about 50 priests would have been on duty. Tending to the incense was a huge honor and since there were so many priests, no priest was allowed to serve as the officiating priest more than once in his lifetime.
Now I’m no statistician and I’m not even going to try the calculation to determine Zechariah’s odds to be the officiating priest on the exact day and exact timing that Gabriel would show up. But I do know the odds are astronomical.
So why him, and why now? God had an appointment with this aged priest and it wasn’t going to be a day sooner or a minute longer because it was God’s appointed time. This moment would be God’s answer to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers. This prayer had been prayed for years and decades, and probably from the moment they first said, “I do,” under the wedding tent so long ago, “Adonai, please hear us when we pray. We would love to hold a baby in our arms.” Days went by which turned into years and then turned into decades. But on this day, when Elizabeth was beyond child bearing age, God was going to answer their prayer and He sent Gabriel with a message. Their prayers had risen with the incense. God had heard their pleas. A child would be born to this barren couple. And not just any child. This child would prepare the way for Israel’s Messiah and all mankind’s Savior.
One prayer prayed a thousand times throughout a lifetime. We think Adonai is not listening because the answer is so long in coming, but this is our promise:
”I love the Lord, because He hears [and continues to hear] My voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs). Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.“
Psalms 116:1-2 AMP