1 | So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, |
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2 | using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. |
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3 | Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, |
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4 | so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught. |
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5 | During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. |
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6 | Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. |
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7 | But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old. |
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8 | It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, |
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9 | it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. |
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10 | The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. |
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11 | Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. |
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12 | Zachariah was paralyzed in fear. |
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13 | But the angel reassured him, "Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. |
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14 | You're going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you--many will delight in his birth. |
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15 | He'll achieve great stature with God. "He'll drink neither wine nor beer. He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother's womb. |
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16 | He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. |
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17 | He will herald God's arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics--he'll get the people ready for God." |
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18 | Zachariah said to the angel, "Do you expect me to believe this? I'm an old man and my wife is an old woman." |
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19 | But the angel said, "I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. |
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20 | But because you won't believe me, you'll be unable to say a word until the day of your son's birth. Every word I've spoken to you will come true on time--God's time." |
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21 | Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. |
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22 | When he came out and couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people. |
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23 | When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home.[ |
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24 | It wasn't long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. |
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25 | "So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!" she said. |
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26 | In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth |
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27 | to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. |
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28 | Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. |
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29 | She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. |
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30 | But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: |
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31 | You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. |
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32 | He will be great, be called 'Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; |
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33 | He will rule Jacob's house forever-- no end, ever, to his kingdom." |
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34 | Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man." |
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35 | The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. |
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36 | "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months' pregnant! |
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37 | Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." |
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38 | And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her. |
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39 | Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, |
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40 | straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. |
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41 | When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, |
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42 | and sang out exuberantly, You're so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed! |
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43 | And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me? |
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44 | The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, The babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. |
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45 | Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true! |
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46 | And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news; |
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47 | I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. |
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48 | God took one good look at me, and look what happened-- I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, |
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49 | the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. |
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50 | His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. |
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51 | He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. |
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52 | He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. |
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53 | The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. |
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54 | He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. |
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55 | It's exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now. |
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56 | Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home. |
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57 | When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. |
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58 | Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her. |
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59 | On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. |
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60 | But his mother intervened: "No. He is to be called John." |
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61 | "But," they said, "no one in your family is named that." |
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62 | They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named. |
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63 | Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, "His name is to be John." That took everyone by surprise. |
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64 | Surprise followed surprise--Zachariah's mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God! |
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65 | A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. |
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66 | Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, "What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this." |
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67 | Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, |
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68 | Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free. |
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69 | He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant, |
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70 | Just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets: |
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71 | Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand; |
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72 | Mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he'd do, |
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73 | What he swore to our father Abraham-- |
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74 | a clean rescue from the enemy camp, So we can worship him without a care in the world, |
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75 | made holy before him as long as we live. |
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76 | And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest," will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways, |
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77 | Present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins. |
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78 | Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God's Sunrise will break in upon us, |
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79 | Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. |
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80 | The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel. |
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