Zacharias was righteous and blameless
Luke 1:15-17. All that we know of Zacharias has been recorded in Luke chapter 1. This is a priestly gospel, beginning and ending in the temple, and in these early verses Zacharias, a priest, is burning incense at the golden altar. He is introducing a fragrance which will pervade all the pages that will follow. It has often been said that Zacharias was a priest both morally and officially. What he was in the temple, he was also in his home, a righteous man who walked obediently, prayed constantly, and served faithfully. Israel’s large priesthood was divided into twenty-four courses. Each course ministered twice in the year. According to the historian JOSEPHUS there were then twenty thousand officiating priests in the land and an individual priest might expect to minister at the golden altar only once in his lifetime. This then was a great occasion for Zacharias, and indeed it was to be greater still. This good man was to be privileged to hear the very voice of heaven after four hu...