18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” 19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”

21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realised from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary. 23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. 24 Soon afterwards his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” Luke 1:18-25 New Living Translation.

How honest the Bible is! In fiction books heroes are usually brave and don’t make many mistakes. But Luke tells us that, even though he’d just met with an angel, Zechariah had his doubts and, because he and his wife were now old, he didn’t believe the message that God would give them a baby. So what gentle ‘punishment’ did the angel announce in vs 20 for Zechariah’s unbelief?

We will see later in the chapter that Zechariah does get his voice back again but, meanwhile, is there perhaps a question here for us to ponder? The question is: What part does believing God’s message play in whether we see His promises fulfilled or not, or whether our lives are useful or not?

Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 9 vs 11 about faith. He says: “If you openly declare (i.e. confess) that Jesus is Lord . . . and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead . . . you will be saved! For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God . . . and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved . . . for, as the Scriptures say, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced’.”

It seems that real faith in our heart will be shown by the words we speak. In 2 Corinthians 4:13 Paul said: “We continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, ‘I believed in God, so I spoke’.” What does all this mean when it comes to speaking to other people about God’s message concerning Jesus Christ?

Depending on who we are talking to, or the company we are in, are we sometimes a bit embarrassed to openly say that we believe in Jesus Christ, and that we’ve called on Him to be our Saviour and Lord? Do we have doubts that God could use us to be the person to reach out to a sceptical friend, workmate, or even a member of our family circle? Of course, if we happen to be someone who’s never believed the message of salvation ourselves and confessed Christ as Saviour, then we have nothing to tell.

We’ve not seen an angel, but we have the reliable testimony of the disciples that Jesus rose again and is alive today. Let us be bold enough then to let people know that we truly believe that Jesus is Lord, and that He will return again one day, and that there will be a final judgement. These are things we must not keep silent about.