The Life of Jesus #2
Hi, my cute nephews and nieces! ๐
This time let’s talk about how Zechariah met Gabriel. Zechariah heard the news of the birth of John the Baptist through the angel, Gabriel. There are commons between the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus.
- Both were born by God’s grace in the impossible circumstances.
- Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist was too old to have a baby.
- Maria, the mother of Jesus was a virgin who didn’t know man at all.
2. Angel came to them and announced they would be pregnant.
- Gabriel told Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist.
- Gabrial told Maria about the birth of Jesus.
3. God gave the names of John the Baptist and Jesus.
- At that time, it was common in Israel society to name a son after his father or grandfather. But John and Jesus got the name God gave them.
Now that we’ve talked about commonalities, shall we take a look at how Zechariah met an angel first?
The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
Luke 1:8-25
8 Once when Zechariahโs division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: โDo not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
…
18 Zechariah asked the angel, โHow can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.โ
19 The angel said to him, โI am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.โ
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.
25 โThe Lord has done this for me,โ she said. โIn these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.โ
You could read the moment Zechariah met Gabriel, Zechariah was serving before God for the duty of the priest. He was burning incense in the temple of the Lord. The moment the priest entered the sanctuary was the moment the priest was alone. As soon as he was praying alone, an angel appeared on the right side of the incense altar, and someone suddenly appeared in a space where no one could be with him, so how surprised Zechariah must have been. Then the angel tells him not to be afraid and he will give birth to John through Elizabeth.
Imagine this moment. The sanctuary was hidden by the insignia, and only the candle of the lampstand that God commanded not to be extinguished in the dark. Zechariah, the priest, must have been praying while wearing clothes and accessories to wear when performing his duties, holding incense so that the smoke fills the space. I think the moment I met God’s messenger in a mysterious space alone with God would have been full of special holiness. I found two pictures that expressed a fantasy-like space well.
One is by James Tissot, other is by William Blake. Both paintings reveal the speciality of the moment when Zechariah meets an angel in the sanctuary, and each characteristic stands out, right?
If you look at the painting by Tissot, you can guess that the person on the right is an angel who has wings and floating on the ground, and that the person on the left is Zechariah. Zechariah’s feet are attached to the ground, which seems to show the distinction between the existence of heaven and earth. And I think the appearance of an angel who suddenly appeared in Zechariah’s performance of incense shows the mystery well.
The angel is pointing one hand to the sky and the other to Zechariah’s mouth, and he seems to be talking to Zechariah, who did not believe in the word from heaven, that he would not be able to speak until the time comes. Zechariah’s inability to look at the angel properly seems to reveal fear and piety. Unlike the color in the surrounding space, the angel and Zechariah seem to be able to focus only on the two characters by coloring around white and bright gray.
William Blake’s painting, unlike Tissot’s, is flat, but he uses much more color. I think Blake used gold as the main color to show a more colorful look. You can see that the winged figure of the two figures is an angel and that the figure opposite is Zechariah. Unlike the angel, I think the blue and red colors on Zechariah and the altar made the viewer’s eyes focused.
The Lampstand on the left side of the painting appears to be the seven lanterns that God ordered not to be extinguished for a moment. It looks like the Altar of Incense where Zechariah is burning incense in the middle, and the Bread of the Presence on the right, but these three objects show that the place where Zechariah met Gabriel is a sanctuary.
The bright light at the top of the painting is blocked from entering the light of the world, and only the candle on the lampstand is lit, so it seems to express the words of God in the dark sanctuary. (In paintings that expressed the scene of God talking in the Bible, God or his words used to be expressed in light or ray of light. I think it was not only because humans did not know God’s image, but also because of the fear that if they painted it in visible form, they could make it like an idol.) Don’t you think the angel’s finger pointing to the sky also expresses that the light above is coming from God? Haha
The two paintings have the same theme, but it’s fun to express them differently depending on the artist, right? In addition to this, there is a way to make the painting more interesting. Bible stories and myth stories look different because many artists draw the same subject in their own style, but there are symbols are used as the same meaning for each subject. If you know the symbols in the painting, you can guess what it is about without looking at the title. After learning about the symbols of the paintings to some extent, I only look at the paintings and play matching titles when I go to the art museum. It’s quite fun when I get it right. And knowing the symbols one by one, I was able to ‘read’ pictures more interestingly, so I kept looking at them.
A good example of paintings that different artists painted using the same symbols to better understand the story in paintings is paintings from around the 14th and 16th centuries. This was a time when Christianity was the center of European culture, and at that time, ordinary citizens did not know the letters, so they expressed it in pictures to know the Bible story. So, even if the painter was different, the symbols used were similar when painting on the same subject.
In the future, there will be many paintings drawn around the 14th and 16th centuries that we will talk about. (It’s an era when my favorite artists made many works. LOL) Next time, we’re going to look at the same theme as this one, but we’re going to look at a painting from around the 15th century. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite painters! Let’s go to the next painting! ๐
Bible Verses : Holy Bible, New International Versionยฎ, NIVยฎ Copyright ยฉ1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.ยฎ All rights reserved worldwide.