09. Does God keep his promises?

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth love God with all their hearts. All their life they have prayed for a child, but without an answer and now they are too old. On that day, Zechariah, who is a priest, is in the temple. He is alone. Outside, people are waiting for him to come back. Suddenly, Zechariah sees an angel, he is frightened. The angel said to him: – Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because God has heard your prayer and he is making a promise to you, you are going to have a son. You will call him John. You will be very happy, as will your wife Elizabeth, but also many other people. Your child will be a great man of God filled with the Holy Spirit. He will prepare for the coming of the savior whom God has long promised. – But we are too old to have a child, answers Zechariah. How can I be sure what you say is true? – I’m Gabriel! It is God who sent me to share this good news with you. But, because you don’t believe what I just told you, then you won’t be able to speak until the child is born. Outside, people are worried: – What’s happening? – Why has Zechariah not left the temple yet? – What has happened to him? When Zechariah comes out of the temple he wants to explain to them what happened but … impossible to speak, he is silent. He waves them with his hands but it not easy… Sometime later, joy overwhelms them because Elizabeth is pregnant! In a few months, she will be holding a baby in her arms… a little boy! When the baby is born, the whole family and neighbours come to visit them. What a handsome boy! They all say his name is Zechariah after his daddy. – Ah! No, said Elizabeth, his name will be John – But in your family there is no one called John The dad is asked to give his opinion. « His name is John » writes Zechariah At that moment, his tongue loosens and he begins to praise God aloud. He thanks God who always keeps His promises and does such great miracles. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and he announces things that no one knows: – Another child will be born soon, he said, it is the savior of the world whom God has long promised. Of course, it announces the coming of Jesus. Then, turning to his baby, he said: – You too, John, you will have an important mission; you will be a great prophet. You will talk about the great love of God and his forgiveness. Everyone understands that John will not have a life like the others and that very important events are going to happen, which is what we will see in our next stories. 1, 2 3, 4 AND YOU AND ME! Can we say that God always keeps his promises? What do you think? Remember … how many promises did God make to Zechariah?… Yes, there are 3 promises. How many times has he kept his promises? Yes, 3 times! – The 1st time, he promised a child, and John was born, – The 2nd time he told him he would be dumb and when he came out of the temple he couldn’t speak anymore, – The 3rd time, he promised him that he could speak again and it happened; so he praised God. There is also a 4th promise, but this one is not only for Zechariah, and we will talk about it in our next adventures. This promise is that of the coming of Jesus. 4, 3, 2, 1 AND WE PARENTS! Do you have any idea how many promises God has made to men in the Bible?… No?… I don’t know the exact number either, but I have noticed that there are a lot of them. Some have already been accomplished, others not yet. What is certain is that he keeps every promise … he does not forget them. Certainly the most important is the promise of the savior’s coming that he had made to Adam and Eve after their disobedience… He also gave us promises of blessing for our families, our children. We can ask him to bless them and to help us in our responsibilities as parents.