"Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.'..." (Luke 1:11-13)

Zechariah was a priest at the time before the birth of Jesus. Scripture says that Zechariah was of old age, enough so that his wife was past the age of child bearing. Zechariah was an experienced priest and was selected for a once in a lifetime event for a priest to enter into the Holy of Holies in the temple to offer sacrifices for the entire nation of Israel. The responsibilities of the priests were to contend for mercy over the nation of Israel through prayer and making sacrifices. Zechariah must have been praying for Israel to turn back to Yahweh the Lord. We get a glimpse of him in the middle of contending for just that through sacrifice.

In that moment an angel visits him and says what is quoted above in verse 13, "your prayer has been heard." I would have been natural for Zechariah to assume that the angel was speaking into the destiny of the nation. But what the angel says after that must have surprised Zechariah because the angel referred to a prayer Zechariah and his wife had ceased praying for long ago. The angel speaks of a son that will be born to them. I can imagine the reopening of the wound of past disappointments from nights of prayers seemingly unanswered. But this angel was speaking hope and opportunity over a dream they had given up long ago.

What I hear God saying today to us and those who are reading is that He wants to show opportunity, hope, and fulfillment of dreams that we might have given up on years ago. And what is even more amazing is that like Zechariah there will be a realization that we are actually walking out the fulfillment of dreams we had long ago but we are unaware of it.

Zechariah was praying for the restoration of Israel and God not only answered the prayer for a son but also He answered the prayer for restoration of Israel in one event. Zechariah's son is who we know to be John the Baptist. John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus. Zechariah was in the midst of praying for the destiny of his son John the Baptist while having given up on the dream of John long ago.

God has shown us recently that we have been walking out the fulfillment of dreams we had let go of years ago. God is in the business of restoring dreams. Tomorrow I will write about how God has done that in our lives recently.