Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.

It is the preacher’s task to declare what ‘is’. It is not to voice personal opinions and preferences and traditions or to change the parts of the Bible we don’t like. There are many parts of God’s Book that do not chime with the modern mood, and which clash with secular values. It is not our job to change them for something more palatable – more in keeping with current tastes. Don’t re-write the Bible.

There are certain things that just are because God says they are. This is what we are called to proclaim. Our authority lies in God’s revelation, not in our own opinions.

”His name is John” because God says it is. Zechariah takes his stand on what God has said. This may be a deviation from the norm; a break with the cultural and traditional, but it is what God has said via the angel. Here he stands, he can do no other.

Obedience always brings blessing (64). The blessing may take many forms, but there is such freedom in bowing to the authority of Scripture.