Women in the Life of Jesus: Elizabeth

"But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John."-Luke 1:13


Scripture where she is found: Luke 1

Her story:

Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist, and cousin to Mary the mother of Jesus.

Elizabeth was an old woman when the angel came to visit her husband Zacharias. The scriptures do not tell us how old she was, just that they were both “well advanced in years.”

The angel told Zacharias that they would have a son. Elizabeth had been unable to have a child, so when the angel Gabriel told Zacharias she would have a son now, he didn’t believe him. Due to his unbelief, he lost his ability to speak until the child was born.

In the 6th month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel also came to visit Elizabeth’s cousin Mary, who was a young girl, and tells her she is also going to have a baby, but her pregnancy would come about in a different way, by the power of the Holy Spirit. While the angel was with Mary, he tells Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and Mary decides to go visit her cousin.



"Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” -Luke 1:39-45


My thoughts:

With God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). An old woman who was said to be barren conceives and has a baby. That means with God’s help, she could get pregnant and deliver a baby, even in old age.

The supernatural events that took place throughout the first few chapters of Luke are astounding. Angels were being seen, over and over again. And women were prophesying.

As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the baby (John) moved in Elizabeth’s tummy and she began to prophesy. The baby heard Mary’s voice. He knew whose voice it was. He knew whom she was carrying.

All of these things are amazing supernatural things of God.

I like it that the Holy Spirit was moving among just the women in this meeting. Mary goes on to prophesy and they both rejoice together over what God is doing.

I have to point out that I believe both of these women were already very familiar with the things of God, and what the Scriptures had to say, or else I don’t think God would have been able to use them in this way. Luke 1:6 says of Elizabeth and John.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

They were also a picture of things to come, because in Jesus, all would be made righteous.







To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.

To find out more about Elizabeth, check out The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs.