Do I remember the twelve voices of Christmas? Yes, I do. I was one of them. I was the voice of disbelief.

I am called Zacharias. You may recognize my name, although you may be thinking of someone else. King Jehoshaphat's son, for example, killed by his brother Jehoram to prevent him from claiming the throne. And then there's our great prophet Zechariah. There must be at least 30 other men in our nation's history who had my name. It's a good name. It means "the Lord remembers." Across the long history of our people, God has never forgotten His promise.

I'm married to Elisabeth, and for many years we had no children. You can't imagine how sad that is, unless you share our belief that the blessing and power of God are made known through a man's children and his children's children. When you have no children, how can you testify to the faithfulness of God to all generations? What good would it be if God remembered all His promises, but there was no one from my family to see them come to pass? Why should God take the branch of our family and prune us from His vine, Israel? We have no child. Doesn't that mean anything to You?

Elisabeth and I were getting along in years. We had prayed for so long that God would provide a son for us. I began to believe that was impossible. We were just too old.

In our temple service one shift of priests would live in Jerusalem for some time and perform the duties of the temple. Then after their time was up, they returned to their villages and the next shift took over. Within each shift, the daily duties of the priesthood were assigned to different families by lot.

One of these duties was burning incense. It meant standing in the Holy Place just before the veil of the Holy of Holies and burning incense to the Lord. The priest who was chosen would stand closer to the very mercy seat of God than anyone ever got to stand, except for the High Priest himself, and he only on the Day of Atonement.

One day the lot fell to me. The other worshippers waited outside, praying. I entered the sanctuary, the Holy Place. I placed the incense upon the coals of the altar and a fragrant cloud of smoke arose. I was just about to pronounce the benediction of Aaron, but something startled me. I wasn't alone. Someone was standing next to the altar of incense. I looked. It was an angel.

The angel tried to calm my fears. He assured me that our prayers over many years would now be answered. Elisabeth would become pregnant and we would have a son.

The angel told me even what to name our son. His name would be John, and he would be a Nazirite from his mother's womb. He would preach in the spirit and power of Elijah. Our son was appointed to prepare the hearts of the people for the Messiah. That meant the long-awaited Messiah must come soon.

I think I was a little dizzy. But no, there's no excuse for what I said. I spoke back to the angel. I raised my voice in disbelief.

I said, "How will I know this is true? I'm an old man. My wife is an old woman. People as old as we are don't become parents."

I have some advice for you. If an angel ever visits, don't talk back to him. The angel told me his name. Gabriel--one of those angels who stood in the very presence of God. If I had to say something stupid to an angel, why couldn't it have been one of the lesser angels? But Gabriel. He told me that because I raised my voice in disbelief, Jehovah would take away my ability to speak until after all these things came to pass. Then he disappeared.

The crowd of worshippers were outside waiting for me. What would I do? How would I tell them? I couldn't speak a word.

I left the sanctuary. I gestured and made signs. I tried to tell them what the problem was, but there was no way I could communicate with them. It was a great frustration. I couldn't tell my good news to a soul.

When I completed my duties at the temple, I returned home. Elisabeth was always eager to hear all the news from Jerusalem. What is worse than a man with good news who does not speak? I had much to say, but no ability to say it. After years of disappointment we would finally have a baby, but I couldn't tell her so.

Elisabeth conceived.

The neighbors were curious about my silence, and they wondered about Elisabeth, who kept herself out of the public eye. In the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy, we received a visit from her young cousin, Mary from Nazareth. Mary herself was pregnant, too. That was news of shame and scandal. Mary, a young virgin, was engaged to a man named Joseph, but they were not married. She told us that the angel Gabriel had visited her and she told us about the miracle he announced. That Gabriel again! Elisabeth was not sure, but I quickly made it clear. You had better believe it.

How we enjoyed Mary's visit. She stayed with us until the time of John's birth. Elisabeth's time came. We had a beautiful, bouncing baby boy. The neighbors and relatives came from all over. Visitors filled our house with laughter and singing and praising the Lord.

And I? I sat quietly and watched. Eight days after our little boy was born, we took him to be circumcised. This would declare him to be a son of the covenant and heir to the promises of Israel. It was the day to name him. Of course everyone assumed we would name the baby Zacharias after me. But Elisabeth said, "We will call him John."

Our friends objected that we had no relatives by that name. They looked at me. "Zacharias, what's the matter with Elisabeth? Aren't you going to name your son after yourself?" But I took my tablet and wrote, "His name shall be John." Then suddenly while I was gesturing to explain to my friends why we had to name the boy John, I began to speak. It had been months and suddenly I spoke.

"John." I said, "His name is John. That's what we'll call him." I began to prophesy and sing praises to the Lord. "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David."

God was so kind to me. For the 12 voices of Christmas, only mine was raised in disbelief. But in the great love and mercy of God, He took my disbelief and changed it into praise.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people!