It must have been pretty discouraging. Elisabeth and her husband, Zacharias, had wanted for years to have a child. Even though they'd both served God faithfully, "walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," Luke 1:6. still, no children came. And it was beginning to look like they never would.
At a time when people depended on having children to care for them in their old age, this would have been particularly disturbing. Zacharias and Elisabeth may have even wondered if they'd done something wrong.
But they hadn't. One day, an angel appeared to Zacharias and told him that the couple's prayers had been heard. Elisabeth would have a son. And not just any son. This child would have a special purpose: to turn many of the Israelite people to God, to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Luke 1:17.
