Zechariah and Mary both get good news, but Zechariah doubts Gabriel’s word. Zechariah gets a lesson in how to talk to angels.

God, spiritual realities, heaven – such ideas our increasingly secular generation refuses to acknowledge. But the Christian knows these are real, and that believers have a calling from God which comes to them from that spiritual realm and is meant to bear witness to God in the here and now.

Rightly dividing the Word of truth – to use Paul’s expression – involves a seven-faceted process of reading, meditating, and studying the Bible under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. Any believer can learn to do this, and every believer should.

The science of hermeneutics addresses the question of how best to understand the Bible. This Word that is able to save and sanctify, and which we read and study daily, is fraught with deep meanings that can only be ferreted out by following protocols outlined in the Bible itself.