Luke 1:13

‘But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias: because your supplication is heard, and your wife Elisabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.” '

During his offering of the incense Zacharias would have prayed on behalf of all the people, a prayer for the deliverance of Israel. And now the angel, for such it was, knowing his thoughts, spoke gently to him. He told him not to be afraid, for he was not there to cause him harm, but to bring him good news from the presence of God. The good news was that God had heard his prayers, and that His deliverance was about to come to Israel, and not only that but that his wife too was to be involved in it and was to bear a son. And he was to be called Yo-annen, ‘the Lord is gracious', for through him God was going to act graciously.

The angel replies in poetic and chiastic form, which we will first give in full:

a “And you will have joy and gladness,

a And many will rejoice at his birth.

a For he will be great in the sight of the Lord,

a And he will drink no wine nor strong drink,

b And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

c And many of the children of Israel will he turn to the Lord their God.

b And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah,

a To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,

a And the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the righteous,

a To make ready for the Lord,

a A people prepared.”

Central to the chiasmus in ‘c' is that he will turn many of his people to the Lord His God, for that is why he is to be born. Surrounding that central purpose in ‘b' and parallel is that it will be by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit and power of Elijah. He will be the Mainspring of his activity. And in ‘a' we have the rejoicing at the coming of the herald and a description of his potential, and in the parallel what he will accomplish through that potential.