New Testament · New Testament
Elizabeth
“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”Luke 1:45
Biography
Elizabeth was the wife of the priest Zechariah and a relative of Mary. She was old and had been barren her entire life when the angel Gabriel announced she would bear a son who would prepare the way for the Lord. She conceived and when Mary came to visit, the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesying over Mary with the words: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!' Her son was John the Baptist.
Spiritual Lesson
Elizabeth's life held a decades-long unanswered prayer that was finally answered in old age in a way she could never have imagined. She models faithful waiting without bitterness. Her immediate recognition of Mary's blessing — filled with the Spirit before the child even spoke — shows that spiritual discernment is itself a gift. Her 'blessed is she who believed' is the first beatitude of the New Testament.