

The words that Elizabeth spoke to Mary when they met, show that Elizabeth knew that Mary had a very important baby growing inside her; and that her baby would also have something to do with Mary's baby. The words that Mary said in reply are known as the 'Magnificat' and are a 'thank you' and worship prayer to God. When Mary left Elizabeth and Zechariah and went home to Nazareth, Elizabeth would have been about nine months pregnant and Mary would have been about three months pregnant. Mary may have gone home then because she did not want to get involved with the publicity of John's birth.
So it would not have been long after this that Elizabeth did give birth to John. When it was time to name the baby, it was natural for the family to think that it would be called Zechariah after his father, as this was normally how baby boys were named. But Elizabeth knew that he had to be called John. The family would have doubted this, so they asked the still dumb Zechariah what he should be called. As soon as he wrote down John, as the angel had said, he could speak again.
The name John (Jehochanan or Jochanan) means 'The Lord is Gracious'. He was to be called this because God had been kind to Elizabeth and Zechariah, giving them a child. Gabriel's words to Zechariah meant that when John was a man, he would tell the people about Jesus.
May you have faith in the LORD today as Elizabeth and Zechariah did and as Mary did while carrying our LORD and Savior!!
Hugs Prayers and God bless
Izzy