Passage
For he shall be great before [the] Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with [the] Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
Luke 1:15 (DBY)
Nearby Context
Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Luke 1:14 And he shall be to thee joy and rejoicing, and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Luke 1:15 For he shall be great before [the] Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with [the] Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
Luke 1:16 And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to [the] Lord their God.
Luke 1:17 And *he* shall go before him in [the] spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to [the] thoughts of just [men], to make ready for [the] Lord a prepared people.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "Spirit", "shall", "great", "before", "lord", "drink", "wine", and "strong". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 14's "And he shall be to thee joy..." into verse 16's "And many of the sons of Israel...", so "Spirit" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "Spirit" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.