Question:
Why did God take away Zacharias’ speech and make him dumb?

Answer:

Zacharias was a priest of God.  Although he and his wife were old, Zacharias had been praying for a child.  One day, the angel of the Lord told him that his wife, Elisabeth, would bear a son (John the Baptist).  Zacharias doubted God and said, “Whereby shall I know this?”  As a priest, and an aged man, he should have not doubted God, but he should have believed the words of Gabriel, the angel.  Because of this unbelief, Zacharias’ voice was taken from him.  His voice was returned at the birth of John, when he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John.” (Read Luke 1:5-22 and Luke 1:57-64.)