The Prophetic Song of Zacharias
The Son: Meeting Jesus through Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Today we finally come to the end of Luke ch.1. This is our eighth sermon from Luke so far, so you can see why it will be quite the journey for us through this detailed account of the Life of our Lord.
Ch.1 of Luke serves as a prologue to the rest of the book. It details for us the the announcement and birth of the forerunner to the Messiah “John the Baptist” and the announcements to Mary that she would give birth to the Christ child.
In our time together last week we saw the scene unfold eight days after the birth of John at his circumcision. The time when traditionally the child was to be named. His name created a bit of a scandal as it went against tradition.
The scandal was put to bed when the Baby’s Father, Zachariahs, declared “His name is John”. Instantly upon that declaration, the judgement from God upon Zacharias was lifted. For the entire time of Elizabeths pregnancy He had been unable to speak and possibly hear because of his lack of faith and disbelief when the angel Gabriel told him is aged wife was going to have a son.
Now, instantly his speech and hearing have been restored, God fills him with the Holy Spirit and he begins to sing a song of Praise to the Lord and Prophecy regarding the coming Messiah and the life of his son, John, the forerunner to the Messiah.
Part 1 of his prophetic song is about God’s Savior and part 2 is about God’s forerunner.
Let’s dive in to the text before us this morning.
1.) God’s Savior. (v.68-75)
1.) God’s Savior. (v.68-75)
Zachariahs makes four predictions in these verses concerning the coming Messiah. (Notice, he’s speaking in the prophetic past tense, as if he’s standing in the future and looking back at something already accomplished.)
A.) He has visited and redeemed His people. (v.68)
The Messiah, the Lord Jesus, was God robed in flesh come to dwell among men. He is not some distant and neglectful God who leaves the world alone. He has always been involved in the affairs of men.
In times times past, God sent His Word through messengers, but now would come to deal directly with men with one purpose in mind. To redeem His people. To save and rescue them from their sin and separation from God.
B.) He was the “horn of salvation” from David’s house. (v.69)
Horn- in the OT was a symbol of strength and power. Like the horn on an animal.
Zacharias is saying that the Messiah alone has the power and strength to save. But notice, this “horn” was raised up in David’s house. That is to say he has a right to rule over his people as he is in the kingly line of David.
He was the horn promised to David, the One who fulfilled the prophecies concerning David.
17 There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
C.) He was the “One” prophesied. (v.70-71)
The Messiah had been foretold very shortly after the fall of man as the “seed of the woman” who would crush satan’s head.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
He was the one prophesied to bring eternal salvation and deliverance from his peoples greatest enemy. The enemy that constantly pursued and enslaved them, their own sinful condition which brings death and condemnation.
D.) He was the one who fulfilled the “Covenant of mercy” made with Abraham. (v.72-75)
Way back in Genesis, God promised Abraham that if he would get up and leave his homeland and follow wherever God would lead him, that he would receive the mercy of God and a covenant of faith. The covenant was based upon a “promised seed.”
Genesis 12:1–3 (NKJV)
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you (Your offspring) all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Zacharias is proclaiming that the coming Messiah was the fulfillment of the promised mercy and covenant to Abraham.
God has mercy and delivers men through faith for two very specific purposes:
That people may serve Him without fear- God desires that none of his children live in fear of the future or the “god’s” of this world. He desires for his children not to fear death and the judgement of Hell. To feel secure and have meaning and purpose in life and this only comes through faith in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
2. That men might live righteously and serve God forever-
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
2.) God’s Forerunner. (v.76-79)
2.) God’s Forerunner. (v.76-79)
The second part of Zacharias prophecy concerned his son, John. he prophesied four things concerning his son:
A.) That John was a prophet of the Highest. (v.76a)
Remember, until God spoke through the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, there had been no word from the Lord for 400 years. He had been silent toward His people. That means that for that entire period, there was no prophet of God in Israel. John would be the first since the prophet Malachi.
Christ would be called “the Highest” or “Most High” which is a title for God himself. John was the prophet of Christ, of God himself.
B.) John would prepare the Lord’s way. (v.76b)
He was to be the forerunner of the messiah, the one who would prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.
3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth;
6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
C.) John would proclaim salvation and the forgiveness of sin. (v.77)
Salvation comes by the forgiveness of sin. It’s conditional. A person’s sin must be forgiven before they can be saved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
John’s purpose was to call men to salvation, to be forgiven of their sin.
D.) John would proclaim the rise of the “Dayspring.” (v.78-79)
Dayspring- is poetic language. It’s the dawning from on high. The “son rise from God.”
Christ is called the “Sun of righteousness in:
2 But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
He is the “Dayspring: from on high” the “morning light” the “rising sun who has visited us.”
John was to proclaim the rise of the Messiah to the people. And two things in particular about His rise:
That the Messiah was sent by the tender mercy of God.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
2. That Messiah was sent to bring light to
Those who sit in darkness.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
3. To those who are in the shadow of death.
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
4. To guide our feet into the way of peace
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
All we know of John’s childhood is summed up in vs.80
80 So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.
He grew up like a normal child but spiritually he grew far beyond his peers. He lived in the desert. In obscurity until God was ready for him to begin preaching his message. That Messiah was coming.
That is the crying need of our hour. For God’s people to grow strong in the Spirit and to start proclaiming, as John one day would, Messiah is coming.
This time however, he is coming as a conquering king. We must cry out to people to repent of their sin, come to Christ for forgiveness before it is to late. We must be this generations “John the Baptist” preparing the way of the Lord.