Luke 1:67-80 | Zachariah's Song

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Today I would like for us to enter into the life of Zacharias and his contemporaries in order to better appreciate the story of Christmas.

Scripture Reading 1: Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Malachi prophecies the birth of both John the Baptist and Jesus.

The period of “400 years of silence” That’s approximately the span of time between Malachi, the last prophet in the OT and the Gabriel’s visit to Zachariah in Luke 1.

Waiting is hard in a fast paced, rapid results, busy culture.

Silence and stillness is a foreign language to many of us.

Today we will start our services with 400 seconds of silence. (questions on the screen for reflection).

It’s not going to be easy. 400 seconds of silence is going to feel like 400 years of silence. Noise and busyness is one of the drug of choices in our culture. You’ll be tempted to reach for your phone. Don’t.

Scripture reading 2: The birth of John foretold (Luke 1:5-25)

Scripture reading 3: The birth of John (Luke 1:57-66)

Scripture reading 4: Zechariah’s song (Luke 1:67-80)

Powerful song: Some scholars have detected as many as thirty-three possible allusions and quotations from the Old Testament in this brief, rapturous song. Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah.

The song of Zechariah gives us a multifaceted view of what God has done for us through Christ.

Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, breaks in praise because God “has visited and redeemed his people.” (v.68)

The word “visited” can be used to describe God’s judgment or salvation. Here is talking about God’s saving visitation. That is God visits his people in order to rescue them and set them free (i.e. redemption)

Exodus 4:31 “And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.”

At Christmas we rejoice at what God has done for us trough Christ.

In such a context the “redemption” to which verse 68 refers would seem to be of a spiritual nature; at least to be basically and predominantly spiritual; probably redemption from Satan, sin, and all the consequences. (William Hendriksen)

Hebrews 9:12 “12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

God provides a mighty savior for his people

In v.69, Zachariah praises God that he has a raised a horn of salvation in the house of David. A horn is a symbol of power and strength. A wild ox is able to defeat his enemy with the power of his horn (Deut 33:17)

Over time, the phrase “horn of salvation” would be used by the prophets to describe a mighty king from the house of David who would come to rescue God’s people.

Psalm 132:17 “ I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.”(c.f. Ezek 29:21) (Heb, Messiah/ Gk, Christ)

The people in the OT were waiting for a future mighty king who would come with strength and power to deliver God’s people from their enemies.

Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Zechariah declares that the baby in Mary’s womb is God’s horn of salvation. Jesus Saves and delivers his people from their enemies. According to v.77, this salvation is closely related with the forgiveness of sin.

The message of Christmas is that we are unable to save ourselves. It will require a mighty Savior to save us from a mighty predicament. Jesus is the Savior who alone conquers over Satan and sin and brings salvation to those who repent and believe in the gospel.

At Christmas we rejoice at what God has done for us trough Christ.

God fulfills ancient promises given to his people.

Zechariah mentions two important historical figures in his song: King David and Abraham. Both of these individuals were given promises by God himself.

King David

God makes a covenant with David. The Davidic Covenant is found in 2 Samuel 7 where God promises to establish the throne of David forever thus ensuring that one of his descendants will will sit on David’s throne forever. The Psalms and the Prophets speak about a coming “Son of David,” who will sit on David’s throne forever.

2 Samuel 7:16 “16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ””

This covenant is repeated throughout the Scriptures: Psalm 89; Psalm 132

Isaiah 9:6–7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Jeremiah 23:5 “5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

Abraham. God also made a covenant with Abraham.

Genesis 12:2 “2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Later in Genesis 22 God makes an oath to Abraham saying, Genesis 22:17–18 “17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

Galatians 3:16 “16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.”

Galatians 3:29 “29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Hebrews 6:13–20 “13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

We must learn wait and trust on God to answer our prayers in his own way and on his ow time.

At Christmas we rejoice at what God has done for us trough Christ.

God sets his people free in order to live a life of purpose.

Luke 1:74–75 “74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

We are redeemed, that is, we are delivered from the grip of sin and the fear of punishment.

Zephaniah 3:15 “15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.”

Romans 8:1 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:15 “15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””

God sets his people free in order to live a life of purpose where serving God out of joy and gratitude is the motivation.

Religion: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

Gospel: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

God sets his people free in order to bring transformation to their lives marked by holiness and righteousness.

Holiness and righteousness are God’s attributes.

1 Peter 2:9 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

At Christmas we rejoice at what God has done for us trough Christ.

God offers his people forgiveness of their sins

In v.76, Zachariah talks about the future role his son John plays. John is not the Savior, but he will go before Jesus to prepare the way of the Lord.

John’s role is to give knowledge of salvation through forgiveness and not trough any merit of our own.

What would you do to receive total forgiveness from God and be reconciled with him?

Zechariah tells us that this is only possible because of the tender mercy of our God. Lit, “God’s bowels of mercy.”

“The yearning heart of God delivers and redelivers sinners who find themselves drowning in the sewage of their life, twenty-nine chapters deep, in need of a rescue that they cannot even begin on their own, let alone complete.” Dane Ortlund

God saw us at our lowest

At Christmas we rejoice at what God has done for us trough Christ.

God offers his people light & peace

As Zachariah’s song comes to an end, he sings, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about the sunrise who will visit from on high. Once again the theme of God visiting his people is emphasized. This time he uses the picture of a sunrise visiting from on high.

What is God’s sunrise going to accomplish?

Luke 1:79 “79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.””

Isaiah 9:2 “2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Jesus is the sunrise who offers light (i.e. hope).

People in darkness are lost without hope and without peace because of their sin. Jesus shines his saving light to offer freedom to those held captive by their sin.

Isaiah 42:7 “7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

“Our culture tells us that the problem is outside us and the solution is inside us. The gospel tells us that the problem is inside us and the solution is outside us.”― Dane C. Ortlund,