Zecheriah's Song

Back Story

This story line starts before Jesus, not much before Jesus. Zechariah is a priest and his wife Elizabeth is barren. Elizabeth is family to Mary. Well, before the angel comes to Mary, the angel comes to Zechariah while he is doing the work of the temple priest. The angel comes and tells them that are going to have a baby and they are going to name him John, know him as John the Baptist. He is going to go before Jesus and prepare the hearts of people to listen Jesus.

First though Zechariah gets in an arguing match with Gabriel the angel. Why does it seem that as soon as someone gets over their fear of the angels they begin to argue with them? Zechariah gets his nerve about him quickly and due to his argumentative nature the angel silences him. Great way to win an argument.

Well, the day of the birth of John happens and Zechariah can speak and the passage we are reading today are those first words of a proud new daddy who sees what God is going to do.

Luke 1:67–80 ESV

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Light Into Darkness

Zechariah is acknowledging that with the birth of his son the dark season of waiting is over. This is exactly how he ends the prophecy. He sees that the darkness that the world has been plunged into is over. God is keeping his promises. God is delivering us. Christmas is flooded with light. We light our Christmas tree, we light our houses, we light the candles, we sing about how the light of the world has come.

This light actually reminds us of what Zechariah is trying to point us to with his words: that salvation has come.

God is our Redeemer

Notice the verbage: 68 - God has redeemed us. 69 - a horn of salvation for us. 71 - we should be saved from our enemies. 74- being delivered. 77 - give knowledge of salvation. Over and over we are being reminded that God has come to save us.

We want to save ourselves. We want to overcome whatever the problem is by ourselves instead of waiting on God. I am sure Zechariah had been part of a few movements to bring deliverance and redemption himself. Actually I am sure that Zechariah may have supported some movements before this to overthrow their Roman oppressors(explain Roman oppresors). Leading up to the birth of Jesus is the preceeding years there were at least 6 different groups that claimed to be the Messiah and had come to overthrow the Roman government. Not knowing how old Zechariah is, but have a good idea based on this scripture, he very well could have been alive during each of them and possibly able to participate as a combatant in all of them.

But there is a valuable lesson here, and Zechariah is trying to teach us. Salvation and deliverance do not come by force or by coercion, instead it only comes by the hand of God. When we want deliverance from something, the Rome that is in our life, we often try harder or dig deeper or believe in ourself more. And time and time again we fail. True deliverance comes from resting in and trusting in the reality that God is in control and that he will bring deliverance, but it will be in his time and his way. Let’s consider timing for a moment. When Jesus was born and the years after where the best times in the Roman kingdom. Roads had been built, reach was widespread. It would take no time for the message of Jesus to spread throughout the known world, and this is what happened. God’s timing brought that about. Not mans. Our first step in walking in the light after living in darkness is to trust that that God know what he doing.

This brings me to the two verses I want to focus on today.

I want to zoom in on verses 74-75.

Luke 1:74–75 ESV

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Being Saved from Something to Something

We are delivered from the hand our enemies to serve God.

delivered: something that has been promised.

Psalm 32:7 ESV

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Psalm 34:4 ESV

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Isaiah 43:18–19 ESV

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Deliverance is promised. You can have deliverance. But this deliverance doesn’t happen all at once. I think that is what we think when we become a Christian. We say yes to God and it all get’s better. But it doesn’t work that way.

Being: something that is taking place. This word clarifies the deliverance. Zechariah does not say we have been delivered, He does not say we are delivered, instead he says that we are being delivered. Take note then when the devil tempts you by saying that God does not care for, remind that old devil that you are being delivered and that his fate has already been settled. Amen.

from the hand: the control and reach. So we are being delivered from what. The hand. This is the control, or the reach. Not an actual hand. In the days of kings they did not physically do something to you instead they would place there mark, with a ring on their hand, or they would write an edict, and this power that comes from a stroke of their hand would have lasting consequences.

Enemies: sin, the effects of sin. We often think of the enemies that are outside of us, but I want you to think also of the enemy that lives within. Both have been defeated and they no longer have control over you. You are being delivered. Jesus has made a way that you no longer have to be subject those things which seek to control you ruthlessly.

But this also denotes a change. We don’t just get delivered. That’s what most of us want. But the reality in life is that we are going to serve something. That if God takes us from one thing we will replace it with something else. The truth is that the hole that we feel inside of us is meant to be filled with God. We now know what to fill it with, Jesus. If you are simply delivered from one challenge and fill it with something other than Jesus you will find yourself exactly where you were. So, this deliverance should allow us to be rightly oriented before God. To serve God, we know what that means. To live our lives for the things that God wants us to.

Not just to serve God, but to serve God without fear.

Without fear: Without fear is the beauty. Before we filled out lives with so many things. Unimportant things, thing that promised a good time and a happy life, but things that we knew offered no future. God offers a future. This is why we can serve him and find a blessed life and no that he holds the future and that because of our faith in God we have a future with him. This means that we get to serve God in two very distinct ways.

To serve Him in

Holiness: set apart. Who do you belong to? When we are walking in holiness we are seeing that we are set apart.

Righteousness: right living.

All of our days:

Start New this Christmas

It would be so easy to be overwhelmed this Christmas by all the things. To get busy. We see Jesus as simply a footnote to this great, joyous season. But Jesus is not a footnote. Look to Zechariah for that proof. This season of Christmas celebrates something that will only happen once. That God has come, took on a human body, and lived among us. The next time Jesus comes it will not be as a little baby, but instead as a conquering king. That is the second coming we are waiting for now. That will be the completion of Zechariah’s song here, that we have been delivered. That finally every tear will be wiped away. Every hurt gone. No more pain, sickness or death. But that all started in a manger in Bethlehem and it requires you to make a decision.

Maybe this is the first time that you have learned that Christmas is about salvation. A good and gracious God saving us from our sins. That God choosing to become like us to save us when we could not save ourselves. To save us from our enemies.

Christian. Maybe you have forgotten that the life of the Christian encompasses more than just salvation. It also encompasses a life of devotion and service. A life committed to being set apart in this world, a life committed to right living as prescribed by the word of god.