Today we can find some type of solution for most things. Thanks to the internet, we have easy access for finding solutions and fixing problems. Many of us tend to use online access for information for recreation (concert schedules), store locations for shopping or eating, health information, and Bible commentaries. But how do we fix our greatest problem: a broken relationship with God because of sin? Throughout time, countless people and religious creeds have offered a host of ways to fix our sin problem, but only one solution exists. Only Jesus can remove our sin, and thankfully, He has made it possible for us to be forgiven and freed from sin. Jesus came to remove our sin. Ask God to open our eyes to why Jesus came, to offer salvation and hope for the problem of sin.
Read Luke 1:68-71
There are two stories going on here (Luke 1:5-25). There is the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, a childless couple in their later years, and God gives them a child. The personal story involves promises. Verse 13 the angel delivers God’s promise of a son, and the drama is that Zechariah doesn’t believe Gabriel’s words. He doesn’t take the LORD at his word. That’s unbelief. Faith is: “you say it, I’ll believe it and live as if it’s true.” God makes a promise and keeps his promise. We have to read the rest of the chapter to see that happen. That’s the personal story.
There is a bigger story of which they are one chapter. The story that began when God made the world, the story of God saving a people for himself. There are lots of little clues here to show that this story of a small family is big part of that greater story. Let me list you some of the clues that connect Zechariah and Elizabeth to the rest of the Bible.
One obvious one is linking Zechariah and Elizabeth to Abijah and Aaron. They are part of a wider family and nation. Elizabeth says that her pregnancy has taken away her disgrace, echoes Jacob’s wife Rachel (in Genesis) when the birth of Joseph takes away her disgrace. The angel appearing to announce a birth reminds us when an angel appeared to predict the birth of Samson. Samson, like John the Baptist, was not allowed to drink wine and was filled with the Spirit. Verse 17 “He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children” is a quote from the prophet Malachi. The point is: this is the next chapter in the big story. Since the last prophet in the Old Testament there has been some 400 years of silence. God has been missing (it seems) for 400 years. Imagine that. You’re God’s people but the last time God spoke was in the year 1618. That’s a long time ago! What about God’s great promises to drive out evil? What about his plan to bring blessing to the world? Everything seemed to have stopped. But now God is back in action. The appearance of the angel to Zechariah tells us that God’s promise-plan is now full-steam ahead.
God has made a promise that one day he will come and redecorate the whole universe.
Isaiah 25 gives us a picture of that day. Jesus Christ will return. Sadness and sorrow, tears and turmoil – these will be driven out. No more death. No more evil. No more injustice. This is the world that God promises. Many ask the questions: can you trust him? Is it a hollow promise or can you take him at his word? Yes. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story shows God keeping his promises. The whole Bible shows God making promises and fulfilling them. So, we can trust him about the promise of a better world when Jesus returns. In this passage, we see promises being fulfilled. We also see a pattern of that better world. A pattern of our future. Zechariah and Elizabeth show us promises being fulfilled. God’s promise of a new world is certain. These are also a pattern of our future. Elizabeth’s disgrace was taken away. When Jesus returns, our disgrace will be taken away. Permanently!! Together with all of God’s people we will shine with everlasting glory and favor.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah’s song begins with words of praise from the psalms (“Blessed be the Lord,” Psalms 41:14; 72:18; 106:48). It continues by pointing backward, to God’s long-established covenant with God’s people. This is the “Lord God of Israel” (Luke 1:68), who has raised up a savior “in the house of his servant David” (1:69). Zechariah praised God with his first words after months of silence. This song is often called the Benediction after the first words in the Latin translation of this passage. Zechariah prophesied the coming of a Savior who would redeem his people and predicted that his son, John the Baptist, would prepare the Messiah’s way. All the Old Testament prophecies were coming true- no wonder Zechariah praised God. The Messiah would come in Zechariah’s lifetime, and his son had been chosen to pave the way. Salvation is a recurring theme throughout the Book of Luke. The terms “salvation”, “Savior”, and “saved” are found more often in this Gospel than in any other.
Read Luke 1:72-75
This was God’s promise to Abraham to bless all people through him (Genesis 12:3). It would be fulfilled through the Messiah, Abraham’s descendant. To perform this mercy (dealt mercifully with our fathers v. 72) promised to our fathers: by “mercy” is meant salvation by Christ, which springs from the mercy of God; the promise of which was an instance of mercy to the Jewish fathers under the Old Testament, and also the performance of it; for they were saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus, even as we: his blood was shed for the remission of sins that were past, and for the redemption of transgressions under the first Testament: and to remember his holy covenant; which was made between him, and his Son from all eternity; and was, at various times, dispensed and manifested to the patriarchs, and eminent saints, as Adam, Noah, Abraham, &c. This is called a “holy” one; not only because it was made by, and between holy persons, and provided for the of the people of God, both here, and hereafter; but because in the article of redemption and salvation by Christ, which is here more particularly regarded, care was taken to secure the glory of God’s holiness and justice, as well as to display his grace and mercy. Now raising up, and sending Jesus a Savior, showed, that God was mindful of this covenant, and therefore sent redemption to his people.
True service to God is rendered “in holiness and righteousness” (v.75). The Greek word for “holiness” is used only one other time in the New Testament (Eph. 4:24) where is translated “purity”. The word emphasizes piety or devotion in a person’ actions toward God, carefully doing what God expects and has commanded. It reflects integrity both inside and outside- a new lifestyle (outward) that is a reflection of a new heart (inward). Holiness also carries the meaning of being separated from the world for devotion or service to God. Those redeemed in the Messiah by faith receive Christ’s righteousness as a free gift (Rom. 4:22-24; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9) and reflect righteousness in how they live (Eph. 4:24). This can happen because we live in God’s presence- or to put it another way, because His Spirit lives in us (Rom. 8; Gal. 5:16-25).
Read Luke 1:76:79
No salvation is possible without forgiveness. Our Father cannot forgive our sins on the grounds of justice, and therefore He does so through His tender mercy. He has made Himself our God by giving us grace—undeserved favor. He passes by the transgressions of His people because He delights in mercy. He is so full of pity that He delays to condemn us in our guilt, but looks with loving concern upon us to see how He can turn away His wrath and restore us to favor.Micah 7:18 adds, “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.” God is love, and love is kind, but perhaps our approach to His forgiveness has been prosaically legal. The Scriptures reveal that God does kindness with intensity of will and readiness of mind. He forgives with all His heart because He delights in mercy! He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies.” God’s nature works to give mercy, not punish; to create beauty, not destroy; to save, not lose.
Zechariah had just recalled hundred of years of God’s sovereign work (v. 76). Then, in tender contrast, he personalized the story. His son had been chosen for a key role in the drama of the ages. Although God has unlimited power, he chooses to work through trial humans who begin as helpless babes. Don’t minimize what God can do through those who are faithful to him. John would not be a priest. Instead, he would be called a prophet!
One other phrase in Luke 1:78 shows the kind and tender nature of our God: “He visited us.” God did not merely pity us from a distance, nor did He allow His compassion for us to remain as an unresolved, inactive feeling. David writes in Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” But God did just that! Verse 79 expresses what the coming of Jesus Christ meant to the ancient world. The surviving records of that day show that the people dwelt “in the darkness and in the shadow of death”. Christ’s coming was a light piercing that darkness.
The analogy likely was intended to include Gentiles as well as Jews. The universal note in Luke and Acts becomes clear later on. Luke probably saw this idea implicitly in the description of a new day spreading its light over a world where people cowered in the fear of pagan superstition, in the darkness of sin, and under the hopeless, relentless shadow of death. The coming Messiah would break through the darkness and call people out of the shadow of death, offering freedom, hope, and life for those who by faith put their trust in Jesus. Zechariah noted the Messiah’s light would also” guide our feet into the way of peace”. This was made possible by Jesus the Messiah, the Prince of peace who promised His peace to all who through repentance and faith in Him experience the redemption He brings from sin (John 14:27).