INTRODUCTION

God had broken four hundred years of prophetic silence in Israel, at a time of extremely deep political and spiritual darkness in the nation.  He had determined that it was now time to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies and send Messiah the Deliverer and Saviour to the earth. 

He sent the angel Gabriel to a godly and humble old priest in Jerusalem named Zechariah, to tell him that God had answered his prayers and that he and his barren and aged wife would have a son to be named John. Their son would be the forerunner of Messiah as the prophet Malachi had prophesied four hundred years previously. Zechariah did not believed the words of the angel Gabriel and in response he was afflicted with dumbness. He was made unable to speak until the things God had promised came to pass. 

The son promised to Zechariah and Elizabeth was finally born and at the circumcision and naming ceremony there was much confusion and emotion over the very sensitive issue of naming the child; for all the family and friends assumed that the baby would as tradition would have it be given the name Zechariah Jr.  

This was a most significant event, for on this eighth day the son would be circumcised and would then fall formally under the Abrahamic covenant described in Genesis 17.  Under this covenant he would receive all the blessings God had promised Abraham if he lived in faith as Abraham had lived. Circumcision was therefore an outward sign that a man child was inwardly committed to God. Circumcision was a symbol of God's desire that men have a circumcised or a pure heart. 

Elizabeth emphatically said no to the tradition which required the baby to be named Zechariah Jr., or some popular family name and told the family and friends that the baby was to be called John. When the family and friends opposed any break with tradition and when Elizabeth stuck to her guns, those around her appealed to Zechariah to settle the matter. Zechariah, who had now learned to walk where God told him to walk, who had been waiting all his life for a son, and had waited through nine months of dumbness because of his disobedient and disbelieving response to God's word, made no mistake this time.  When he was asked what name should be given to the child he asked for a writing tablet and wrote without hesitation that the baby's name was to be John. This

probably shocked the family, but they were in for a second shock for immediately at this act of obedience, God removed Zechariah's dumbness. When he wrote the name John, which means “the grace of God”, Zechariah was confessing his faith, in contrast to his faithlessness in questioning Gabriel's authority earlier.  

When he realized that he had regained his voice after nine months of silence, his first words were to praise God. 

All the peculiar and unusual occurrences around this birth (See last week’s lesson) had a great impact on the people at the circumcision event and on those that had heard about it.  The hearers were awestruck and experienced great “fear” or deep reverence.  All the events around the birth of John circulated in the hill country of Judea.  The people certainly paid attention to the “peculiar events” and expectation grew about the kind of man John was to be. 

We are told that “the hand of the Lord was with him” (with John) so there were probably other unusual events about John during his growing up years.  This probably accounts for the feeling of the people that John was the promised Messiah, a proposition which brought a strong denial from him that he was not the Messiah but was simply the humble forerunner of Messiah. 

Zechariah was now inspired by the Holy Spirit and will praise God for the fulfillment of His promise of Messiah, and then praise God for allowing John to have a significant role by preparing the way of Messiah.

THE TEXT

Verse 67.   The Holy Ghost had filled his wife Elizabeth three months earlier and she had blessed Mary who was then carrying Jesus in her womb. The Spirit now endued Zechariah and he received extraordinary grace. The Spirit controlled him and he was enabled to prophesy. He now had special insight and he could look in the Scriptures to analyse the present situation and apply the words of Scripture to the future. His praise overflowed.  He was certainly not bitter at the chastisement for his disobedience.  It has made him trust God even more. 

We note that the word prophesy has several meanings.  It means:

-to foretell future events

-to celebrate the praises of God, or

-to teach or preach the gospel

Zechariah’s hymn of praise does all of these.

Verse 68.    Zechariah blessed the God of Israel for graciously ceasing His silence and visiting His people.  Not only had He visited but He had redeemed His people. 

The word “visited” means ‘to look upon in order to note the state of someone and then to come to their aid’.  (See Genesis 21:1, Exodus 4: 31, Zechariah 10:3, Matthew 25:43).

So the sense is that God had looked on the world, seen the desperate situation that it was in, and had acted to relieve its misery. 

In thanking God and praising him, Zechariah spoke of God's “redemption”. Redemption is a word which means to buy back something at great cost.  There is a great debt which the debtor cannot repay and someone has to pay the debt to free the debtor. When we speak about salvation history we say that the people of God had been sold for sin and that situation needed to be rectified.  God had to redeem them from the tyranny of Satan and sin, and God had to pay a price to bring about this redemption.  

Zechariah was confident that God had ‘visited’ his people, and so he spoke as if redemption had already occurred.  Once God had started to act to fulfill His promises, it was absolutely certain that everything connected with God's visit as laid out in the Scriptures would be fulfilled. The people of God were sinners and had fallen into the hands of their enemies and now they had to be ransomed and restored to life, liberty and happiness.   

The redeemer had to be made a sacrifice for sin and so He would have to become ‘flesh’ so that He could suffer and die for the sins of the world.           

Note that the focus here is on the redemption of the “people of God”, the nation of Israel.

Verse 69.   God had made certain glorious promises to David and his house.  In 2 Samuel 7:12-16 God had promised David that his descendent would sit on his throne and his reign would last forever. (See Psalm 89, and Psalm 132:17). God had promised that He would raise up a “Horn of Salvation” from David's house.  In Psalm 18: 2 David spoke of God being the “horn of my salvation”, because ‘horns’ were well-known emblems of strength, glory and power.   

It was considered in ancient times that the strength and beauty of horned animals was in their horns.  Horns were also considered to be emblems of light and in pagan circles were used to emphasize the power, glory, and excellence of solar light.  One writer comments:

“Some imagine that this form of speech is taken from the custom of ancient warriors, who had a horn of steel on the top of their helmets, which ordinarily lay flat, till the person came victorious from battle, and then it was erected, as emblematical of the victory gained.  Such a horn as this is represented on the helmet of the Abyssinian kings and warriors.

To this custom of wearing or lifting up the horn, the following Scriptures are thought to allude: 1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 112:9; 48:4; Lamentation 2:17.  In ancient gems and coins, this form of the horn on helmets is easily discernible, sometimes flat, sometimes erected.

A horn, filled with various fruits, was also the emblem of abundance among the ancients: hence, their cornucopia, or horn of plenty.

From all this we may learn that the Lord Jesus gives a luminous, powerful, prevalent, glorious, and abundant SALVATION or REFUGE to mankind.”

So the idea is that God’s salvation is:

-Incomparable and more honorable than any other salvation,

-It is plentiful giving abundant, heavenly, spiritual blessings,

-It is powerful and can dispose of all spiritual enemies and protect the people.

Let us recall that in Luke 1:32 Gabriel confirmed that Mary was of the family of David; for it was important that he state that Messiah should come from the family of David and sit on the throne of David.

Verse 70.  These precious promises had been revealed by the prophets that had spoken by mouth of these matters. God was now doing what they had long ago prophesied.  These were not new prophecies or new promises.  God had not been silent about His intentions.   

The prophets were “holy prophets” men inspired, directed and kept by God.  The prophecies made by them were ‘sacred prophecies’ and their aim was to produce holiness among the people of God, for these prophecies were the very words of God.  All the prophets had spoken with one mouth and with no contradictions among themselves. 

The prophecies had been issued by God, starting from the very dawn of sin in the world, and they were thus ancient.  God had promised from the time of man’s sin that the ‘Seed of the woman’ would break the ‘serpent’s head.  Men had held onto that promise and the names given to men like Seth and Noah and the promise that God would dwell in the tents of Shem, testified to the fact that men knew about the promised redemption from the very early history of humanity.  Many men had spoken of the coming Messiah.

Verse 71.  The promises covered both the political and spiritual spheres of life.  The people of God had enemies.  These enemies hated them and were full of malice toward them.  God would save his people from their enemies.  Their greatest and implacable enemy was Satan, for he hated the work of God and people of God.  He controlled the evil system of the world and stood ready to unleash the dark forces of destruction on the people of God.  But God had always protected His people and would never allow Satan to triumph. 

So here we have Zechariah looking back over the history of Israel, acknowledging that when he spoke the Jews were being oppressed by the mighty Roman Empire.  So he turned to

Psalm 106:9-10 and recalls the deliverance of Israel from Egypt:

“He rebuked the Red Sea also and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness, And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.” 

Zechariah was telling the people that there was hope.  God had sent Moses to deliver them from bondage and oppression in Egypt many years ago, and now God was sending the Deliverer from the house of David.

Verse 72-73.  All this was being done because of the mercy of God. God had made promises to the patriarchs, and swore an oath to Abraham recorded in Genesis 22: 16-18.  God had remembered them according to Psalm 106: 45-46. “Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry: And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies”. 

God has regard to His covenant for it is a holy covenant.  These people had sinned grievously and really did not deserve salvation.  They had no merit before God but deserved His wrath. 

But the mercy of God was pure mercy and grace.  He loved them because He would love them.

They seemed to have thought that God had forgotten them because they had sinned.  But He never would.  The “covenant” and the “oath” of God were most important to God, and would not be broken. 

Hence we should never forget that Abraham stands in a place of honour in the history of the people of God.  God had chosen him, called him out of sin, told him to leave the bright lights of Mesopotamia and to go into a strange, faraway land, without the protection of family, clan, or tribe, and to depend solely on Him to meet all his needs.  Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.  He is therefore the father of the faithful.  God's oath to him was the foundation oath of Israel. 

All God's work of redemption is based on His promise, His holy covenant, His oath to Abraham.

So when we find pride among the people of God we know that they are being totally disobedient.  Men have no merit before God.  We are saved by the grace of God and when we are saved because of God's tender mercies we are to obey His Commandments, crucify the desires of the ‘flesh’, trust Him at all times and be guided by his Holy Spirit.

Verse 74.   Zechariah now made it clear that God had done all things for His people, giving them power and grace to serve Him in spirit and in truth. His salvation did not mean that they would sit on their hands and do nothing. In fact, they were saved and now they did not need to fear the persecution of the enemy, but would freely become active in His service. God deliverance of his people is to the end they serve Him in obedience and are no longer dominated by sin. 

God has worked on our behalf throughout history, fulfilling His covenant, keeping His promises, redeeming us, rescuing us from all our small and great problems and difficulties, precisely that we will serve Him in holiness and righteousness throughout our lives. 

So Zechariah described salvation and its out-working. We are to: 

-Worship God and serve Him and adore Him in every sense of the words.

-Live in holiness, conforming our self to the commandments of God.  We are to have the mind of Christ, live in obedience to the precepts of the gospel, and make the world see that we are the salt and light of the world.

-We are to live righteous lives at all times.

-We are to constantly remember that we are living because God is supporting us at all times, so we are always in His presence and continually being judged by Him.

-We are to live a life without fear, without misery and in a state of true happiness now that sin has been cast out.

-We are to enjoy our union with Christ and show the world the happiness and joy there is to be in union with Him. 

All this is to be done all the days of our life.  There can be no drawing back, for we must always be committed and always engaged in loving and serving God to the end. 

It is hard sometimes to remember that God has saved us from all evil so that we might serve Him.  He has called us and chosen us to bring honour and glory to His name.

We should learn from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth that God is sovereign over the entire creation.  He made it all and He is working out His purposes; purposes which are reflected in His covenants and promises. 

He has done many, many things and many of the predictions of the holy prophets have come to pass.  So we can live in absolute assurance that whatever God has promised will be fulfilled. 

God will make everything right one day.  He is the sovereign and faithful God.

Nothing that the world can throw at us can thwart God's plan.  Therefore we can serve Him without fear.  He's always rescuing and redeeming us, of this we can be sure. 

So note brethren that God has called us to serve Him “in holiness and righteousness”.  He has not called us because we are beautiful or deserving people. In fact we are a testimony to the fact that God can take marred vessels and change them into vessels of glory, vessels that can now live in close relationship with Him, showing the beauty of union with God.   

That is our calling.  It is a beautiful calling and his fellowship will satisfy the deepest level of our being.  God's eyes are on us and He wants us to live in righteousness before Him.

Verse 76.  Zechariah looked at the baby of his old-age, and blessed his child seeing in him the beginning of the fulfillment of God's gracious promises to his people. He understood that John's role was an extremely important one in the history of salvation.  In focusing on John and his ministry he points to the child as the Prophet of the “Most High”. 

Other prophets had looked forward to Messiah's coming but John would introduce Messiah himself.  His task would be to prepare the people for the coming of Messiah.  In doing this he would foretell future events and teach people about the things of God. 

No one would come after him to introduce Messiah.

Verse 77.   Before Messiah came those that were ignorant of his words and his work would have to be taught about Him.  There was knowledge about salvation that had to be communicated to the people.  The people had to be taught that they were sinners and that their sins would prevent them from being saved.  There had to be repentance and reformation, and people had to turn their minds and hearts to receiving Messiah. 

John had to make the people become aware of their need for forgiveness of sins, and that Messiah was coming to bring about spiritual renewal.  This of course was most necessary since the people were only looking to Messiah as a political deliverer, someone to get rid of the Roman oppression.  They were not focusing on the spiritual and moral aspects of Messiah's work which was to bring true salvation. The need for holiness and righteousness was not a priority at the time for the people of Israel.  John's task was to make the people begin thinking in a different way. 

Clearly then. Zechariah's previous statement that God would deliver them from their enemies involved a deliverance from their spiritual enemies, the things that would keep them spiritually away from God.  Salvation therefore has to do with sin and turning away from sin.

Verse 78a.  John was to tell the people of Israel that remission of sins came because of “the tender mercies of their God”.  Sin had ruined them and had led them into condemnation, but they could obtain pardon because there was divine compassion.  The ‘bowels of God's mercy’ were such that God had responded to the need for a Saviour.  God's compassion made Him bring salvation. 

A just God could not simply forgive people and ignore the need for satisfying His justice.  He forgives us because of His tender mercies.  Mercy and pity for his creatures are such a part of Him that He does not love to condemn the guilty but seeks to turn away His wrath and bring them into fellowship with Him. 

So there is remission of sins because He is gracious and loves so much that He sought to do everything and make every arrangement necessary so that He will be able to forgive our sins.

This mercy of God is a “mercy of tenderness”.  He delights in it, and has put His great energy into its accomplishment.  God the Father goes to great lengths to redeem men, and so He comes very close to us.  His tender mercies are such that when David reflected on it in Psalm 8:4

“What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visiteth him?” 

One writer reminds us:

“What but “tender mercy”, hearty mercy, intense mercy, could bring the great God to visit us so closely that He actually assumed our nature?

Kings may visit their subjects, but they do not think of taking upon themselves their poverty, sickness, or sorrow: they could not if they would, but would not if they could; this were more than we could expect from them.  But our divine Lord, when He came hither, came into our flesh.  He veiled His Godhead in a robe of our inferior clay…

O sons of men!  Jesus Christ has visited you so as to be tempted in all points like as you are, though without sin.  He readily assumed our nature, and thus paid to us a very close visit.  He took our sickness, and bare our infirmities.  This was a kind of visit as no one could have thought of granting save the infinitely tender and merciful God.

The man is our next kinsman, a brother born for adversity; in all our affliction He is afflicted; He is tenderness itself.”

Verse 78b-79.   The Messiah visits us as the “Dayspring from on high”.  This is thought to be a reference from Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”. 

Messiah will come as the rising of the Sun at the break of day, after a long dark and cold night of misery.  Our darkness will be ended, and night will be sent away.  One writer describes the image that the word “dayspring” conjures up in that part of the world.

“Here is an opportunity for us to use our imaginations, to go back in time and imagine ourselves to be part of an ancient Near Eastern caravan traveling through the desert.  Actually, this is a caravan of humanity of which we are all a part.  We are lost in the desert.  The black night descends.  There is no moon or stars.  We huddle together for warmth, fearing for our safety.  Thoughts of death from exposure, wild animals, starvation, enter our minds and conversation.  We wait through a seeming eternity of darkness.

But just when things seem most desperate, suddenly a bright star, an unprecedented astronomical visitation, appears on the horizon and lights up the desert.  Filled with new courage and hope, we arise.

The brilliance of the star helps us discover a main caravan route we had missed, a road that will take us back to civilizations, life itself.

Jesus is that “Dayspring” that life-giving star, the light that was promised centuries earlier.  Isaiah wrote, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you”. (Isaiah 60:1). And again from Isaiah, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Isaiah 9:2)” 

Messiah the ‘Dayspring from on high’ is to come to those that sit in darkness. Note that those that sit in darkness are there because there is no hope for them, and they do nothing, because everything that they have done simply lead to them remaining in darkness.  They are not motivated to leave the darkness. They are lost and have no hope. 

The darkness that they are in is the darkness that belongs to the  “shadow of death”.  This is the darkness that chills the bones, that takes away all real joy, that has people chasing after happiness but never finding it, so they continually invent new ways of enjoyment.  But nothing ever really satisfies the heart. 

Zechariah is telling us that the people in Judea as well as the Gentiles were in a terrible state.  Their feet had wandered out of the way of peace and they were not experiencing spiritual prosperity. 

They were in a state of terrible darkness and blind in respect to things of God and what He required for their salvation. Whether they knew it or not they were going to perish, for this was the domain of Satan.  They were ruined, lost, and about to perish in their ignorance.   

But Messiah Jesus was coming as a Morning Star to bring the light of day to the people.  Messiah would not only bring light to the darkness but He leads the way into a way of peace.  

The Dayspring puts the feet on a solid rock.  He establishes our goings in the way of peace where there is no doubt, fear, or hesitation. In this peace there is prosperity, joy and rest.  This way is the narrow way that leads to eternal life. 

All this comes from the tender mercies of our God.

Verse 80.  Filled with the Holy Spirit the child John grew.  He became stronger and stronger with each passing day.  Clearly he did not follow the way of his father and become a priest.  He remained in the wilderness of Judea and from there he presented himself to the people as Messiah's forerunner. 

The words used to describe John's early life do not imply that he was cut off from society and live as a hermit.  He probably went up to Jerusalem on occasion to the required feasts, and worshiped on the Sabbath. 

Staying in the wilderness from his early life in true Nazarite spirit, he was free from the corrupting influence of the rabbinic authorities, and spent time alone with God who taught him for his great future role in his nation.  He lived free from the distractions of ordinary life. 

It was very important for John to be physically and spiritually strong for his role was a difficult one.  So Luke advises us that there was a period of preparation before John began his ministry.  His growth and development involved separation from much of his nation's religious system.   

John was able to stand apart from the life of the nation and see its errors and deviations from the truth.  He could and did speak boldly against the evils of his day. 

He was certainly no reed shaken with the wind. He was rugged as the desert and understood his ministry to be a ministry of reform just like that of Elijah. So he spoke strongly to Israel challenging them morally, and demanding and they turn away from the evil values of their society.  

He laboured so faithfully that we are told that even Herod Antipas a high authority feared and observed him, except that Herod would not give up his adulterous relationship with his brother's wife. (Mark 6:20-28). 

This verse tells us that the fundamental message of John was his proclamation that the messianic age was about to begin.  He was the Herald preparing the way of the Lord and many multitudes crowded to hear his words. 

They found as Zechariah predicted that John had a different view of the nature of God's kingdom from those of his hearers.  They expected that Messiah would deliver them from the foreign oppressors, but John warned that Messiah’s coming would be a time of judgment for Israel. 

(See Luke 3:9, Matthew 3:12). 

Hence John would call for repentance, a real, radical, complete change of heart and life.  This repentance would produce “fruits worthy of repentance”.  The nation had to come out of their complacency and blindness.  They had to fulfill God's demand for righteousness.  They had to be baptized as a sign that they were participating in the true cleansing of the nation.  Only extensive moral reform would prepare Israel to meet God.  So John preached as Mark 1:3 records

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”

CONCLUSION

We must spend more time meditating on the tender mercies of our God.  We must consider more carefully the type of covenant that God has established with us and the requirements of this covenant. 

We should also remember that God has called and chosen us to live without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. The path of our life must be straight, for the paths of God are straight paths.   

We have been elected to serve.  We cannot consider ourselves as part of the elect if we do not have the heart to serve, and in fact are living a life of service to the brethren and the world.  If we do not serve, if we do not have the servant spirit, and the servant actions, saying and believing that we are among the elect is simply fantasy. 

Most importantly, if we have been visited by the tender mercy of God, we must exhibit tender mercy when we deal with others. 

One cannot call oneself a Christian, enjoy church, enjoy the multitude of religious activities and yet do little or nothing to bless others and to ease their misery. Christianity cannot be and is not a selfish religion.  It does not involve saving our own soul and living only for our spiritual good. If that is our position it means that we have not passed out of darkness and into the light of God.  One writer said the following words of truth many years ago, but they still apply today; 

“Only the way of unselfishness is the way of peace.  I ask you, therefore, today to think very tenderly of all poor people.  These are hard times; let those who have more than they actually want be ready always to relieve people”. 

Let us keep on continually crying to our God for mercy and continually extend mercy and tender compassion to others. 

Let us keep ourselves separate from the things of the world and serve God as long as we live in the world.