author: Ryan Hayden
Take your Bibles one more time and go with me to Luke 1. Luke 1. We are going to be reading verses 57-80 today, and we'll be in Luke 2 next week.
Our chapter started with a story about Zechariah the priest. Remember that from a month or so ago?
Well, this chapter ends with another story about the same Zechariah. Let's go ahead and read verses 57-63:
[!bible] Luke 1:57-63 - KJV 57. Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. 59. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
Remember Zecahariah was a faithful priest and he was married to Elizabeth and they were old and had no kids. Zechariah gets to serve in the Holy of Holies in the Temple - the culmination of his religious life - and and angel appears to him and tells him he is going to have a son in his old age.
He doubts this, and for his doubt God makes him deaf and dumb. Unable to hear and speak. Sure enough, Elizabeth his elderly wife conceives and is pregnant - and we have learned that she was Mary's cousin and was a great encouragement to her.
Well, here at the end of the chapter, the focus goes back to Zechariah and Elizabeth, because after nine months, Elizabeth - this woman who was WAY to old to have a baby - delivers a healthy baby boy.
Most likely, Mary was there with her. We know other neighbors and family members were there. They were all rejoicing in this miraculous birth.
Now, fast forward 8 days. Religious jews circumcised their children eight days after they were born. That circumcision was SUPER important to the jews - it was their sign that they were in the covenant. So this baby is going to be circumcised - probably by his own father.
Zechariah still cannot speak and probably can't hear. (That's why it says "they made signs to his father") He's still deaf and mute. And the people around the baby are all starting to call the baby little Zechariah.
You know, in that day and time, children were always named after someone in the family. There were almost no exceptions to this. So they probably assumed it was going to be "little Zech" and "big Zech."
But Elizabeth surprised them and said "Stop calling my baby that - that is not his name." This was enough of a scandal that the people wanted Zechariah's input on it, so he motions for something to write on (again, he can't speak) and writes out "his name is John."
Now, "John" was not an uncommon name. We know of at least one other "John" in the New Testament and it's extremely doubtful that he was named after John the Baptist. But it was super uncommon to not name your kid after someone in the family.
Of course, the angel Gabriel told them to name him "John" which is name which means "a gift of grace" or "a gift from God."
So after Zechariah writes this, immediately, he can talk again. His tongue is loosed. His mouth is opened.
Look at verse 64:
[!bible] Luke 1:64-66 - KJV 64. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. 65. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. 66. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Now, I want you to imagine not being able to speak for nine months. You'd probably have some things to say:
- "Elizabeth - that new casserole you keep making is NOT good."
- "Why did you sell my favorite sandals on Facebook marketplace?"
- "Can we talk about that hairdo? Um..."
I mean, this man couldn't speak at all (and probably couldn't hear at all) for at least nine months and eight days! I imagine he's had a lot of time to think and he has a lot he wants to say. But what Zecharias does first with his mouth is to praise God.
You would expect Zecharias to have a lot to say about being a father. You would expect him to praise God for his miraculous baby boy. But that's not the focus of what Zecharias said. He actually praises God for something completely different.
So let's read what he said. Verses 67 to 79:
[!bible] Luke 1:67-79 - KJV 67. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71. That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73. The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74. That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75. In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78. Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
I'm calling this message today "What Zechariah was excited about." I think it's really interesting what Zechariah says here, because it isn't what you would expect.
- What you would expect would be for him to praise God for being a parent when he thought that would never happen to him.
- What you would expect is that he praised God he could talk again.
- What you would expect, especially at this circumcision, would be for him to talk a lot about his baby.
But that's not what Zachariah wanted to talk about. That's not what he was most excited about. It's part of it, but a small part of it.
So what did Zechariah talk about here when he was full of the Holy Ghost? Let me point out two things in this passage.
1. Zechariah was excited to see the fulfillment of God's promises.
You know, in these verses 12 verses, there are something like 33 allusions to the Old Testament.
Zechariah knew his Bible, and he knew that God had made some promises and he seems most excited to start to see some of those promises come true.
Bear with me for just a minute as I explain this and then I'll tell you what it means for us.
In verses 68-71 Zechariah references the promises that were made to David.
Hundreds of years before this, God gave David what we call "the Davidic covenant." Look with me at 2 Samuel 7:11-13:
[!bible] [2 Samuel 7:11-13 - KJV](https://bible-api.com/2 Samuel+7:11-13?translation=kjv) 11. And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house. 12. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
God promised David that the house of David would have a a kingdom that would be established forever.
But so far, that hadn't happened. The kingdom of David made it two generations, then was split. The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah didn't last long either - eventually Israel was wiped out by the Assyrians and Judah was taken into captivity in Babylon.
They had been allowed to go back - but they never really had a kingdom again. They had been ruled by the Greeks and now were ruled by the Romans.
So Zechariah was looking at that promise from God and understanding God was going to fulfill it. God was sending "the horn of Salvation to Israel."
That's a popular word picture, referencing the horn or the antlers of an animal. The horn had two jobs, projecting strength and glory. So Zechariah was saying "our horn of Salvation is coming."
Then, in verses 72-75, Zechariah starts mentioning the promises made to Abraham.
In that covenant God promised Abraham land (which they did not control), to be a great multitude and to be a blessing to the whole world.
But Israel at this point didn't control the land - Rome did. They weren't that great of a multitude and they were not influential in the world.
So what does this have to do with us? We aren't jewish. Why should we be excited about this?
Remember what Paul said to the Philippian jailor when he asked "What must I do to be saved?" Paul said
[!bible] Acts 16:31 - KJV 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Notice the phrase there "Lord Jesus Christ" - every one of those names is important.
The first two we talk about all the time:
- Lord - Jesus is God and has all authority.
- Jesus - He is a savior.
Christ - what does Christ mean?
It's NOT Jesus' last name. He is not "Jesus H. Christ."
Christ is a title. It's the New Testament version of the Old Testament word "messiah" and what it means is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament promises.
- Jesus is the son of David who will establish His kingdom forever.
- Jesus is the seed of Abraham whose offspring will be like the sands of the sea and bless the whole world.
He is the Christ - He is the Messiah. Don't miss this:
Zechariah wasn't just excited about His son. He was excited about what His son meant:
- God was doing it!
- God was going to redeem the world!
- God was going to fulfill the promises!
- God was going to save His people!
- Jesus was coming!
That's the first thing Zechariah was excited about in this passage. The second thing Zechariah was excited about was...
2. Zechariah was excited to see Jesus saving people.
In verse 76 Zechariah finally turns his attention to his son - John the Baptist. But even when talking about his son, he moves beyond him to what His son was going to do.
You see, John the Baptist's whole purpose in life was to prepare people for Jesus and point people to Him. Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived, and the greatest man who ever lived spent his whole life pointing people to Jesus.
Zechariah acknowledges this purpose from the start and moves right past John to what John would do. Look at verses 77-79 again:
[!bible] Luke 1:77-79 - KJV 77. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78. Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Zechariah already mentioned "the horn of Salvation" and here he talks about Salvation again.
Zechariah was excited to see Jesus coming to save people. This is the same salvation Jesus gives us.
Now, I want you to notice three things about this salvation:
First, God's salvation comes through the remission of people's sins.
That's what Zechariah said "salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins."
The word "remission" isn't a word we use often, but it's a great word because it includes two important ideas: the idea of forgiveness and the idea of freedom.
Think of it like a debt. Imagine you were under a crushing debt. You had no way of paying for this debt. Every penny you made was being confiscated to pay it. You were working super hard to pay it but the debt kept growing and growing. That debt would feel very much like bondage.
If that debt got remitted - you got remission from that debt - the debt would be erased. You would be forgiven the debt and you would be released from bondage to that debt.
Church, when we trust Christ as our savior, we are remitted from the bondage and punishment of our sin debt.
I had a debt I could not pay,
He paid the debt He did not owe,
I needed someone,
To wash my sins away.
And now I sing a brand new song,
“Amazing grace” all day long,
Christ Jesus paid the debt,
That I could never pay.
John the Baptist understood this. One of the things he said when he saw Jesus was "behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world."
Jesus was the one who would bear our sin debt and offer us remission from our sin.
Listen, if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, you don't have to bear your debt anymore. God will forgive you of your sins and erase your sin debt through faith in Jesus Christ.
But that isn't all Zechariah understood about Salvation because there is more to our Salvation than that.
The second thing to notice about our Salvation is...
Second, God's salvation brings light and guidance to our life.
Verse 79 of our text says:
[!bible] Luke 1:79 - KJV 79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Outside of Christ, we are in darkness. Darkness.
I've told you many times before about the time I got lost in a cave. It was an incredibly dangerous situation. Without light, everything was dangerous. I could step off a cliff or trip on a rock or bump my head on a low ceiling. I couldn't see anything.
More than anything what we needed in that situation was light and guidance. I needed someone to turn the lights on and take my hand and say "this is the way out, this is the way to the light."
And when we come to Christ for Salvation, He gives us light and guidance. He shows us the way.
I was listening yesterday to a programming podcast. A programmer I like to listen to was telling his story (which I had never heard before) and he was talking about being addicted to pornography from a very young age, in high school he got into all kinds of drugs, Marijauna, LSD, Cocaine - eventually he got into Crystal Meth. His life was just a mess and he had no reason to live.
And then do you know what he said? He said, I put my faith in God. I trusted in Jesus and slowly, God led me out.
Church, there are so many people today who are lost in the cave of sin and despair - and Christ can lead them out.
Maybe that's you here today. Maybe you are feeling the crushing debt of sin and you are stumbling in the darkness and I want to tell you - Jesus came to set you free and to lead you out - follow Him.
The last phrase in verse 79 says:
[!bible] Luke 1:79 - KJV 79. ... to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Not only does Jesus give us forgiveness and freedom and light - but...
Third, God's salvation leads us into another way.
You can live in the way of peace through Jesus. You can have peace in your life and in your heart through him.
This is what Zechariah was excited about - it wasn't just that he had a boy and that he could talk again - it was that Jesus was coming to bring salvation and fulfillment. He was coming to be the Lord Jesus Christ. And Zechariah got to have a small part in that story. That is what He was excited about.
author: Ryan Hayden
Now, as I wrap up this sermon I want you to ask a kind of academic question. I want you to look at this text and ask "Why did chapter 1 of Luke's gospel start like this?"
Why start with Zacharias and then the promise of Mary? Why include these two "songs" - the song of Mary and song of Zecharias?
I think Luke was trying to show us two things here at the start of his letter:
First, Jesus was coming and fulfilling all of the Old Testament. The Old Testament was a bunch of promises made - it left a lot of holes, it left a lot of anticipation. Jesus came to be the fulfillment. The major act in this great story God had been writing all along.
Second, I think Luke gave us these songs of Mary and Zacharias to show us how we should respond to the news of Jesus. We should respond to Jesus with faith and praise.
It is the most exciting news in human history and we should treat it like that.
Have you trusted Christ? Do you have "remission of sins?" Are you walking in the light in the way of peace?
I want to encourage you like John the Baptist would encourage people: "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world."
