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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and
prophesied:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has
come to His people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for
us in the house of his servant David (as He said through his holy prophets of
long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to
show mercy to our ancestors and to remember His holy covenant, the oath he
swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to
enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him
all our days.”
“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most
High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His
people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because
of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from
heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the path of peace.”
And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived
in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Luke
1:67-80
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
It had been months since he was able to speak, months since he
encountered the angel Gabriel in God’s temple while performing his priestly
duties in the Holy of Holies. If only he hadn’t doubted God when Gabriel shared
that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son. He had to feel ashamed of his
lack of faith in a God who He knew could do all things. How could he have
questioned whether God could do what He said He was going to do?
These thoughts had to be racing through the mind of Zechariah as he paid
the price for his lack of trust in the God who he had been so faithful to
through the years.
But what was done was done and all Zechariah could do was wait for the
opportunity to be obedient to the Lord and show he was ready to be restored to
His favor, given a second chance to be righteous in His sight. Zechariah knew
how long he would have to wait. Gabriel told him so. And so eight days after
the baby was born, the time had come for the baby to be circumcised and named.
Everyone thought the boy would be named after his father but Elizabeth quickly
made it known that the baby would be named John, a proclamation that Zechariah
validated through words he wrote on a writing tablet, words of conformity with
what God had told him to do, words that led to his voice returning.
What was the theme of the first words Zechariah spoke?
The scriptures tell us that they were words of praise and as we see in
today’s passage, Zechariah had a lot to thank the Lord for. Look again at his
words here:
His father
Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
“Praise be to the
Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and redeemed them. He
has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as
He said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and
from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember
His holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from
the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness
and righteousness before Him all our days.”
“And you, my
child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the
Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through
the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which
the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
And the child grew
and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared
publicly to Israel. Luke
1:67-80
Yes, Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, lifted his voice in praise,
thanking the Lord for:
1. Coming to His people.
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has
come to His people.”
2. Redeeming His people.
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has redeemed
them.”
3. Raising up the horn of
salvation (the horn was symbolic of power and majesty that would be found in
Jesus who was coming to bring salvation to all mankind).
“He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of
his servant David (as He said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation
from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”
4. Showing mercy to His people.
“to show mercy to our ancestors”
5. Remembering His
covenant with His people.
“to remember His holy covenant, the oath he swore to our
father Abraham”
6. Rescuing His people from
their enemies.
“to rescue us from the hand of our enemies”
7. Enabling His people to serve
Him fearlessly in holiness and righteousness for all their days.
“to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness
before Him all our days.”
He then turned his praise toward his newborn son and who he would become
in the big scheme of God’s plan of salvation for all people. Specifically,
Zechariah showed gratitude and appreciation that John would be called a prophet of the Most High
as he would come on the scene before Jesus to “prepare the way for Him” and “to
give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their
sins”. Through John’s work, the people of God who were “living in darkness”
would see first-hand the “rising sun” who came from heaven to shine on them and
guide their “feet into the path of peace.”
And indeed, John would do just that after he grew up and
became strong in spirit, living in the wilderness until he emerged to fulfill
the words of the prophet Isaiah when he wrote:
“A voice of one calling: ‘In the
wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway
for our God.’” Isaiah 40:3
Zechariah had endured his quandary, accepted the proposition from Gabriel,
and experienced the resolution of his quandary, leading him to a point of
praise through the Holy Spirit.
As we go through life, we can find ourselves following the same model and
maybe that’s a good thing because we’re reminded how very much alive the Lord
is in and around us, never compromising His expectation that we remain obedient
to Him and His word, correcting us when we choose sin over righteousness while offering
us a path to redemption, resolving His issues with us in the spirit of love and
forgiveness while returning us to His favor, an act which leads us back to a
place of praise and thanksgiving for all He is, all He has been, and all He is
yet to be.
Tomorrow, we’ll see where Zechariah wasn’t the only New Testament figure
who worked through the quandary, proposition, resolution, and praise process.
Joseph, the man who would marry Mary and become the earthly father of Jesus,
would go through it as well.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
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