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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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