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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 over his lack of faith in a God who He knew could do all
things. After all, he was a priest. 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 served and 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 his baby boy was born, the time had come
for him 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 him receiving his voice again.
So what was the theme of those first words that
Zechariah spoke after being muted for so long?
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”
and
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 but offering us a path to redemption, a path
that leads us to resolve His issues with us. All this is accomplished 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
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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