Zechariah's Praise & Prophecy
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In my study this week...
I came across this profound note in my MacArthur New Testament Commentary on the Gospel of Luke...
And I would like to share it with you this morning:
“If one were to ask historians to name the single most important event in history, the one with the most far-reaching implications and that made the greatest impact, there would be no consensus.
Some might suggest a major battle or war that reshaped the balance of power, or the influence of a great military or political ruler, such as an Alexander the Great, Pharaoh, Caesar, king, prime minister, president, or general.
Others might suggest the rise to power of a major civilization or nation, such as Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, China, the British Empire, or the United States.
Conversely, some might point to the fall of a major civilization, such as Babylon, Rome, or the decline of contemporary Western civilization.
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Other historians might argue that a scientific invention or discovery made the greatest impact.
Inventions such as the wheel, telegraph, telephone, automobile, airplane, radio, and computer, the harnessing of electricity, and the discoveries of modern medical science have unquestionably helped make our world what it is today.
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Many would insist that it is ideas and beliefs that exert the greatest influence on history.
They would point out the impact of thinkers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche; religious leaders such as Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Muhammed; and of ideas such as evolution, communism, democracy, capitalism, and postmodernism.
Nor can the significance of major movements or events, such as the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, the American Revolution, or the French Revolution, be underestimated.
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But while historians might debate history’s most significant event, history itself has already answered the question.
The most monumental event of all was the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world.
The division of history into B.C. (“before Christ”) and A.D. (Anno Domini, “in the year of our Lord”) reveals the unsurpassed significance of Christ’s incarnation...
It is history’s great dividing point.”
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 1 and focus on verses 67 through 80.
Our message this morning is called, “Zechariah's Praise & Prophecy”
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As you are finding your place in God’s Word...
I would like to share that this message will focus on a prophetic hymn of praise...
A Hymn of praise that point to three covenants found in God’s Word:
The Davidic Covenant...
The Abrahamic Covenant...
And the New Covenant...
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All these covenants rely on the single greatest event...
The Lord Jesus Christ coming into our broken world!
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Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Thank you Heavenly Father for the merciful and compassionate covenants you have made with your people...
Thank you that you have allowed both Jews ad Gentile to benefit from it.
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We praise you and bless you for who you are...
The First and the Last...
The Alpha and Omega...
The One with no beginning or end.
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Equip us...
Your elect...
Your remnant...
Both Jew and Gentile...
Equip us to be used as your ambassadors...
Strengthen our helmets...
Reinforce our breastplate...
Widen our shields...
Sharpen our swords...
Give us an unbreakable belt to hold our weapons of war...
And boots that will not fail when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death!
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Give us a warrior spirit to boldly declare your truth to this hostile world...
And give us a heart to easily forgive the injustices we have endured.
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We love you Heavenly Father...
We love you Son of God...
We love you Holy Spirit...
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And it is in Jesus Christ’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Davidic Covenant
1) The Davidic Covenant
Verses 67-71: And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
As we can see with our passage it says that “Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied.”
Notice that the filling of the Holy Spirit has been a theme not only with this first chapter of Luke’s Gospel...
But it has been a theme for Zechariah’s whole family.
In Luke 1:15 the angel Gabriel announces this regarding John the Baptist, Zechariah’s son:
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
And later in the this Gospel account...
We saw that John as a child still in his mother’s womb...
Leaped with joy at the news of the coming Messiah during the visit of Mary and Elizabeth.
And at that encounter we saw Elizabeth herself filled with the Holy Spirit as it says in Luke 1:41:
41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
Something to note...
In every case where someone was Spirit-filled in Luke’s nativity account...
It always resulted in Spirit-directed worship.
This should be of no surprise as it says in Ephesians 5:18–20:
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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Last time in our study of this Gospel we learned that Zechariah is only able to speak since God untied his tongue...
For Zechariah’s lack of faith led to nine months of deafness and muteness.
Luke 1:64-66 says:
64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,
66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Nine months is a long time to think and meditate...
Nine month without the ability to speak...
Nine month with the ability to hear words or songs or anything.
So at the lifting of this punishment...
Zechariah praises and blessed God...
With the Holy Spirit filling him he also prophecies...
And he even answers the crowds question...
When they asked “What then will this child be?”
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Regarding verses 68-79 the MacArthur Study Bible has this to say:
“This passage is known as the Benedictus (due to the first word of verse 68 in the Latin translation).
Like Mary’s Magnificat, it is liberally sprinkled with Old Testament quotations and allusions.
When Zechariah was struck mute in the temple, he was supposed to deliver a benediction.
So it is fitting that when his speech was restored, the first words out of his mouth were this inspired benediction.”
Additionally, in the original Greek the first half of this benediction and hymn of praise (verses 68-75) is all just one sentence.
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So, Zechariah starts his benediction with the words, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.”
Always pay attention to the little details when you study Scripture...
Everything is there for a reason and has a purpose.
For example, notice the tense of the word “redeemed” how it is in the past tense.
This redemption was still going to happen in the future with Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.
Did Luke record this wrong?
Is this a typo?
Did Zechariah just misspeak here?
No...
The past tense of the word is on purpose and is there for a reason.
Pastor and Teacher John MacArthur has this to say about the matter:
“When Zechariah spoke these words, redemption had long been granted, but the covenant that secured it had not been ratified.
His son, Messiah’s forerunner, was only eight days old. And the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, was not even born yet.
But Zechariah was so certain that God would do what He had promised that he spoke of redemption as if it had already taken place.
He knew that the birth of his son, John, signaled that God was about to visit His people and bring the provision that made salvation possible.
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The people of Israel fervently longed for Messiah to come and deliver them from their bondage to Rome, as God had delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.
They viewed their deliverance primarily in earthly, political terms, expecting Messiah to establish His earthly kingdom and fulfill the promised blessings to David and Abraham.
They overlooked the reality that those blessings would not be fulfilled apart from the forgiveness of sin provided in the New covenant.
Sadly, when John and Jesus preached the necessity of that personal salvation, the majority of the people rejected their message.
Zechariah, of course, had no way of knowing that would happen, and rejoiced as he saw the day of redemption dawning.
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Zechariah did not foresee that the unthinkable would happen—that Israel would reject and execute her King.
But Israel’s disobedience cannot nullify the promises of God.”
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And church, it is Israel's rejection that allowed the Gentiles to have access to the promises God first made to His chosen people.
So, we celebrate in the Mercy God has shown us even though we don’t deserve it.
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The word “For” indicates that all of the following is the cause of Zechariah’s praise.
And the first point Zechariah makes is that God will visit and will redeem His people.
This brings to mind passages like Galatians 4:4–5 that show the fulfillment of those prophesies:
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And Galatians 3:13–14 which says:
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
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Next, Zechariah says that God, “has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”
The term “horn of salvation” is a common expression in the Old Testament...
The horn is a symbol of strength especially in the Near East because of the great strength of the horned animals of that region.
Since John the Baptist is not linked to the house of David, the “horn” refers not to him but to the Messiah he was announcing.
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It is here we see the reference to the Davidic Covenant that can be found in Scripture in 2 Samuel 7:12–13:
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
We see this promise elsewhere in Scripture too.
Consider Isaiah 16:5 which says:
5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.”
In fact when Zechariah is singing this hymn of praise he directly makes an allusion of Psalm 132:17:
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
The prophet Jeremiah prophetically says in Jeremiah 23:5:
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
And again in Jeremiah 33:15 he says:
15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
So the Messiah coming from the line of David was heavily prophesied in the Old Testament...
And when Zechariah finally understood that it would be his son that would be the Messiah’s forerunner he realized...
His own salvation...
And the salvation for those who believe in the Messiah...
Is finally here.
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Then Zechariah says, “that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”
This truth that Christ provides salvation for His people...
For they will be hated...
Is in both the New and Old Testaments.
Jesus Himself said this as clear as day in John 15:18:
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
John, the beloved disciple, shares this with those in his care in 1 John 3:13:
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
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This was not a new teaching...
Look at 2 Kings 17:39:
39 but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.”
Our job is to fear God...
To give Him reverence...
To love Him with all our hearts...
He is the one who will save us from our enemies.
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David the man after God’s own heart...
He experienced this so much that he records his crying out to God throughout the psalms...
Praying to be delivered from his enemies like it says in Psalm 59:1–2:
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me;
2 deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.
And David’s cries and pleading were answered...
Take a look at 2 Samuel 22:1–3 and we can see the record of David’s rejoicing that God has delivered him:
1 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.
2 He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
3 my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.
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Beloved...
Take heart in this fact...
Our God is the Sovereign One...
Our enemies cannot touch our souls...
As Jesus said in Matthew 10:28–31:
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
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Next, Zechariah will reference another covenant...
And this takes us to our next point.
2) The Abrahamic Covenant
2) The Abrahamic Covenant
Verses 72-75: To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
In this next section Zechariah brings up the Abrahamic Covenant...
He starts this section with the statement, “To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham”
The term “fathers” is a reference to the fathers of the nation of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...
And it is these fathers that the Abrahamic covenant was made to by God.
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This covenant is first announced in Genesis 12:2–3 when God speaks to Abraham as a promise:
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
However, it is not until Genesis 15:18-21 that this promise God made is called a covenant:
18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
In Genesis 17:4–6 we even see that God changes Abraham’s name to better reflect that he will be a father of a multitude of nations:
4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
In Genesis 22:1–18 we see that Abraham’s faith in God and God’s promise of the covenant with him is tested:
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
Not only did Abraham pass God’s test and prove his faith but Hebrews 11:17-19 show the extent of that solid faith:
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
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Net Testament Scholar James R. Edwards says:
“In Genesis 22:16 God swore an oath to Abraham because ‘you have not withheld your son, your only son’.
God will now fulfill that oath by not withholding his Son, his only Son.”
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Throughout the Old Testament we see that although Isreal was unfaithful God always remembered His covenant...
In after spending hundreds of years in slavery in Egypt, God heard the cry's of His people and remembered His covenant in Exodus 2:23-24:
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
In 2 Kings 13:22-23 we see that God again does not forget His promises:
22 Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
23 But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.
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This promise to Abraham...
This promise to the fathers...
This promise was to those who believe...
To the Jew first and then the Gentiles...
Or as Galatians 3:14-16 says:
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
For it is only faith in Christ that we can be “delivered from the hand of our enemies”
It is only faith in Christ that we “might serve him without fear”
It is only faith in Christ that we can have a relationship with Him “in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” as Zechariah says in our hymn of praise.
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For there is another covenant one needs to hold to in order to benefit from the Davidic and Abrahamic Covenants...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The New Covenant
3) The New Covenant
Verses 76-80: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
This is the second half of the Hymn of praise by Zechariah.
He opens this section by shifting the focus to his son, John the Baptist and says, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.”
This role of John as the Forerunner was prophesied in the Old Testament including back in Malachi 3:1 which says:
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Additionally, the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says this:
“John’s task as forerunner of Christ will be to bring people to the right attitude through the power of God.
This attitude will mainly consist in this, that men will be brought to a realisation and confession of sin and will long and hunger for the Messiah-Redeemer.
Thus John will proclaim to his people the arrival of redemption, a redemption which does not consist in external political liberation (at least in the first instance) but in forgiveness of sins.
He himself will not accomplish the redemption;
The Messiah will do this.
John will merely give notice to the people that it is coming and that it takes the form of salvation from the guilt and power of sin through the work of the Messiah.
In this manner, then, he will prepare the people for the work of Christ.
This preparation was most necessary because the people as a whole (with few exceptions) at that time had an altogether wrong opinion concerning the redemption to be brought about by the Messiah.
They regarded the expected Messiah as a worldly ruler whose great task would be to free the people from the yoke of Rome.
Thus they took an earthly and material view of the Messianic redemption and had no conception of their own spiritual need—they regarded themselves as the righteous ones and the Romans as “Gentiles” and “dogs” who were to be defeated by the Messiah and driven from the Holy Land.
Therefore it was necessary that John, the forerunner of Christ, should summon the people to a realisation of guilt and to a confession of sins, and should make as many of them as possible see that the real redemption needed by them was deliverance from the power of their spiritual enemies—sin and the forces of darkness, so that they might escape from the wrath of God.”
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Next Zechariah says, “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The term “sunrise” is a messianic reference and fits the theme of who the Forerunner is making a way for.
For the Messiah will be a light in the darkness.
And His light will conquer the darkness.
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The New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke again has a great not which says:
“The purpose of the visitation of Christ as the dayspring is to shine on those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
The original metaphor here refers to a party of travellers who, before reaching their destination, have been overtaken by the darkness of a pitch-black night and are now sitting terrified and powerless and expect any moment to be overwhelmed and killed by wild beasts or enemies.
But all at once a bright light appears to show them the way, so that they reach their destination safely where they enjoy rest and peace.
These words, therefore, point to the awful darkness and misery prevailing among mankind before the coming of Christ.
Powerless, panic-stricken and threatened by deadly enemies, mankind finds itself in black darkness.
But through the coming of Christ a bright light appears—the darkness is dispelled and those who avail themselves of His light are able to see clearly the path leading to peace.
By the path of peace is meant the way of forgiveness of sins, of reconciliation to God through the redeeming work of Jesus, the Messiah-Redeemer—a way which leads to real peace and safety.”
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Christ being referenced as the light is seen in John 1:4–5 when it says:
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And Jesus Himself declares this of Himself when He says in John 8:12:
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Do you see that Church?
To not have a relationship with Christ...
To not know Him...
To not believe in Him...
To not trust in Him...
Is to walk around blind.
He is the only light that can illuminate the narrow path on must follow to salvation...
For He is the Way...
He is the Truth...
And He is the Life!
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Ephesians 5:8 makes it clear that all of us start out in the darkness...
But we ourselves change when we become His Children...
When we surrender to the Lord:
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
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To trust in Jesus...
To genuinely have a saving relationship with Him....
Is to be part of the New Covenant.
Luke says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
The New Covenant required a blood sacrifice...
The blood of Christ that was spilled when He took our punishment...
The blood of Christ that was spilled when He volunteered to take out place...
That is why we partake in the cup when we have communion...
We are remembering His work He did on the Cross.
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Consider this profound text of Scripture in Hebrews 12:24:
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
The blood of Abel cried out to God for justice and retribution...
Yet the blood of Jesus, shed to seal the new covenant, cries out for mercy and forgiveness!
And the New Covenant is not a temporary covenant but an eternal one.
Hebrews 13:20-21 says:
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Notice what the author of Hebrews says...
“The blood of the eternal covenant.”
The New Covenant is a covenant forever and ever. Amen!
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After Zechariah ends his amazing praise and prophecy...
Luke adds some additional information about what happens with John...
He says, “And the child grew and became strong in spirit.”
This is similar to what is said in 1 Samuel 2:26 regarding the Prophet Samuel:
26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man.
Our Lord and Savior is described similarly in Luke 2:40:
40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
In fact, the first six words in Greek of the verse we just read are identical to verse 80 of our passage.
Of Jesus we see again in Luke 2:52 that it says:
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
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Finally, Luke says, “and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”
And with that final statement the next time we see John the Baptist is when he comes out of the wilderness and makes his public appearance in Isreal...
The next time we see him he is making straight the way for the promised Messiah.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
As this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this:
A group of believers was meeting by a river when one of their group fell into the water.
It was obvious that the poor fellow couldn’t swim, as he thrashed about wildly.
One of the believers was a strong swimmer and was called on to jump in and save the man before he drowned.
But though able to save the drowning man, he just watched until the wild struggles subsided.
Then he dove in and pulled the man to safety.
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When the rescue was over, the rescuer explained his slowness to act.
“If I had jumped in immediately, he would have been strong enough to drown us both.
Only by waiting until he was too exhausted to try to save himself, could I save him.”
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It seems to be all too easy for us to be like that drowning man.
Our self-efforts can actually prevent us from being saved!
Unfortunately, some people must reach the point of being too exhausted to continue trying to save themselves...
They must realize that all the good works they can compile will never be enough to save themselves...
We need to trust in the Savior...
We need to surrender to our Lord...
And only then do we come into possession of the free gift of salvation...
A salvation that Christ and Christ alone earned for His sheep...
His elect...
His followers...
For all those who believe with their mind and heart in the Son of God, Jesus Christ!
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So, I will leave you with the Holy Spirit inspired words of Paul found in Ephesians 2:12-13...
Words that remind us how God’s sovereign plan of salvation took us who were once far off...
Those who were not His people...
And how He brought us into the flock as His people:
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.