Zacharias Finds His Voice - Luke 1:67-80

ZACHARIAS

Zacharias Finds His Voice

Luke 1:67-80

Luke 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Susan: Once the Lord opened His servant  Zacharias’s mouth; His priest became a megaphone, prophesying by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Susie: Note that when each of these people in Luke’s gospel are filled with the Spirit, they begin to worship, praise, compose songs, and sometimes even speak prophecy.

Ephesians 5:18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Luke 1:68-69 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;

Susie: Just as Mary’s praise song is called the “Magnificat” for the first word in the Latin translation, Zacharias’s pronouncement is called the “Benedictus” for the first Latin word.

Susan: This is a new discovery for me that there is a special name for Zacharias’s speech.

Susie: It was news to me as well. Zacharias blessed the Lord.

Susan: Minister to the Lord, bless the Lord, first and then minister to others because it is the Lord who ministers through you.

Susie: In prophesy mode, Zacharias saw the redemption purchased by Jesus as a “done deal.” He spoke in the past tense because although the fulfillment of his words was to be in the future, in God’s timetable it was assuredly completed.

Susan: A “horn of salvation” was an Old Testament term for strength. When Zachariah links this strength to the House of David, it is, in reality, a reference to the Messiah.

2 Samuel 22:3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

The Intervarsity Press New Testament Commentary Series:

This Messiah is a picture of strength, which is why Zechariah mentions the horn. The horns of an ox are used for protection and for defeating opponents (Deut 33:17). The same image is used for a warrior (2 Sam 22:3; Ps 75:4-5, 10; 148:14) or a king who saves (1 Sam 2:10; Ps 132:17). Luke's starting point for thinking about Jesus is that he is a king.

Luke 1:70-71 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Susie: The people hearing Zacharias speak may have been thinking that God was sending the Messiah as a conquering King to get Rome out of their hair once and for all. However, the Jews had greater enemies than Rome!

Ephesians 6:11-13 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Susan: Christ came not to conquer the physical, human enemy of Roman rule, but to defeat the enemies of our souls—Satan, sin, and death!

Luke 1:72-75 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Susie: God’s promise to Abraham was not just that the Israelites would be a great nation on the earth, but that through them all nations would be blessed.

Susan: Through Jesus’s sacrifice as the perfect Lamb, He gave people of every nation, tribe, and tongue the opportunity to be free from slavery to sin and Satan that results in being separated from God forever through death.

Susie: When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended back to Heaven, He opened the only way to true peace and eternal life—belief and complete trust in Him.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Susan: And now Jesus is interceding on our behalf that we will understand and live that truth as His ambassadors to those who do not yet know Him.

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Luke 1:76-78a 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; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God;

Susie: Malachi had foretold that the prophet Elijah would precede the coming of the messiah.

Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

Susie: Jesus confirmed to Peter, James, and John that John the Baptist was indeed the one who came in the spirit of Elijah, with that same boldness, to prepare hearts for His coming.

Matthew 17:10-13 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Luke 1:78b-79 whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Susie: “Dayspring” or in some translations “Sunrise” is a messianic reference.

Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Isaiah 60:1-3 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Susie: The prophets foretold that the Messiah would shine light in darkness. From the close of the Old Testament until Mary, Zacharias, and Simeon spoke prophesy there had been 400 years of silence, the Lord had not spoken through a prophet. The Messiah would expose the darkness of sin and unbelief and shed light on God’s plan of salvation.

Susan: Jesus identified and declared Himself to be the Light that takes away all darkness.

John 8:12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Susie: In the Revelation that John received on the Isle of Patmos, Jesus referred to Himself as the “bright and morning star.” He further confirmed that He fulfilled messianic prophesies by pointing out He was descended from King David.

Revelation 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Susie: Elizabeth’s miracle son grew stronger and stronger in the Lord. As a man, he spent time with God in the desert until it was the appointed time for him to prepare the way of the Messiah.

Susan: John (who became known as the Baptist or the Baptizer) spent much time alone with his God, and God prepared his heart to preach the good news and be the first to point to Jesus as the Perfect Lamb of God. You can read about this in the first few chapters of the Gospel of John (the disciple, not this John).

QUESTIONS

1.  What was a common factor in Mary’s song and Zacharias’s song?

2. List references to the Messiah in Zacharias’s song.

3. Choose one of the Messianic references and explain its significance as related to Jesus.

4. In whose spirit would John preach?