Naming the Savior - Luke 2:21 - April 10, 2022

 Luke 2:21 Naming the Savior

Good morning! Today is Palm Sunday, the warning shot across the bow of pastors across the world that next Sunday is Easter! You better get ready!

In truth, on Palm Sunday we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey walking on the cloaks of His followers spread on the road and palm branches waving and shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

This is the beginning of what is often called Passion Week or Holy Week where the New Testament describes daily accounts of Jesus ministry in and around Jerusalem culminating with His death of Good Friday and His Resurrection Easter Sunday.

We’ve spent the last few weeks focusing on Jesus’ birth that we celebrate at Christmas and in the week to come we will remember His death on Good Friday here Friday at 6:30, and His Resurrection Easter Sunday at Sunrise-ish 7am.

Today I’d like to focus one a day that happened somewhere in between Christmas and Easter, a significant day, as significant as the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that donkey, the day that Jesus was given His Name. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 2:21, page 857 in the pew Bibles.

21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Let’s pray.

So Mary and Joseph, in obedience to the Law of Moses, specifically Leviticus 12, eight days after Jesus was born had him circumcised and officially named Him Jesus.

It was significant that Jesus was circumcised.

Circumcision was a seal of the covenant between Yahweh and Abraham, that God would make Abraham a great nation and that all the world would be blessed through his offspring which was Jesus.

For the Jewish people circumcision was symbolic of the putting off of sin and for Jesus to be circumcised, even though He had no sin, was a token that He belonged to God’s covenant people. He took on the emblem of the purification of sin so that He would be like His brethren in every way except for sin itself.

Galatians 4:4-5 says,  …when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Jesus lived His earthly life in complete obedience to the Law, there was no sin in Him, and now He lives as a fulfillment of that Law for us who have faith in Him.

So His circumcision on the eighth day was significant. In this first earthly act of obedience for us He shed His first drops of blood, and on His last, on the cross, He would shed streams of blood for us.

But what I’d like for us to focus more on today is the significance of the naming of the Savior.

Back in chapter one and verse 31 that angel Gabriel announced to Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus.”

Matthew 1:20-21 records the angel announcing the same to Joseph in a dream. 

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The first of three points, of course, is that naming the child, “Jesus,” was an act of obedience.

So something to note here for you language nerds. The way we pronounce “Jesus,” is not the way the First Century church did, it’s not the way Gabriel did, and not the way Mary and Joseph would have either. “Jesus,” is the English pronunciation of the Greek name, “Iesous,” which is actually the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, “Yeshuah,” which, in English, we pronounce, “Joshua.”

That doesn’t mean that we should start calling the Lord Jesus, “the Lord Josh,” nor the Lord Yeshuah. What it does mean is that there is meaning in the Name of Jesus that was assigned by the Lord God when He instructed Mary and Joseph about what to name their Son.

Naming the Savior, “Jesus,” was a word of prophecy.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

The Name, “Jesus,” no matter how you pronounce it means: “Yahweh is salvation.”

When we think of Joshua, in the Old Testament, he was the leader of Israel after Moses and led Israel from the wilderness into the Promised Land. The Lord Jesus followed that pattern by leading His people out of the wilderness of sin and into the promised land of His kingdom through faith in Him.

Jesus’ Name is in complete harmony with His work, Yahweh is salvation.

Naming the Savior was an act of obedience, a word of prophecy, and also a promise fulfilled.

Yahweh is indeed salvation, it is by faith alone in the Name of His Son Jesus that we are saved.

There’s a great story in Acts 4:5 after Peter and John had healed a lame man in the Name of Jesus… 

5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

There is NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED!

No amount of good deeds, nor religion, no name of any other god or prophet has the power to save people from their sin, only the Name of Jesus.

And to call on His Name is to believe all that He said, to trust all that He did, and to obey all that He commanded. 

There is power in that Name!

Philippians 2:4 says,

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

All that we believe and confess is summed up in that one Name.

If we were to stand before God and he were to ask us: “Why should I let you into my kingdom?” The answer is: JESUS.

All that we do we do in that one Name: JESUS. The early church turned the world upside down with the Name of Jesus even if it cost them their lives. But it didn’t matter because all that we take out of this life is that one Name: JESUS.

You can line your coffin with silver and gold but it won’t go with you, all that we take with us beyond this life is the Name of Jesus.

Without the Name of Jesus, Christmas is just for Santa and trees and presents, without the Name of Jesus Easter is just bunnies and eggs, without the Name of Jesus we are among men most to be pitied, without the Name of Jesus we are all bound for destruction.

What name has ever been given that promised more and disappointed less than the Name of Jesus? He is all we need!

In His Name we have new life, new purpose, new hope, a new family, and a new home, His home, God’s eternal kingdom. All because of the Name of Jesus!

Amen.

Angels and Shepherds pt 2 - Luke 2:8-20 - April 3, 2022

 Luke 2:8-20 Angels and Shepherds pt 2

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 2, verses 8-20, page 857 in the pew Bibles.

We read this text last week and talked about the angels and their message and this week we are going to focus on the shepherds and their response. So let’s look at our text again.

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Let’s pray.

Last time I started off with the reminder from Scripture that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. That’s found in James 4:6, and in 1 Peter 5:5 which are both quotes from the Greek version of Proverbs 3:34.

Our text here shows us that God is serious about his issue. The angel of the Lord, accompanied by the heavenly host of angels was sent to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay keeping their sheep… They didn’t go to the king of Israel, at the time Israel had no king just a Roman governor, they didn’t go to the High Priest at the temple in Jerusalem, they didn’t go to the Sanhedrin, the ruling class of the Jewish people. They went to shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Have you ever wondered why God would choose shepherds to be the first recipients of the Good News of great joy that was for all the people?

I’m not going to pretend to give you a definitive answer as to why God chose shepherds, but it think that there are some things, some common themes that might lead us in the right direction.

I think the first hint is found in Psalm 23:1, 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The Lord chose shepherds maybe because He is a shepherd, Jesus said in John 10 that He is the Good Shepherd, 1 Peter 5:4 calls Jesus the Chief Shepherd, and Hebrews 13 calls Jesus the Great Shepherd of the sheep.

Choosing shepherds is also consistent for the Lord. Have you ever heard of King David? 

The angel Gabriel told Mary back in chapter one of Luke that the Lord God would give her Son the throne of His father David. Do you remember what David’s occupation was before he was anointed king? He was a shepherd… from Bethlehem… where these shepherds were… in these same fields…

Shepherds were not high on the social scale, it was a trade you were born into not one you aspired to. Shepherds were considered ceremonially unclean and their work kept them away from going to the Temple for weeks at a time so that they could be made ceremonially clean. This was a humble profession and is a clear demonstration of God opposing the proud but giving grace to the humble.

I think God may have chosen shepherds, men of low position, so that we all could identify with them. Paul wrote about that idea in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

I think probably every Christmas sermon ever that had to do with the shepherds said these same things.

But I’d like to look a little closer at what the shepherds did and if they were really chosen so that we could relate to them in their humility, maybe we can learn to follow their example as well.

First of all, to start out, what were they doing? 

They weren’t meditating and plumbing the depths of their understanding of the universe, they weren’t glowing in the dark and levitating, they were just out there doing their job and God shows up. They were doing their daily routine and the angel of the Lord appears to them. Again, there’s nothing mysterious about this, it just reinforces that it wasn’t the wise and the learned and the worthy that God chose to speak to, just ordinary guys doing ordinary things. And if God chose to use ordinary guys like them, then there’s hope for us.

Last week we talked about the angel proclaiming the Good News that the Savior had been born in Bethlehem. Then the heavenly host shows up and declares what the results of the Good News would be: glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom God is pleased.

And at this proclamation of the gospel, what do the shepherds do?

The very first thing they did was they believed the message. They believed the gospel, the Good News. They believed what the angel said, that a Savior had been born to them in Bethlehem. 

Verse 15 says, When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Faith was the first step in their journey, it was by faith that the shepherds sought out the baby in the manger. But they didn’t just have faith, they didn’t just believe the Good News and then just go back to what they were doing. Their faith prompted action.

16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

They ran into town, found Mary and Joseph and the baby, but that wasn’t their only action. When they got there they told everybody there what the angel had said, they shared their story.

17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

There we get another glimpse into Mary’s personality. It may have been Mary that told Luke all of these details, she was still alive when this Gospel was written.

Mary, Luke, the shepherds, they are all doing the same thing, sharing their story, how God interrupted their normal with the News of great joy that shall be for all the people. And where the angel was the first evangelist, the shepherds followed in his footsteps.

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The angel had told the shepherds about the Good News of great joy that shall be for all the people, but how were all the people supposed to find out about the Good News of great joy? It was through them!

The shepherds, just like a baby born of a virgin in a manger, were God’s surprising vehicles of grace. The shepherds went back to their fields, back to their families and friends and told them all that they had heard and seen, they testified to all that God had done, they shared what they had witnessed.

The shepherds are not unlike us. Think about when you came to faith in Christ Jesus. Most of us were going about our ordinary, just doing life when God interrupted. Like the shepherds we believed the Good News that a Savior had been given to us, and like the shepherds we must act on that faith and tell others what we have heard and seen. 

That’s how evangelism works! No one is going to hear the Good News of great joy that shall be for all the people if those who have experienced it don’t tell them.

People are not lining up at the door just to hear me preach the gospel, hungry to hear about sin and salvation, but our friends and families, our coworkers and classmates need to hear our stories of how God interrupted our normal with the gospel. If God could use those guys to tell the world about His Son, He can certainly use all of us!

So let’s pray for opportunities to tell our stories, and let’s always be ready with an answer for the hope that we have within us so, like those shepherds, we too can be surprising vehicles of God’s grace.

May his Name be ever praised!

Amen.

History, Prophecy, and Providence - Luke 2:1-7 - March 20, 2022

 Luke 2:1-7 History, Prophecy, and Providence

Good morning! Turn with me again to the Gospel of Luke. Today we are going to look at Luke chapter 2, verses 1-7, that’s on page 857 in the pew Bibles. This might feel a bit like Christmas even with Easter on the horizon.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Let’s pray.

Every Christmas Eve we read this text. 

Luke 2 continues on with accounts of shepherds and angels all the parts that make up our manger scenes. We read these things and think about the birth of Jesus and Mary and Joseph and stables and inns sings songs about this wonderful time. It’s all very sentimental, it just isn’t Christmas without it, not to mention singing Silent Night and trying not to burn your hands with the hot wax from the candles!

But the author of this Gospel, Luke, the faithful physician, included the details of our text this morning for much greater reasons than just stirring up our emotions and feelings of sentimentality.

Do you remember when we talked about Author’s Intent Statements? Do you remember what Luke’s intent was in writing this Gospel? 

Luke’s intent was to give Theophilus certainty about the things he had been taught about what Jesus began to do and teach by carefully researching Jesus’ life and ministry and carefully recording those accounts.

So when Luke records these words in chapter two his purpose is far greater than to stir up all our merry and bright feelings about the Christmas season.

What Luke describes here in these few verses is much more than that, the details that he includes have a much greater purpose.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.

Why would Luke include these details? It’s simple really. 

Caesar Augustus was a real person, Quirinius governor of Syria was a real person. They both existed and it is recorded in secular history. 

Quirinius served as governor of Syria twice and took a census both times, this one and one around ten years later. These are historical facts because Luke’s account is historical fact, this account was real not fantasy.

These historical facts are confirmed by historians outside of the Bible, the Roman historian Tacitus, who was not a Christian in the least confirms Luke’s timeline, Josephus, a Jewish historian, not a follower of Christ, confirmed the record of His life and death and resurrection and the existence of a great following that declared Jesus to be God.

Luke includes these details not to weave an engaging story but to establish historical fact, to anchor this most important narrative to the world’s historical record.

The second reason that Luke includes these details concerns the fulfillment of prophecy.

You’ll remember from back in chapter one when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she will bear a son she responds, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Luke says again in verse five of chapter two that Mary and Joseph were still not yet married. 

This was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 that messiah would be born of a virgin, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

The first prophecy about Messiah was in Genesis 3:15 when God speaks to the serpent, and it shows that Messiah would be a human not an angel.

[And God said] I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

In God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 it shows that Messiah would be a Jew and not a Gentile since He would be Abraham’s offspring. Luke established already that Joseph and Mary were Jewish and here again in verse four when he records that they were both descended from David which is itself a fulfillment of 1 Samuel 7:1-17. 

Genesis 12:1-3 says: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 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.”

According to the prophecy of Micah 5:2-5 the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.

All of these facts, all of these details recorded by Luke are included to establish their historicity, that they are tied to recorded history, and that they are in fact fulfillments of prophecy. God had already established that this was how it was going to go, He had told His people that it would through the prophets and He is proving Himself to be faithful to His Word.

And that brings me to the third reason that Luke includes these details, that in them God displays His attributes, not the least of which is His providence.

JP Lange records it this way:

“God manifests all His attributes in sending His Son: His power, in making Mary became a mother through the operation of the Holy Ghost; His wisdom, in the choice of the time, place, and circumstances; His faithfulness, in the fulfillment of the word of prophecy (Micah 5:1); His holiness, in hiding the miracle from the eyes of an unbelieving world; and especially His love and grace (John 3:16). But, at the same time, we see how different, and how infinitely higher, are His ways and thoughts than ours. His dealings with His chosen ones seem obscure to our finite apprehension, when we see that she who was most blessed of all women, finds less rest than any other. God brings His counsel to pass in silence, without leaving the threads of the web in mortal hands. Apparently, an arbitrary decree decides where Christ is to be born. Still, when carefully viewed, a bright side is not wanting to the picture. God as the Almighty carries out His plan through the free acts of men; and without his knowledge Augustus is an official agent in the kingdom of God.”

Augustus Caesar unknowingly became an official agent in the kingdom of God. This is an introduction to a concept that seems to be lost in our vocabulary: divine providence.

Joseph and Mary, were it not for divine providence, would most likely have stayed in Nazareth, had the baby, gotten married, raised a family, and grew old together, and the prophecies would have failed.

God the Father used Caesar and his decree to register everybody so he could further tax them to move Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem so the prophecy would be fulfilled.

That is divine providence. Providence uses what seems to be negative to bring about a positive. 

Another stupid decree from the stinking government that forces Joseph to trek some eighty miles with his very pregnant fiancée to Bethlehem only to find that there is nowhere for them to stay forcing them to have their baby in a cave with the donkeys, the most humbling conditions… Divine providence.

All of those negatives working out for God’s greater positives. 

2 Corinthians 8:9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

And Philippians 2:5-11, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

History, prophecy, and providence. Luke records these details because this account was real, not a fantasy. 

God’s Word is true, Jesus is alive, and we can trust in Him.

Amen.

A Song Breaks the Silence - Luke 1:57-80 - March, 13, 2022

 Luke 1:57-80 A Song Breaks the Silence

Good morning! I want to thank Elder Joel for bringing the Word last week, it was wonderful, you’re hired!

Let’s pray.

We are going back to the Gospel of Luke this morning. Turn with me to Luke 1:57-80, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

To bring us up to speed with the story so far, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby boy in their old age and that they should name him John, Joanees in Greek.

Zechariah didn’t believe the angel and his doubt was rewarded with dumbness, he wasn’t able to speak, and, as we will see in our text, he may very well have been struck deaf as well. The same angel appeared to Mary and told her that she too would have a baby boy by the Holy Spirit. Instead of doubt, Mary responded in faith and humbly submitted to the Lord’s will. Mary then went to visit Elizabeth her relative. When Mary arrived and greeted Elizabeth the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy and she was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a wonderful blessing on Mary and Mary responded with a song that we call the “Magnificat.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months, presumably until the birth of their son, and that’s where we pick up the story in verse 57.

I want to look at this passage in two pieces, the actual birth of John the Baptist and then Zechariah’s response to it. The first part is one of the funniest passages in Scripture in my opinion.

Let’s look at verse 57.

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 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. 

So this really is a story of a miracle. Elizabeth and Zechariah were well beyond child bearing years and they had never been able to have kids. So when the time came for the baby to be born it drew a lot of attention from family and neighbors.

It was tradition to wait until baby boys were circumcised to name them, this was the case with John and would later be the same with Jesus. But when the time came there was disagreement about what the baby should be named.

This is where I think this story is funny. This committee of friends and relatives that showed up for the birth and circumcision ceremony decided amongst themselves to name the baby Zechariah after his father… This is the problem with committees. Who exactly did they think they were? Who names somebody else’s baby? 

Elizabeth speaks up and says, “No, his name is John.”

And like any reasonable committee they respond with, “Of course, you’re right, your baby, John it is! Yay John!” Nope.

“None of your relatives is called by this name.” That’s their response, who on earth do these people think they are?!

Finally they turn to Zechariah, the baby’s father, imagine that, to get his opinion on the baby’s name.

Now remember that Zechariah couldn’t speak, and verse 62 says, 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. It’s this verse that suggests that Zechariah was also deaf. 

It’s also possible, according to my own experience, that because he couldn’t speak they just spoke really loud and made signs to make sure he got the message…

Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, which would have been a piece of wood with wax smeared on it, and wrote the words, “His name is John.”

And where Zechariah’s initial doubt about what the angel had told him was rewarded with dumbness, his eventual obedience to the instructions from the angel was rewarded with speech.

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. 

The silence of unbelief was exchanged with a song of praise.

After nine months of silence Zechariah speaks. He doesn’t speak words of complaint about his condition, he doesn’t chastise the committee for trying to name his kid the wrong name, he doesn’t shake his fist at God lamenting why a loving God would do something so terrible to him.

Instead he sings a song of praise that gives us a wonderful outline of how Old Testament believers understood Messiah. The scholars call this, “Old Testament Christology,” Old Testament study of Christ, of Messiah.

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 [John the Baptist] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Warren Wiersbe breaks this song down into four parts, the opening of a prison door, the winning of a battle, the canceling of a debt, and the dawning of a new day.

Verse 68 describes the opening of a prison door. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…

The Greek word translated, “visited,” means to “be present to help,” or, “to be on hand to aid.” As Psalm 54:4 says, “Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is the upholder of my life.”

Yahweh is the helper of His people, and He has also redeemed them. The word, to redeem, means to set free, to liberate, to deliver. Easton’s Bible dictionary says redemption is to purchase something back that was lost by the payment of a ransom.

Make no mistake, as Joel reminded us last week, mankind is under the curse of sin. Since the fall of Man in the Garden we have been prisoners of sin, but God, the Lord God of Israel is present to help and has paid the ransom so that the prison door could be opened and people could be set free from sin and its penalty.

Verses 69-75 describe the winning of a battle.

[He] has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, (a horn is a symbol of strength in the Bible) 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.

“To be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,” can easily be misunderstood and mistaken for a political or social statement. What I mean is, if you read this and are Ukrainian, you might think it’s about the Russians, if you are conservative you might think it’s about the liberals, if you’re liberal you might think it’s about the conservatives, and so on and so on.

Zechariah’s statement was not political nor social, it was spiritual. We only have one enemy and he is not people, people are not our enemy, Satan is our enemy. He tries to trick us with sin that promises joy and life but only leads to the grave. He wants to destroy us, to destroy people, to get people to deny Jesus Christ, to turn away from faith in Him and die.

The devil and his demons are the ones that we are at war with. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Resisting temptation and praying for the release of the captives of Satan are how we fight. Telling the other prisoners about freedom through faith in Jesus is how we win. 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.

Verses 76-77 speak of canceling a debt.

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,

The ministry of John the Baptist was to go before the Lord Jesus and prepare the way for Him and His ministry, John called people to repentance, to turn away from their sin, where Jesus called people to faith to be forgiven of their sin.

Jesus spoke of sin as a debt in Luke chapter seven which we will get to later. JP Lange wrote, “[There is] no salvation without forgiveness of sins; no forgiveness of sins without the knowledge of the truth…”

Jesus came to give the knowledge of the truth, so that people could have their sins forgiven and their debt erased, so that they could have salvation. John 19:30 records Jesus’ last word from the cross was the word, “tetelastai.” We translate that to, “it is finished,” but more accurately it means, “the debt is paid.” Jesus’ death of the cross paid our debt and he paid it in full.

And finally, verses 78-79 speak of the dawning of a new day.

78because 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.”

That sounds a lot like the words of Isaiah 9:2 that we read every Christmas, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death are those who do not know Jesus yet. Once that was us! And now we have the light of Jesus to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The way of peace is the way of peace with God through faith in Jesus, who is the only way to peace with God. Paul described living that way of peace in Titus 2:12-14:

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Amen.