Carols of Christmas: The Benedictus

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. As we turn there, let's pray together. Father now as we look into your word we want to understand it correctly we want to understand it in the way that you intended it to be understood so guide our thinking, guide our hearts, help us now Lord at this time of the year we need to hear about Jesus.

We need to hear what he is about. So help us as we look at this old saint, Zacharias, as he points us to this one. Help us to see what you have accomplished in this coming king. Grant to us the joy that should be ours because of his reign and because of his work. So guide our thinking now as we explore your word and explore the delights of our Messiah.

We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. In the pre-dawn hours of July 16, 1945, a blaze of white light, brighter than the sun even, exploded across the dark skies of northern New Mexico. The first atomic bomb had been detonated, And with that detonation came the dawn of a new age. We call it the nuclear age. And from that point on, nothing would ever be the same.

But an earth-shattering as that day was, an even more powerful age had dawned many centuries before. It was an age of liberation, an age of freedom and forgiveness, an age when God would again appear on the scene and rescue his people. The age of a mighty deliverer. But the age didn't arrive with the deafening blast of a bomb, but with the peaceful, ordinary birth of two babies.

The first John the Baptist and the second Jesus Christ John is the prophet the last prophet of the old era and a forerunner of the new. God appointed him to make the way for the Lord of the new era, Jesus. And you find this new age, this new era, described in a song by the priest Zachariah that we find in Luke chapter 1. We call that song the Benedictus because it begins with the words, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

That first word, blessed, was translated years later into Latin, and it is the word benedictus. And so we are looking at the second song of the second carol of Christmas this season, the second song that was sung by Zechariah the priest, called the benedictus. Now this song really begins with the birth and the naming of Zechariah's son, John. We just heard about that in our New Testament reading, about all that had transpired in the birth of John.

And now we read of the blessing that Zachariah pronounced, this praise of God that he enunciated at the birth of his son John. Let's look at it in verses 67 through 80. And his father Zachariah 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, 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.

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 What do we see here first We see here first in relating the story in verses 57 through 66 you see the sign of belief Now let's imagine it. Let's go back and imagine it.

After long months of pregnancy and hard hours of labor, old Elizabeth had her son and the whole town came to celebrate. You know what that's like in a small town. Things like that happen and everybody knows about it. And this is small enough where everybody showed up to rejoice in it. and the people praised God for his mercy to Elizabeth and the angel's promise had started to become true the promise that he had made to John way back in verse 14 when he was in the temple when Gabriel appeared to him and told him that John the son that would be born to him will be a joy and a delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth and so many started to rejoice because of his birth on the eighth day it was the doubt it was the it was time for John to be circumcised as a sign of the covenant according to the law of Moses.

It was the baby's big day because this ceremony marked a person's entrance into the covenant community of God. It was, and everyone showed up at the family's house to welcome this child into the fellowship of God's people. It was at that time that a child was formally given his name. Certainly the baby would be named Zachariah. That was the custom. That was what you did.

But Elizabeth surprised everyone by calling him John. Probably Zachariah had told her through writing, no doubt, since he couldn't speak, that this was the name the angel had given to him. And when all gathered friends and family were there, they protested when she became emphatic and she says, No, we're going to name him John. And they're going, John, that's such a common name.

Name him after his father. Name him after someone in the family. but John, come on. That doesn't make any sense at all. Elizabeth must certainly be exceeding her bounds as a wife and insisting on this craziness. So the people appealed to Zachariah. He listened to reason.

Now, Zachariah had been watching all of this in silence. Of course, he can't talk. By the way, and I didn't think about this until recently, he couldn't hear either. He couldn't hear either, Because notice it says the people made signs to him. He couldn't hear and he couldn't speak. So they played charades right They played charades and said what are you going to name this baby Remember, he couldn't hear or speak because he'd balked at the angel's promise.

Being deaf and mute for almost a year now, right? Nine months? His disabilities had kept him out of the conversation, so all the guests, you know, played their game and tried to figure out what so he could figure out what they were asking and he proved to be as stubborn as his wife also willing to go against the wishes of their family and friends and he wrote the name john at the moment he wrote that name he found his voice and he praised god and what he said at that moment had tremendous effect because it spread throughout all the hill country of Judea what he said spread throughout all the country of Judea what he said made an impact and what he said is what we find then in verses 68 through 79 when it says then that he spoke blessing God Luke then later a little bit later in this narrative records what he said at that moment this is what he said he's been thinking about this now for nearly a year and this is what bursts from his mouth.

Now notice, the timing of this speech is significant. The angel said, remember what the angel said in verse 20. The angel said, And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. You notice that you would expect that he would find his voice the day that John was born, but it was eight days later.

It was a week later before he found his voice when he named it. That is, God waited until Zechariah acted on his faith by calling him John. The priest showed that he really believed what the angel had said. By naming the boy John in obedience to God, Zechariah proved his faith in God's promise. For nine months he'd been alone with his thoughts, pondering the angel's message.

He had come to believe that his son would indeed prepare the way for the Savior. Once he believed, then he had to worship. Because whenever you know what God has done in our salvation, it should erupt in praise. Genuine faith always expresses itself in praise. praise and so he does praise God. God had done a gracious work in Zachariah's life bringing the man to shore and certain faith.

But what we need to see here is one of the signs of this new age. The sign of belief. The sign of belief. God works in our lives to bring us to the point where we trust his promises. Some people believe right away like Elizabeth did. Elizabeth believed right away.

And remember as we saw last week Mary believed right away, didn't she? They believed right away, but not Zechariah. Zechariah went through much to arrive at belief. But in the end, in the end, you believe. It's about belief. And in the end, it's the gospel that produces that belief.

The promise comes to us. The word of God comes to us. And it is what works belief in us. Turn over to 1 Peter very quickly. I want you to see what I'm talking about. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 22.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. it is the gospel itself that produces belief in the gospel it is the word of god that plants that imperishable seed you know what when you wonder about what are you going to say to someone you know we all struggle with this don't we we all struggle with how can i witness of my faith we all well most of us struggle with that some don't but some of us really struggle with that you know what you need to remember it's not your artic it's not your argument it's not anything else that's going to produce belief. It is the word of God itself as it's given to someone that actually produces belief. Minister the word of God.

If you don't know what to say, say to your friend, look, I'll tell you what, read the gospel of John and answer this question. What does the gospel of John say Jesus is and what we're supposed to do with him? And then say, let's talk in a week. That's all you need to do. Unleash the word of God in him. Just give him the word of God.

Just have him read the Bible. It is the word of God that produces belief. It's not you that produce belief. It's not your arguments It is the word of God coming and saying believe that produces the belief And so the good news had come to Zechariah He eventually believed Elizabeth believed right away But the point is one of the signs of this new age is this incredible or this divine working of trust in the promises of God.

So there's the first sign. Okay? Now we come now to the words that Zechariah uttered that caused the stir. These are the words that he said when he opened his mouth and spoke and he blessed God. These are the words that he said. These are the words that had an effect on their neighbors so that they talked about it all throughout the Judean hills.

These are the words he uttered after writing John's name on the tablet. And in this song you find signs indicating the eruption of this new age into history. These are the signs of this great salvation. What are they? Verse 69, see the sign of a powerful salvation. God has raised up a horn of salvation for us.

Now, that's kind of a funny word. What is that all about? What's this horn business about, right? God would raise a horn of salvation. That's an Old Testament phrase. Horns are often the symbol of power, right?

Horns are often a symbol of power. Now, we're not so familiar with it because pretty much we bred our cattle so they don't have horns anymore. Right? When I was a kid in high school, I worked for a guy who raised polled Herefords. You know what polled Herefords are? They're Herefords without horns.

Right? They bred horns out of most of our cows. Back in that day, that wasn't the case. They had horns. And you didn't want to mess with the horns of a cow or a bull. you didn't want to mess with those horns that's the business end of the animal right that's the thing that that's intimidating that's the thing that gets the the job done in the same way messiah is the business end of god's salvation if i can put it that way with the coming of the messiah god has god was shaking the mighty horn of his salvation the way a mighty beast intimidates his rivals it is a sign of power god will not be swayed from accomplishing his great salvation.

Do you ever lose hope in that? Do you ever lose hope in the fact that maybe this one's lost and never to be saved? We don't know, but I do know this, that when Messiah steps in nothing going to stop him And you know that in your life as well The moment you came to faith in Christ you couldn help it You wanted to do it Nothing could keep you from it. Messiah has come.

He's going to make sure that this salvation happens. Well, what is that salvation? What is that salvation? According to Zechariah, it comes from God and not from us. It's entirely from God. Zechariah praised God because he had visited his people with this redemption.

Verse 68, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. He has visited us. He's going to visit us, if you will, in the birth of my son and the birth of the Messiah. Salvation is not something to achieve by going to God, but something God has done by coming to us in Christ. Never forget that. We're not looking for God.

We're not after it. We're not after salvation. God has come to us. He has visited us and redeemed us in this Messiah. He comes to us. He comes to us in Christ.

He searches us out. He's the one who comes. And so you see, this is a powerful salvation. A powerful salvation. It's a promise salvation. God's gracious salvation comes as the fulfillment of his promises.

Zechariah mentions King David in the prophecies about Christ in verses 69 and 70, does he not? In the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. Now he's not talking about his own son that comes from the house of Levi, but about Jesus who comes from the house of David. He's talking about the son of Mary. After spending three months with Mary, he knew she was pregnant.

And he knew after talking with her, right? After spending time with her, he knew what God had said to her. And I wonder if they talked about these things in light of these angelic messages. I wonder if they talked about those things in light of the Old Testament prophecies. I can't help but think that they did. Turn over to Psalm 137.

Psalm 137. Let's pick it up at verse 10. I sorry it 132 I knew right away it wasn the right not by looking at 138 but by looking at the whole psalm And I said, wait a minute, this promise is on the right side of the page, and it's not on the right side of the page. all right psalm 132 beginning in verse 10 for the sake of your servant david do not turn away the face of your anointed one the lord swore to david a sure oath from which he will not turn back one of the sons of your body i will sit on your throne if your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies i shall teach them their sons also forever shall sit on your throne for the lord has chosen zion He has desired it for his dwelling place.

This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provisions. I will satisfy her poor with bread. Her priests I will clothe with salvation. And her saints will shout for joy.

Then I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame. But on him his crown will shine. God had promised to lift up a horn of salvation from David. And as the psalmist here does, he puts down the promise that God had actually made to David in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13.

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. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So I'm thinking, Zachariah is putting these together, right? Here's this psalm that talks about this great horn of salvation that comes from the house of David.

Here's the promise to David that one of his offspring would rule on the throne forever. Zachariah is putting it together and he's praising God for fulfilling his promise. He goes back even further in verse 73 to the covenant that God had made with Abraham. Do you remember that covenant? Genesis chapter 12, verses 2 and 3. Genesis 12, 2 and 3.

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. 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. Somehow Zechariah knew that the promises made to Abraham. were not just going to be fulfilled within that little nation, but that it was going to be fulfilled by someone who came from Abraham.

And out of Abraham would come someone who would bless all the nations. And so he says, God is being faithful to the promise He made to Abraham. God is being faithful to the promise He made with David. God is faithful to His promises. He will deliver His people. again i wonder do you believe the promises of god god has promised salvation he promised it centuries ago he promised to abraham we are sitting here because god fulfilled that promise do you believe his promises right now all right right now there is a family who is confronted family and friends who are confronted with this very thing.

Do we believe the promises of God? Is our father, is our husband, is our friend David in glory right now? Is he in glory right now? Is he enjoying right now visions that he never dreamed he'd see? Is that what's happening right now with him? Do you believe that?

Do you believe all the promises of his salvation? we're faced with those every day god is going to fulfill the promises he made centuries ago so that we find everything that is to be found in christ this messiah who's come this is a you can see the sign of a salvation that delivers verses 68 and verse 71 a salvation that delivers he has visited and redeemed his people what so that that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. A salvation that delivers. Zechariah says that the horn of God's salvation will bring redemption and rescue from the hands of their enemies.

To the people of that day tuned into the Old Testament, this would sound like a redemption and rescue, like the exodus. The people were looking for a new exodus, a deliverance from the enemies of Rome, a new exodus where God, like he did in the past, would destroy their enemies and allow them to go free. But in Jesus, a greater fulfillment happens. And here's something we need to see.

As we read what Zechariah says there is a greater fulfillment that happens in Jesus It is true that it encapsulates what we want but it greater than what we expect People hear those words and they think a new exodus in which God delivers us from Rome, like he delivered us from Pharaoh. And it might certainly include that, but the words of this phrase may include far more than what at first appears. you see this in the covenant that God made with Abraham way back in Genesis 17 I want you to see this can I think this is important for us to see because when we read the Old Testament it tells us something but the fulfillment is greater than even what the Old Testament people expected it fulfills what they expected but it goes beyond that so let's look at that Genesis 17 Again, this is God recounting his covenant with Abraham. Genesis chapter 17, beginning in verse 3.

Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 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 I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you and I will give to you and you your offspring after you the land of your sojournings all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. What has God promised?

A people, a land, and a king. A people that are going to come from him, a land, he says here Canaan, and a king. There will be kings that come from you. Right? How does God fulfill that promise? Turn over to Galatians.

Galatians 3. Now remember implicit in that promise, because he had said it earlier, he said to Abraham, your descendants will be like the stars of the sky Galatians chapter 3 verse 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Guess what? Abraham, when he heard that promise, thought, I'm just going to have all these physical descendants, that'll be so many.

And God says, no, because of the one seed of Abraham, anybody who has faith in Jesus becomes a descendant of Abraham. And what? You become heirs of all the promises. you become heir of all the promises that God made Abraham you say wait a minute wait a minute okay what about the land right so we're all going to live in Canaan no greater see this is a greater fulfillment of that expectation who are the descendants of Abraham everyone who has faith in Jesus are descendants of Abraham if you're a descendant of Abraham you're also an heir to the promises that God made to Abraham.

Look over at Romans. This is, to me, one of the most fascinating verses in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 4, verse 13. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Heir of the what? Of the world.

Wait a it. I thought God promised him Canaan. Guess what? You get Canaan. But you get the whole world. There's a greater fulfillment here.

It goes beyond even what Abraham expected. Does he fulfill the original promise? Yeah. But you get more than what you expect. You get the whole world. And guess what?

You know how Abraham gets that? When he's raised from the dead on resurrection day, that's when God's going to fulfill that promise. Because remember, the only part of the land that Abraham had was that little piece of land that he bought to get buried in Right But he was looking forward to a greater promise And so he the heir of the world just like you are just like I am We're heirs of all the promises.

There's a greater fulfillment. Jesus, and who is the king? Jesus is the king. And he goes beyond mere political freedom and accomplishes an eternal deliverance from the people who hate us. From the people who hate us. doesn't he say you're going to deliver us from the hands of our enemies well what does that look like does it mean right now we're going to be the romans are going to be thrown off well maybe not now but guess what look at second thessalonians and we're going to get there in a in a few more weeks second thessalonians chapter one what does it say beginning in verse six well let's begin in verse 5 this is evidence of the righteous judgment of god that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of god for which you are also suffering since indeed god considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the lord jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, there's a greater fulfillment. We will be delivered from the hands of our enemies. One day, completely, absolutely, no more enemies ever. And he's going to accomplish that through Jesus. You know, if you're on our email chain that we use to send out everything for the church, I sent you an article this week. I want you to read it.

It's what a Chinese pastor wrote. He said to his church, if I get arrested and I'm detained for 48 hours, please release this. and in it he talks about why he's disobeying the laws of his country and preaching the gospel. And at one point, at one point he says those who will interrogate me will someday be interrogated by Christ the judge of all. Here's a guy who believes the promises of God and says I will be delivered from all my enemies.

Not quite yet. But someday, someday, you will stand before the judge of all. And you will answer. And there will be justice. And so what Zacharias says here, that we'll be delivered from the hand of our enemies, God means much more than just the people right now who are making trouble for you. all your enemies someday if they don't come over someday we will be delivered completely absolutely eternally from all our enemies it's a lasting liberation not only from our enemies but from sin now notice see the sign of a salvation that has purpose verses 74 and 75 He says, And we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

All right? We're going to be delivered so that we can serve God without fear. Now, one might think that Zechariah spoke of the freedom of religion that would come through the new exodus, freedom from Roman tyranny to worship God. but God has a greater purpose the goal of our salvation listen and and I hope you've heard this over all the years I've been here the goal of our salvation is not simply getting a ticket to heaven I just read something recently where where the person who's writing I can't remember his name right now said this too often we we have a barcode salvation you know what a barcode salvation is, right?

I get the code and it's like, okay, I get to go to heaven. Right? That's how most people think of salvation. That's not what Zachariah says. You know what salvation is? It's freedom to serve God.

Freedom to serve God without fear. That's the purpose of God. Our salvation is not a barcode to get us in the golden gates, the pearly gates. Our salvation is something that deliver us so that we're now free to serve God with joy. We're now free to be like Christ. God salvation is for our sanctification our growth and that always leads to service to free us from fear so we can serve God with joy John Calvin wrote this this implies that we cannot worship God in a proper manner without composure of mind.

Those who are those who are ill at ease, who have an inward struggle, whether God is favorable or hostile to them, whether he accepts or rejects their services in a word, who fluctuate in uncertainty between hope and fear, will sometimes labor anxiously in the worship of God, but never will sincerely or honestly obey him. Alarm and dread make them turn from him with horror, but we know that no sacrifice is acceptable to God which is not offered willingly and with a cheerful heart. Before men can truly worship God, they must obtain peace of conscience. for those to whom God has given peace are graciously invited and led to approach him willingly and with a cheerful desire to worship him Zacharias says it well John Calvin is saying what Zacharias says here and that is if you're afraid of God you're not going to worship him but because you have peace of conscience because of this salvation you can now worship him without fear.

You see? Isn't that marvelous? We can come here and worship without fear. We can go out and we can serve God and not wonder whether or not He accepts it. He accepts it in Christ. We have peace of conscience.

We can go out and we no longer have to fear. And so these are signs of this new salvation that have erupted and Zechariah recognizes that and tells us of that. But now, in the second stanza of the song, beginning in verse 76, He turns his attention to his own son John and the work that he will do. And here we see one more sign. And I want you to notice this.

What's emphasized here, it's the sign of free forgiveness. All right? It's interesting that Zechariah talks about the salvation that comes before he talks about his son. That order is significant. Because in fatherly pride, what would you be talking about? Your own son.

He recognizes already that his son serves someone else. His son will serve this Savior. John was not the promised one, but a prophet whose greatness lays in his relationship to Jesus. He was the forerunner. And John prepares the way for Jesus by preaching the message of salvation And you child will be called prophet of the Most High for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways There your greatness to serve the Lord and prepare for him to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God.

By and large, the people of John's day were looking for the wrong salvation. They thought primarily in political terms. He's going to free us from our enemies, the Romans, these enemies of God, these enemies who persecute the people of God. So before the Savior even came, someone had to go and get the people ready. But he came with a different kind of message.

You know what that message was? The message was this. They're not the enemies of God. You are. Can you see that in your mind? We're God's people. these are God's enemies because they're persecuting God's people and so God says I need to send someone who's going to prepare the way for the forerunner of salvation prepare the way for salvation the messenger and what does the forerunner do he comes to those people and he says they're not the problem you're the problem that was radical what we're the problem we're God's people we're not the problem yes you are you're the ones who need to be forgiven it's not them who need to be driven out The problem isn't with them.

The problem is in your own hearts. You remember? You remember what John said when the people protested and they said, but we're children of Abraham. What are they saying there? We're not the problem. We're God's people.

They're the problem. And John is saying, in preparation for the message of salvation, you're the problem. You're the ones who need forgiveness. That's the kind of deliverance you need. You don't have to worry about political oppression. what you need to worry about is the fact that you are alienated from God. And you need to be brought back to God.

You are the enemies of God, not them. You see? That's the kind of message. And so Zechariah already says, here's the message of salvation. The forgiveness of their sins. That's the issue.

The free forgiveness of our sins. And that forgiveness comes from the tender mercies of God. Now mercy there. You see that word mercy? That's the word that means God's loyal, faithful, gracious love as he acts for his people. His pledged love The love that he pledged his people I going to love you because I made the promise But then he intensifies that term by connecting it with another word that here is translated tender mercies Forgiveness is the supreme expression of God compassionate mercy for sinners He promised that mercy, but it's connected now to his tenderness, his tender mercy.

You see? What does that mean? Well, some time ago, one of my grandsons was acting up. I'm not going to tell you which one. because they're old enough now where I can't tell these stories with a name attached. But I was kneeling on the floor trying to explain to my grandson that he needed to stop what he was doing. In response, he tensed up, screamed, and hit me.

Now, mercy, the promised mercy of God. Okay, this was a long time ago. If they'd hit me now, I wouldn't be standing here today. So you don't have to gasp, okay? This was a long time ago. all right here's the point would i throw him out of the family no i wouldn't why because i'm committed to him he's part of my family that's my grandson right but at the moment he hit me i did not have really great tender feelings toward him okay do you see the point god isn't just god isn't just saying okay i'm gonna be merciful because i said i would he's coming from his tenderness, right?

And so for us rebels who scream at God and hate his commandments, God responds with tender mercy, a compassion that desires to forgive our rebellion. Do you realize that? God is not some curmudgeonly God who says, okay, I'll forgive you because I promised. God loves to forgive you. And when you are outside of the promises of God and he's beckoning you and he's saying, here's my son.

This is Christmas. We all know about Jesus. Why did he come? He came to forgive you. Isn't that what Zechariah is saying? He came for forgiveness.

And here is God. And he beckons you. And he says, come to my son. I would love to forgive you. I desire to forgive you. I delight in forgiving sinners for their sin.

And that is true of those outside of the promises of God who need to respond. That is true of us who are inside the promises of God. We need to remember that God is a Father who tenderly loves and desires to forgive us. And He can forgive us because of what His Son has done. This is the God that we have. He loves to forgive us.

What do we need to do? Work hard at it, right? No. Just fall before him and say, Father, I've displeased you. Because of your son, I ask forgiveness. And he just delights in forgiving you.

This is what Zechariah is saying. And in order to make it clear to us, he gives us his comparison. 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. He imagines a group of pilgrims on a long journey walking through the wilderness when suddenly, because they haven't planned very well, they're overtaken by darkness.

Far from the safety of home, they're now exposed to the dangers of the darkness. Fierce animals, criminals, thieves, violent people ready to destroy them in the darkness. That's like us in our unforgiven state. Sitting in the darkness, waiting for death and wrath to devour us. But you pray for deliverance and the dawn comes. And the glimmer of light appears over the horizon.

And the darkness is dispelled. to be unforgiven is to be in the darkness exposed to danger and Christ comes with the light of forgiveness and to guide our way now into peace are you in the darkness are you in the darkness Do you see what God has done in Jesus So you see, the new age dawned many centuries ago. And because of that, now we live in an age of belief and forgiveness and a mighty salvation. The problem is that in the midst of that marvelous age, many of us sit in the darkness of our sin and God invites you to the light that's found only in his son where do you put your hope ask yourself this question where do I put my hope do I put my hope in what is going to be accomplished here and now in the changing of all the stuff and the giving us what we want in our in our political freedom in our personal liberation or is it the eternal light of sins that are forgiven in Christ.

Where is your hope? Come to the light of forgiveness by trusting in the Savior who is a mighty deliverer. Rest in the one who is your king and find deliverance. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the marvelous song of Zechariah. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

Thank you, Lord, for sending the light of a Savior who will deliver us completely. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.