WEDNESDAY
Yesterday we started looking at Zechariah's prophecy praising God for visiting, redeeming and saving his people. Today we pick it up in verse 76, where Zechariah transitions from a praise to God to speaking directly to his son, John the Baptist.
Luke 1:76-79 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Zechariah prophecies that his son, John, will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him. The reference to the Lord is ambiguous, maybe intentionally so. Is he using it in the same way as he does in verse 68, "the Lord, the God of Israel," or is it a reference to the divine, second person of the trinity, Jesus? It's possible that he has a concept of Jesus' divinity from his conversations with Mary, whom the angel informed that her son would be "called holy—the Son of God." (1:35) If so, this is another reference to the divinity of Jesus at the beginning of a gospel (similar to John's, "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1)
Remember, the term salvation can be used in two different senses and Zechariah includes both in this prophecy: The physical deliverance from Israel's enemies (v. 71, 74) and spiritual salvation through the forgiveness of sins (v. 77).
Why is God bringing this salvation? Zechariah prophecies that it is because the "tender mercy of our God." The word "mercy" occurs five times, mostly in Mary's song and Zechariah's song. It is often translated as “compassion.” It is because of God's tender mercy that he has brought Jesus into the world to give the people knowledge of salvation, and to send John to prepare the way for him. It is because of his mercy that he causes the light to shine on those living in darkness and death, leading us into the way of peace (shalom).
Zechariah reveals that is was simply God’s mercy, as the divine initiative, that moved him to bring us salvation. God was viscerally moved with compassion to save his people. He sees our bondage to sin and death and comes to help us, in Jesus. This is all God’s action. Therefore, our response should be praise, worship and thankfulness.
Next, Zechariah gives us a picture of the coming Messiah and we see salvation as a sun rising over a world that is cloaked in darkness and death. He likely has in mind the words of Isaiah:
Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
We all live in the shadow of death. As Benjamin Franklin famously has said, “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” We all will die one day. But because of God’s mercy, in Jesus a light has shined on us. I love this picture and it means a lot more this time of year when it’s dark at 4:00 pm. We can go weeks without seeing the sun and it’s a real bummer. But God in Jesus shines his light on us and leads us into the path of peace.
The end goal is to "guide our feet into the path of peace." Again, the words of Isaiah are likely in the backdrop of Zechariah's prophecy.
Isaiah 9:6–7 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
As we briefly talked about last week, the peace that Zechariah almost certainly has in mind, here, is the Hebrew concept of shalom. The word doesn't just imply an absence of conflict but a more thorough peace, conceptualized as wholeness or completeness. Through Jesus our broken relationship with God has been restored. When we believe in him, we are made righteous and given the Spirit of God. We who were once unholy can be in the presence of the Holy God. He then enables his followers to restore broken relationship with one another and creation as a whole. See the Bible Project video below for a fuller explanation of the term.
Additional Content
Reflection
Reflect on the phrase “because of the tender mercy of our God.” He has seen our pitiful state, enslaved to sin and death, and he has come to redeem us. Thank and praise God for his mercy that he has shown us in salvation, both the forgiveness of our sins and our deliverance from our enemies (ultimately Satan and his demons).