I did some research into some names this week. Here s what I found:

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1 Zechariah s Song Luke 1:5-25 & Luke 1:57-80 Big Idea: Zechariah praises God for the promised Saviour, who John prepares the way for. Purpose: To be reminded that Jesus is the fulfilment of God s salvation plan. Some of you know that I prefer the name Christopher to Chris. Although with a surname like Ramsbottom you aren t really too fussy what people call you, as long as it isn t rude! Because I was born on Christmas Day, my parents naturally decided to call me Christopher. The decision of what to call your child is a big one. Your child will have that name for the rest of their life. We have friends whose surname is Walker. They decided to name their boy Jonathan. Any guess as to what he s going to be called? [Johnny Walker] I did some research into some names this week. Here s what I found: Mark = Warlike Matthew = Gift of God Chloe = Blooming Mike = Who is like God? Diana = Divine Jessica = Rich Jared = Descent Ryan = Little king Laura = Laurel tree Roland = Famous land Bev = Beaver stream Henry = Home ruler Brent = Steep hill Tarryn = Rocky hill Stephen = Crown Tasneem = Fountain of paradise Kirstin = Follower of Christ Ricardo = Powerful Geoff = Divine peace Come tell me what your name means afterwards if I didn t mention you. Names have 1

2 meaning. And this is true for biblical names as well. Often a Bible character will be named for a significant event in their life. Or for something that they ve achieved. Or even for something that God will do. The most unfortunate person in the Bible has to be Isaiah s second son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Meaning a remnant will return. When God names a child in the Bible we know that that child is going to have special significance. We know that the child is going to be important. And that s exactly the case in the opening chapter of Luke s Gospel. The angel Gabriel tells Mary to name her son Jesus. And he tells Elizabeth to name her son John. Jesus means God saves. And John means God is gracious. Well tonight we continue our series in the Songs of Christmas. This evening we re going to be looking at Zechariah s song. And as we ll see this song is all about those two boys. Jesus and John. And what Zechariah sings about is truly amazing. Because his song speaks about the worldchanging impact of these children. Not only for his time, but for all times. It s a song about the most important moment in the history of the world. It s our second song of Christmas. Zechariah s song. But before we get to the song. Who is this Zechariah? What s his claim to fame? Well we re introduced to him in the opening few verses of Luke s Gospel that Henry read for us earlier. From those verses we learn that Zechariah is married to Elizabeth, but they don t have any children. Elizabeth is barren and the couple are now both advanced in years. Zechariah is a priest, and one day he s serving in the temple. He s chosen by lot to enter the temple and burn incense. But he gets a bit more than he bargained for when suddenly an angel of the Lord appears to him. Gabriel, as we find out later. Gabriel tells Zechariah that his prayers have been heard and his wife will fall pregnant and have a son, who he s to call John. All this is a bit much for the terrified Zechariah who doesn t believe what Gabriel tells him. And so Gabriel tells Zechariah that because of his unbelief he won t be able to speak again until the day that John is born. Well soon after Elizabeth falls pregnant. Fast forward nine months and we pick up the story again in verse 57: When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. 2

3 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, No! He is to be called John. They said to her, There is no one among your relatives who has that name. Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, His name is John. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbours were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, What then is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand was with him. You can imagine how excited Zechariah must have been. The Jewish culture was one of honour and shame. To be barren was shameful for the family. Look back to verse twenty-five. When Elizabeth finds out that she s pregnant she rejoices. Because her disgrace has been taken away. On top of that Zechariah has all those promises about his son that Gabriel made in verses 15 to 17. He will be great before the Lord. Filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go in the spirit and power of Elijah. Those were some pretty impressive promises. And so what s remarkable about Zechariah s song is that he spends so little of it speaking about his own son. Instead he spends the vast majority of his time speaking about someone else s son! We ll see why he does that as we make our way through the song. The song can be broken up into two sections. One for each of the sons. The first section is from verses 68 to 75. In this section Zechariah praises God for the promised Saviour. Let me read it again for us from verse 68: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 3

4 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Zechariah begins by praising God. The word for praise in Latin is benedictus. And so Zechariah s song is often referred to as the Benedictus. The structure of the song is similar to what we saw with Mary s song last week. Zechariah begins by praising God and then he gives us the reason for his praise. And so Zechariah begins by praising God for the promised Saviour who has come. Literally he has visited us. Today is the first Sunday in advent. Another Latin word. Advent simply means to come. It s the idea behind advent calendars. They re counting down the days to Christmas. To the coming of the Saviour. We mustn t gloss over that word too quickly. God has come. He s visited us. Well Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been in the news this week. A royal engagement. The future Duke and Duchess of Sussex. I m just upset that she s going to have to leave Suits. Royalty lead a different life from the rest of us. They re kept at arm s length from the public. They re distant. As Meghan is about to find out. No more quiet strolls outside the palace. Her Instagram and other social media accounts have already been shut down. It seems that the more famous one becomes the more remote one becomes too. But that s not the same with God. God is often described using words that begin with omni. You guessed it! Another Latin word meaning all. God is omnipotent: all-powerful, omniscient: all-knowing. And omnipresent: all-present or all-seeing. Yet despite that God isn t distant. In fact, these verses tell us that he s come to earth. What theologians call the 4

5 incarnation. God taking on flesh. Becoming a man. Dwelling among us. In the words of the famous carol: Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail, the incarnate Deity, Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel! Zechariah praises God for the promised Saviour who has come. Next, the promised Saviour has redeemed his people. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 21 in your Bible. Have a look at verse 28: If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death. However, if payment is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded. That s a situation that you re not likely to deal with today. But I want you to notice the principle behind the law. A guilty person could redeem their life through the payment of a price. That s what redemption is. It s to secure your freedom by the payment of a price. And this same principle applies here. God has redeemed his people through the payment of a price. And that price was his Son dying on a cross. The death of Jesus has secured our freedom. And so Zechariah praises God for redeeming his people. But this was only possible because the promised Saviour is powerful. We see that in what Zechariah says in verse 69. He calls him a horn. That sounds a bit strange to us. What is a horn of salvation? In other parts of the Bible a horn is used to refer to strength. When Moses blesses the tribes of Israel just before his death this is what he says of Joseph: In majesty he is like a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. And when God delivers King David from his enemies he sings: The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 5

6 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. In our modern world the poor old bull isn t high on our list of mighty things. But every year in Spain hundreds of people take part in the San Fermín festival and the running of the bulls. Participants run an 875 metre gauntlet through the streets of Pamplona followed by six angry bulls. If you asked one of those runners I m sure they d have a different view of the might of a bull. And so to see God s Saviour as a horn is a picture of strength. A mighty warrior or king. If the Saviour wasn t mighty he wouldn t be able to save us. It s like the words of that song we often sing: Our God is mighty to save. What s interesting is the kind of salvation Zechariah sings about. Verse 71 speaks about salvation from our enemies. And verse 74 promises rescue from the hand of enemies. It s the kind of salvation the Jews longed for. And it s the kind of salvation Christians long for as well. Don t you want to be saved from those who persecute you? Rescued from your enemies? Well that will happen when Jesus returns one day. His enemies will be judged. His people saved from all who hate them. But the salvation that Jesus offers us is more than just physical. We ll see that a bit later on. For now, just keep that thought in the back of your mind. And so Zechariah praises God because the promised Saviour is powerful. And then finally. All this will take place according to God s promises. I think that as Christians one of the mistakes we make is to expect people to be as excited about Christmas as we are. That s assuming that you re excited about Christmas, which I hope you are! And so a friend asks you: What s the big deal about Christmas? It s the birth of Jesus you reply. Expecting that to answer their question. Most likely your friend will be thinking: so what? What does the birth of a Jew in some backwater town in the Middle East almost 2000 years ago have to do with me? How does that impact my life? At the end of Luke s Gospel the resurrected Jesus appears to some of his disciples. They strike up a conversation but they don t recognise Jesus. They tell him how they d hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel. Jesus rebukes them and tells them how slow they are to 6

7 believe all that the prophets have spoken. And then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets he interprets to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And then when Jesus appears to his disciples behind locked doors he tells them that everything written about him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. After which he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. Do you see the point? The Scriptures at that time was the Old Testament. And so Jesus says that the Old Testament points us to him. It s all about him. All the promises we find in the Old Testament point us towards Jesus. So it s no wonder your friend won t care about the birth of Jesus. Because you haven t started the story at the beginning. There s a very cool scene in The Lord of the Rings during the Battle for Helm s Deep. At the defenders darkest hour when things seem completely hopeless, a legion of elves arrive to help defend the fortress. For you puritans I know the scene isn t in the book, but it s a cool scene anyway. Now if you walked into the movie at this point and had no idea of what came before. Well then you wouldn t be terribly excited about the elves arriving. You need to know that the evil Saruman is marching a huge army towards Helm s Deep. You need to know that the defenders are massively outnumbered. You need to know that elves are pretty handy with a bow. And so when the elves arrive you realise just how important a moment it is. The same is true for your friend. You need to show them why they need a Saviour. You need to point them back to the great and precious promises that God made to Abraham. You need to explain why the Saviour had to come from the house of David. That is the line of David. You need to tell them what the prophets said. You need to show them the covenant that God made with his people. So you can see that you ve got your work cut out for you! We can t be New Testament Christians only. The New Testament doesn t make sense without the Old. Zechariah knows this. Which is why he sings about a Saviour who will come according to God s promises. Zechariah praises God for the promised Saviour...who has come...and redeemed his people...with power...according to God s promises. Now he gives us the ultimate goal of this 7

8 salvation. Do you see it there halfway through verse 74? to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. That s the whole point of God s salvation plan. To enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. In one short sentence Zechariah sums up the meaning of life for us. Salvation enables us to serve God. So may in our world live without a purpose. They don t know why they re here. Life just seems to be a non-stop treadmill of hopelessness and futility. Zechariah speaks into this desperate situation. He speaks of the transforming power brought about by the promised Saviour. God saves us to serve him. That brings us to the second section of Zechariah s song. Because at this point he starts singing about his own son. About John who prepares the way for the Saviour. Listen to what he says from verse 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, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." This section is all about John who prepares the way for the Saviour. 8

9 How does John do that? First. As God s prophet. To be a prophet of God was to speak the word of God. A prophet was essentially a messenger. A messenger who communicated between God and his people. God spoke to his people through his prophets. But the Jews had been waiting quite a while for a new prophet to appear on the scene. In that time, as they d studied the Scriptures they came to realise that the Messiah, the promised Saviour, would be announced by a prophet. The Saviour would be heralded in by a forerunner. An Elijah-like figure. This expectation came from verses like Malachi 3:1 - See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. And Isaiah 40:3 - A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. And that s exactly what Zechariah says John is going to do. Gabriel had already told him that back in verse 17. When he said that John would go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah. John was to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. Actually Zechariah himself was a prophet. Do you see in verse 67? He was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. So in Zechariah s song we have a prophet prophesying about a prophet quoting the prophesy of another prophet. There s a lot of prophesy going on here. God wants to make absolutely sure that we don t miss the significance of John. That we sit up and pay attention to what he tells us. And so secondly. What is John s message? Verse 77 tells us. To give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. That s John s message. Earlier I spoke of salvation from our enemies. But that s not the primary reason Jesus came. Salvation is spiritual as well as physical. Jesus came to save us by forgiving our sins. On the 9 th February 2007 Chris Williams and his family were driving back to their home in Salt Lake City. All of a sudden a car slammed into the side of them. The driver was 17-yearold Cameron White, who was drunk. Immediately, Chris checked on his children in the back seat and realised that his 11-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter had both died. Then as he watched helplessly, his pregnant wife sitting next to him also breathed her last. Chris was in so much pain he could barely move his arm to turn off his car's engine. 9

10 He later told a paper that at that moment he had this thought: Whoever has done this to us, I forgive them. I don't care what the circumstances were; I forgive them. And that s exactly what Chris did, going on to publicly forgive his family's killer and even developing a relationship with him. And that s the message that John brings. The good news of the gospel. The message that God has forgiven our sins. He s overlooked our past transgressions. He s wiped our slate clean. And why has God done this? Look at verse 78: because of the tender mercy of our God. We spoke a lot about God s mercy last week. Here God s mercy is displayed in his sending of the rising sun. That s just a metaphor for Jesus. So for example Malachi 4:2 says: But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. As a little aside, that line is often misquoted in the hymn Hark the herald angels sing. In many versions of the song you ll find son spelt S-O-N. But that s not what Wesley had in mind when he wrote the hymn. He s quoting from this passage in Malachi where Jesus is called the S-U-N sun of righteousness. That s a bit more awkward. We know what it means for Jesus to be an S-O-N son. But what does it mean for him to be an S-U-N sun? The answer comes in verse 79. The rising sun will shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death. Without Jesus all of us are living in darkness. Without hope. This week my LifeGroup had a baby shower for one couple. We had to bring baby pictures and they had to guess who each of us was. There s me. They did have colour photos when I was a baby! The thing about babies is that they re completely useless. They can t feed themselves. Wash themselves. Clothe themselves. Even speak for themselves. And that s what we once were. Lost and helpless. Unable to save ourselves. Living in darkness. But in his great mercy God hasn t left us in that state. He s shined the bright light of Jesus into the darkest corners of our world. He s brought life to those who once only knew death. 10

11 And that s the message of Zechariah s song. These two boys. Jesus and John. Have come by God s mercy to prepare and lead God s people. John will proclaim salvation. But Jesus will take us to it. Let s pray: Jesus... has come...and redeemed his people...with power...according to God s promises. Father thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the salvation found in him. Thank you for your great mercy. Amen. 11