December 13, 2020

Online Worship for Advent Three, Sunday December 13, 2020

Preacher:
Passage: Luke 1:67-79
Service Type:

Sermon for Advent Three, Sunday December 13, 2020
Calvary/Marquette ● Soli Deo Gloria

The Grace, mercy and peace of God are yours, a gift planned in eternity by the Father, a gift made reality in time by the Son, a gift made your possession by the Spirit. To God alone the glory. Amen.

Luke 1:67-79
67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 68 “Blessed is 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, Who have been since the world began, 71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, 73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

In the Name of Jesus, the Christ,
To whom we sing songs of praise,
Dear Fellow Redeemed in His Blood –

For most of us, it isn’t easy to write a song, whether you are writing the words or the music. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to write your own song. If you have, then you know that it is a true gift of God to be able to put meaningful words to music.

It’s interesting to learn about how some popular songs were written, and how long it took.

 Yesterday (Beatles) – I would guess that some of you are familiar with the song, Yesterday by the Beatles. Paul McCartney claims that the tune came to him in his sleep. When he awoke, he sat down at the piano next his bed and wrote it. Since the tune had such a familiar quality about it, so he didn’t believe that he had actually written it.
He actually sent someone to research the tune and found that no one had written it, it really came to Paul McCartney in his sleep.

 The Heart of the Matter (Don Henley) – On the other hand, it took Don Henley of the Eagles 42 years to write ‘The Heart of the Matter’ which became popular in 1990.

Some would say that the Song of Zacharias was a long time coming.

It has been suggested that he should have broken out in this song as soon as the Angel Gabriel told Zacharias that he and his wife were to have a son, who would also be the one to prepare the way before the Messiah. Zacharias did not break out in song, but questioned the validity of the promise of God related to him by the Angel Gabriel. God silenced Zacharias, because it’s never a good thing to doubt His Promises.

It was more than 9 months later, after John was born that Zacharias, that his voice was returned to him and he lifted up his voice and began to praise God for keeping his promise to His People and sending the Promised Savior to redeem.

However, if we were to suggest that this song was merely 9 months in the making, we would be off by centuries. It turns out that this song, inspired by God’s Prophets since time began (cf. Luke 1:70; Prophets including Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Judah and David, to name a few).

This was a song in the making for ages…and we divide it into two parts: Praise God for raising a Horn of Salvation. Praise God for Shining on those in Darkness.

It is our prayer that God the Holy Spirit bless our study of these words and also increase our joy through these words. We therefore begin with the prayer of the Messiah Jesus Himself (John 17:17),

“Sanctify them by your truth, O Lord, Your Word is Truth.”
Amen.

+++++++

Now let’s suppose that you have been unable to speak for more than 9 months. Then suddenly, amazingly, your voice returns. What is the first thing you would say?

 Would you return to the argument that you began with your spouse 9 months earlier? “Furthermore, I did not say that, you are putting words in my mouth again, just like you have been the last 9 months!”

 Would you mimic the cell phone advertisement: “Can you hear me now?”

What was the first thing that Zacharias said?

 “I’ve been wanting to say this for 9 months, ‘I saw an angel in the temple.’”
 “Thank God I can talk again!”
 “Happy Birthday, John!”

When God restored the voice of the aging priest Zacharias, His first recorded words are not mundane. He wasn’t only enabled to speak, he was, like Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit. He began – not by thanking God for a voice returned – but by thanking Him for having raised up a Horn of Salvation:

67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 68 “Blessed is 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…

The use of hashtags has become popular in our ‘Internet Age’. A hashtag is a symbol used to index or indicate keywords or topics. The function began on Twitter as a way for people to easily follow topics they are interested in. There are many popular hashtags, but among Christians I see one frequently: #Blessed.

#Blessed is, for many, a way to express that they feel blessed by God. No problem. All of our blessings come from God (James 1:17).

When Zacharias began ‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel’ he wasn’t merely saying that God is the source of our blessings. When God blesses us, good things (and even difficult things) come to us. When we bless God, we don’t give him something that He doesn’t already have, we offer him our praise.

Why did Zacharias praise God?

Zacharias praised God because He had looked upon and redeemed His people, raising up for them a horn of Salvation in the house of David.

Wasn’t Zacharias jumping the gun a bit? After all, the Savior Jesus was, at the birth of John the Baptist, just an unborn infant in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It would be more than 30 years before Jesus would lay down his life to redeem sinful humankind from the condemnation earned by sin.

How could Zacharias speak in the past tense? Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and like Elizabeth, learned by the Spirit that the Promised Savior would arise in his lifetime and carry out the redemption promised by God. This was more than the confidence of faith; this is the confidence of prophecy.

Um, Pastor…I know what a French horn is…
but what is a ‘horn of salvation?’

The Horn is symbolic of a number of things in the Scriptures.

It’s symbolic of mercy, because on the four corners of the altar there were horns (think animal horns), and whenever someone was in trouble, they could take refuge by hanging onto those horns on the corners of the altar (cf. 1 Kings 1:50-53, 2:28-30).
It’s also a symbol of strength. For horned animals, the horns are used to defend and to take the fight to others. This is the reason that ranchers will often ‘de-horn’ cattle so that they don’t injure themselves or other cattle.

In this case, the ‘Horn of Salvation’ is a symbol of strength and a description of the Promised Savior, who comes with strength and power to defeat our enemies and to gain our rescue. Jesus is the Horn of Salvation, the One promised to arise from the house of David (2 Samuel 7:15-16, Luke 1:30-33).

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Promises that God made down through the ages (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the Promised Savior, the descendant of Abraham to bring blessing to his people and to the whole world (Genesis 22:16-18).

Zacharias praised God in this ‘song for the ages’ for keeping His Promise to the Patriarchs before He even did!

70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, 71 That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

When we think of the first promise of the Savior, we think of the words spoken by God in the Garden of Eden. While first addressed to Satan, they are also meant for us (Genesis 3:15):

“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

There are those who suggest that the ‘God of the Old Testament’ is a vengeful God. This despite the fact that in the 3rd Chapter of the 1st book (Genesis) God has opportunity to wipe out the human race and start over…but does not. Instead, He promises that there will be hostility between humankind and the host of Satan.

The contest (though never in doubt) would be decided when the Seed of the Woman would symbolically crush the head of Satan; his own heel crushed in the process. This prophecy foretells the outcome of Good Friday and the Sunday that followed when Christ died for sin and rose again to defeat death.

Zacharias doesn’t specifically mention this promise, but he does mention the oath that God made to Abraham. This promise is also found in the book of Genesis. After Abraham obeyed God and in faith was willing to offer up his only son, Isaac (but was not required to) that God promised, took an oath to Abraham (22:16-18):

“By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

God promised that blessing would come to all the nations of the earth through one of Abraham’s descendants. The Apostle Paul, writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes it clear that this Promise is fulfilled in Christ. He wrote to the Galatians (3:16):
16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

Far from a vengeful God, ours is the God of mercy and love. In Christ we have reason to sing songs of joy and praise. Therefore, when the dark days of winter come and you find yourself feeling low because you miss a loved one who has departed to be with the Lord, remember our God keeps His Promises! Christ will come again and the body sown in weakness will be raised in power and glorified to spend eternity in body and soul with the Savior. The sorrow is ours because of our weakness, but the power is His to bring to us lasting joy and happiness.

Zacharias also (and we join him) praised God for shining upon those in darkness:

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

We all have high hopes for our children. So honestly, how would you respond if God sent an angel to tell you in advance that your child, your son, would be a Prophet of the Highest, the first in 400 years? What if it was revealed to you that He would precede and even work with the long-promised Savior? What if you knew that the work that your son did would result in thousands learning the truth about Salvation and being saved from sin for eternity?

The temptation to sinful pride…would be awfully difficult to overcome! We are very often proud of our own children, grandchildren and great grandchildren…sometimes prouder than we ought to be.

Now notice that Zacharias didn’t gush about His Son…He didn’t even boast that he was his! He didn’t call him ‘my son’ but simply, said, ‘You child, will be called the Prophet of the Highest.’

Did Zacharias have ‘low self-esteem’? No, He realized that His Son would be an instrument of God, but to set the table for the real savior. John the Baptist cleared the decks, by calling upon the people to confess their sins and be baptized.

He promised that one greater than he was coming, who would do the real lifting, the real saving. When He appeared, John the Baptist fell to be background and pointed to him (John 1:29-34):

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

 When John proclaimed the message that he was given and pointed to Jesus, John played his role. God did all the heavy lifting, working repentance and faith.

 When you speak of Christ, you play a role. Still, God does the heavy lifting.

It was God’s heart of mercy that sent the ‘Dayspring from on High’ to give light to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. There is joy in these last verses that, I think, we miss.

Why don’t we see the joy? Well, first of all, we forget who ‘sits in darkness’ and what it means. We sinners sit in darkness because we have disobeyed God. We deserve to be cast into the outer darkness to weep and gnash our teeth. We don’t deserve to be called children of God and heirs of everlasting life. We deserve to be like those on ‘death row’ over whom the shadow of death hangs.

Praise God, that our sentence was commuted to Christ. He took our sin and guilt upon Himself. He died alone on Calvary, forsaken by the Father in darkness, so that in Baptism the light might shine on us. He died that we might possess forgiveness of sins and be led on the way of peace.

We are all like Barabbas, deserving of death, but given life and freedom instead.
Praise God…for raising up a Horn of Salvation.
Praise God…for Shining on those in Darkness.
Amen.

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