EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/18/2026 7:54 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Introduction
to Luke 1:67-71”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
1:67-71
Message of the verses: “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;”
I will pick up from where I left off
this morning as I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary for this
introduction to the verses above.
“Zachariahs’s outburst of praise and
worship was prompted by the astounding events that had just taken place. Briefly summarizing, about nine months
earlier the angel Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias while he was ministering in
the temple. Gabriel made the stunning
announcement that Zacharias and Elizabeth, who were barren and well past
childbearing age, would nevertheless have a child—and not just any child, but
the forerunner of Messiah. When
Zacharias’s skeptical reply revealed his lack of faith, he became, at Gabriel’s
word, deaf and unable to speak. But
Elizabeth became pregnant, just as God had promised through Gabriel. Eight days after she have birth to their son,
Zacharias was asked what to name him.
When he wrote emphatically, ‘His name is John’ (Luke1:63; cf. v. 13),
‘at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, ad he began to speak in
praise of God’ (v. 64). Zacharias’s
Benedictus in verses 68-79 is an expression of that praise.
“But Zacharias’s song was not merely
a reflection of his understandable joy at becoming a father when all hope
seemed to have long vanished. It
expressed the far more significant truth that the redemption God promised in
the Old Testament was about to be accomplished.
Zacharias’s son, John, would be the forerunner announcing the coming
Messiah, through whom God would deliver Israel and fulfill His covenants. Those promises and covenants were, no doubt,
part of his teaching through the years, so he was very familiar with the texts
of the Old Testament that contain them.
That fact becomes obvious as his praise unfolds. It is with three of those covenants that
Zacharias’s reflections are chiefly
concerned.
“There are six covenants in the Old
Testament that are specifically referred to by that term. Three of them, the Noahic (Gen. 9:9-17),
Mosaic (Ex. 19:5; 24:7-8; 34:27-28; Deut. 4:13), and the Priestly (Num.
25:10-13) covenants, are non-salvific; eternal, spiritual salvation is not in
view in any of them. The other three
covenants, the Davidic, Abrahamic, and New do relate to salvation. The Davidic covenant is universal; it
involves the eternal rule of Jesus Christ over all. The Abrahamic covenant is national; it
designates God’s promised blessing of Israel.
The New covenant is personal; it refers to God forgiving sin in the
lives of individuals. Of course no one
will enter into the full blessings of the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants apart
from the salvation provided in the New Covenant.
“It was important for Luke to
include this anthem of praise at the outset of his gospel story since, as noted
above, it inseparably links Christianity to the Old Testament salvation
covenants. More specifically, the coming
of Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist, announced the fulfillment of God’s
covenant promise of redemption through the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
“Like his wife (1:41) and son (1:15)
before him, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit. The divine power of the Spirit of God came
upon him so that he prophesied. The
verb translated prophesied (propheteuo) means, ‘to speak forth,’ ‘to
proclaim and expound God’s Word.’
Zacharias was filled with and inspired by the Holy Spirit so that what
he spoke was the very word of God.
“Zacharias’s introductory phrase, ‘Blessed
be the Lord God,’ was a common way to introduce praise in the Old Testament
(e. g., Gen. 9:26; 24:27; Ex. 18:10; Ruth 4:14; 1 Samuel 25:32, 39; 2 Samuel
18:28; 1 Kings 1:48; 8:15, 56; 1 Chron. 16:36; 29:10; Ezra 7:27; Pss. 28:6;
31:21; 41:13; 66:20; 68:19; 72:18-19; 89:52; 106:48; 113:2; 124:6; 135:21; Dan.
2:19-20; cf. Luke 2:28; Romans 1:25; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3).
“Zacharias rightly viewed God’s plan
of redemption as the unfolding of His promises to Israel. The Lord reminded a Samaritan woman that ‘salvation
is from the Jews’ (John 4:22), while Paul wrote that to the ‘Israelites…[belong]
the adoption of sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law
and the temple serviced and the promises, [and] whose are the fathers, and from
whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever’
(Romans 9:4-5).
“Zacharias praised God first because He had visited
His people. The concept of God
visiting His people, whether for judgment (cf. Exodus 32:34; Job 35:15) or for
blessing (cf. Ruth 1:6; 1 Samuel 2:21; Jer. 29:10) is a familiar Old Testament
theme. Heaven had come down to earth;
the supernatural had invaded the natural; God was working out His eternal plan.
“Specifically, Zacharias glorified
God because He had accomplished redemption for His people (cf. 2:38;
24:21). Lutrosis (redemption)
and its related terms comprise one of the word groups used in the New Testament
to express the rich theological truth of salvation. It refers to the payment of a price to
release someone from bondage. (Another word group, agorazo and its
related terms, adds the idea of ownership, that God redeems sinners for
Himself.) Redemption frees sinners from
slavery to sin (John 8:34; Rom. 6:6, 17, 20), the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13;
4:5), the sinful ways of fallen men (1 Cor. 7:23), false religion (Gal. 4:3),
and Satan, who wielded the power of death (Heb. 2:14-15) subject to God’s will
(Job 2:6). The purchase price paid to
redeem the elect was the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24;
1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:7; Col 1:14; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
“When Zacharias spoke these words,
redemption had long been granted, but the covenant that secured it had not been
ratified. His son, Messiah’s forerunner,
was only eight day sold. And the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, was not even born yet. But Zacharias was so certain that God would
do what He had promised that he spoke of redemption as if it had already taken
place. He knew that the birth of his
son, John, signaled that God was about to visit His people and bring the provision
that made salvation possible.
“The people of Israel fervently longed
for Messiah to come and deliver them from their bondage to Rome, as God had
delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt (cf. Psalm 106). They viewed their deliverance primarily in
earthly political terms expecting Messiah to establish His earthly kingdom and
fulfill the promised blessings to David and Abraham. They overlooked the reality that those
blessings would not be fulfilled apart from the forgiveness of sin provided in
the New Covenant. Sadly, when John and
Jesus preached the necessity of that personal salvation, the majority of the
people rejected their message.
Zacharias, of course, had no way of knowing that would happen, and
rejoiced as he saw the day of redemption dawning.
“Zacharias described redemption as
God’s raising up a horn of salvation.
That picturesque Old Testament expression (cf. 1 Sam. 2:10; 2 Sam.
22:3; Pss. 18:2; 89:17, 24; 92:10; 112:9; 132:17; 148:14; Mic. 4:13) spoke of
power to conquer and kill, like that of a large, horned beast. Here Zacharias used it to refer to the
Messiah, picturing Him as a powerful animal, who would lower His horns, drive
out His enemies, and deliver His people.
“This was the greatest moment in
Israel’s history, the culmination of all redemptive hope and anticipation. And at the center of that monumental moment in
the unfolding saga or redemption was a common, ordinary priest from a small,
insignificant village. As befits a man
steeped in the Old Testament, Zacharias’s anthem of praise considers first the
Davidic covenant, revealing its background, promise and fulfillment.”
3/18/2026
8:50 PM
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