We Interrupt Your Slumber for this Important Announcement!
Luke 1:67-80
It had been a long time since Israel had heard the voice of God speaking through one of His prophets. It had been 400 years since Malachi, the last of the prophets had spoken. This prophet had spoken of a restoration of Israel. A messenger would come to announce this new restoration. But Israel waited and waited. The voice of God had been silent. Was God dead? Even in Malachi’s day, the voice of God was rare. Ezra and Nehemiah are centered around Yahweh and his covenant, but nowhere is there an oracle. You can see the hand of God at work, but God is vocally silent. You can see the same in Esther, where God isn’t even mentioned.
The voice of God had seemed to have gone silent before. It seemed to go silent when the children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years until Yahweh came to Moses at the burning bush and there announced to him that He had heard the cries of His people in Egyptian bondage. Then again it fell mostly silent during the time of the judges. The light in the tabernacle was about to go out and it is said that the voice of Yahweh was rare in those days. But just at the time all seemed lost and anarchy was the rule, the voice of God came of Samuel. Samuel was called to be the voice of Yahweh. The situation was the same in the days of Zechariah. There was talk about Yahweh, but Yahweh Himself was silent.
The words that were spoken by Zechariah was the first public oracle from Yahweh through the prophetic voice in 400 years. When the angel came to Zachariah when he was burning incense to announce that he and Elizabeth were to have a child in old age, he did not believe the message and was struck dumb. Everyone saw that Zachariah had had a vision, but the voice of Yahweh was not heard. And Mary had spoken the oracles of God in the Magnificat earlier, but that was in private to Elizabeth. That is interesting in itself, that it was by the mouth of a woman filled with the Holy Spirit speaking to another woman filled with the Holy Spirit that the long silence of the oracle of God was ended. But the public voice of Yahweh waited to this day when John the Baptist was born.
Zachariah’s responsibility was to name the child. This was important as it was the man’s declaration that he was the father of the child and was assuming responsibility for his care. But he could not speak. His next of kin tried to speak for him and name the child after him or one of his relatives as was the custom. However, Elizabeth strongly objected and said that his name was to be called John. Finally Zachariah asks for a writing tablet and writes: “His name is John.” It is at the time his tongue is loosed.
Zachariah had been silent for nine months, just as it seemed that the voice of Yahweh had been silent. It says that He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Why the lectionary does not include verse 67 is totally beyond me. It shows that the firstfruits of his new-found voice was to speak the Word of Yahweh. The prophets of old had not spoken their opinions about God, but through the same Holy Spirit had spoken the words of Yahweh.
The prophetic oracle was usually framed in Hebrew poetry. Luke has done a wonderful job preserving this poetry in his translation of words which were probably spoken in Aramaic or Hebrew. God’s voice is not only powerful but is beautiful as well. The translators of the King James were aware of this poetic element of the speech of Yahweh and strove to make the English translation preserve this sense of beauty. Unfortunately, many modern translations reduce this poetry to ordinary prose which reduces the majesty of the prophetic voice. Yahweh was speaking, and all who heard it knew it, not by some sort of halo or visible manifestation on Zachariah, but rather by the beautiful words which He spoke which set it apart from common speech or opinion.
The first words which come out of His mouth are: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.” This is different than our prayer in which we ask God to bless us. It is the assertion that God is to be blessed for who He is and then for what He has done. The fact that John is speaking in the third person and not delivering the oracle from Yahweh in the first person does not reduce the fact that it is Yahweh who has inspired this speech.
What had Yahweh done? All that was before them was a human baby who had to be raised and cared for. The oracle speaks in the past tense that He had visited and redeemed His people. And the horn of salvation which Zachariah speaks wasn’t even born yet was in utero in the Virgin Mary. These children, both John and His cousin Jesus had a long and ordinary period of human development and maturity before they would begin their assigned ministries. The plans of God are finished even before they are executed. Both these children of miraculous conception and birth would face many challenges in this world. But the voice of Yahweh cannot fail to accomplish what has been spoken. This is a done deal. The people need to see beyond human possibilities or impossibilities to the possibility of God.
Zachariah goes on to recount the special relationship that God had with Abraham and his descendants. God had made a covenant with them. He had heard the cries of His people just as He had in the days of the burning bush as well as in Samuel’s day in the Tabernacle. God was not dead or asleep, even if His people had slumbered on. The characteristic of Yahweh’s covenants is His eternal faithfulness. Even though the beneficiaries of the covenant are commanded to respond in faithfulness and had been severely chastised for failing to do so, it is this covenant loyalty of Yahweh which is to be blessed.
Starting in verse 76, a prophecy is made concerning John the Baptist. He would not be the Messiah which was the talk of the day, a hope grounded in the Holy Scripture, but would instead go before Him and prepare the way. This was prophesied first in Isaiah 40:3, and here the oracle says that this same John was the one who would do it. There is says: “Prepare the way of Yahweh.” This should tell us just who this Son of the Virgin Mary is, none other than Yahweh Himself! AS the words of the song says: “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” The beautiful words of Yahweh would soon be overshadowed by the beauty of Yahweh Himself, the Word of God in flesh appearing.
John’s mission was to make people aware of their sin and need to repent unto salvation. This message would turn Israel who had languished in darkness and were at the verge of death unto a new dawn and light. There promises are so beautifully expressed as befits the situation. No gloomy prose here, but a beautiful promise spoken beautifully. There are all sorts of Old Testament allusions in this speech which shows that all these pasts days were pointing to this new day.
The fullness of this prophecy would be brought forth over time. This was but a down payment of what was coming. But after 400 years of silence, the Word of God was speaking again.
We live in a time today in which we have many beautiful promises in both the Old and New Testament which we are eagerly awaiting to be fulfilled, when the Lord Jesus will return and receive us as His eternal bride. But it seems that the voice of Yahweh has gone mostly silent since the time of the prophets. We have numerous commentaries on Scripture and the insights of various Christian theologians over the century. But how we long to hear the voice of Jesus directly. We are comforted by the promises of Scripture which indeed are God’s inspired Word and just as true as if He would personally appear and speak. But captive Israel still awaits the return of Emmanuel. We are in the modern equivalent of Egypt, crying out to the LORD to hear us. We should know that He has heard us all along. But we await for the day in which we Hear His voice in person. O for that beautiful day!
But I must also warn all of us, that this Day is prepared for those who are ready. Israel of John’s day was in no condition to hear the words of the God of Glory. So many heard the voice of Jesus then but really did not hear Him. They saw the His beautiful form but did not perceive who He is. Many rejected Him and He was crucified. But this was the plan all along unbeknownst to them. He arose on the third day and say down at the right hand of the Father to await command to return for His bride.
It is this which Advent is about. The season is the beginning of the Christian year and was originally a time of repentance and preparation for the return of the Lord Jesus. The Dayspring from high is coming with a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus calls on His disciples to be ready, and calls us to proclaim this message to the uttermost parts of the earth in the hope they will hear and be born again, not just a new year for them but a new life. Let us follow in the spirit of John the Baptist and prepare the way for His return.
