Christmas Carols (Zechariah)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christians Church: 12/6/15
We all have our favorite Christmas traditions, don’t we? Maybe it’s decorating the tree, visiting with family, baking cookies and setting a plate out for Santa, or just driving around town to check out all the Christmas lights. One of our favorite traditions is celebrating Saint Nicholas day (today). Saint Nicholas day is the day set aside to honor the man upon whom all the legends and stories about Santa are based. So in honor of Saint Nicholas we open our stockings, which is sort of like a pre-Christmas Christmas. And an important part of all our Christmas traditions is the soundtrack!
The music of Christmas is forever linked to the season of Christmas. We all anticipate the time when we can crank up Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” or Nat King Cole belting out “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” Those are wonderful musical decorations to be sure, but Christmas is not Christmas without the genuine Carols of Christmas—the hymns heralding the coming of Christ. From the ancient “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to the cheerful strains of “Joy to the World”; from the hauntingly beautiful chorus of “What Child Is This?” to the quiet, assuring German folk hymn “Silent Night”—the Carols of Christmas reach deep into our hearts and stir believers to adoration and, I suspect, stir many unbelieving hearts to reconsider the true meaning of Christmas.
The Carols of Christmas is my theme during the Sundays leading up to Christmas, but not the ones we’re accustomed to singing and hearing on the radio. Rather, as I mentioned last Sunday, the tradition of singing carols at Christmas time can be traced all the way back to the very beginning. The nativity story, as told in the first two chapters of Luke, actually contains 4 short songs.
The first one comes to us from the heart and lips of Jesus’s young mother, Mary. In a praiseful solo entitled the Magnificat, Mary praises God for being mindful of her, for the mighty deeds he has done, and for the mercy he would show generation after generation through the birth of her son, Jesus.
But Mary isn’t the only soloist in this Christmas pageant. The next song we hear is written and performed by Mary’s uncle Zechariah.
Now, if you’ll recall from last Sunday, when Mary found out about her pregnancy she traveled to the hill country of Judea to visit her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and Zechariah—who had recently experience a miracle of their own.
Zachariah and Elizabeth were both “very old” and had been unable to conceive a child. But one fateful day, Zachariah experiences a heavenly encounter that changed everything. As a priest, one of Zechariah’s duties included entering the “Holy Place” within the Temple and burning incense. This was done twice a day and the priests would each take turns doing it. So, the Bible says, “While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him… Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.’” (Luke 1:11-13 NLT).
Miraculously, the angel’s announcement came to fruition. Elizabeth became pregnant and nine months later, friends, neighbors and relatives rejoiced with them at the birth of their son. In the midst of their baby shower, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to prophesy in poetic prose. The song in his heart explodes with pent-up praise. While the lyrics might not be catchy or memorable, they proclaim the coming of a mighty Savior whose birth would change the course of history. This Song praises God for deliverance from sin and the reign of the devil in the world. This is the announcement of a giant movement on the divine eschatological clock. A new era is upon mankind with the coming of Christ.
In this pre-Christmas Carol, Zechariah refers to a horn, a house, and a holiness—each representing an important result of Christ’s coming. First, Zechariah sings of a horn.
• A HORN
Zechariah’s carol, known at the Benedictus, opens with these lines: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us” (Luke 1:68-69 NIV).
This has been an intriguing image for me to hold up before my mind's eye this Christmas: Jesus as the horn of salvation. The kind of horn meant here is not a musical instrument, as we might assume in a Christmas carol; rather, it’s the deadly weapon of the wild ox.
The horn is a symbol of strength and a means of victory. As a kid I remember being terrified of the bull in my grandparents pasture. His back was high as my head. His neck as big as a barrel, and those two horns! Every time I’d go past I’d think, "What if that animal got angry?" My cousin Josh was braver (or stupider) than me. He would taunt and tease the bull. One day, he climbed over the fence and made the mistake of turning his back to the bull. That old bull dropped his head, pointed his horns, and closed the distance between them in two second. Josh went flying and luckily walked away from the experience with nothing more than a bruised bottom and new respect for the bull.
It is not hard to imagine why the horn of the wild ox became for the ancient near eastern people (who had no cars or tanks or motors) a sign of tremendous strength and a means of victory in conflict.
The only other place in the Bible where the phrase “horn of salvation” appears is a Psalm of David. Recoded in two places (2 Samuel 22:3 and Psalm 18:2), David wrote this Psalm after God saved him from his enemy, Saul. He says, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation” (Psalm 18:2 NIV).
See, in the Bible God is always the one who fights for his people. God is our source of strength and victory. Just as a wild oxen’s power is concentrated in its horns, the God’s divine strength is concentrated in Christ.
Zechariah is telling us that Jesus did not visit this planet simply to see how we were doing. He knew how we were doing. That’s why He came! We were in trouble and he came to save us. That’s what Christmas is all about.
Back during World War II a little boy and his daddy were driving home on Christmas Eve. They drove past rows of houses with Christmas trees and decorations in the windows. In many of the windows the little boy noticed a star. He asked his father, "Daddy, why do some of the people have a star in the window?" His daddy said that the star meant that the family had a son in the war. As they pulled into their driveway, the little boy caught sight of the evening star shining brightly in the night sky and said, "Look, Daddy, God’s got a star in his window. He must have a son in the war, too!" Indeed, that little boy was right.
Jesus came into our world to fight for our salvation. In so doing, he gored Satan, pierced death, and gutted sin. Thus, the horn represents the power of Christmas—the power of Christ to save us from sin and death and bring salvation to our souls.
In the next verse, Zechariah sings about a house.
• A HOUSE
I don’t know what it’s been like at your house, but at our house there has been a lot of excitement and anticipation leading up to Christmas. Our son, Yeshua, actually wrote out a Christmas wish-list this year all the way back in October, before Halloween. All the kids asked to put up Christmas tree back in November. Even my wife, Ashley, got into the Christmas spirit early this year. I’ve always had a strict rule about no Christmas music or movies until after Thanksgiving, but Ashley couldn’t wait this year. Three days before Thanksgiving, she just had to watch her favorite Christmas movie—Elf. This year we have three different Advent calendars counting down to Christmas day. Of course, the kids’ favorite is the one Abbey gave which includes a little chocolate treat each day. The closer we get to Christmas day, the more the anticipation builds.
I think it’s supposed to be that way and it isn’t anything new. It was the same way the very first Christmas. Zechariah alludes to this in the next verse. He says that this horn of salvation has been raised up “…in the house of his servant David as he said through his holy prophets of long ago” (Luke 1:70 NIV).
The Old Testament prophesied that Christ would be born to the house of David. As a godly Jew, Zechariah can’t get over the fact that God has at long last kept his promise. The Old Testament was filled with prophecies about the coming of Christ—the birth of the Messiah. Isaiah is the one who said he would come from the house of David (Isaiah 11:1-10) and so did Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:5). Isaiah also wrote, “The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel which means ‘God is with us’” (Isaiah 7:14 NLT). Micah spoke of it. He said that the Messiah would be born in the little town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Even old Abraham looked forward to this day, as did Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David. They all saw it coming; they just didn’t know exactly when it would happen.
It was as if the prophets provided an advent calendar with no numbers. All of these prophesies built anticipation and expectation for the coming Messiah. Instead of Twas the Night Before Christmas, parents would sit their children down around the fire and read to them from the Book of Isaiah: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).
Zechariah was a like a child coming down stairs on Christmas morning, seeing the piles of presents beneath the tree and a crumb-covered plate and half empty glass of milk. Finally! Finally, the day had arrived! All of the excitement and anticipation wasn’t for nothing. “God with us” was finally with us, for Christ had come at last!
Zachariah’s reference to the house of David represents the promises of Christ’s coming. Zechariah is telling us something very crucial: Our God is a God of promises, and he always keeps them. We live in a world of broken promises and unfulfilled expectations. Yet, the Bible records over seven thousand promises from God to his people; he has kept every single one of them. The Bible says, “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises” (2 Peter 1:4-5 NLT). How do we respond to God’s promises? We act on them. We live and act as if they are certain, sure, indisputable, and unquestionable—because that’s what they are.
Let’s live expectantly for the Second Advent (the second coming of Christ) the way the prophets, priests, and people of old live expectantly for the first. And let’s live confidently trusting in the promises of God. Finally, in addition to a horn and house, Zechariah sings about a holiness.
• A HOLINESS
As Zechariah brings the first half of his song to a close, he reminds us that Christ came for a purpose, and that purpose is “so we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live” (Luke 1:74-75 NIV).
This holiness represents the purpose of Christmas. Christ’s coming gives us purpose. In these verses, Zechariah speaks of the total transformation Jesus will make in the lives of those who follow him. Salvation leads to sanctification (holiness and righteousness) which always leads to service. Holiness means to be set apart for God and righteousness means to do what is right, both of which are demonstrated through service. Whether it’s in the church or in the community, we serve God by serving people.
One of the things I love so much about the Christmas season is how it inspires so many to Christlikeness—believers and unbelievers alike. When Christmas rolls around people tend to be a little more loving, a little more joyful, a little more kind, a little more generous, giving, considerate and companionate. Christmas also offers a wealth of opportunities to serve and volunteer.
This Christmas the Grove has been collecting household and school items for Shiloh Christian Children’s Ranch, which is a safe haven for abused and neglected children. We’ve collected shoeboxes stuffed with small gifts for Operation Christmas Child, which demonstrates God's love to children in need worldwide by delivering gift-filled shoeboxes and the good news of Jesus Christ! And if you wanted to take that a step further next year, you could volunteer at one of Operation Christmas Child’s processing centers, where millions of packages are sorted and shipped. We’re leading a toy drive in partnership with Dollar General in order to provide presents of underprivileged kids in our own community. If those ministries aren’t appealing, just use your imagination.
You can participate in a Santa fun-run, sing Christmas Carols at a nursing home, or volunteer to dress up like Santa and ring a bell outside of Walmart for Salvation Army, or (at the very least) drop your change into one of their buckets. The opportunities are endless. The point is—salvation leads to sanctification which leads to service.
Jesus didn’t save you just so that you could eat, drink, and take up space. He saved you so that you could make a difference. I like how Charles M. Schulz put it: “Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
Conclusion
In the clamor of the Christmas madness, don’t let the cacophony of competing sounds and voices keep you from hearing the true music of the season.
Remember Zachariah’s song about the horn of salvation (reminding us of the power of Christmas), the house of David (reminding us of the promises of Christmas), and the holiness of God’s servants (reminding us of the purpose of Christmas).
Zechariah concludes his song with a prophesy over his son, John. He says the John will prepare the way for the Lord—pointing people to the light of Christ, a light that shines in the darkness, and in the shadow of death, and guides our feet to peace. Let’s follow in John’s footsteps this Christmas.
Invitation
Next week, we’ll talk about the shortest of the Christmas Carols recorded in Luke’s Gospel. In the meantime, however, if you haven’t trusted in Jesus as the horn of your salvation yet, or maybe you’re faith in God’s promises has been wavering, or you’re just interested in ways that you can serve God in the church or in our community—I’d love to talk with you. You can pull me aside, call me at home, or come forward while we stand and sing.
