Luke 1:57-80 – Christmas, a time to proclaim that Salvation has come
Introduction
It was early one evening in the 1930’s when some elephant handlers in Burma heard the screams. They knew immediately that something was wrong. Running toward the sound they came to the banks of the River. They looked down from the top of the steep riverbanks to see one of their work elephants, Ma Shwe caught in the middle of a river which was rapidly rising in flood. The screams were coming from Ma Shwe’s calf. Ma Shwe could still touch the bottom, and with her feet firmly planted in the mud she used her trunk to hold her calf against her side. Each time the terrified calf started to float away Ma Shwe would reach out with her trunk and pull it back.
The elephant handlers watched helplessly from the side of the river as the waters rose. Ma Swhe could not hold her footing. Her calf was swept away. Ma Shwe plunged downstream and 50 metres later caught up with her calf. She pinned her calf against the steep riverbank with her head, then in a mighty effort, lifted it in her trunk, reared up on her hind legs, and placed it on a rocky ledge a metre and a half above the water. With her calf safe for the moment Ma Shwe fell back into the torrent and disappeared downstream.
The elephant handlers turned their attention to the calf. They felt helpless as they watched it shivering on a narrow ledge 2.5 metres below them. For half an hour they stood there wondering how they could rescue the calf when all of a sudden they heard the grandest sound of a mother’s love – Ma Shwe was back, with a defiant roar calling comfort to her calf. Ma Shwe had crossed the river, managed to climb up the bank, and was charging back upstream to find her calf.
When she heard her mother’s roar the calf’s ears cocked forward, listening intently. And then the calf finally saw what all the roaring had foretold. Ma Shwe appeared from the bush on the other side of the river. Her call changed from a roar to the rumble elephants make when they are pleased. There Ma Shwe stood watch over her calf, watched throughout the night as the floodwaters rose then subsided. When they had gone down far enough Ma Shwe crossed the river, lifted her calf down and took it to safety.
In times of trouble, we all need a strong and mighty savior, who is able to hold us close among life’s buffeting and lift us to a place of safety and rest.
Christmas time, is a time we need to proclaim that our Salvation has come – One who is even more powerful than a concerned mother elephant has come to save us. Jesus is our powerful savior who not just is able to save us from physical danger, but also from spiritual danger as well. Too often, we get distracted from the real meaning of Christmas and get caught up in all the hype and all the gifts and the food. We forget that Christmas is all about the salvation which God is offering to us, and to those around us.
Tonight, I want to continue our walk through Luke’s Gospel and pause to look at John the Baptist’s birth and the song of Praise that Zechariah offers as a result. Unlike Ma Shwe’s calf, his cry was not one of distress, but of absolute praise and thanksgiving for what God had done and for what God was about to do. For those who were with us last week, here is another one who learned to praise God for future events. While we are on that topic, how did you go this last week, were you able to begin to praise God for what he would do in the future – are you stretching your faith to look ahead rather than behind?
Before we look at this savior that has come, let’s pause and pray Pray …
The Birth of Who?
If you have your bibles, please open them up to Luke 1:57. We read that passage earlier in the service, so I’m not going to read it all through again, but please follow along as I’ll be constantly referring back to it.
Luke continues his recollections of the events of that first Christmas, by saying (vs 57) that When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. The Promised Baby was born … And there was great rejoicing. The long anticipated son had arrived and 8 days later as was the custom instituted in Gen 17:9-14 he was circumcised. It was customary also for the child to be named at this time following the example of Abram and Sarai whose names were changed when Abram was circumcised. So … The Promised Baby was named … but here is where we find a bit of consternation arising. It was tradition for the child, particularly the first male child to be named after his Dad. Surely this little guy would be called Zech Jnr. But Elizabeth had different Ideas. She insisted (vs 60) - No! He is to be called John – Which meant “to show favour”. Who? John? But why Elizabeth? There is no one in your family with that name. You must have a bit of sun stroke – surely you mean his name will be Zechariah, her friends and relatives argued.
Isn’t it interesting that even though these people were in the middle of events which were clearly God inspired miracles, they were still bound by traditions. It’s like looking in a mirror isn’t it. We often put God in a box don’t we. We are scared to let go of our comfortable traditions and norms, even when God is wanting to do amazing things. We want to sing the same music, we want to maintain our tried and trusted ministries – why? because we’ve always had them, we want to protect the way we run our programs because we are comfortable with them – We do all this rather than let God empower us and allowing him to work as he sees fit.
Elizabeth’s friends were just like this – bound by tradition, so they went to Zechariah to ask him or maybe it was to try to convince him. And Zechariah’s answer – written on a slate … “His name is John” Or in the Greek, “John is the name of him.” Notice the emphasis. But notice also the tense. John is his name. The angel has already named him. His name is John. For Zechariah and Elizabeth, obedience to God’s requests was not debatable.
And at that instant, Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and he could speak. And what were his first words – they were praise to God (vs 64). The Promised Baby was born, The Promised Baby was named and now the Promiser was praised …. This made the people sit up straight. They could no longer ignore the fact that God was preparing this baby for something special – But who was God going to show favour to through him? God was obviously with him (vs 66) and so they wondered what the future might hold.
While they were wondering, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit as was his son John and his wife Elizabeth and he began to prophecy. As an aside, this should be an incredible encouragement to us all. Zechariah had previous failed to show faith. He had doubted God’s words and had fallen flat on his face, but here he is restored. After a time of discipline, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. God wants to fill you and use you even though you may have failed him. Failure is not permanent in God’s vocabulary – isn’t that encouraging.
Let’s look now at what Zechariah praises God for in his prophecy.
Zechariah’s Prophecies – 1) The Horn of Salvation
Zechariah’s song is a song of praise because (vs 68) God has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Zechariah, like most in his day, was expecting a Messiah, a descendant of David, to come and redeem Israel. Note as an aside, that Zechariah is praising God for something that hasn’t yet happened, but he is talking about as if it has happened. Zechariah was praising God for the redemption he’d accomplish in the future!!!
The key word here is – redeem, but these people didn’t have all of Paul’s teaching on redemption from sin. They had in mind a political deliverance. See in vs 71 it is a - salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Zechariah has in mind that this Messiah will come and save them from the Roman oppression. Much like what Moses did back in Ex 6:6 where God says “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.”
Notice that this Messiah was going to be a horn of salvation. This is an interesting metaphor. Horns were a symbol of power and strength. All the strong animals of the region had horns – the Ox, the Bull, the Ram. They were fearsome weapons used for offense. Think about bull fighting or rodeos. How about this photo – great photo, but scary place to be in. You don’t want to get in the way of the horn.
I remember fondly as a child going to the Brisbane Ekka and wandering through the beef pavilions. There lined up side by side were cows and more cows, but then every so often you’d come across a bull. It was built like a tank and stood as tall as a man and the horns on it. You just knew that you didn’t want to make this beast angry.
Zechariah was saying that there would be incredible power in this salvation which would reside in the person of the Messiah. He would have the power to save the nation of Israel from their oppressors. Jesus was this Messiah and Christmas time is the time we remember his birth.
He was the horn of salvation in that he conquered the greatest enemy of all – Sin and death. Plenty of people in our history have been great warriors, going out to defeat their enemies and liberating people and nations, but none before Christ or after, has been able to defeat the greatest enemy of mankind - Sin and death. We all die and our Bible says, that after our physical death there is a second death which is coming for those who are sinful – for those who have rejected God’s way. Every single person on this earth has sinned and as such we are facing this second death. It is the ultimate enemy!!! We can do nothing to escape it, let alone defeat it. To do so, would take incredible power – Power to live a perfect life, power to submit your will to God’s, power to live a life acceptable to God – Jesus had this power – a powerful man who offered his life as an effective sacrifice to bring salvation to all mankind.
And why did he do it? 2 Reasons. He did it to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant (vs 72). We didn’t deserve rescuing, but God reaches out in grace and mercy to us to offer forgiveness of sins. God offers salvation because he loves us and wants to show mercy. We can do nothing to earn it – it is a gift. The second reason he offers salvation is to keep his word. God promised long ago, that he would offer a blessing to all nations through his servant Abraham. He is now keeping his word by sending the horn of salvation to seek and save the lost.
You may ask, what is the benefit of this Salvation? It’s benefit is found in (vs 74-75) we are rescued from the hand of our enemies … to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
There is nothing better than having a relationship with the almighty God. To be his servant is to hold an incredibly privileged position. But before we could be his servants, we needed to conquer the sin and death issue. God knew that we were in a hopeless situation because of Sin. Sin alienates us from God and so we can not be accepted by him because of our sinful nature – all we can expect is justice and judgment. That is not something to look forward to. It is actually quite scary.
We needed to be forgiven. We needed a horn of salvation to come and defeat sin and death so that we could be accepted as his servants without the fear of judgment. Servants who are holy (set apart) and righteous (living our lives for God). And don’t miss this next bit … all our days. This is talking about a life forever in heaven with God.
Here in Zechariah’s song, is the gospel message presented even before Christ was born. Now that’s prophecy.
Zechariah sings God’s praise because he has raised up a horn who can bring salvation to all who call on him. This is what Christmas is all about – the salvation of all who come to Christ. Let’s not let this message get buried under the wrapping paper or the tinsel or the Christmas lunch.
2) John’s Part
Zechariah finishes off his song of praise by turning to his own new born son – John. (vs 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,
John was the prophet who would prepare the way for the Horn of salvation. He would prepare the way so that people could gain knowledge about the salvation Christ was bringing. It was not just a political salvation, but it was a spiritual salvation which would be accomplished by the forgiveness of their sins. By his words and actions, he would point the way to him who could really save.
Lastly Zechariah closes with a wonderful image of what Christ will do for the world. Zechariah pictures him as a rising sun. Literally, a “rising up” of light which will come from heaven. This light will bring light into a dark world.
John 1:5-9 says The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
Christ is the light of the world who would shine on those living in darkness and shine on those in the shadow of death (vs 79). Many people this Christmas will be living without hope. Next year does not look like a rosy one for them. There is a great deal of uncertainty for them and life just seems dark. Even more people are living without eternal hope. They are living in darkness. They are just plodding along enjoying life and ignorant of what awaits them after death. They are living in the shadow of death – eternal death. Christ came to shine his light on those living in darkness without hope and those living in this shadow.
He wants to bring peace to people living in the darkness and in the shadow of death this Christmas by offering them his salvation. We often talk about peace at Christmas time, but think of it as a quiet relaxing day or contented stomach. But that is not correct. Christmas is all about bringing God’s peace into the world by restoring relationships with him.
But how will relationships be restored – what is our part in all of this? People need a John who will prepare the way for Jesus’ salvation. I believe that God is calling each one of us to be Johns this Christmas. The Horn of salvation has come, but there are plenty of people out there who still living in darkness and the shadow of death. They need someone to go before the Lord and prepare the way for him. God wants us to be a candle if you will, who will go into the darkness to prepare the way for the glorious light of Christ.
Christmas is all about the salvation that is offered by God. Wouldn’t it be sad this Christmas, if that salvation is ignored by those that need it. But you know, it will be ignored if we do not go as John did, to prepare the way for the Lord. Jesus will bring the light to people’s lives, but we are called to go to prepare the way. Are you willing this Christmas to take your light – to go as a candle into the dark world to call people to come and meet Jesus.
A little girl was working very hard and could not be induced to stop and rest. This was before the day of electric lights. When asked, "Why do you not stop and rest?" she replied, "I have just one little candle, and it will soon be burned out. I wish to do what I can while the candle burns." That’s what it is like with us. Our little day will soon be gone. May we do what we can to prepare the way for the Horn of Salvation while our candle burns.
Let’s start this Christmas by telling people the real Christmas story, by inviting them along to our church carols night or to Christmas day service, or just giving them a gospel tract inside your Christmas Card this year. Let’s do all we can to prepare the way for the Horn of our salvation this Christmas.
