Zachariah's Song

Zachariah’s Song

Luke 1:67-79

The people of Israel had not heard the prophetic word from Yahweh for about 400 years. Malachi, the last of the prophets had promised that the LORD would send a messenger before Him to prepare the way of the Lord’s coming. The “Old” Testament ends with the promise of sending Elijah to bring repentance to the people, or if they fail to listen, a curse. From that time, there was silence. Some say Nehemiah was written after Malachi, but there is no “Thus saith the LORD” thundering from his lips. The Lord’s hand can be seen in Nehemiah, but He only speaks through the words he had already spoken in the past. We can see the LORD preserving Israel from Antiochus Epiphanes in the Maccabean era, but His direct prophetic voice was silent. It seemed like an eternity.

By the time of Zachariah, there was a great hunger for hearing the LORD’s voice. The sad thing is that when the LORD returns to speaking, many reject that word and wish the LORD become silent again. That would come later. But the voice of God was returning. He spoke to Zacharias while he was offering incense in the Temple and promised that Zacchaeus and Elizabeth would have a son named John, even though they were past childbearing age. But no sooner had the LORD spoken to him that the word went silent. Because Zacharias did not believe, he was struck silent until the promised son was born. This son was to prepare the way of the LORD as both Malachi and Isaiah prophesied.

The Word of the LORD then came to a young virgin in Nazareth named Mary. She was told even more wonderful news that she was going to be the virgin mother of the Lord which John was to prepare the way for. The voice of the LORD then came to Elizabeth and then Mary when Mary had come to visit Elizabeth. This time, the Word of God was spoken through human agents. Joel had promised that women also would become prophets. Progress was being made. The people of Israel had gone from having to discern the hand of God in their lives to God speaking through angels, and now through the mouth of two women. But these visitations had no public exposure. The people as a whole were still in the dark.

The day came that John the Baptist was born. As Zachariah was unable to speak, his kin tried to name him after Zacharias or one of his kinfolk as was custom. But Elizabeth objected, saying his name was to be John. Zachariah had to ask for a tablet and wrote “His name is John.” Upon writing these words, his voice was loosed. The first words Zachariah spoke were the prophetic words of Yahweh. The end of Zachariah’s silence was also the end of the public silence of the voice of the LORD.

And what beautiful words they were. These were poetic words spoken in the style of the Psalms. This structure is common in the oracles of the Hebrew prophets. When God speaks, he speaks beautiful words. When we speak about the LORD or when the Word is preached, we should try to speak beautiful words also. But this does not bean the cuteness of trivial poetry, the Word needs to speak with power as well. The Word of God is gracious and powerful.

We should notice here that the text says that Zachariah was “full of the Holy Spirit.” It is by the means of the Holy Spirit that the prophets of old had spoken. These were not the words of an “inspired” man. It was God’s breath voicing words through Zachariah. Luke and Acts emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit, even though He is fully God in His own right. This should also be true for us. O that we could hear the voice of God again and not just distant echoes. O tht we would once again proclaim the Word of God and not mere human opinions!

The prophecy begins with words of blessing. “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel!” WE should notice here that God is the Blessed one. All to often we begin our words for God to bless us. God is to be held in proper reverence. He is to be blessed because He has visited His people Israel. Not only this, but He is to be blessed because “He has made redemption” for them as well. This redemption is in the past tense, even though the actual act of redemption was to occur years later, on the cross of Jesus. But the Hebrews often used the past tense to describe a future fulfillment of prophecy. This is because what God has promised, He will certainly do. It is already as good as done. Technically, this is known as the prophetic perfect.