Blessed Be the Lord God of Israel (Luke 1:67–79)

Sermon for MHBC (28 November 2021; 1st Sunday of Advent). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.

Advent begins the Christian year. Strictly speaking, Advent is not Christmas, and this is important. We get to Christmas, but Advent represents the time just before the incarnation. It’s the time before the NT. Advent is the season of darkness and uncertainty and waiting and hoping. It is the season of prophets proclaiming hope against all hope. It is the season of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness. It is the season of shifting—when heaven and earth are about to collide, and every square inch of creation is beginning to rumble.

Advent is a loaded season that gives us opportunity to grasp the breathtaking gospel in profound ways. I’ve selected texts from Luke for this Advent. The working title for this short series is “Songs of Advent,” because in these texts we hear some of the most famous songs and proclamations of what the God of Israel is up to. So, for Advent, we will jump around Luke 1–3, looking at some well-known texts that proclaim the collision of heaven and earth in the incarnation of Christ.

This morning we are looking at a text known as the Benedictus, which is Latin for blessing. It is the song of a priest named Zechariah, the father of John the Baptizer. In his song, which is prophetic proclamation, he blesses Yahweh, the God of Israel, for His grace and faithfulness.

Before we look at Zechariah’s song, I want you to reflect on the history of Israel. Let’s sketch it out broadly. The Lord makes a covenant with a man named Abram. This begins in Genesis 12. Under this covenant, the Lord promises to bless all the nations through Abram’s descendants. Despite the fact that the descendants of Abram are rebellious and break the covenant routinely, the Lord remains faithful to the covenant.

As the story continues, the people of Israel find themselves enslaved in Egypt. All hope seems gone. They are slaves for more than 400 years. That’s a long time.

One of the things I struggle with is talking with people who are suffering. It’s a struggle because I wish I could force some inbreaking of God into their lives. But it doesn’t always happen like that. Suffering can be prolonged. It was for the people of Israel, and, as we will see, it was for Zechariah and his wife.

But God hears Israel’s cries and acts, using Moses and Aaron. They are released from Egypt by miraculous intervention of the Lord, and it is all on the basis of His faithfulness to His covenant with Abram. Of course, from there, the story is a series of disobedience, judgment, repentance, and the Lord’s gracious faithfulness to His covenant. Yahweh never breaks His covenant. As Scripture repeatedly declares: “His steadfast love endures forever.”

But when we get to the NT period, Israel finds herself in a season of darkness, longing for the coming Messiah or Christ—the anointed Savior promised by Yahweh. Israel is not an independent nation. They are under Roman rule—not slaves but under subjection to the most powerful empire of the ancient world. And they are waiting. Some of them are running out of hope. Some of them are cynical. Some of them think it’s necessary to take up arms against the Romans. They are scared, fearful, perhaps disillusioned, wondering where Yahweh is. Again, they’ve experienced centuries of waiting and longing and hoping. The last verses in the ordering of our OT provides the appropriate expectation. In Mal 4:5, the Lord declares: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” That is the hope and expectation. That’s what Israel is waiting for, and that’s really the first expectation of Advent.

So as we get to the NT, we find a world of watching, waiting, hoping. It’s world full of fear and uncertainty. They’ve been told there is hope, but they’ve been in the tunnel so long that they are pleading to see some light.

What’s so striking about this moment is that it has many parallels with our cultural moment. Consider the last few years. Obviously, the pandemic has accelerated some dynamics. But we are living in a time period where many are looking at the future with uncertainty and cynicism. Many are looking for a savior. Conspiracy theories are on the rise. Why? Because such theories flourish when things seem hopeless. Some are looking for a messiah to put things right—whether that’s a celebrity or a favorite political figure. Politics has a religious fervor to it. People on both sides are hoping for the arrival of a utopian future. Our moment is not unlike the first century—that is, the first 100 years AD.

I’ve frontloaded this sermon with that information because I think it’s the best way for us to hear the text before us. As we open Luke’s Gospel, we are introduced to this priest named Zechariah. He and his wife, Elizabeth, are righteous before God. But as we know, righteousness doesn’t equate to material or immediate blessing. So we also learn that they have no children. This, as some of you know, is a painful experience. It is suffering. It feels as though the Lord has withheld a blessing from them.

As the story goes on, Zechariah happens to be serving on temple duty. During this time, he meets the angel Gabriel. The rumbles are beginning. Heaven and earth are colliding. Gabriel tells him that Zechariah and Elizabeth will have a child, and they will name him John. Why John? It’s not a family name. But it’s full of significance. John means “Yahweh is gracious.” His name is an indication that the Lord is acting in His gracious faithfulness. His name tips us off that the moment has come. But there’s more. The angel tells him that John will go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:16). The day of the Lord is at hand.

Unsurprisingly, Zechariah has trouble believing, so as a sign, Zechariah is unable to speak until the child is born. Elizabeth becomes pregnant and when the child is born, the neighbors and relatives want to know the name. Elizabeth announces that the child will be named John. Everyone is puzzled. Why John? That’s not a family name. His name should be Zechariah. So they ask Zechariah, who writes on a tablet that the baby’s name is John. And then Zechariah’s mouth is opened, and he can speak. Everyone is amazed. And then he prophecies over this child.

It’s this prophecy, Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus, that I want to spend the remainder of our time this morning looking at. We’ve heard much of the context in the reading, so I will only take us through the song beginning in v. 67.

Look at v. 67 with me: And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying… Notice he is filled with the Holy Spirit before speaking this divine song. Again, heaven and earth are colliding. The Spirit of God is speaking through Zechariah.

Now for the content of this song. Verse 68: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. Why is Yahweh, the God of Israel, to be blessed? Because he has visited and redeemed His people. The Lord is not absent. He is breaking into the darkness. He is acting to redeem His people. What is redemption? It is deliverance. It is the same action of the Lord in setting Israel free from Egypt. But this time it’s bigger. The Lord is doing what He promised to do.

Let’s keep going. There’s more to this blessing. Verses 69–70: and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. The image of a horn here carries connotations of royalty, power, and authority. And this is in the dynasty of David. This is all fulfillment of a promise that we find throughout the OT. The Lord promised to David that an everlasting ruler would sit on David’s throne. After almost a millennium that promise is coming true.

And this ruler, this savior, this king, will deliver His people. Verse 71: that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. As early Christian interpreters pointed out, and as will be clear in a few verses, these enemies are not merely physical enemies. These are the enemies of sin, Satan, and death.

The Lord’s action is because of His character. John’s name has already tipped us off. The Lord is gracious. Look at v. 72: to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. The word mercy is a rich theological term. In the OT, it refers to the Lord’s faithfulness to his covenant. And so it does here as well. This is the Lord’s gracious remembrance of His promises that go all the way back to Abraham.

Verse 73–75: the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Indeed, the Lord is gracious. He is faithful. He is doing what He promised to do. And He is doing it without human aid or human merit. This is the unilateral action of the sovereign ruler of the universe, who is infinitely gracious and immeasurably faithful.

Let me just pause quickly here and speak about the character of God for us. The world is an uncertain place. We enjoy the benefits of living in the most advanced and most powerful nation the world has ever known. But our hope does not lie there, and we know that. Because in spite of this grand country, the world remains uncertain. But the basis of our hope is in the character of the trinitarian God, who in His infinite grace and immeasurable faithfulness kept His promises and acted decisively in Christ against our great enemies, sin, Satan, and death.

So, Zechariah speaks about John’s role in being the forerunner, the new Elijah, who proclaims the coming of the Lord. Verse 76: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. Note that there is no uncertainty for Zechariah or Luke about Jesus’s identity. He is identified as the Lord, the God of Israel. Heaven and earth are colliding. Eternal God is on the move and is stepping into human history. John’s task is to proclaim that the Day of the Lord has come. He is arriving. He is fulfilling every promise.

Salvation is at hand. The first enemy, sin, is going to be dealt with by a savior, who is none other than the gracious and faithful Lord of Israel. Verse 77: to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. Knowledge, revelation, is coming. Uncertainty is being expelled. The plan is being revealed. Salvation from sin, Satan, and death is coming in Christ. All of the doubt and fear and uncertainty and confusion is disappearing in the light of this new revelation. The Davidic King is coming. The Lord is coming. Heaven and earth are colliding.

And it’s all because of the character of God—His covenant faithfulness, His grace. Verse 78: because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high. The light of the Lord’s revelation is breaking in. The word of God, the perfect image of God, is coming to dwell in the world. The day of the Lord is dawning. The darkness is being driven out. The light is showing in the tunnel.

Verse 79: to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Here we have the completion of what I’ve been saying all along—out of His gracious faithfulness, the Lord is destroying the enemies of sin, Satan, and death. Such is the state of the world, our state, apart from the Lord’s intervention. One medieval interpreter wrote on this passage, “He found us sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, weighed down by the ancient blindness of sins and ignorance, overcome by the deception and the errors of the ancient enemy.”[1]

But the light has shown in Christ. Despite our situation, the Lord is gracious and He is constantly faithful to His promises. And that is our takeaway this morning. It may be Advent 2021, but the human condition and the uncertainty of the world is exactly the same as 2000 years ago. Our hope lies in the reality that heaven and earth have collided in the faithful action of the Lord God of Israel. Christ has redeemed the world through His death and resurrection. The light of the day has come.

So through these weeks of Advent, we are remembering that Jesus came and holding onto our hope that he will return again. We look forward to that day with eager expectation. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

---

[1] Bede, Luke, Ancient Christian Commentary, 3:33.