Luke 1: 67-79
Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham - a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world, made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,” will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham - a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world, made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,” will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace.
Zechariah goes from speechless during Elizabeth's pregnancy to full of speech at John the Baptist's birth. Parents of newborns may know this phenomenon -- maybe not the speechless part, but the wanting to announce to the world how wonderful the newborn child is. Zechariah departs from the expected bragging about his son to announce the coming of our Lord and Savior, adding then about his son's role as the one who will prepare the way. We might notice that in vs. 79 Zechariah connects the coming the Lord with the "light in the darkness" theme that the prophet Isaiah had used generations earlier. We might also notice that the redemption the Lord brings is not just spiritual, but it will save God's people from their enemies. Redemption has a real world feel to it.
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