The knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God

Luke 1:57-80  from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

⁵⁹ And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. ⁶⁰ But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” ⁶² And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. ⁶³ And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. ⁶⁴ And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. ⁶⁵ Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

⁶⁷ And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, ⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—
⁷⁰ As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old— ⁷¹ Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us; ⁷² To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, ⁷³ The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, ⁷⁴ To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. ⁷⁶ “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; ⁷⁷ To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, ⁷⁹ To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰ And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Anyone who has ever dealt with a serious or life threatening disease knows that the first step in being healed is recognition of the problem, leading to a diagnosis and treatment. There are many infirmities which can be easily treated and cured once a diagnosis has been made, yet if the condition is left unchecked, it gets progressively worse and can also begin to impact other areas of health. In today’s text, John’s father, Zacharias prophesied concerning the redemption that was coming through Jesus and the role of John, his son. Of redemption and salvation through Jesus he said there would be:  Salvation from our enemies, And from the hand of all who hate us… To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.   Of John he said:   “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Jesus did indeed come to bring us salvation from our enemies. In the same way though that many of the Israelites failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah because they were looking for one who would be a political leader, one who would save them from the oppression of the Roman government, we need to recognize the enemy Jesus gives us victory over or we too will miss our salvation. Ephesians 6:12 says:  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Colossians 2:14-15 says:  Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.   The salvation Jesus gave us was not won on a battlefield against human armies. Nor was it won in the courtroom before human judges. The victory and salvation of Christ, over our enemies, was won on the cross. It is a victory over sin and darkness, a victory over our greatest enemy, the devil.

In Luke 23:34, when Jesus was on the cross, He said:  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” In John 19:30, while on the cross, Jesus said:  “It is finished.”  The victory over sin and satan was complete. It was finished there and then on the cross, even for those who did not know what they are doing, for those who are unaware of their sin condition. Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.    John 3:16 says:   “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”   The prophecy of Zacharias said:  … salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.       We are saved through the finished work of the cross. Jesus died once for all. Yet, while He died for us while we were sinners, while we were unaware of our condition, in order to receive the salvation, in order that we would be cured of our condition, we must acknowledge our symptoms. There must be a diagnosis, before we can receive the cure for our condition. We must become aware of our sin, and so our need of Christ the cure. 1 John 1:5-9 says:   This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Regarding John’s role and our response to the love and mercy of God, Zacharias said:  To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.  “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins.      Having been made aware of our condition and having received the cure, having been rescued from our enemies, we should: serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.  John’s role was to go before the Lord, to prepare the way giving them a knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. We too, having been cured of our condition, are called to do what John did. Jesus says: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” (Mark 16:15-16)  We too are called to go before the Lord and prepare the way, to give people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. It is the gospel we are to preach, the good news that Christ is the cure, that He has finished the work and they are forgiven. All they need is to believe. Zacharias said that we would serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness all of our days. We cannot serve God without fear, if our message to the world is one of fear and condemnation.  It says:  Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.     Romans 2:4 says:  The kindness of God leads you to repentance?   We are to be those who demonstrate the love and kindness of God to the world. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:    “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for the love and mercy of the cross, where You forgave my sins and cured my condition. Having been cured, may I walk in holiness and righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit, that I might shine the light of Christ and share the good news of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. May others see the light and glorify You Father. May they know Your kindness and repent, that they may receive Christ, the cure.  Amen.