Luke 1:67-80
Blessings are gifts from God for which we all long. Blessings are also pronouncements of good
from one person to another. Zacharias
did not speak for over nine months; but when the Lord did lose his lips; he
spoke of blessings. He recognized the incredible
gifts that were flowing to him from God in the person of Jesus. He also made a beautiful pronunciation about
the role God had graciously given his Son to play in bringing those blessings
to pass. Both types of blessings are
important for us to verbalize. God delights in hearing our praise of His
greatness and our rejoicing about His great gifts in our lives. God is also pleased when we encourage others
with words that recognize God’s favor on them.
God has given us the ability to speak so that we might express gratitude
for His blessings and give encouragement to others. It is significant that Zacharias used his
first words after nine months of silence to do exactly that.
THE BLESSINGS OF JESUS: God was at work in the time of
Zacharias to bring about the salvation of men and to keep His promises to the
children of Israel. These two blessings
from God filled his heart with joy and his mouth with praise. This wonderful act of worship was a direct
result of his being filled with the Holy Spirit. This Spirit’s power in the lives of men has a
direct result on the words that they say and the emotions they feel. If our hearts are filled with sadness and our
mouths are filled with complain; it is clear that the Spirit of God is not
producing these things in us. Our sins
are the source of all the sadness and fears that surround us constantly. The Lord Jesus has come to save us from our
sin so that we can rejoice in His forgiveness and trust in His promises. Jesus came into this world in order to
purchase our freedom from sin. This is
the greatest blessing God could ever give.
The children of Israel had been living under the oppression of other
nations for many generations due to their sinfulness. God had promised to discipline His children
for their disobedience and He had done exactly that. However, He had also promised to send Messiah
to bring liberation from these enemies.
Israel found herself enslaved to sin and enslaved to Rome. Jesus came to set them free just as God had
promised to do through the prophets. In
order to set them free from sin Messiah had to die and be resurrected by
God. In order to set them free from the
oppression of other nations Messiah had to vanquish their enemies and reign
over them as the King promised in Scripture.
Jesus is Messiah and has promised to accomplish both forms of
liberation. Unfortunately, the people of
Israel and the people living today are far more interested in being set free
from oppression of men in order to experience happiness than they are in being
set free from the curse of sin in order to experience holiness. God’s greatest blessing in our lives is that
He has rescued us from sin through His death and resurrection through simple
faith in Him. The result of that
blessing is that we have a sure hope of living forever in the bliss of His
presence under His eternal reign where we will experience blessings that defy
our imagination.
THE BLESSINGS ON JOHN: God had given Zacharias a son. God had revealed to him that his son would have
a special role in the mission of Messiah.
He wanted to use that knowledge to bless his son on this special
occasion. Parents are often quick to
point out the faults and failures of their children. Correction is a vital part
of every parent’s responsibility but criticism is not. We will do far more to fulfill God’s role for
our lives as parents by blessing our children than by being critical of
them. Zacharias points out two vital
roles that his son, John would play in the Lord’s plan of redemption. First, he would prepare the way for Messiah
to come and provide for the forgiveness of sins. This role had been prophesied in the past and
was a vital part of confirming the true identity of Jesus as Messiah. It is a great blessing to participate in the work
of God on the earth. Zacharias wants all
his friends and family to know that his son was blessed to be the forerunner of
Jesus. Second, John would shine the
light of the Gospel on people who were living in darkness. He would help men to find the peace of God in
the midst of a world that was reeling under the curse of sin. Jesus is the Light of the world. John’s first role was to open a path for the
Light of Jesus to shine in the world.
John’s second role was to point others to the light so that they might
find forgiveness of their sin. John had
a unique position at a unique time in history that will never be repeated. There are parts of John’s job that none of us
are responsible to do. However, there
are aspects of John’s live that every believer is responsible to emulate. There are still thousands of places and
billions of people who have no access to the Light of Jesus. We are all called to facilitate the coming of
that glorious Light into those dark places of our planet. God calls us all to the task of shinning the
light of Jesus on all people to the ends of the earth with our words and by our
actions. Those of us who have children
will bless them greatly by reminding them of the honor that it is to play a role
in fulfilling God’s plan of redemption in the nations.
APPLICATION: Our hearts should rejoice and we must use our
mouths to praise and worship the Lord for His wonderful blessings in our lives. When we feel the tendency to complain creep
into our hearts we must recognize that this is a symptom of being more
concerned about our happiness than our holiness. Our words should be used to bless others,
especially our children. We must use our
words to point all men everywhere to the Light of Jesus.
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