About this sermon
Zacharias and Elizabeth, old and childless, receive a son, and they name him John, ‘the Lord is gracious.’ God opens Zacharias’s mouth, and his song declares that God has visited and redeemed his people. John goes before the Lord to prepare his way. Christ came first in obscurity, and he will come again in glory, so every heart must prepare him room now, in faith and repentance.
Sermon transcript
Well, congregation, as we prepare for the preaching of God’s Word, I’d invite you to rise for the reading of my sermon text today. We’re taking a little break from our study in the Gospel of Mark to consider various passages as we do a do a mini series during this Advent season, and today we’re considering a passage from the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. Dear friends, let us hear with reverence and awe the word of our God. This speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. Now, the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her and they were rejoicing with her.
And it happened that on the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child and they were going to call him Zacharias after his father. But his mother answered and said, No, indeed, but he shall be called John. And they said to her, There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name. And they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows. His name is John. And at once his mouth was opened and they were astonished. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he began to speak in praise of God. Fear came on all those living around them. And all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.
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. And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, his servant, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, 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 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.” 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. The grass withers and the flower fades. The word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God’s blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our gracious Lord God and Heavenly Father, we do pray that by your spirit you would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your word.
And we ask, Lord, that that you would feed our souls this day through that which we consider from the scriptures. Build us up in our faith and enable us, O God, to respond to the word with faith and obedience that we might glorify you in our lives and in the church. We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said. Amen. Congregation, you may be seated. Well, there are three key words that the children and the adults, if If you adults find this to be helpful as well, there’s three key words to be listening for in my sermon today. And the first word is a very important word. It forms the sort of the central focus of my sermon this Lord’s Day morning, and that is the word visitation. So listen for the words visitation, salvation and joy.
Well, dear friends, a turning point in God’s plan of the ages to save sinners is about to be reached. The light of the messianic age is about to rise and to shine upon God’s people. God is about to visit his people. Jesus, God’s promised Messiah and Savior, is about to be born. And God, in his special providence, sets about to prepare the way for the promised Messiah by raising up the forerunner to the Messiah, namely John the Baptist, the one who was called by God to prepare the way for the Lord. It is a time of great anticipation in redemptive history. It is a time of great hope, a time that points to a bright future for God’s people. Now, earlier on here in Luke chapter one, we learn about John the Baptist’s parents. They are named Zechariah or some translations translated as Zechariah and Elizabeth.
This was a godly couple, an older godly couple who had lived blameless lives, and Zechariah served as a priest in the temple. They were an older couple, as I mentioned, and they had never been able to have any children for Elizabeth was barren. And that was a very sad condition for them to be in, especially in the Jewish culture of the first century, which not only viewed children as a sign of God’s blessing, but which also tended to view infertility as a sign of God’s judgment or disfavor. And so there was a great stigma attached to the condition of infertility. If you go back to chapter 1, let’s look at verses 5-7 where Zechariah and Elizabeth are introduced, and it says this, In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
And notice how they are described in terms of their character and their devotion to the Lord. Look at verse six. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. Verse six sort of pushes back against that unfair stigma that was often attached to the condition of infertility there. Well, one day when Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, he received a supernatural vision from the Lord. It was a vision of the angel Gabriel who announced to him the good news that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son and instructing him to name his son John. Now, children, what is the significance of the name John? Do you know what the name John means?
Well, the name John means The Lord is or the Lord has been gracious. What an appropriate name for this one who was called by God to announce the coming of the Messiah. Indeed, John is the appropriate name for the forerunner of Jesus, for the Lord is and has been gracious to his people. And so Zacharias receives this wonderful promise, this wonderful vision. But instead of believing this wonderful good news, godly Zacharias doubts the message of Gabriel. After all, Elizabeth was beyond childbearing age. And as a chastisement for his unbelief, Zacharias is rendered unable to speak until God fulfills his promise of a son. If you are still in Luke chapter one, skip down to verses 18 through 20. Let me read those verses. It says Zacharias said to the angel, how will I know this for certain?
How do I know that what you say is actually going to happen? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. Zacharias is looking at the human situation here, the human condition that they’re in rather than looking to the power and the promises of God. How does the angel respond? Verse 19, the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God And I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time. And so, friends, the God who, through the angel, had visited Zechariah with good news and who then visited him with a temporary chastisement for his unbelief.
In our passage for today, this same Lord visits Zacharias with restoration and with spirit-inspired words of revelation. Our passage for today records that Zacharias speaks inspired words of praise to his gracious covenant Lord who has fulfilled the promise that he had given to him through the angel Gabriel. Well, dear ones, this passage of God’s Word that we’re considering today is deep and rich in the spiritual truth that it points us to, and it has many things that we can learn from it. But one of the major themes of this passage of God’s Word, as I mentioned before, is the theme of visitation. You know, the Scriptures often speak of God visiting people, and that’s not always a good thing. sometimes, but it means that he visits people in a special way. And sometimes that’s a negative thing, because God sometimes visits people in judgment and wrath for their sins.
But at other times, he visits his people in mercy and grace. He acts and he moves forward his plan to accomplish mercy and grace for his people. Zechariah’s prophecy recorded in our passage for today puts the main emphasis on God visiting his people, not in wrath or judgment, but in mercy and grace. This theme of God’s visitation will serve as the center of our focus as we seek to learn what the Holy Spirit is teaching us in this portion of his word. And if you’re following along in your sermon outline, I come to my first point today. First of all, brothers and sisters, let us consider how God in his sovereignty orchestrated the events of history in perfect harmony in order to pave the way for the coming of the Redeemer. God in his sovereignty orchestrated the events of history in perfect harmony in order to pave the way for the Redeemer.
I would have us focus now on verses 57 through 66 as we consider this point. And in this simple account of the birth and naming of John the Baptist, we join the neighbors and relatives of Zacharias and Elizabeth in being filled with a sense of holy fear and awe. For it is clear that God is at work in a special way in the circumstances surrounding John’s birth. It says this in verse 57, Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth. She had conceived in her old age, according to God’s promise through the angel Gabriel, just as God had promised to her husband Zacharias. And so the time had come and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her, and they were rejoicing with her.
The scriptures say, Rejoice with those who rejoice. mourn with those who mourn. And certainly this was an occasion for rejoicing. And her neighbors and relatives are filled with a sense of of all because they recognize God’s mercy in enabling Elizabeth, who, as I mentioned, was they were both old and and she was beyond childbearing years. And yet the Lord had blessed her with this child. And verse 59 tells us, and it happens that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, according to the law of God. You know, Zechariah and Elizabeth are devout Old Covenant saints, and so they bring their child for circumcision, and it was customary, apparently in those days, that at the time of a child’s circumcision, that’s when the child was named. And it says, and they were going to call him Zechariah after his father.
This is what everyone expected, right? Going to name him Zacharias, right after his father. But notice what his mother, Elizabeth, says, verse 60, 60. But his mother answered and said, no, indeed, he shall be called John. John, why do you want to call him John? Verse 61, they said to her, there’s no one among your relatives who is called by that name. Why call him John? Says in verse 62, and they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called. Now, this verse would seem to indicate that not only was Zacharias unable to speak, but apparently his hearing was impacted as well, or at least the people associated his inability to speak with his inability to hear. So they’re making signs to him. They want to get the father’s perspective. Verse 63 says, he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows.
His name is John. Again, what does John mean? It means the Lord is gracious. The Lord certainly has been gracious and kind to Zacharias and Elizabeth. And by giving John the Baptist to this world and to his people, the Lord is being gracious to his people in sending the forerunner. And it says in verse 64, once Zacharias writes that on the tablet, what happens? He is immediately released from this chastisement, verse 64. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed. In other words, he was able to speak again. And what’s the first thing out of his mouth? He began to speak in praise of God. He praises God. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t say, Lord, finally, you know, why did you do that to me? No, he knew why the Lord had given him that chastisement.
And ultimately, that was a work of grace for the sanctification of Zechariah, that he had undergone that temporary inability to speak. But the first words out of his lips were words of praise to God. And what was the response of those who witnessed this? Verse 65, fear came on all those living around them, and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. Oh, this is These events were spread through the grapevine and everyone was talking about Zacharias and Elizabeth and the marvelous birth of John and the naming of their son, John. Verse 66 says, 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. Well, what will this child turn out to be?
Well, that’s the subject of Zechariah’s prophecy. But here we see in all of these events, we see that there is a divine hand working behind the scenes in all of this to accomplish his sovereign purposes and to prepare his people, indeed to prepare the world for the coming of the Redeemer, the Messiah, the Savior. And next, friends, as we consider and study this passage, understand next that in Jesus, the Messiah, God visits his people with his saving mercies of forgiveness, light and peace. In Jesus the Messiah, God visits his people with his saving mercies of forgiveness, light and peace. Verse 67 kind of rewinds it a bit and reflects upon the first words out of Zechariah’s mouth. Verse 67 says, And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. We are to learn from that that these words are not ultimately the words of Zechariah.
These are the words of the Holy Spirit using Zechariah as his instrument to declare this word from the Lord. It says that he prophesied. Zechariah was given the spirit of prophecy, and these words are therefore the word of the Lord. And what does he say in verse 68? Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. God’s people, think about the historical circumstances under which God’s people were living at that period of history. The Israelites, the Jews were living under foreign domination. They were living under the control of the Roman, the pagan Roman Empire. And oh, that situation, that set of political circumstances irks the Jewish people. It bothered them. And oftentimes they were oppressed by the Romans. But this would have said, hey, God has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people.
Now skip down to verse 72, which which speaks of this redemption and grounds this redemption in God’s covenant mercies. It says, that God is doing this to show his mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. You see, all of these events are in fulfillment of God’s covenant promises, which he gave to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. And verse 73, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, to grant us that we being rescued from the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all our days. might sound from those words taken in themselves that that the Holy Spirit through Zacharias was promising God’s people a temporal deliverance, a nationalistic deliverance of deliverance from the yoke of Rome. But then you need to read on to get the fuller context here.
God would rescue his people from their enemies that they might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all their days. And then he addresses this prophecy to his son. John the Baptist, he says, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the most high God. Oh, yes, John the Baptist was a mighty prophet of God. The last and the greatest, if you will, of the old covenant prophets who who bridged the gap between the old covenant and the new covenant. And why would he be a great prophet of God? Well, it goes on to say in verse 76, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways. Now, whose ways, children, did John the Baptist prepare for? Who did John the Baptist prepare the world for? For Jesus. And yet this passage says that you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.
This implies, by the way, that Jesus is Lord, that he’s God. This passage implies the divinity of the Messiah. And verse 77, to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. By the forgiveness of their sins, this wasn’t just a national temporal salvation and redemption that is being spoken of here. This is a spiritual salvation. This is eternal salvation that will be accomplished by the coming of this. Lord, whom John the Baptist will announce and prepare the people for verse 78, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us. There’s that word visit again. to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Oh, we apart from Christ, we sit in spiritual darkness.
We sit in the shadow of death. But with the coming of Christ, the sunrise from on high has visited us with the good news of salvation. And this guides our feet into the ways of peace. Peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and peace with our brothers and sisters in union. with Christ. Here in Zacharias’ prophecy, which is often called the Benedictus and which is similar to Mary’s Magnificat, which we recited together earlier in the service, here we see the continuity of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, which includes, since this prophecy includes numerous references to or allusions to Old Testament themes and passages, and yet it connects those themes and passages to their fulfillment in Jesus and in his saving work, pointing us, beloved, to Jesus the Messiah as the one in and through whom God visits his people with his saving mercies of grace, forgiveness, light, spiritual light and understanding and peace with God and with one another.
And so, friends, in conclusion, observe that God raised up John the Baptist as his special instrument to prepare his people to receive their Messiah, namely, his son, Jesus. John the Baptist has been raised up by God as a special instrument for the purpose of preparing his people to receive their Messiah, his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Again, we’ve already gone through verses 76 through 79, but these verses in particular highlight the role and the purpose of John the Baptist and of God raising up John the Baptist. The words of Zechariah’s prophecy about his son, John, shows that the redemption and the salvation that Zechariah is speaking of in this prophecy, again, it’s not merely a political or national or temporal salvation, even though he uses some old covenant language and references old covenant passages. Rather, it is a spiritual salvation, a salvation which includes the forgiveness of sins.
It is that which God has visited you and me with, brothers and sisters in Christ. And so what are some of the takeaways from what we have considered from this beautiful passage of God’s word, this benedictus, this glorious prophecy spoken by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, as he spoke under the inspiration of the Spirit. Well, friends, just as God, in his sovereignty, orchestrated events to prepare the way for the coming of Christ the first time, so our Lord continues to orchestrate the events of history in order to make the world ripe for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That will be God’s final visitation before the eternal state, before the new heavens and the new earth where in righteousness dwells. During our morning instruction period this morning, we watched a video lecture by Dr.
R.C. Sproul, where he spoke of the return of Christ and that that return is our blessed hope. And one of the points that was made in that lesson is that the first time that the Savior came to this earth in his incarnation, at his first advent, he came to this earth in relative obscurity. He was born as a baby. The God of the universe was born of the Virgin Mary, wrapped in swaddling cloth, laid in a manger. And his first advent, his first coming was relatively, I mean, it was it was secretive. There were a few people who knew about it. The shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night and all of that. There were some people who knew about that. But most of the world was completely oblivious. to the coming of the Son of God to this earth at our Lord’s first coming.
But one day Jesus will return, we are told, in glory. And it will be a public event. It will be a visible event. It will be a glorious event. He will come with the clouds of glory, with the trumpet of God. There will be no secrecy with our Lord’s second advent. But God was at work in the history of Israel to prepare his people and to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus the first time. Does that mean that after Jesus came to this earth and was born and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead and went back to heaven, that God is no longer at work in the world? That things are just kind of rolling out? History is just kind of rolling on without meaning or purpose?
No. God’s plan continues to go forward and it continues to go forward as the Church of Jesus Christ faithfully carries out its mission to preach the gospel to all the nations. to baptize, to bring the good news to people and bring people to faith in Christ and into the fellowship of his church. All of this is to say, and I know I said this before and you’re probably going to hear me say it many more times, but it’s an important point. History is his story. All of history is, to use a fancy theological term, all of history is eschatological, which basically is a fancy way of saying that All of history, in all of history, God is working out his plan and his purpose. All of history is moving toward the fulfillment of God’s sovereign plan to show the world both his holy wrath in his judgment against the unrepentant wicked, but also to show the world his amazing grace.
And that will be displayed in its consummate glory on the final day of judgment, when Jesus returns in glory at the end of this age. World history, friends, isn’t just random stuff that happens for no apparent reason. There is a divine plan behind it all. And what does that mean for you and for me as individuals? Well, brothers and sisters, dear listeners, what this means is that your history and mine is also moving toward a preordained goal. Our lives are filled with God ordained meaning and purpose and significance. Contrary to a secular, naturalistic view of the world and the universe, you and I are not just cosmic accidents. According to naturalistic Darwinian evolutionism, for example, you and I were just descended from pond scum. We are animated meatbags who show up for a brief flash in cosmic history only to die and take an eternal dirt nap.
According to that secular worldview, your life has no objective transcendent meaning or purpose. Your existence is meaningless. There’s no hope in that worldview. But praise be to God. Because God exists, not just a God, but the true and living God, of Holy Scripture, the triune God of Scripture who sent his son to redeem sinners like me and like you. What this means is that we were created for a purpose. Believer, you and I were created to, what does it say in the Shorter Catechism, the first question, what is the chief end of man to what? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And if you are in union with Christ, then that is where your God given journey will take you. So do not despair.
Your life has meaning and significance. And if you are in Christ, God’s plan for you is good. And he causes all things, not just the good things, but even those other things to work out for your ultimate good and his ultimate glory. But in terms of the theme of visitation, Brothers and sisters in Christ, consider this believer in the gospel, the good news of your salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in the gospel and by his Holy Spirit. God has visited you in grace and mercy. God’s visitation in mercy to you and to me as sinners saved by grace, all of that was made possible Because God visited this world 2000 years ago in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, the one who is God incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us, that special baby born in Bethlehem, who was nailed to the cross, laid in the tomb, risen from the dead, ascended into heaven.
And who is, as I mentioned before, he is coming again for us at the end of this age to take us to be with himself so that we might be with him. forever. And so, believer, with Zacharias, you and I can rejoice in the spirit of God that God has visited and redeemed his people through the coming of Jesus, the Messiah. In fact, joy ought to be the tenor of our Christian lives. We ought to be the most joyous people on the face of planet Earth, for God has forgiven our sins through Jesus again. Think about what Zacharias says in verse 77, that the Lord is coming to give what? To give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Now, God has given us all different personalities. Some of us are more grumpy than others.
And that’s OK. We don’t all have the same personality types. Being filled with joy doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re The shallow in that joy or that you always have to go around saying praise the Lord as if everything is good. We do suffer. We do experience tribulations and trials and grief in this present age. And yet, undergirding it all, there is that deep abiding joy in knowing that in union with Christ, who was born for you, who lived for you, who died for you, who rose for you, who ascended for you, who intercedes for you, and who is one day coming for you to take you to be with himself. Through Jesus Christ, your Lord, God has visited you in grace and mercy. Oh, dear believer, are you walking in the joy of God’s forgiveness of the fact that God has visited you in mercy and grace?
Now, if you’re here today or if you’re listening online and you’ve not yet been visited in mercy, then you do need to be warned that if you don’t repent, God will one day visit you with the fullness of his wrath unless you repent of your sins. and believe the glad tidings of great joy. Consider what the scriptures say in that very familiar passage in John chapter three, and I’m going to read from John three verses 16 through 21. The Lord Jesus speaking to Nicodemus and says this for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish. But have eternal life for God did not send the sun into the world to judge the world. The judgments coming later. God did not send the sun into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Oh, dear listener, don’t be complacent. Receive Christ today. Come to Jesus Christ in faith and repentance today. His arms are wide open to all who recognize their need. Come to Jesus. by faith and repentance, and he will receive you.
May God in his sovereign mercy open your heart to Christ today. So what is the conclusion of all of this? Well, friends, let every heart prepare him room in this traditional Advent season. Let us prepare our hearts to celebrate and to rejoice in the incarnation and birth of our Savior. We’re about to sing our closing hymn, which is a wonderful classic Advent hymn, Joy to the World. And those words say joy to the world. The Lord is come. Indeed, God has in Christ visited and redeemed his people. Therefore, let every heart, including your heart and mine, prepare him room. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you that in sovereign grace and mercy, you have visited us with your forgiveness, with good news. We pray, Lord, that we might embrace that good news and that we might live in the light of that good news.
So very often, Lord, we are guilty of doubting, like Zacharias doubted the words of the angel Gabriel. So we find ourselves at times doubting your word, your promises. But Lord, give us grace to receive the light of the truth of the gospel that we have considered today, and we pray that we might know your peace, your presence, and your joy during this holiday season and throughout the year. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, Amen.
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