There's something deeply unsettling about darkness.
What might otherwise be a normal room turns into a maze of obstacles, things to avoid.
! You've got to be careful when you're walking through, especially an unfamiliar room.
! If it's really dark, you don't want to stub your toe, you don't want to bang your knee.
You don't want to feel disoriented.
Navigating a familiar space in pitch blackness is one thing,
but what about living in a world of unfamiliar surroundings?
Living with the unknown as the standard to endure a constant state of blindness.
I bring this up because the people of Israel, in the first century, 2,000 years ago,
had lived in a perpetual darkness for some time.
In fact, for centuries.
They had been exiled from the land of Israel to the farthest reaches of the known world.
As far east as India, at least close to it.
By the second century, there were reports of Jews living as far east as India.
In the west, all across North Africa.
In the north, in the Caucasus.
And in the south, parts of Yemen and Ethiopia.
The people of Israel were not in the land of Israel.
They were exiled to the farthest portions of the known world.
There were some that lived in the land, but even those did not live as people that enjoyed the very pinnacle of Israelite rule that King David and King Solomon knew.
Rather, they were under Roman occupation.
And they were led by many religious leaders who claimed to possess the authentic faith.
So, to put it really bluntly, the people of Israel were walking in a perpetual state of confusion and spiritual darkness.
And yet, for the ears that listened intently, the scripture spoke of a sunrise after the darkness.
A light that would pierce the shadow.
Some 400 years before Jesus came, in the closing sentences of the Old Testament canon, the prophet Malachi boldly proclaimed.
This is from Malachi chapter 4, verse 2.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
And yet, 400 years is a very long time to wait for the dawn to break, is it not?
Many generations had come and gone.
Israel remained in exile, in darkness.
The promised sunrise had not yet come.
There was no joy amongst the people.
So, as we arrive to our second of four songs for the Savior, that are found in Luke's opening chapters,
we find ourselves at the Benedictus of Zechariah, or the blessing of Zechariah.
He is the elderly priest and the father of John the Baptist.
He had been told he would have a miracle son.
That this miracle son would be used by the Lord to turn Israel back to him.
But he did not believe.
He doubted.
And was made mute by God.
And although he was a priest in the temple in Jerusalem, and a spiritual leader himself,
who should have been very, very familiar with the scriptures and a pillar and example of faith,
he was also himself walking in darkness.
Very indicative of the people and their leaders.
He, more than most, should have been familiar with the words of the prophet Malachi.
But could they truly come to pass?
Would the Lord do this?
And through his line, would God keep his promise?
Would he rescue Israel from darkness?
Now, Zechariah lived in a completely different cultural reality than we do here in the 21st century in Canada,
in the New World, in Ottawa.
And yet, the darkness of heart, the disorientation caused by hopelessness,
the fear of the unknown, spiritual lethargy that comes by failing to be able to wait on the promises of God,
they're actually shared not just by people in the first century, but by all humanity.
Shared by us today in this worship space.
So the question of whether God would rescue Israel from darkness
is actually a very poignant one and a very pertinent one for us this morning.
For all people, for all time, will God rescue us from darkness?
The darkness that you might feel, the heaviness, the hopelessness,
the disappointment, the disorientation, the confusion, the difficulty,
the perpetual frustration of trying to change and there's no change,
or to see the people around you suffer,
that is the darkness that we need deliverance from.
And the question is,
will God fulfill his promise in Malachi chapter 4
some 24, 2500 years ago?
And like many promises God makes,
there appears to be a remarkable son involved in some kind of way.
Throughout the Bible, there's always,
not in every case, but in a lot of cases,
a son of promise that's connected to the promises that God makes to his people.
Zechariah will notice this and so will we.
So to answer this question,
and the question of will God rescue us from the darkness?
We will look at four sons from Zechariah's song.
We'll look at David's son.
We'll look at Abraham's son.
We'll look at Zechariah's own son.
And then finally, God's own son.
Verses 78 and 79.
If you have a Bible, follow with me.
I think we still have some Bibles at the welcome table.
Grab it.
Follow along.
Please, it would do me a great service.
It would do you a great service.
We'll look at chapter one, starting in verse 68.
Zechariah's son, John, was born.
This is just before Zechariah is praising the Lord.
Zechariah's muteness was lifted and he broke into song.
And this is how he opens it up.
And this is where we get the title for this song,
the Benedictus.
It's Latin for blessed.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.
And before we go on, I want to stop here.
Because he opens up by saying,
blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.
Very specifically, the God of Israel.
He honors God.
But specifically, in God's role as the God of Israel.
And this is a significant point to recognize.
Because this entire song, which is actually one long prayer,
one long sentence in the original language,
it is absolutely full of Old Testament references.
Some scholars say that there's up to 30 plus different references or allusions,
scripture quotations from the Old Testament.
And this is an important thing for us to think through.
Why?
Because it highlights to us that Christianity wasn't invented 2,000 years ago.
It wasn't this dynamic leader, Jesus of Nazareth,
who came onto the scene,
started this new kind of version of Judaism,
but really not Judaism, his own thing.
And then his followers kind of perpetuated it across the known land.
And rather, what we see here is the continuation
of the story of God's interaction with mankind
that goes right back to the beginning.
So for Zechariah to say,
blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
it is for us to understand
that this is the same one true God
that has always existed,
that has always dealt with humanity
from the opening verses of Genesis chapter 1
all the way up into Leviticus,
or Leviticus, sorry, Luke 68 on,
and then all the way into the end of Revelation.
This is no cultic religion
for a regional people,
but the one true faith for all people for all time.
So let's continue on.
We'll start in verse 68 again,
and we'll read down to verse 71.
Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
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,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us.
The Lord has visited and redeemed his people,
Zechariah says.
Like Mary's song,
the future that Zechariah is prophesying,
even though it is coming in the future,
is spoken of in the past tense.
It's a foregone conclusion.
He is so sure that the victory
that the Lord will do through this child Jesus,
that he speaks of it like it's already happened.
The visitation and redemption,
they have occurred because the Lord
has fulfilled the prophecy
given to King David,
and this is where this connection of David's son
comes into play.
The prophecy given to King David
by the prophet Nathan,
a thousand years earlier,
so if Malachi is 400 years earlier,
this prophecy goes back 600 years before that,
a thousand years before Jesus comes on the scene.
King David's at the height of his power,
and the prophet Nathan says to him the following.
This is from 2 Samuel chapter 7.
The Lord declares to you
that the Lord will make you a house.
When your days are fulfilled
and you lie down with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring after you,
who shall come from your body,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
You see, the promise is for David,
but really it's for his son,
one of David's line,
who will establish a kingdom
that will exist forever.
His enemies will be defeated
because David's son,
this mysterious ultimate king,
will be a horn of salvation
raised up for the Lord.
The horn being this image
and symbol of strength and vengeance,
but it's also an ornament of beauty.
So we have here
a symbol of complete victory,
but also complete blessing.
But here's the thing,
David's son is Solomon.
Solomon does indeed build a temple for the Lord,
but Solomon very quickly falls into idolatry
and abandons the Lord,
and David's line that follows
kind of ebbs and flows
between like all right kings
and absolutely horrific kings.
So it would seem that David's king,
David's line,
it is not a forever line.
Eventually, exile happens to the people of God.
They are taken away.
First, the kingdom splits into two kingdoms,
the rival kingdoms,
and then exile happens.
And exile continues on for centuries.
David's line is not given to worshiping the Lord
or blessing the nations.
Rather, it's given to extortion
and infighting and violence,
polygamy, dissension,
even child sacrifice.
They did not become an example
to the people around them.
Rather, they became like the people around them.
So you have to ask,
I have to ask,
who is the true enemy of Israel?
Is it Rome or Greece or Persia
or Babylon or Assyria?
I mean, they actually are enemies.
I don't want to downplay
the real geopolitical reality
of the people of Israel,
but the enemies of Israel,
it's actually the heart of the Israelites.
They are bent towards idolatry,
away from God,
away from glorifying Him
and being His chosen instrument
to proclaim His goodness
and kindness and mercy
and love to the world.
But instead,
they want to elevate themselves
to the highest place
rather than give glory to God
who is in the highest place.
So the enemy of Israel
is Israel.
And friends,
the enemy of mankind
for us today
is our bent heart
that is toward the self
and will ravage and destroy
and lie and cheat and steal
as long as we are taken care of
in some way, shape, or form.
So this mighty horn of salvation,
this son of David
who brings victory,
must ultimately be
not a geopolitical savior
who brings victory for a season
to defeat a certain empire
only to struggle maybe
with the empire to come,
but rather,
this horn of salvation,
this son of David,
seems to be
some kind of spiritual savior,
a victor,
a king
who is going to wage
and win the war
to end all wars,
the war of sin
and death
and the corrupted heart.
The son of David
will surely visit
and redeem God's people,
Zechariah says.
The Davidic king
will bring total victory,
but maybe not in the way
they thought.
Yet to be saved
from one's enemy
is one thing.
But what one really needs
is to be saved
for something,
for a purpose.
The promise made to David
is not the only promise
God made to his people,
for it was built upon
a promise made
hundreds of years earlier
to an old man
who would become
an improbable father.
Somebody actually
quite similar to Zechariah.
And this brings us
to our second point,
Abraham's son.
Look with me
at verses 72 to 75.
To show the mercy
promised to our fathers
and to remember
his holy covenant
to 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 of our days.
So in the previous section,
Zechariah reminds us
that the Lord spoke
through the prophets.
Here,
he refers specifically
to the promise
made to the fathers,
that is the patriarchs
of Israel,
and specifically Abraham.
God initially
makes a covenant
with Abraham
way back in Genesis
chapter 12,
but it's not until
10 chapters later
in Genesis 22
and you start to see
how much Old Testament
is marbled
throughout this prayer.
It's not until
Genesis chapter 22
where God swears
an oath,
he swears an oath
to Abraham.
And the story
is found,
Genesis 22,
the binding of Isaac,
a very famous
but also a pretty
difficult passage,
if we're honest.
Difficult because
God is asking
Abraham
to take his son
who is a miracle child
in his old age,
Abraham is to take
his son to go
to Mount Moriah,
to go onto a mountain
to build a pyre,
to sacrifice his son
and burn him,
burn him
as an offering
to the Lord.
And it's difficult
for us because,
well,
it's a child sacrifice,
but also
it goes against
everything
up till
chapter 22
that we've seen
of God.
God is a God
who is
slow to anger.
He is not like
the other gods.
He is a loving God.
He is about life.
He gives life.
He punishes
those who take
away life.
And here we have
a very difficult
situation.
We're not going
to get into
kind of the nitty-gritty
of the binding
of Isaac,
but it's a difficult
one.
And Abraham,
as he's about
to slay his son,
the knife is stopped
and God sees
that Abraham
loves the Lord
even more,
even more than
his own son
that he's been
waiting his entire
life for.
Old man,
his hand
has stayed.
And then God
swears an oath
to him.
And here is
the oath,
starting in verse
16 of Genesis
22.
By myself
I have sworn,
declares the Lord,
because you have
done this
and have not
withheld your son,
your only son,
I will surely
bless you
and I will surely
multiply your offspring
as the stars of heaven
and as the sand
that is on the
seashore.
And your offspring
shall possess
the gate
of his enemies
and in your offspring
shall all the nations
of the earth
be blessed
because you have
obeyed my voice.
So,
with David,
his son
will
rescue
God's people
from their enemies.
Here,
the blessing
of God
will go through
Abraham's son.
Abraham's son
will possess
the gate
of his enemies
and the Lord
has declared it.
Zechariah
is simply
recalling this oath
and what's interesting
is that
this oath
is the
only time
in the Bible
where God
swears
by himself.
It's a very intense
oath that God swears.
The highest level
of oath
he swears
and it is bound
to happen
because of it.
And once again,
deliverance is described
as being
so thorough
and certain
that it's referenced
in past tense.
So,
it's a settled matter.
God has declared it.
It is as good as done.
But we see that
the salvation
described here
serves a purpose.
The Lord
saves us
out of his mercy.
Why?
So that we can
serve him.
Now,
we see this
at the second
part of verse
74
if we go back
to Luke chapter 1.
That we being
delivered from the
hand of our enemies
might serve him
without fear
in holiness
and righteousness
before him
all our days.
That we are saved
by God
so that we may
serve God.
He blesses us
so that we may
be a blessing.
And he does it
in such a way
that the fear
that we might have
will begin
to subside
and we will be made
holy and righteous
not because of
the things we do
but because of
the blessing
that God bestows.
in other words
true Christianity
the true faith
of the Bible
it not only
delivers us
from our enemies
but it infuses us
with lives
of purpose
and meaning
that are directly
connected to God
himself.
Not a project
that lasts
for a year
or ten years
or even this life
but a purpose
tied to him
that continues
on into eternity.
Much of what
we talked about
in our Ecclesiastes
sermon series
was about
finding a purpose
beyond this life
rooted in God
and here we see
this reality
go back to
Genesis chapter 22
and continue on
into the New Testament
in verse 74
and 75.
To be delivered
from fear
and evil
and selfishness
it is a wonderful
thing
but it is lacking
ultimately
if we cannot
use this gift
for the benefit
of others.
So you see
the very high point
of human existence
is to serve God
for in doing so
we proclaim
his glory
and his goodness
he is the only
true and worthy God
and this actually
ties back to
the commissioning
that God gave David
for David himself
he was to
create a house
for the Lord
or his son was rather
and that house
was supposed to be
a house of prayer
for all nations
that the
religion
of the one
true God
Father, Son
and Holy Spirit
was to stretch out
all over the world
for all people
through God's servants
like you and I.
God
so he gives us
an eternal purpose
one that is not
faddish
or self-serving
but one that gives us
ultimate meaning
in this life
and the life to come
so we see that
with the Davidic covenant
and now with the
Abrahamic covenant
!
the child of David
the child of Abraham
that God saves us
from
and saves us
for
and yet
as good as this
may sound
salvation
as wonderful
as it is
we find ourselves
still on this
side of salvation
of this side
of putting our
faith and trust
in the Lord
still continuing
to have dark hearts
struggling
with sin
struggling
with the
problem of evil
struggling
with lives
given to
self-exaltation
so
how will
God help us?
where is
the hope?
and this brings us
to our third point
where we look at
John the Baptist
Zechariah's son
verses 76
and 77
this is Zechariah
speaking to his son
now
and you child
will be called
the prophet
of the most high
for you will go
before the Lord
to prepare his ways
to give knowledge
of salvation
to his people
in the forgiveness
of their sins
what is remarkable
about these two verses
is the placement
in Zechariah's song
listen
okay
Zechariah
like Abraham
he is an elderly man
whose wife is barren
a lot of shame
in the ancient world
with that
a lot of
kind of
divine displeasure
was thought of
for people
in Zechariah's
shoes
I would think
that the moment
his son is born
I would break
into song
about my son
about God
doing this miraculous
thing for me
and yet
it's not until
many many verses
down
many many lines
of the song
does he then
look to his son
he addresses
not his son
first but
the son of David
the son of Abraham
it's not that
Zechariah
doesn't love
his son
at all
rather
he is understanding
the purpose
and place
of his son
in salvation
history
John
a child
of blessing
is ultimately
not the
child of blessing
John the baptizer
was not
the fulfillment
of a covenant
promise
like the
offspring of David
or Abraham
but he would
fulfill a prophecy
found in both
Isaiah and Malachi
that spoke of this
again mysterious
person that would
go before the Lord
and prepare the way
for the Lord
very specifically
that he would turn
people's hearts
towards the Lord
and then towards
each other
he would call
God's people
back
to
himself
to the Lord
in repentance
so by the time
Luke 3
comes about
there's
quite the fast
forward
the narrative
jumps quite
ahead
and we see
John a grown
man
and he's
doing just
this
he is calling
people to
humbly admit
that they are
without hope
apart from God
that both the
self-righteous
and the self-condemned
need to surrender
themselves
to God's mercy
repent
and be baptized
for the forgiveness
of sins
trust yourself
entrust yourself
to the Lord
here we see
that John's
main role
will be
to make
this clear
to his
fellow
Israelites
but he was
quite the character
if you know
anything about
John
we won't read
about him
he was a bit
of a wild
man
he wore
camel's hair
he lived
in the desert
he ate
locusts
he ate
honey
he had
long hair
he was
not exactly
a conventional
religious leader
but he was
Israel's first
prophet
in centuries
and what's
really interesting
here is
his demeanor
the way he
went about
things
he completely
bypassed
the conventional
religion of the
time
and what he
did by doing
that is he
forced
the various
religious sects
those that
claimed to have
the corner
on biblical
faith
to drop
their pretense
of religiosity
and seek
a genuine
and authentic
walk with
the Lord
so John's
words in
ministry
they're significant
and worth
considering
especially for
people
quite frankly
like us
who enjoy
a pretty high
level of
self-sufficiency
being put
together
is
something
that
is something
we pride
ourselves on
and by the way
I will just
say this
being put
together
is totally
fine
the Bible
doesn't
condemn
it
wealth
is not
evil
later in
the Gospels
we have
a very
very prestigious
member
of the
religious elite
who will
risk
reputation
and income
to give
Jesus
an honorable
burial
some of the
earliest
patrons
of the church
were wealthy
people of
high society
so the Bible
doesn't oppose
such people
however
such people
often
mistake
their wealth
for
their own
doing
that they
are the
masters
of
their own
destiny
and the
scriptures
consistently
condemn
this kind
of heart
this kind
of self
righteousness
they're
hypocrites
John calls
such people
a brood of
vipers
and Jesus
will call
them
whitewashed
tombs
so John's
message
is very
pertinent
for us
because
we can
at a moment
presume
that we
cannot
save ourselves
and we
throw ourselves
at the mercy
of God
and then the
next day
that self
righteousness
comes back
in with full
force
and the
darkness
seems to
return
and what
John's
ministry
is
is to
call us
to repent
and to
look back
at the
Lord
and to
always
be about
confession
not
presuming
our own
righteousness
but
asking
humbly
for the
Lord
to make
us
righteous
and to
forgive us
of our
sins
that's a
nature of
repentance
so as we
reflect on
these short
verses
76
and 77
what jumps
out is
an exhortation
to us
to be people
of repentance
to not
presume that
the darkness
is far away
from us
but that
the darkness
is ever
encroaching
that the
shadows
they seek
to cover
us up
but rather
we would
turn our
hearts to
the Lord
so we
have
considered
David's
son
Abraham's
son
and now
Zechariah's
son
we now
turn to
the final
section
which
does not
mention
a son
explicitly
but points
to the
very
son of
God
in fact
the entirety
of the
Benedictus
Zechariah's
song
is just
that
look with
me though
at verse
78 and
79
because of
the tender
mercy of
our God
whereby the
sunrise shall
visit us
from on
high
to give
light to
those who
sit in
darkness
and in
the shadow
of death
to guide
our feet
into the
way
of peace
the darkness
will be
gone
for the
sun will
drive it
away
but not
because the
sun shines
interestingly
instead it's
because the
sun will
come to
us
it will
visit us
and now
we see
that
Zechariah's
song is
bookended
with God
visiting us
and then
also
the
sunrise
visiting
us
which is
in a
way a
very strange
kind of
way to
describe
sunlight
what isn't
strange
if we dig
in a bit
deeper
is that
this idea
of
visitation
it shares
the same
root word
as the
term we
use for
bishop
or
episcopate
this
idea of
someone who
examines
and cares
for others
an overseer
with authority
concerned
with
one's
overall
well-being
it is
a position
and function
of a
loving
care
the light
that shines
into the
darkness
is both
this
expression
of God's
mercy
but also
God
himself
it is
God
who will
visit us
it will
be God
who oversees
us
God
who is
concerned
with our
well-being
who cares
for our
souls
so that
we will
no longer
sit in
darkness
and that
death
will not
overshadow
us
so Jesus
Christ
born in
Bethlehem
it's proof
that God
has indeed
visited his
people
and shone
light to
dispel
darkness
once and
for all
and if you
remember
at the
beginning
we talked
about Malachi
chapter 4
it is a
prophecy
that the
sun
will rise
and we
see that
it is
fulfilled
in Christ
the
sun of
righteousness
that rose
with healing
in his
wings
the sun
has
dawned
the morning
has dawned
the sun
has shone
and yet
there's a lot
of and yet
and yet
it seems
that darkness
still exists
okay
darkness
still exists
the sun
has shone
he shone
2000 years
ago
he continues
to shine
but darkness
still exists
death
still overshadows
so many
across the
world
and once again
we find
that we
cannot speak
of the
first advent
of Christ
without
thinking about
and speaking
about the
second advent
I'll wrap up
with this
because the
day followed
the night
because the
Lord had
visited us
and redeemed
us
being born
in Bethlehem
and especially
because Jesus
crucified
died and was
buried
did not stay
in the ground
but rose to
new life
we can be
sure that he
will come
again
because the
promise
made to
Abraham
and to
David
and to
Israel
through
Malachi
came
true
2000 years
ago
we can
trust that
it will
happen
when
we don't
know
but that
Jesus
will come
again
and that
when he
comes
he will
fulfill
the sure
victory
that was
a foregone
conclusion
2000 years
ago
we can
have a
great
confidence
that God
has visited
us
that his
desire
is to
oversee
us
and shepherd
our souls
friends
trying to
say is
this is
the life
of faith
we don't
understand
why the
darkness
persists
in the
degree
it does
now
but we
can be
sure
that
because
the light
has shone
in the
past
it will
shine
again
and that
darkness
will be
dispelled
forever
the beautiful
thing about
the end
of the Bible
is this
picture of
what the
new heavens
and the
new earth
will look
like
and I'm
sure it'll
be even
better than
how we can
even imagine
it as we
read about
it
but one
of the
key
characteristics
about it
is that
it will
always be
sunny
it will
always
be
the sun
will always
shine
that God
himself
will be
the source
of light
so we put
our faith
in the
shepherd of
our souls
the one
who oversees
the one
who visits
us
that with
him
the light
of dawn
the bright
morning star
we will
never
walk in
darkness
but have
the light
of life
and then
we go back
to the beginning
of the
benedictus
and if
we're thinking
about this
and dwelling
upon this
and considering
it
and wrestling
with it
and then
by faith
take it
that it
is true
then the
result will
be not
like a
that is
nice
interesting
information
but ought
to result
in us
like
Zechariah
breaking
into song
and praise
blessed
be the
Lord God
of Israel
for he
has visited
and redeemed
his people
our response
is praise
ultimately
one of the
beautiful things
about Christmas
is the
richness
of the
hymns
and carols
we sing
and on that
note
I'll close
us off
by reading
a section
from O Holy
Night
that is just
so wonderful
and connects
so beautifully
with the
benedictus
long lay the
world in
sin and error
pining
till he
appeared
and the
soul felt
its worth
a thrill
of hope
the weary
world rejoices
for yonder
breaks
a new
and glorious
morn