Luke 1:67-75
"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life," Luke 1:67-75.
Zacharias and his family are the talk of the town. God has given them a son in their old age. Zacharias hasn't been able to speak to anyone about his encounter with the angel Gabriel in the temple, or to share with anyone by mouth what the angel told him. Zacharias and Elisabeth's son was born, and eight days later at his circumcision, the community named him after his father, but Elisabeth said no, his name is John. The crowd came to Zacharias and he wrote that the babes name is John. Zacharias's mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and immediately he spake and praised God. He did not murmur or complain about not being able to speak or hear, no, (I believe he knew he deserved worse than what he received) he began to praise God for His faithfulness.
In verse 67 Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. "Filled" means to be influenced or controlled. In the Old Testament economy, when someone was filled with the Holy Spirit, that person would prophesy. That prophesy is given to us as Scripture, God's word. God gave them what to say, and what was written. The prophets were human instruments used by God to communicate the word of God to people. "Prophesied" in this verse means particularly, to foretell future events, to predict, often representing the idea from the Old Testament of exhorting, reproving, threatening, and everything spoken by the prophets while they were acting under the divine influence as ambassadors of God and as interpreters of His mind and will. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works," II Timothy 3:16-17. Turn to Hebrews 1:1-2. God has given us the Scriptures. They are complete. He does not send prophets to us today. He has given us His completed Word. We are not to add to it or to take away from it. The Holy Spirit does not fill people today so that they will give a prophetic word, but instead He fills us today to give us understanding of His word and impowers us to live for Him (Ephesians 5:15-20). If a prophetic word was still being given, then the bible would still be being written; but the bible is complete. The so called prophesies of today are given by men to please men for the honoring of men and are unbiblical.
You and I today are to live a life that is well pleasing to the Lord. We cannot do this apart from being filled with the Holy Spirit which means we will also be filled with Scripture. Scripture will be the abundance of our hearts. Scripture obeyed out of love for the Lord will cause us to walk blameless before the Lord. Can we do this? Turn to Psalm 119:1-16. Yes, but what is God's will for my life? Turn to II Thessalonians 4:1-7, Romans 6:19, 12:1-2, and Ephesians 5:17. The chief end of man is to know God and to enjoy Him forever. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," I Corinthians 10:31.
Zacharias and Elisabeth walked blameless before the Lord (verse 6). Even though life had not went according to their plan, they loved the Lord their God. Now God has blessed them with a son who is the forerunner of the Messiah. In verse 68 Zacharia begins to praise the Lord. This worship is directed by the Holy Spirit. Zacharias praised the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness. Zacharias is giving worship. Have you ever stopped and meditated on God's faithfulness to you? Especially in light of our unfaithfulness to Him?
Our God is so patient with us. This is another reason we are to be grounded in the Scriptures. False prophets give us unbiblical expectations which rob us of worshipping our God. Nothing and no one was going to rob Zacharias from giving worship to God. "Blessed" in verse 68 is the Greek word "Eulogetos" and speaks only of God, i.e. worthy of praise. Here it is used as a doxology which is praise, worship, and thanksgiving. As soon as Zacharias's mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, he sang praises to God. He praised God for God's faithfulness. What was brought to remembrance was what God had done, and that God did what He said He would do, which gives us great hope that God will do what He said He would do. This is great comfort presently, and for the future. Our hope is in our God; no one and nothing else.
God hath visited and redeemed His people. "Hath visited" in this verse means to look upon with mercy, favor, regard. The definition varies depending on the context. Some visits were wonderful and merciful, others were tragic with judgment. This visit is wonderful and merciful for with this visit God will redeem His people. "Redeemed" in this verse is generally to cause, to bring about, e.g. to make peace. To release on a receipt of a ransom. Redemption, deliverance; spoken of the redemption of Israel. God hath visited His people. This visiting can be anticipated with fear, depending on if the person is saved or lost; and how the saved person is living. "The prophet Amos said to them, "Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" (Amos 5:20). There is a two-edged sword in the Old Testament. On the one hand, they looked forward to the bright dawn of the day of God's visitation, and on the other hand, they feared that this day might be one of judgment. The ultimate visit from on high was the entrance of Christ into the world. For those who receive Him, to them He gives authority to be called the children of God (John 1:12). It is the day of the Lord's redemption. But for those who reject Him, it is the day of darkness, with no light in it." R.C. Sproul.
The world during this time was living life as usual. They had no idea that God was about to interrupt the world by sending His Eternal Son to live a sinless life, but die a sinners death. The Just for the unjust. The Light of the world was about to make His entrance, but the darkest day of the world come when men would despise and reject Him and nail Him to the cross. On that cross Christ took upon Himself the sins of all who have and will believe. For those of us whom the Lord has saved, we look forward to His return with joy and anticipation, but for the abominable and unbelieving the return of Christ will be a dreadful day. If the Lord has not saved you as of yet, we beg you to trust Him alone to save you. For those of us whom the Lord has saved, may we live a life filled by the Holy Spirit so that when He comes He will find us living for Him. Christ is coming back. Our God is faithful and is worthy of our praise.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
