Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. You'll find the reading is on
the second page of the hymn sheet. It is from Luke chapter 1 and
reading from verse 67 through 279. The very first verse introduces
what the reading actually is. So from verse 67, And his father
Zacharias, that is John the Baptist's father, 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 swore 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. And thou,
child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt
go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give
knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their
sins. through the tender mercy of our
God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give
light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace. Thus far the reading of
God's holy words. So our reading is actually a
prophecy, and the verse I decided to bring before you is verse
68, the very introduction. It says Zacharias begins to speak
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed
his people. The prophecy is a blessing and
giving the reasons for that blessing. Now, John the Baptist was born,
we might say, six months before our Lord was born. So Zacharias, he is prophesying
those things that he is saying here at this time. Our Lord is in the womb of Mary. He has come, and may we marvel
at this. His coming did not begin at when
he was actually born, But when he was conceived in the womb,
contracted to a span, and humbled to be in the womb, and the mystery
of that, but John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, and he's speaking
of that which is already done. He hath visited. And he hath
redeemed the Son of God in the womb, his blessing for something
that is begun, but is not yet finished. And there's many things,
as we come towards the end of another year, that may be begun,
but not yet finished. They may be yet very, very small
and hardly begun or hardly even seen. And we enter upon another year,
believing that the Lord will finish. He which hath begun a
good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. We are used to this in Scripture,
where we have God beginning with the children of Israel, Really,
he began with the birth of Moses, but then another 80 years go
by, and as far as the children of Israel are concerned, then
he begins, Moses is sent to them, they believe, they bless the
Lord that God has appeared for his people, but they're still
in captivity. And actually, their burdens got
harder and worse. until they were actually redeemed
with the Passover and brought out of Egypt with a high and
with a mighty hand. Were they wrong to praise at
first, before their burdens got worse? No, they weren't. The Lord had visited them. The
Lord had appeared. He was working. And yet things
at first seem to be so wrong. It's like, dear Jacob, Joseph
was in Egypt. God had sent him before. He was
next unto Pharaoh. He was already providing for
his family. They were already bringing the
corn back from Joseph's own hand. But dear Jacob, he's saying,
all these things are against me. He is very low. And you and
I might be like that as we come to the close of another year. Things that already the Lord
has done, but we may be seeing just things that are so dark,
so despondent. But do you know where Zacharias
was able to see and able to prophesy? And of course the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in
the purposes of God. And those Old Testament saints,
they died believing that their sins were put away and would
be put away, literally, when our Lord died at Calvary. So
let us, as we come to the close of another year, to also raise
our Ebenezer. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. now john the baptist father zacharias
he doesn't just stop here and just say for he had visited and
redeemed his people he speaks some other very beautiful things
i just briefly bring before you in this portion that may be a
help at this time in verses 69 to 71 He's speaking about raised up
and horn of salvation for us. A horn is a symbol of power in
Scripture. Now, of course, the Jews and
even the Apostles, they were expecting that they'd be delivered
from the Roman power. It would be a natural deliverance,
but It was to be a spiritual deliverance, but notwithstanding
that, the Lord was in control over the Romans, over Herod,
over all that was happening, and may we really remember that
at this time. That symbol of power, the Lord
Jesus Christ, God omnipotent reigneth, the Lord reigns, not
man. His purposes are ripening fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
and it has, but sweet will be the flower. And we must remember
this, as we are in this season, at this time, there is a horn
of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. the
authority of salvation. The reason why this world continues
is for the people of God. It is because He has a people
to be saved. It is because they are His delight,
and all the nations of the earth, they are His servants for the
good of His people. We know that all things shall
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
the called according to His purpose, and that means all that happens
in the nations of the earth and laws that are made, the governments
that are raised up, those things the Lord will work for good. And even if they be those things
that are done by men that are sinful and wrong, as it was in
the crucifixion of the Lord, ye have by wicked hands taken,
crucified and slain. Yet he was delivered by the determinate
counsel and full knowledge of God. from whence our great salvation
rose, the redemption of the people of God, the precious blood of
Christ. And so we have in verse 72 to
73 a blessing of the Lord that He has performed the mercy that
has been promised to the fathers. May we remember as we come to
the close of this year that the Lord is a performing God, He
performs what He says He will do, and there is mercy inscribed
on all. He has not dealt with us as our
sins have deserved. His mercies are very, very great. Then we have in verse 76, he
says, Thou child as John the Baptist shalt be called the prophet
of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare his ways. God prepares a people for himself. He uses the ministry. He used
John the Baptist. Sometimes he uses things like
in Elijah's day, the three and a half years of famine. so that
men are prepared to hear the message of the gospel, to receive
Him. And dear friends, this virus
and all that has happened, who would have thought at this time
last year that we were going to have a year like we had? But
the Lord knew. Nothing takes him by surprise. And our hope is, as such a major
event in our lives and in the history of our nation, and now
we're coming to withdraw from the European Union as well, that
God will use this in the salvation of His people. In this last year,
He has touched all things that the Lord mentioned, that in the
days of Lot and Noah, men were just going along with. They're
buying, they're selling, they're marriage, they're giving in marriage.
The Lord has touched all those things. He's touched men's business,
their money, their pleasures, their freedoms, their liberties.
He's touched ours in that way. And are we turning to the Lord?
Those things that we may have made an idol of, those things
that we may have taken up our time to remember, that actually
the Lord is our first love, and that we are to turn again to
Him. And our prayer is those that
we have so longed for, for their conversion, that they might be
brought to turn to the Lord, that the Lord would use such
times of trouble and sorrow. Call upon me in the day of trouble,
I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. In the furnaces
of affliction, in the trials, why we've read this morning in
our reading, the consecutive reading with the TBS concerning
Manasseh and how the Lord brought him into trouble and into affliction
and in his affliction he turned unto the Lord. The Lord even
used affliction and effectual affliction in the case of wicked,
wicked Manasseh to change him and humble him and to bring him
as one of the redeemed of the Lord. And may that be a real
encouragement to us, that in all of these things, bitter and
hard as they are, there'd be a blessing in it. You think of
the time of our Lord's birth and the infants that were slain
in Bethlehem. And the prophet, he says, weep
not, for there is hope in thine end. and really those things
that happened there, leaving such a mark upon the nation,
upon that town at that time, how they spoke the reality, and
were as a witness in themselves, as the reality of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the beginning of that bitter
hatred of the world against Him. Then we have in verse 77, to
give the knowledge of salvation, but notice it's not just learning
about salvation, a knowledge in that way, it's a knowledge
of it by being partakers, by being saved ourselves. There's
nothing better than that, is it? If we had a feast, if we
had a great big banquet, and you might know about that banquet,
that'd be very different than going to that banquet, be said,
here you are, you may partake, and you partake of that, you
taste of those deities, you see it with your eyes. A knowledge
of it that way is very different than just knowing about it. And
so with salvation, how shall the Lord give real knowledge
of salvation by the remission of our sins? And what a thing
to bless and praise the Lord for, dear friends, if you and
I have knowledge of salvation by being saved ourselves. by
the blessings the Lord has given us, by our sins being pardoned
and forgiven. You may say salvation is a real
thing because the Lord has saved me. He's washed me from my sins. And then in verse 78, all of
mercy, not just mercy, but the tender mercy of our God. And then in verse 79, to give
light to them that sit in darkness. You may feel in darkness this
morning, so dark, so low, so despondent, and yet the Zacharias,
he blesses the Lord because Our dear Saviour is to give light
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace. May we be able to join
with Him in blessing the Lord God of Israel for these things,
and though they may be, you might say, very small, or as it was
there with our Lord yet in the womb, Yet to realize that what
the Lord will do, and how He will appear, and that which He
begins, He will most certainly perform and visit, He will finish. And the text says, He hath visited. Well, what hath the Lord done
in this last year? You may fill in many things in
your own life, the things in the nation, the virus coming,
the isolation, the changes in the home, the death or shall
we say taking home to glory of dear friends, sisters, brothers
in the faith now absent from the body and present with the
Lord. The Lord says in me you shall
have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation, and this
year has been a time of tribulation, but may it also have been a time
that we know that God is in control, and we are all hastening to an
eternal home, and may we be prepared for that, and these things that
are happening, preparing us for that eternal home. May we join
with Zacharias in blessing the Lord, not just the Lord God of
Israel, but our Lord and our Saviour and our Redeemer. May
this word be a help to you, may you meditate upon the very words
that Zacharias used as you go through this day and as we come
towards the close of this year.