May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter one, and we'll read verses 77 to 79.
The Gospel of Luke, chapter one, reading verses 77 to 79. to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender
mercy of our God whereby the day spring 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. These were the words that Zachariah
was speaking and prophesying with regards to his son who had
just been born, his son John, a son of promise And now the
Lord has directed him to speak such words as this. And we just
perhaps ought to recognize what the position was in this day,
because the prophecy of Malachi had been completed some 560 or
so years prior to this. And therefore the people, the
people of God, the Israelites, had been walking for all those
years without any new word from God, any new revelation. And
of course they were aware from that which had been prophesied
to them, that there would be a great and glorious Messiah. But you see, years had passed
by, year after year after year because 560 years would take
us back in our country to somewhere about when the Armada was and
we can get some idea in that Elizabethan era how long time
it is for the people to be walking really in darkness. with no true
open vision. What a time it must have been,
how difficult it must have been. Remember, we have today the glorious
revelation of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the
wonderful account in the New Testament of the Saviour and
all that he has done, and we're thankful for it. But here in
the Word of God, we read in this chapter in Luke about Zacharias
and this prophecy of John. And what was John to do? What
would John do? Well, the verses that we read
tell us to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by
the remission their sins. Well that must have been music
in the ears to realize that there was one who was going to give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their
sins. Surely this had been what the
Church of God had been waiting for And now the Lord was fulfilling
the promise that he'd given so many, many years ago, that there
would be one who would be raised up as that voice, that voice
in the wilderness. Indeed, we read in this Gospel
of Luke where we're told He refers to the prophecy in Isaiah. And
he says, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah,
the prophet saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. So now we have this prophecy
really being fulfilled. Here is this babe John born and
here is the commission that God has given to him to give knowledge
of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. And really we have a fulfillment
of that recorded in the Gospel of John. And in the first chapter
of John, we have the first five verses, which is so very, very
wonderful, speaking about the word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
and the light that he brings. And then we come down to the
sixth verse in that first chapter, and we read, there was a man
sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. You see the wonderful
fulfillment of prophecy, how thankful we should be. The Word
of God brings before us so many times the fulfilment of the prophecy
of God. And we're told, he was not that
light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true
light, which lighted every man that cometh into the world. And then we just go on. But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believed on his name, which were born,
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of the will of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And John bear witness of him
and cried saying, this was he of whom I spake, he that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. again wonderful words, to confirm
the eternal being of the Savior. John has given that foresight
to realize that the Savior was the one who was born, that one
who existed before him. Now of course we've got to remember
that what I've just read these verses was some 30 years later
after the words that were given to Zacharias to speak. Another 30 years had passed by,
not a short time really, but a time of profit really to remember
these words would come to pass. And so here John tells us of
this great truth, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people
by the remission of their sins. This was the great need. This was the great need from
the days in the Garden of Eden. This always has been the great
need. It is still today the great need
for us. And what a mercy, therefore,
if the Holy Spirit reveals to us this wonderful knowledge of
salvation. Unto us, as his people, by showing
to us the blessing of the forgiveness of all our sins. All of us need
to know the favour of God's forgiveness. We all need to know that Lord
Jesus Christ is the one, the only one that can forgive sins
and that one who came into this world with that great purpose
to give his life in payment for the sins of his people. And I think these verses are
very beautiful because as we move on to verse 78, we're told
through the tender mercy of our God. The tender mercy of our
God. And surely God's mercy is tender
toward us. God has not and he does not deal
with us as our sins deserve. It is the mercy of God We might
say it's more than that. It's the tender mercy of our
God. What does that mean? Well, surely
it means he deals with us in love to our souls. It is love which brings this
tender mercy to bear. And here all these years ago,
reveals to Zacharias this great and wonderful truth that it would
be through the tender mercy of God that these blessings would
come. Because quite clearly we do not
deserve them, we cannot merit them, there's nothing in us that
demands it, but it is purely the tender mercy of our God. What a favour for us tonight,
if we can find in our experience, in the evidence of the work of
God in our heart, that he's dealt with us tenderly. He's dealt
with us in mercy. He reveals to us our need of
salvation. He's shown to us the massive
sin that we've had. and he's directed us to the glorious
Saviour, directed us to that great need of repentance, so
that we have seen through the Word of God, through the revelation
of the Holy Spirit, the wonderful work of God. To give, give knowledge. Again, it's not something you
see that we could claim or anything, it's given the knowledge of salvation. What a mercy tonight, if God
has given you and me this wonderful knowledge. Because if the Holy
Spirit has given us this knowledge, the evidence is that God has
his tender mercy toward us. He hasn't cut us off. No, he
hasn't thrown us on the rubbish heap, but he's had mercy upon
us. And you know, as he goes on here
in this 78th verse, he says, Through the tender mercy of our
God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. You may think, well, what does
this word day spring mean? Well, it's interesting in actual
fact, in the word of God, in the original language, it occurs
nine times and only once is it translated as day spring. And this word day spring really
means a rising light or the dawn. And that is true with regards
to the experience of the people of God. There is a light which
rises. There's a spiritual dawn. There's a spiritual day. There's a time of darkness, but
the Lord comes and brings us out of that darkness. and he
shines into our heart as the dawn or as the rising of light. You know when the light first
appears in the morning, it may be very very dim and we can hardly
discern it, but there is a difference, there is a change, there is a
rising of the light. And so here, what does the Word
tell us? Whereby the dayspring from on
high hath visited us, well, to be able by the grace of God to
trace out in our spiritual life the rising of the light. Spiritual light, again, brings
us back to the condition of being shown our need of a Saviour because
of our sins, that we can never stand and justify ourselves,
and then to direct us to this great and glorious Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. In this first chapter of John
You see there's some very wonderful truths that the Apostle John
was able to write of John the Baptist. It tells him of those
things. It tells us about John himself. John was a very humble man. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit makes us humble. So he tells us, this is John
the Baptist, here it is who, coming after me, speaking of
the Saviour, is preferred before me, whose shoes latcheth, I am
not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptising. The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. It's a wonderful expression,
the Lamb of God. The Israelites would have been
very aware of the signification of such a statement, because
there for many years had been offered up the Lamb of God. The Lamb had got off and up to
take away sin. Remember on that wonderful occasion,
on that Passover night, there was that Lamb that was taken,
the Lamb that was slain, the Lamb that was roasting the fire,
the Lamb whose blood was taken and put on the doorpost and the
limpels. and there the Israelites were
told the only place of safety on that night was to be under
the blood, to be in the house, to pass through the door where
that blood existed on the doorposts and the lintels. And so they
would have been familiar with that, familiar with the need.
therefore to be under the blood and continually in the wilderness
there have been those sacrifices and continually right up until
this time there have been those sacrifices and the shed blood. The only way that sin could be
removed through the one sacrifice of sin by the great sacrifice
of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you see the John
the Baptist goes on to say, and I knew him not, but he should
be made manifest to Israel. Therefore, and I come baptizing
in water. And John bear record saying,
I saw the spirit. descending from heaven like a
dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptise with water, the same is done to me. Upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him,
the same is he which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw
and bear record that this is the Son of God. Well, that was
a wonderful revelation to John the Baptist. My friends, in measure,
you and I need to have the same revelation to our faith, to believe
that this great and glorious Saviour is the Son of God. And this great and glorious Saviour
is the one who has come and has visited us. That's what Zachariah was able
to declare. The day spring from on high hath
visited us. We do need a testimony that has in it a
visit from God to our souls. A true Christian's experience
is not a void. It's one of union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's one where the light has
shone. And surely, as we have in the
Word of God on such a broad front, that light shines most gloriously
at Calvary, when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and when
he completed the wonderful work that his father had given him
to do. In Isaiah we read about the people,
this is what it says, and the words are repeated in Matthew,
more or less, Matthew 4. This is what we read, the people
that walked in darkness have seen a great light. You see the light may be this
dawning, very small to begin with, but under the blessing
and influence of the Holy Spirit, it becomes a great and glorious
light to our soul. And we rejoice therefore in the
wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The people that walked
in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the
land of the shadow of death, upon them hath a light shine. What a change, what a wonderful
blessing, what a wonderful favour to be found with this privilege
of this revelation of God, revelation of Christ to our souls. And so as Zachariah had it revealed
to him, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Peace by his cross, as Jesus
made. There's the place of peace. There's not peace outside of
that really, not true peace, because as by faith we are able
to view the Saviour on that cross being crucified, giving His life
as that wonderful sacrifice to take away our sin, what do we
see? There is awe, awe, our hope of
salvation. When the Holy Spirit comes and
applies that to our heart, what does it produce? Peace, peace
by His cross as Jesus made. You see, there's no peace outside
of that really, because on that cross, the work of God was completed
and there was nothing lacking. It was fulfilled. All that the
Father had ordained that the Son should do, He had completed,
and there was nothing lacking. Well, we might say, here we see
by Zacharias, this wonderful revelation given to him so that
he was able to come and to speak these words to the people, joyful
words, glorious words. My friends, they have been down
to the ages and may they be indeed glorious words to us tonight. We can of course come back surely
to a verse which I saw from Quote, and it always bears repeating,
and that's the 2nd Corinthians in the 4th chapter in the 6th
verse. For God, none less, the great
God, the God who commanded, none less, the light to shine out
of darkness hath shined In our hearts, praise God about yourself. To give, again remember it's
a free gift, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Well tonight
my friends may we praise God and bless him for the good news
of the gospel and to remember how merciful the Lord has been
in revealing these things and we have to come back and say
through the tender mercy of our God he's not dealt with us as
we deserve he looked upon us in love to our souls of our glorious
such truth is well says the Lord 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 from God
have 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. Amen.