We'll read the first verse while
I write the text, but I want to consider this whole psalm. 68 reads, Blessed be the Lord,
well of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. Well, the Lord's Day has passed.
We were looking at the first two psalms of the Nativity found
in this chapter. In the morning we considered
the song of Elizabeth and her praise and thanksgiving to God
for his goodness to her, but we focused our thoughts in looking
at what she said on Elizabeth's faith, on the great importance
of faith and how great her faith was, that she believed that God
would do wondrous things, though as yet both hers and Mary's children
were yet unborn. And as she said in her psalm,
blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from the Lord. And regard
how vitally important it is that we also are blessed with similar
faith to hold to things that we may not be able to physically
see or fully understand, and yet by faith grasp them, knowing
them, believing them to be true. We then turned in the evening
to Mary's song, the Magnificat, found later on in this chapter,
found from verse 46. And in Mary's song, we looked
at the eight times that Mary uses the word, he hath done something,
or he hath regarded. And we considered there not so
much faith to believe in what would come, but we considered
in Mary's blessing and what she had, received, what God has done
for her, and of course, what God has done for all of his people. The blessings of lifting us up
from our lowest state, the blessing of doing great and mighty things
in our souls, and the blessings of feeding and helping us. Things that we have now. And now as we turn to Zachariah's
song, found at the end of this chapter, really, as we look particularly
at the first half of his song, we'll notice that Zachariah looks
back. He looks back at the promises
and the prophecies regarding the coming of Christ. Of course,
it is understandable, isn't it, of Zacharias, particularly because
he is a priest of the line of the Levites. He is one who serves
in the temple, and therefore would be particularly, I'm not
saying that others weren't as well, but he was particularly
concerned and well-versed in the Old Testament. As a priest,
he would have been carrying out and being well-versed in the
ceremonies and of course in the history of Israel. And he considers
events very much in the light of the Old Testament. He looks
at what is occurring now in the birth of his own son John and
of course in the coming Messiah in Mary. And he looks at those
events in the light of God's promises of the past. And so
he looks back and interprets events in accordance with the
history of Israel. And as he looks at a number of
these points from the Old Testament, and we'll look at them together
tonight, he records God's faithfulness. He records God's goodness in
doing what He had promised, in fulfilling what He had prophesied,
in working miracles so that these things might come to pass. We'll be read together partly
tonight and also on Sunday, but we'll remind ourselves of the
history and the events of Zachariah. Zachariah had first-hand the
direct experience of God's miracles, didn't he? He knew what it was
for God to come to him personally and speak to him through the
angel in the temple. And he knew what it was for God
to visit his house and particularly, of course, visit his wife in
giving conception miraculously. He knew the fulfilment of those
words when he comes skipping over the mountains and leaping
over the hills. The impossibilities that faced
Zacharias and Elizabeth were not impossibilities to God, and
he had first-hand experience of God miraculously appearing
on his behalf. He was old. He was an old man,
and his wife was old. As we thought on Sunday, she
was barren, even in her childbearing years, and now she was old as
well. She was doubly, we could say, impossible that she could
have children. And they had prayed, and laboured in prayer, and prayed
for submission, that in the circumstances they were in, God might help
them to bear the difficulty of being childless. But then, the
angel appeared. Unexpectedly, unlooked for at
this particular time, no doubt, as he serves God in the temple
at the altar of incense, the angel appears and says, fear
not, Zacharias, fear not. Well, why did he say that? Well,
it was because Zacharias feared, wasn't it? He was troubled and
fear fell upon him. He wondered, no doubt, what these
things meant. He wondered what was to be told him. He wondered
whether it was blessing or judgment that was to be pronounced. He
wondered whether God had a message for him or for the people. He
feared what these things would mean. No doubt he had not seen
an angel before. Very few people, really. of God through an angel. None
of his associates would have known this either, it was something
new and unique to him. And he was troubled and fearful,
and naturally speaking we can understand. And the angel says,
fear not, for thy prayer is heard. How many prayers he had offered
we do not know, but no doubt it was many. How many evenings,
perhaps, there have been of wrestling at the throne of grace with his
wife? How many times they have shut themselves together in the
closet to intercede and to plead with God that he would hear their
cries for a child? And maybe there have been times
when Zacharias had been tempted to believe that there was not
even a God in heaven, or tempted to believe that if there was,
that God was not able or was not willing to hear his prayer.
And Zacharias said, gone month by month and year by year and
his prayer had not been heard. And yet this wonderful day when
God appears for him and he says, thy prayer is heard. And what
an encouragement that is for us. That we may feel that for
years and years we've been praying and we're tempted to believe
that God either doesn't exist or doesn't care. And yet one
day by his grace and kindness, that come a day and say thy prayers
heard. I heard it when you didn't think
I did, my ear was open when you thought it was shut, and thy
wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, for, as he said to Mary,
nothing is impossible with God. And Zacharias, having heard this
wonderful message, this unexpected and yet amazing message, cannot
believe it. He cannot believe how these things
can be. He cannot believe that these things can come to pass.
Whereby shall I know this? How can I know this? How is it
possible for these events to come to pass? For I am an old
man and my wife is well stricken and he is. You see, Zacharias
looks at the natural perspective. He looks at the physical. He
looks at the natural position they're in. He says, physically
speaking, in their normal course of nature, this is not possible. I am old and my wife is old.
We are beyond the point of having children. Do you not realize? How can it possibly be true,
you say? And because of that doubt, because
his focus was on the natural rather than on the power of God,
because he believed that God really, or he wondered whether
God was able to do this, The angel says, ìI am Gabriel, as
stirred to the presence of God, and I am sent to speak these
things unto thee, to show these things, glad tidings, to hold
thou shalt be dumb and unable to speak.î So Zacharias, having
received the wonderful news of a blessing to come in his household,
that he would be blessed to hold his own child one day to come,
is now in that terrible judgment situation of being struck dumb. to the point that he cannot question
any longer, he cannot praise and worship in an outward sense,
he cannot speak to others and explain what has happened, Zacharias
will not respond to the Lord, will not answer back any longer,
for he is struck dumb. But then the day comes when the
child is born And the people, as we read together,
want to call him Zacharias after his father, and Elizabeth is
insistent, and then Zacharias is insistent. His name is John. Now, I'm writing that down in
clear view of the people, a clear declaration of what these things
were. He was acknowledging that the
word of the angel was true, He was acknowledging that this child
was a miraculous gift of God, and he was acknowledging that
he would do what God had told and commanded him to do. Do you
notice as well that in naming him John, Zacharias was in a
sense separating him to the Lord? He was not naming him in his
own family line. He was not naming him after himself.
He was not saying, this is my son, my kindred, my child, and
following it off the generations of me. Though that was physically
true. He was saying, I am willing to
take my child and give him to the Lord. He will be a Nazarite
from his birth. And he is God's. He will not
be Zacharias. He will be John. So Zacharias,
by the time John is born, is given this willingness and this
grace to give his son to the Lord, to serve him and to honour
him and to be the forerunner of Christ. And Zacharias is given
the grace to do this. So he knew, didn't he? He knew
that Zacharias, sorry, he knew that God had done and would do
and was able to do wondrous and great things. And this is the
focus of his psalm. The faithfulness of God in doing
great things. The faithfulness of God in fulfilling
His promises. The faithfulness of God in doing
as He said He would do. And he looks back at the past
of the Old Testament and he looks in wonder at how God has appeared
how God has worked in so many people's lives and so many circumstances
and so many events of the world through the history of Israel
and through the centuries and he looks back and spans time
since creation and he sees it all like a tapestry coming together
in these events in his home area and he is amazed. Blessed be
the God, the Lord God of Israel. You see, there were glimpses,
weren't there? Glimmers of Christ in the Old Testament, but they
were veiled references. They were distant references.
Zechariah sees here that the veil is being lifted, and the
light is shining, and the clarity of God's work and God's plan
is being seen. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. While in the first half of his
psalm he looks at a number of things which in these events
have been fulfilled. He looks back and he sees these
events as being fulfillments of God's promises of the past. Firstly he says, blessed be the
Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people. Now, looking at this, people
over the centuries would have wondered how that could be. How could it be that God would
visit His people? And how could it possibly be
that God would redeem His people? Because the Lord had given many
pictures of redemption. He had given the sacrifices and
the types of the Old Testament. But they knew that these were
but pictures. They knew that they must be repeated daily and
annually. And therefore in themselves were
not complete redemption. And they knew that God, in that
sense, had not visited them to redeem them. They only had types
and pictures to rest on. And they wondered, how could
this possibly come to pass? How is it possible that God could
come and redeem? But Zacharias has come to realize
that this is coming to pass now. And these events are being fulfilled
in Christ. That John is to speak of one
and to witness of one. who has now come and visited
and redeemed his people. You see, he realizes that God
has done the miraculous, that God has done the impossible,
and that God himself has come, not in the form of an angel as
he saw at the altar of incense, but he has come in the flesh,
that the child in Mary's womb is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that He has come to redeem. Now, Zacharias, I'm sure, didn't
fully know how that would be. He hadn't got foresight of the
sufferings of the cross and so forth, but he knew that somehow
this child that was being born would redeem his people. He has
come to suffer. He has come to die. He has come
to bear the transgressions of his people and suffer as their
substitute. He knew that these events which
were coming to pass in these days were the fulfilment of the
hopes and dreams of the people. That now God himself has come
to earth and he has come for a specific purpose to redeem
his people. And that was something which
seemed impossible to be fulfilled to the Old Testament people.
Or they believed it, they hoped it, but they didn't know how
it could be done. Yet here, Zacharias stands amazed
and says, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited
and redeemed His people. He then looks back in the Old
Testament at the kingly line, and particularly at David. He
says, He hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house
of His servant David. Now David had been promised that
his kingdom would last forever. He had been promised that there
would not cease to be one on the throne. And of course, David,
as far as he was naturally aware, his son Solomon reigned after
him. But we know that in the history
of Israel, the kingly line was sometimes good and sometimes
not good, and that it then came to an end. And then there are
promises to David, we read in Samuel, and there's a prophecy
in Jeremiah, where he speaks, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, and I will raise up David a righteous branch. And
the king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgments and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord of Righteousness. You see, there
are these prophecies that there would be a king who would reign
of the line of David. And yet, Zacharias is living
in an age where there is really no king in Israel. There is Herod,
of course. But the real rulers of Israel
are the Romans. They've been invaded and taken
over, and their real master is Caesar Augustus back in Rome,
in Italy. And the kingly line, in the natural
sense, is not reigning. And yet he sees that inner fulfillment
here is one of the line of David. He hath raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David. And it must have seemed
to the people of this age that how could these prophecies possibly
come to pass? And yet there were these lovely
genealogies found in Luke's gospel and Matthew's gospel. And one
speaks of Mary's line and one speaks of Joseph's line, his
legal, natural, earthly father, he could say, as far as people
were concerned, Joseph would have looked to have been his
father. And both of them traced their line back to David. Both of them were of his line.
You see how God works. That God can turn events, even
from the kingdom of David, so that two would be brought together,
Joseph and Mary, so that Christ could naturally through his mother
and legally through Joseph be traced as a child descendant
of David. All the kingly line may as it
were have faltered, but the kingly line is very much alive in Christ. And so this promise, this prophecy
which may have seemed so distant is beautifully and entirely fulfilled
in Christ. And Zechariah sees that. if raised
up in horn or strength of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David. You see how he looks and events
in the light of the Old Testament. In verse 70 as he spake by the
mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began. He looks He looks at Genesis 3.15 that
the child, seed of the woman would crush and bruise the head
of the servant. He looks at Moses who says one
would come who is greater than him who would rule his people
Israel. He looks at the types and the shadows and the sacrifices
and ceremonies of the Old Testament which always pointed to a greater
sacrifice and a fuller redemption. He looks at Isaiah that a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son. He looks at the Isaiah that is
naturally called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And he looks at the promise that
he'll be born in Bethlehem in Ephratah. And he looks at all
of these events and these prophecies of the Old Testament and having
surveyed them and it's referred to in just a few words, but having
surveyed through the holy prophets since the world began, you can
see they're all fitting together. They're all coming to pass, they're
all meeting in this one event, the birth of this child. Even
the promise of Elias coming, the great forerunner of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is being fulfilled. and he sees the final two verses
of the Old Testament. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. He shall turn the heart of the
fathers and the children, the heart of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And there,
a miraculous conception of John in his white I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the
Lord. You see, Zechariah looks at the events of the Old Testament
and he stands amazed and says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel
for these things are coming to pass. And the mysteries of the
prophecy and the strangeness of some of those words are now
starting to make sense. Blessed be the Lord God. We have a God who is faithful.
And we have a God who fulfills what he says he will do. He then says that we should be
saved from our enemies, from the hand of all that hate us,
before the mercy promised to our fathers, to remember his
holy covenant. That we should be saved from
our enemies. Now Zacharias probably had in
mind partly the Roman soldiers around him. And maybe he had
some thought that they would be cast out in a natural sense,
as many people did, even followers of the Lord. But I'm sure Zacharias
had a deeper understanding as well. Here is a Redeemer who
will save us from our greatest enemies. Here is a Redeemer who
will destroy the power of the devil. Here is a Redeemer who
will break the power of the curse. Here is a Redeemer who will break
free from the power of death and of the grave. Who will free
us from our enemies. spiritual liberty and life. Here is one who is bringing hope
and peace and life into this world. And then he makes mention of
our fathers and of Abraham. To perform the mercy promised
to our fathers to remember his holy covenant, the oath which
he swore to our father Abraham that he would grant unto us,
We being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve
him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life. You see, having looked over the
prophecies of the Old Testament, he now looks at Abraham. Abraham,
of course, meant an awful lot to Israel. He was called a god
out of Ur and out of Cherim and he was brought into the land
And this is where his people would be settled, and as we know
the history, and through Isaac he said, look up to the stars,
and so will be the multitude of your descendants. And each
of the Israelites, from Zacharias, and Elizabeth, and Mary, and
Joseph, and all of them living in the land, would be able to
trace their history back to Abraham. And God gave Abraham a particular
promise, and in fact that promise was We iterate it to Isaac and
to Jacob, but he firstly gave it to Abraham. And the promise
has a number of aspects to it. We read it a number of times
in the book of Genesis, firstly in Genesis 12. The Lord said
unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred
in thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And this
is the promise. I will make of thee a great nation, And I will
bless thee, and will make thy name great, and thou shalt be
a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse them that curse thee. And indeed, shall all families
of the earth. This is the covenant, the promise
made with Abraham, and later with Isaac and with Jacob. And
Zacharias remembers this. that the God has remembered his
holy covenant, the oath that he swore to his father Abraham. He has remembered them. He has made them a great nation.
He has blessed them through the years and the history. He has
protected them and kept them. For now he has fulfilled the
most wonderful promise at the end. All families of the earth shall
be blessed. This was a promise to Abraham
of Christ, that through his seed, all nations of the world would
be blessed, not just Jews, but Gentiles also. That through Abraham
would come the Saviour of sinners, the Saviour of the world. In
these, should all families of the earth be blessed. So, Zacharias
looks at these events, And he sees not only fulfillment of
prophecy, but he sees even the fulfillment of that wonderful
promise and covenant made with Abraham, their forefather. And
again, he stands amazed that he himself is living in these
times, and that he himself is blessed to be part of these events
through the birth of his son, John, and that God is working
in His wondrous, sovereign, miraculous way to fulfill prophecy do as
he is promised, to bring a horn of salvation through the line
of David, and even fulfil the great covenant made with Abraham. But he looks not only at the
physical, doesn't he? He doesn't just look at a natural
situation, as many of the Jews did. Because Zacharias is concerned
God 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. Zacharias
wanted and desired a true spiritual revival, an inward change, an
inward liveliness amongst the people that God would work so
that they serve Him with holiness and righteousness. They are transformed
and renewed washed and cleansed and made new creatures. Zacharias
believed that God was fulfilling his promises through his son
and the son of Mary that these things would come to pass. So
you see, in the first half of Zacharias' song, he looks back
and marvels at God's wondrous faithfulness to his promises.
But he then, in the second half, turns to Christ. He turns to
Christ. And what a fitting way to end.
What a wonderful way to end our considerations of these three
songs this weekend. Because these words that Zachariah
speaks are really the focus of all three songs. They may have
their slightly different angles, and they may look from slightly
different perspectives, but they all focus on Christ. Zacharias
brings all of this together in his closing words in the final
four verses of his psalm, and he turns and proclaims the person
and the work of the Savior. He realizes that His Son is fashion. That
His Son is unique and has a special role. And He realizes that His
Son will proclaim Christ. He will preach Christ. He will
point others to Christ. He will prepare them for Christ. And He is that wonderful Prophet
of the Highest. Not the Son of the Highest, but
the prophet of the highest. John was shown the way of salvation. Not through himself. We read
in John chapter 1, didn't we, that when they were asked, who
are you? He said, I'm not the Christ. It's not me that you're
looking for. I'm the one calling, chanting,
crying in the wilderness. It's not me that you're looking
for. He is to come. I am not the Christ. But he was
to show the way of salvation and forgiveness. He shall 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. How did John do
that? How did John give knowledge of
salvation to his people? Very simply, as we read together,
in three words, four words, Behold, the Lamb of God. That's who he
pointed to. He pointed to the Lamb of God.
He pointed to Christ. He gave knowledge of salvation
unto the people by the remission of sins, by declaring Him. And
when the disciples had been following John, as soon as they heard him
say this, they turned and they followed Christ. Because He was
the Lamb of God. John was the forerunner. Behold
the Lamb of God. That was the sum and substance
of his ministry. That was the message he proclaimed.
He said other things I know. He told them to repent. He told
them importance of faith. He told them right and wrong
even. John challenged Herod and his
beheaded for it. He said other things, but the
sum and substance of his message was this. Behold the Lamb of
God. And he knew that through believing
in Christ, that people would know salvation and remission
of their sins. That was to be John's role. That
was to be John's calling and privilege. In Pilgrim's Progress by John
Bunyan, well known of course to all of us I'm sure, Christian
is walking for many days with this burden on his back. And he's struggling through the
city and then when he leaves the city sings and the slaves
are spawned, and finally points to the wicked gate and follows
the light and passes through, but he still has his burden.
He's still got the heaviness of his sins, until he comes to
the foot of the cross. Until he sees there the only
hope of salvation, and we read that the straps come loose and
the burden rolls away. Only when he came to the cross. And that's what John's message
was. Not in the fullness, of course, he didn't know the fullness
of what would happen at the cross and crucifix in the years to
come, but he knew that Christ was the Lamb, he knew he was
the offering and the sacrifice. Behold the Lamb of God, and he
pointed people to behold him, to believe and trust in him,
that their burden might roll away. But this was only Because Christ
had come because of the tender mercy of our God. Through the
tender mercy of our God. What beautiful words to put together.
It would be true to say that it was the mercy of God, wouldn't
it? It would be true to say that Christ had come through the mercy
of God. But he says the tender mercy of God. Something so gentle. so caring, so embracing, so loving
as tender mercy. That God sent His Son and His
Son willingly came because He has tender mercy to sinners. So John proclaims that you are
to believe in Him for the remission of your sins because God has
tender mercy that He might display to you. Christ is overwhelmed that His
Son would have this wonderful calling. But He was even more
overwhelmed that God would come to redeem His people and would
do this wondrous work to save them. Wonderful, tender mercy. Mercy is not something we earn
or we deserve. If we did, it wouldn't be mercy. Mercy is to have the perfect
right, power, and authority to condemn, and to pardon instead. Then you have, you are not behoven
to pardon, you are not made to pardon, you are not persuaded
to pardon, you have the right and authority to condemn, but
you pardon of your own will. But that's mercy, and this is
tender mercy of God. Christ has come. You see, Zacharias
focuses the end of his song on the greatness of this one who
has come. Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the
dayspring from on high hath visited us again. Another wonderful phrase. The dayspring from on high have
visited us, to give light to them, the city of darkness and
the shadow of death. This day spring is, what is meant
here is a rising light. In the Greek actually, the majority
of times, there's a number of times the Greek word appears
in the New Testament, the vast majority of times it is translated
as east. And we can think of that in What
is meant here is that the light rising in the east, or the sunrise,
first thing in the morning. It's been dark, particularly
of course in these days it would be cold in the Middle East in
the dark. There would be no electric lights
and no heat. So what they looked for was the
rising of the sun. And what a difference the rising of the sun made. The
darkness was dispelled. The gloominess was gone. And
the light was coming and the stronger and stronger as the
sun came up, the morning sun, the day spring, the sun from
the east is rising. That's what we, the picture that's
being raised here. The new day sun has visited us
and dispelled the darkness of the night. A day spring from on high has
visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness, in the
shadow of death. of the world has come. We read together, didn't we,
in John chapter 1 about that light. The same came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light, that all men through it might
believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness
of that light. That was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The true light
of Christ. You see there are glimmers of
light in the Old Testament as Zachariah looks at it, but now
here is the brightness of the light. This isn't the candle
in the night time, this is the new day sun which has risen. And all the types and the shadows
have disappeared and gone because like a candle in the light of
the sun they've been blotted out and eclipsed by the glory
of the day spring which has risen. And now there is to be this light
and truth and hope to be proclaimed and to be known and to be preached
by John and by many, many others throughout this sinful world. The light has shone in darkness.
The light has shone in heathen darkness and in wickedness. The light has shone in the darkness
of people's hearts to show them what they are and to give hope
and to give life and to give energy and liberty in the hearts
of sinners. It's what light does, doesn't
it? We spend too long in darkness, we become lethargic. Here we
have light of the natural sense, when you're outside in the sun,
you know the benefit, you know the energy that comes as a result,
the liveliness that comes. And that's the light of the gospel.
Shines in the heart to reveal? Yes, show them. their sinners,
but then show them the life and the hope and the blessing of
Christ. The day is spring, the morning
stars are risen, and He will show them, guide them into the
way of peace. The way of peace. Through the
great, glorious Prince of Peace, who has come to make peace between
God and men, peace of conscience and peace of heart. And one day,
everlasting, eternal peace and glory, He has come to guide our
feet into the way of peace. There's no other way of true
peace. No other way of making peace with God. And it's through
this one, this day spring that has arisen, this light that has
shone, and He has come to guide our feet into the way of peace. So Zacharias completes his psalm,
having looked back and seeing, and now wondrously and gloriously
it has all been fulfilled in the coming of Christ, that the
Saviour has come, and He has come to make that great difference
that no one else could do. Through the tender mercy of our
God, He has come to give light Well, particularly this week, as we think with our families
and in various services of the coming of Christ, may we not
just think of the story and the events, as interesting and as
beneficial as that can be, but may we delight in this truth,
that Dayspring from on high has visited us. We sang together
in that middle hymn, didn't we, these wonderful, beautiful words,
Christ whose glory fills the skies, Christ the true, the only
light, son of righteousness, arise, triumph all the shades
of night, Dayspring from on high, be near, Daystar, in my heart
appear. May that be our prayer this week
particularly as we think the coming of Christ that we desire
and that we delight in this day spring, this day star which has
arisen. And may we be able to look and to focus and to see
him as the one who has cast out our darkness and the one who
has guided our feet in the way of peace and worship him as the
altogether lovely saviour. May we be able to worship Him
with Elizabeth, holding by faith His wondrous works and His precious
promises. May we be able to worship Him
with Mary, believing assuredly that He has done something in
our soul He hath for guarding me in my lowest state. And may
we worship Him with Zacharias, to acknowledge Him as God's anointed
way of salvation and see Him as the light that has dispelled
our darkness. This will all be through hearing
John's message. Zacharias knew his son was to
preach a message to behold the Lamb of God. And if we hear that
message, as we have all done, tonight and many times. And if
we heed and respond to that message tonight, then we also will be
blessed to know the power of this Day Star in our hearts.
Behold Him, consider Him, turn to Him, hold Him, love Him, cling
to Him. Behold the Lamb of God, for here
is salvation. Here is food for your soul. Here
is assurance of salvation. Here is hope of glory. Worship
and adore. We sing, don't we, O little town
of Bethlehem. How still we see thee lying,
Neath thy dark and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by,
And yet in the dark street shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and dreams of all the
years are met in thee tonight. There in Bethlehem shines a brighter
star than the wise men could ever comprehend. There in Bethlehem
in a manger shines the day spring from on high. May we this week
tread those roads to worship and adore him and join with Zacharias
The last has been the Lord of Israel, for he has visited and
redeemed his people.