beginning with verse 57. Now Elizabeth's full time came
that she should be delivered and she brought forth a son.
And her neighbors and her cousins heard that the Lord had showed
great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her. And it came
to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child
And they called him Zacharias after the name of his father.
And his mother answered and said, not so, but he shall be called
John. And they said unto her, there
is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they
made signs to his father how he would have him called. And
he asked for a writing table and wrote, saying, his name is
John. And they marveled all. And his
mouth, that is the mouth of Zacharias, was opened immediately, and his
tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. And fear came on
all that dwelt round about them, and all these sayings were noised
abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they
that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, what
manner shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was
with him, 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 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. The title of my message tonight
will be The Dayspring. The Dayspring. I've come across
this word quite a bit recently in reading the autobiography
of John Payton, missionary to the New Herberties, When he went
out there, this is back in about 1850, 1860, in that time period. He left Scotland and went to
the New Herbardese as a missionary. And he was first put on the island,
one of the islands named Tanna. And there was another missionary
couple also put off on that island, but in different places. In the first year, he buried
his wife and their newborn son. And in just a short time, within
a couple of years, the other missionary couple had already
been killed by the natives. They were cannibals on these
islands. And then John Payton, he was eventually burned out
and barely escaped with his life from that island. And he went,
the association there, Presbyterian Association, they asked him to
go to Australia to rest and recuperate from the awful experiences he'd
been through. And while he was there, he visited
all the churches and Sunday schools in Australia and went to New
Zealand, visiting all the churches there and raising money. And
the money that he was able to raise, along with money, offerings
given from churches in Nova Scotia and Scotland, was used to provide
a ship, which was very necessary to go from island to island carrying
supplies. And the ship they had built,
actually, and they named it Dayspring. Dayspring. But after several
years, the ship was was wrecked on the reefs and it was taken
by a salvage company. Somehow they got a hold of it
and it was a group of people who at that time were capturing
or taking people from the islands to the islands here as slaves. And before they ever got to use
that ship, the Peyton, John Peyton and his associates there, they
all were praying that something would happen because they knew
when that ship sailed into a harbor to any of these islands with
that name, Dayspring, and natives would recognize it, well, they
would come and that would give an opportunity to capture those
natives and take them off. God destroyed that ship in a
storm before it was ever used in that business. But then they
raised money again and were able to purchase a ship, another ship,
and they changed its name to the Dayspring. And it was such
a blessing when the ship came He eventually ended up on another
island, and he had orphans, and he tells about one experience
when they were just out of food, completely out of supplies, and
the orphans were telling him that they hoped the ship would
come. And eventually the ship did come
and the people were so excited, you know, especially the orphans,
especially because of food that they knew would be coming on
that ship. The day spring appeared in the
harbor and they were, they were so happy. But what a welcome
sight for us tonight as we think about the day spring from on
high hath visited us. And this, of course, refers to
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Dayspring. I believe it fulfills a prophecy
that we have in the last book in the Old Testament, the book
of Malachi, which said, unto you that fear my name shall the
son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. And then in Revelation chapter
22 and verse 16, the Lord Jesus confessed to be the root and
offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And that's
what this star was, a day spring from on high. It refers to the
bright morning star, the spring of day, the spring of day when
that first star would appear. I'm going to bring a few things
to us from this passage, but I want to point out these two
things before we look at what is said about the Day Spring.
First of all, we're looking at words that were pronounced or
spoken by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, if you notice,
who was filled with the Holy Ghost. These words that he speaks,
these words that we're looking at tonight, were Inspired words. I know all the scripture is inspired
of God and we are especially told here that he speaks now
After nine months of not being able to speak remember because
of his unbelief He couldn't speak during that time that Elizabeth
his wife was carrying their son John he couldn't speak but then
they come to to name him and circumcise him on the eighth
day as the law commanded. And I like the way they made
signs to Zacharias and asked him, well, what do you want to
name him? He didn't say anything. His name is John. And he didn't
say, I want him to be named John. He said, his name is John. And
when he did, of course, the Lord opened his or loosed his tongue
and he was able to speak. And now he's filled with the
Holy Spirit. So these words we're looking
at are words that Zacharias spoke being filled with the Holy Spirit
and prophesied. And the second thing that I point
out to us is He prophesies of these things as if they had already
been done, as if they had already been fulfilled. And we know God
can do that. God can do that because when
God purposes something, it's going to come to pass. He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. You know, we
can say, well, I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that.
Well, maybe we will, maybe we won't. You know, we always need
to say the Lord willing, don't we? Dios violenti. That Latin phrase, DV, the Lord
willing, we're going to do this. We're going to go there. We're
going to stay here for so long. No, the Lord willing. But when
God speaks and speaks through his prophet, he can speak of
things that are future as though they had already been fulfilled. because there's nothing that's
going to keep him from fulfilling his will, his counsel. He purposes
it and he brings it to pass. So let's look at these things.
First of all, in verse 68, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for
he hath visited and redeemed his people. Now when you look
at that verse of scripture, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for
he, he is a pronoun of course, but the antecedent of that pronoun
is who? The Lord God. The Lord God hath
visited his people. This speaks of the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look in the next chapter,
Luke chapter two, when The angel announced the birth of Christ
to the shepherds. Look in verse 12. And this shall be a sign unto
you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. I'm sorry, verse 11. For unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord. Christ the Lord. And if you look
through that passage here in Luke chapter 2, you see the title
Lord often. And without any doubt, it is
referring to God Almighty. Look in verse 9. And lo, the
angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone
round about them. Same word, the glory of the Lord
The same word is in verse 11, which is Christ the Lord. And
then the same is true down in verse 15. And it came to pass
as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherd
said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see
this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord, the same
word, same title, Lord, hath made known unto us. For unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord." In other words, this mystery of godliness, as the
Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy, God was manifest in the flesh. That's what Zacharias prophesied
here, he hath visited. Who's visited? The Lord, God
has visited, speaking of his incarnation. You know, John tells
us in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, no man has seen
God at any time. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him. When a person sees the Lord Jesus
Christ, they see God. That's what he told Philip, wasn't
it? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Why? Because God is one and Christ
is God, God the eternal Son. He, that's what Zechariah said.
Now he was, he was, in the womb of the Virgin Mary when Zacharias
was prophesying here. But he prophesies as though it
had already taken place. He hath visited and, notice,
and redeemed his people, the Lord Jesus Christ. He hath visited
and redeemed his people. This redemption, of course, speaks
of his death. Still future when Zacharias prophesied,
but as far as God was concerned, it was something already done. According to Albert Barnes, this
could literally have been translated, he hath made a ransom for his
people. He hath visited and made a ransom
for his people. And you can't help but notice
when you read that, His people. His people. He hath visited and
redeemed, who? His people. His people. Thou shalt call His name Jesus. This is what we find in Matthew
chapter one and verse 21. For He shall save His people
from their sins. He hath visited and redeemed
His people. And how did he redeem his people? By shedding his blood. First
Peter chapter one, 18 and 19, for as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ as of lamb without blemish and
without spot. You know, his redemption redeems
our soul, but it also redeems our body. a complete redemption. It redeems our soul from hell
and our body from the grave. He hath visited and redeemed
his people. I mentioned this Sunday night
in the message, we believe in a ransom that really ransoms. It's not just a sacrifice that's
laid out there and man, if he will, He can accept it or reject
it, and salvation then becomes dependent upon the will of man.
No, salvation is dependent upon the will of God. The will of
God. Someone said, I believe that
men are saved by free will. I do too. God's free will. Man doesn't have one. Man lost
that in the garden. We know that. All right, here's
the second thing in verse 69 through 71. He hath raised up
a horn of salvation, and hath raised up a 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. He's raised up a horn of salvation. Now, we know in the scriptures
the use of the word horn speaks of power. Animals that have horns,
they use those horns in defending themselves and fighting other
animals, and it speaks of power. The horn speaks of power. That's
certainly the case here, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the
power of God, the scripture says. He's the wisdom and power of
God. He's a powerful Savior. Matthew
Henry, along with this meaning power, also gives two other meanings,
which I thought was worth us hearing tonight. First of all,
it's an honorable salvation. He hath raised up in horn of
salvation. It's an honorable salvation.
He hath raised up. You know, we use that word salvation
sometimes in other ways. Maybe not often, but we may have
been in a, in an accident or a car accident or something and
said, well, that was my salvation. I just turned or president elect
Trump, you know, he, that man tried to assassinate him. He
just turned his head and he was saved. He was saved, right? All of those ways we may use
this word salvation are good, and many of them are very important.
I was sick, I was at death's door, and the doctor brought
salvation, you know, he had the medicine. But none of those salvations
can compare to this salvation. This salvation that the Lord
Jesus Christ gives His people. saving us. It raised up a horn
of salvation, an honorable salvation. And then second, it's a plentiful
salvation. It is a cornucopia, a horn of
plenty. You know, we see that at Thanksgiving
time, don't we? We see that horn and it's just
full of fruit and vegetables and everything just flowing out
of it. Well, this horn of salvation is like a cornucopia. All the
blessings, all the benefits that are ours. In fact, the scripture
says he has blessed us with all, A-L-L, all spiritual blessings
in Christ before the foundation of the world. All spiritual blessings. They're all yours. If you are
Christ, and Christ is God's, then all the blessings are yours
in Christ. And third, it is a powerful salvation. The strength of a beast, as I
said, as many times is referred to by their horn. Now for a man,
the scriptures speak, think of this, the scriptures speak of
the horn as power for an animal. But for man, the scriptures speak
of power in the arm, the arm of salvation. Who is that? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God's arm. In fact, in Isaiah
63 and verse five, we read, my arm brought salvation. My arm, that is the power of
God. This is a powerful salvation. The Lord Jesus is able, he's
powerful to save us from all our enemies. And God's elect,
even though chosen of God and represented by Adam and fallen
because of his sin, then we have these enemies. They're ours. Sin is an enemy. Satan is an
enemy. The law of God with his curses
is an enemy. But this salvation that the Lord
Jesus Christ brings to his people is salvation from all our enemies,
all of our enemies. And then the third thing in verses
72 and 73, he has performed his mercy. To perform the mercy promised
to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which
he swore to our father Abraham. Now, mercy here, to perform the
mercy, it actually means, refers rather to God's salvation in
Christ, the mercy, God's salvation in Christ. It springs from God's
mercy. God didn't need us. Those that
God saves, he didn't need us for anything, but his salvation
springs from his mercy, his mercy. You know, Zacharias in this prophecy
mentions the fathers to perform the mercy promised to our fathers. Now he's talking, of course,
about the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others, and of
Israel, of course. But, you know, everyone who's
been saved, Before Abraham and after Abraham and until tonight,
everyone is saved in the same way by the mercy of God. There's no exceptions. In fact,
we saw this Sunday night in the letter of Jude. You remember
he called God's salvation the common salvation. Well, we wouldn't
say there's anything common about this salvation, would we? that
was procured by the blood of Jesus Christ by His righteousness,
but yet it is common in the sense that everyone is saved is saved
in the same way. There's only one salvation, and
that is the salvation through His name. There's none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,
the apostle Peter declared. Salvation comes to sinners in
a covenant way. I want us to look at this oath.
Notice it says, verse 72, to perform the mercy promised to
our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, that's that everlasting
covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. Let's
look at that oath. Let's go back to Genesis chapter
22. Genesis chapter 22. This chapter
begins with God commanding Abraham to take his son and offer him
as a sacrifice. Genesis chapter 22, let's read
verses one and two. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt or test Abraham, and said unto him,
Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take
now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. We all know
the story, how Abraham got up early the next morning, took
the wood, took the fire, along with the servants and his son
Isaac, and takes off three days, three days, till he comes to
the place, Mount Moriah, where he would offer Isaac as a sacrifice. And we know that Isaac, he wasn't
a boy, a young boy at this time, he was a young man. We see not
only the obedience of Abraham but also the obedience of Isaac
in this. Both are wonderful pictures,
aren't they, of how we should obey the Lord. But you know,
when Abraham had the knife ready to obey God and sacrifice his
son, there was an angel that called and said, don't you touch
Isaac. No. And he said, there's a ram caught
there in the bushes, all for him, for a sacrifice. But now
notice, after that, down here in verse 17. Or let's go verse 15. And the
angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second
time and said, by myself have I sworn. Now, God cannot swear
by anyone greater because there are none greater. When we go
to court, if we're called to witness, we lay our hand on the
Bible and we take an oath that we will tell the truth because
that Bible is God's Bible. It's his word. And we swear by
someone greater that we're going to tell the truth. But when God
takes an oath, there is none greater. By myself have I sworn, saith
the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thy only son, that in blessing I will bless
thee. Now this is the oath. that Zacharias
is talking about here in his prophecy, that in blessing I
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore,
and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Now, when you read that, If you're
not careful, you'll think, well, God took this oath because Abraham
did what he did. No, no. If you look back to chapter
12, God had already given this promise. This wasn't, God didn't
give him this promise of these blessings because of what he
did. He gave the oath because of Abraham's
obedience, yes. But the promise had already been
given here in chapter 12 when God first called Abraham. In
Genesis chapter 12, verse 1, now the Lord had said unto Abram,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy
father's house unto a land that I will show thee. and I will
make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in
thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. The blessing
had already been pronounced, but now God takes an oath Because,
yes, because of Abraham's obedience. But if you turn to Hebrews chapter
six, you say, what does this mean
to us? It means everything. It means everything. Verse 14 of chapter six, saying,
Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men swear by the greater,
and oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife,
wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
The immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, that is, his word, his promise, and his oath, two immutable things
in which it is impossible for God to lie, we, we tonight, we
might, have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us, which hope is as Christ,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
which entereth into that within the veil. Let's go back to our
text. One more point I wanted to make
in Luke chapter one, verse 74. He has granted us liberty to
serve him without fear, that he would grant unto us that we
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear. The enemies here, he frees us
from the law with its curses. That caused fear. That caused
a man to have fear. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not to do all things that are written in the law, and we know
we have failed. That brought fear. He fears us
from the fear of hell. That's an awful, awful thing
to think about, dying and going to hell, isn't it? A rich man
in hell, lift up his eyes, being in torments, but Christ, he has
suffered our hell for us. He delivers us from the fear
of death, from the fear of the law and his curses, the fear
of hell, and yes, the fear of death, knowing that he swallowed
up death, that he by his death has defeated death. Physical
death now. I know we don't think about this
probably as much as we should, but physical death now to the
Christian. to a believer, to a child of
God. Physical death is our friend. It is just like a servant in
a great house that is there to open the door for the queen or
the king when they come up, you know, someone opens the door. That's what death is for us.
It's now our friend. It'll just open the door for
us to enter into the presence of the Lord, which Paul said
is far better, far better. Thank God tonight in closing,
thank God that the day spring from on high hath visited us
and given us light. We said in the shadows of death,
the shadows of darkness, and the day spring from on high,
the light of the world hath come and given us light. visited us. I thank the Lord for the day
spring for Christ. Amen. Let us