Benedictus: The Song of Zechariah

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Good morning Christ Church.

My name is Susie and I'll be reading today's scripture lesson from the Gospel of Luke, chapter

Luke 1:11–17

1, verses 11 through 17 and 67 through 80, as printed in the liturgy.

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.

But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah.

Your prayer has been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will

be great in the sight of the Lord.

He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy

Spirit even before he is born.

He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the

parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready

a people prepared for the Lord.

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Praise be to the Lord,

the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said

through his holy prophets of long ago.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our ancestors

and to remember his holy covenant.

The oath he swore to our father Abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and

to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord

to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness

of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from

heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness,

until he appeared publicly to Israel.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Good morning, Christ Church.

I'd love to just begin today by saying how much I love the elders of Christ Church.

These are men and women sitting in our pews this morning who've been gifted and called to the work of overseeing

and shepherding this church.

And I just have so much trust in them, so much respect for each of them in most situations,

except for when it comes to our annual Christmas party and our white elephant gift exchange,

which happened last night, in which case all trust and all respect just goes completely out the window.

These are some of the most vicious, cutthroat, cold-blooded, ruthless, heartless people you could ever meet.

They will not hesitate to steal from you, to kill your hopes.

So I just want to say trust your elders unless there's a competition of some sort with a reward on the line,

and in that case stay very, very far away from these callous and cruel people.

So with that introduction to the sermon, we are in a series that we're calling the Songs of Christmas

because this gospel, Luke's gospel, begins that way.

It begins with songs.

It begins with singing about who the Messiah is, about why he's coming into the world, what he's going to do,

and they're meant to give us understanding about the true meaning of Christmas.

And so far we've looked at the song Ave Maria in Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

It's the combination of these words to Mary from the angel Gabriel and from this fellow believer Elizabeth.

And the words of Ave Maria say,

Hail Mary, you who are highly favored of the Lord.

Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

Jesus.

We looked last week at Mary's song, The Magnificat.

She says,

My soul magnifies the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

These songs, Ave Maria, The Magnificat,

there have been many, many works that have been produced,

countless musical works to reflect their beauty into the world.

Next Sunday we're going to look at the Song of Simeon,

the Nunc Dimittis,

and maybe this song particularly rings in our hearts for some of us this Christmas.

It says,

Lord, you may now dismiss your servant in peace,

for my eyes have seen your salvation.

And then on Christmas Eve we're going to be reflecting on the Song of the Angels,

the Gloria in Excelsis Deo,

which is so well known to us.

It's in so many of the Christmas carols that we sing.

But today we're going to look at what I would consider to be the least known of all these songs in Luke's gospel.

And it's the Song of Zechariah,

often known by its Latin title the Benedictus.

And it's this beautiful song of joy.

It's been one of the most well-known songs of the New Testament

throughout the history of the church,

and yet it's probably the least known to us today.

And so on this third Sunday of Advent,

I'm hoping that I can just help us get better acquainted

with this Christmas song that's been sung by the church,

it's been sung by God's people for the last 2,000 years.

And I hope that you'll be able to sing it maybe in a fresh way after today.

I want to look at it under three headings.

First of all, that it's a song of benediction,

and then that it's a song of liberation,

and that it's also a song of preparation.

All right, so this is a song of benediction, liberation, and preparation.

And let's look, first of all, at a song of benediction.

If you look at verse 67, it says,

His father, John the Baptist's father, Zechariah,

was filled with the Holy Spirit,

and he prophesied, saying,

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel.

So what's the first word out of his heart and out of his mouth?

The Greek is eulogitos, which is where we get the word eulogy.

Right?

And the Latin word is benedictus, where we get the word benediction.

And what is a eulogy?

What is a benediction?

It's a good word about someone.

It's a word of praise.

It's a word of blessing.

A word of worship and adoration.

And what we've seen in this little group of Elizabeth and Mary and Zechariah,

this little community of believers right here at the beginning of Luke's gospel,

is that they're just a people who are full of praise.

Right?

They're people who they can't contain their love for the Lord

and the sense of joy that they find in Him.

Their souls are just bursting forth with songs that they hope will bless the Lord

and exalt the Lord and please and delight and honor and praise the Lord.

And this is showing us, I think, that worship is not primarily about us.

Right?

Worship is not primarily about our experience.

It's not about what we receive.

It's not about whether or not we feel blessed.

No.

Worship is about making sure the Lord is blessed.

It's making sure that He is praised.

And Mary is a beautiful model of this, as we saw last week.

Zechariah is a brilliant example of this,

of how we can offer up these Holy Spirit-filled songs,

these prophetic and divinely inspired hymns that bless the Lord.

And what do we notice immediately about the theme and the focus of this song

that's meant to praise and to bless the Lord?

Well, Zechariah says this.

He says,

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,

because He has come to His people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.

I hope you have a pen or a pencil or something,

because I'm going to encourage you to underline or circle some words today.

And kids, if you're following along, you've got a crayon or something,

you can circle a couple words.

So look at verse 68.

You'll see a word that says,

Redeemed.

Circle that word,

Redeemed.

Okay?

And then in verse 69,

you'll see this word,

Salvation.

Circle that word,

Salvation.

And then look down in verse 71,

you'll see that word again,

Salvation.

Circle that word.

And if your eyes scan down the passage,

verse 74,

it says,

you'll see this word,

Rescue.

Circle that word,

Rescue.

And then again in verse 77,

you'll see the word,

Salvation.

Just circle that word,

Salvation.

Why is Zechariah full of praise and thanksgiving?

Why is he letting us know that the Lord is worthy and deserving to be praised?

What is he telling us about the true meaning of Christmas here?

He's telling us that God is sending his son.

God is sending the Messiah.

God is sending a new David to what?

To redeem us.

To save us.

To rescue us.

This is not a song about how we save ourselves.

It's not even a song about the God who helps those who help themselves.

This is a song about the Lord God of Israel who's come to redeem and save and rescue,

just as he promised he would do a long, long time ago.

And this is what he says in verse 69.

He says,

God, about a thousand years before Zechariah is singing this song,

God gave a promise to David.

And he said to David in that promise,

he said,

you're never going to lack a king from your royal line to sit on the throne of Israel.

And he promised David,

he said,

one of your descendants is going to rule and reign forever over Israel.

And from Israel,

he's going to reign over all the nations of the world.

And his kingdom is never,

ever going to end.

It's a massive promise that God gave to David.

And yet with that massive promise comes a massive problem.

Because the problem of the Old Testament is that David's throne fell.

Right?

David's kingdom crumbled.

When Zechariah is singing the song,

there's been no king in David's line to sit on the throne of Israel for 600 years.

They've been dominated by Babylon.

They've been dominated by foreign power after foreign power.

Even now when Zechariah is singing,

they're dominated by Rome.

Now I wonder if any of us here today have ever found ourselves supporting a losing team.

Anyone know what that's like?

To support a team that's had a losing streak for a very long time?

How many of your teams have been losing for 600 years?

Okay, Israel has been losing for 600 years.

And God is telling Zechariah that I'm about to turn things around.

That I'm going to fulfill my promise to put a king on David's throne

who's going to redeem and save and rescue my people.

And through this coming Messiah,

through this new David that I'm going to send into the world,

he's going to fulfill all the promises that I've ever made.

Not just to David,

but to Abraham as well.

Look at verse 71, 72.

He says that God is going to show mercy to our ancestors

and remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham

to rescue us from the hand of our enemies.

Mary sang this last week in her Magnificat.

She said God made promises to Abraham in Genesis.

And he promised that Abraham,

and through Abraham and his offspring,

all the nations are going to be blessed.

And one of God's great promises to Abraham

is that through one of your singular particular descendants, Abraham,

I'm going to make your name so very great.

And you see, God's promises to David,

God's promises to Abraham,

they really go all the way back to the beginning,

all the way back to Adam and Eve.

And you can sort of just trace this golden thread of God's promises

all the way back to that mother promise in Genesis 3, 15

that says the offspring of the woman is going to come,

and he's going to be terribly wounded,

and yet he's going to crush the head of the serpent.

And you know, if you're a Jew in the first century,

a Jew like Mary or a faithful Jew like Zechariah,

you absolutely cherish these promises

from Genesis to Samuel to Psalms to the prophets.

And if you were to decorate your home

for the coming of the Messiah,

do you know what kind of things you would put in your front lawn

if you were a faithful Jew in the first century?

You would not put Santa Claus, right?

It would not be Charlie Brown.

It wouldn't be Frosty the Snowman or the Grinch.

No, who would you have in your front lawn?

You would put these real historical people,

these people who had real relationships with the living God,

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah,

the prophet Nathan, King David.

These are the people you'd be excited about

when you're celebrating the coming of the Messiah

because you're seeing that now all of these,

through all these people and the promises God made to them,

God is fulfilling his promises.

And that is what,

what is it that gives Zechariah such joy and such delight?

What is it that causes him to want to bless the Lord,

the God of Israel?

What causes him to sing so passionately with praise and thanksgiving?

It's that these ancient promises,

that God would send a child of Eve,

that God would send a son of Abraham,

that God would send a king in the line of David

to redeem and save and rescue his people,

that these promises are coming true now.

And so that's the question for us is,

is this what Christmas means to you?

Will your time and your energy,

will your attention and your money in the season ahead

be primarily devoted to praising and blessing the Lord

and singing enthusiastically about the one

that he sent to redeem us?

Or will our time and our energy and our money

be devoted to something else,

to lesser things that pale in importance

and really don't matter all that much in the end?

So Zechariah is inviting us

and he's challenging us

to make Christmas about benediction,

to make Christmas about blessing the Lord,

the God of Israel with words of praise,

words of adoration for keeping his promises

to redeem and save and rescue his people.

Does that make sense?

It's a song of benediction.

And that's what the church is meant to sing,

songs of benediction to God.

But secondly, it's not just a song of benediction,

it's a song of liberation.

A song of liberation.

You want to circle and underline some more words?

You guys ready for that?

Verse 71 says that God is going to give us salvation

from our enemies who hate us.

Circle that word, enemies.

And you'll see it again in verse 74.

God is going to rescue us from the hand of our enemies.

Circle that word, enemies.

Here is Zechariah.

He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's been given prophetic insight

into what God is going to do

through his coming Messiah.

And what he tells us in this song

is that Christmas is all about liberation

from our enemies.

Christmas is about being released

and set free from our enemies.

And the critical question here is,

who are our enemies?

Who are these enemies who hate us?

These enemies who hold us in their iron grip

of their oppressive hands.

And if you're in the first century,

you know the obvious answer

about who your enemies are

is it's the Romans.

Romans.

They're clearly the enemy.

Right?

This occupying power

of these pagan,

non-Jewish,

idol worshipers

who enforce the Pax Romana

by crucifying their enemies

and confess that Caesar is the Lord.

Those are the enemies, right?

I mean, isn't that,

isn't the Roman Empire

the hand of the enemies who hate us?

Surely the enemy.

Surely the problem with the world

is out there somewhere beyond us.

They're the baddies

and we're the goodies.

And God is surely sending his Messiah

to deal with them, right?

Isn't that what this prophetic song

of Zechariah is all about?

Take that as an amen.

Bam.

Bam.

Bam.

So I want you to underline

and circle a couple words

that might feel a little uncomfortable

this morning.

Words we might not like to hear

but words that are nevertheless

part of the story of Christmas.

And in verse 77,

you'll find it says,

God's gonna give his people

knowledge and salvation

through the forgiveness

of their sins.

Circle that word, sins.

And then in verse 79,

it says that he's gonna shine

on those living in darkness,

circle that word darkness,

and those living not only in darkness

but in the shadow of death.

Circle that word, death.

Now do you see who our enemies are

who hate us

and who hold us in the iron grip

of their oppressive hands?

It's sin.

It's darkness.

It's death.

This is what we human beings

need to be liberated from.

Sin is not out there.

It's not beyond us.

It's not over there in those baddies.

No, sin, Zechariah says,

it's in here.

It's inside of us.

It's in those of us

who think we're the goodies.

Right?

We don't need to be liberated

politically and sociologically

from Rome

or from whoever is the governing power

that's creating all the problems.

No, he says,

what we need to be liberated from

is not a sociological problem

or a political problem.

It's a spiritual problem

and it's a moral problem.

What we need to be liberated from

is ourselves.

It's ourselves.

What is sin?

Right?

Why is it so bad

that God had to become

a human being

and die

to deal with it?

Sin in a word

is self-centeredness.

Right?

Sin is rebellion

of the self

against the authority

and the love of God.

Sin is self-assertion

against God.

Sin is a dethroning

of the Lord

and an enthroning

of myself

in place

of the Lord

where He deserves to be.

Sin is simply

self-deification.

It's behaving

as if I were the Lord.

And because that's true

in my heart,

because that's true

in your heart

and in every heart,

we're living

under a cloud

of darkness

and death.

The effect of sin

in this world

is darkness

and death,

Zechariah says.

He gives us

this amazing picture

in verse 79.

And he says,

I just want you

to imagine

a picture

of a number

of people.

They're going

on a long journey

and they're traveling

a far distance

to this certain city

and they believe

that if only

they reach that city

and they get

to that city

and they get

inside of that city,

they're going

to be satisfied.

They're going

to be happy.

But alas,

with this whole group

of people traveling

on this road,

the sun has set

on them.

Right?

The night has descended

upon them

and the whole place

where they are

is covered

with a thick darkness

so that they just

can't see

and they can't go on

and they're living there

and they're settled there.

In fact,

it says that they're

sitting there

in hopelessness

and in despair.

Right?

The city

that they were seeking,

they can no longer

even see the city.

They've lost the road

to the city.

They don't know

where they are.

They see no path

in front of them

and so they just

simply sit down.

And that's just,

that's not even

the end of their troubles

because they realize

that they're exposed

out here

in this open country

on the way

to this place

to terrible dangers.

Right?

They're not only

sitting in darkness

but they're also

sitting in the shadow

of death.

They realize

that out here

at any moment

they can be attacked

by wild beasts

and set upon

by robbers

and thieves

and murderers

because out here

there's no city wall

in the open country

to protect you.

There's no police

to come and defend you.

They don't know

where they are.

They don't know

how to get to where

they thought they were going.

They're just helpless

and they're hopeless

just sitting there

in the darkness.

At any moment

they might be overwhelmed

and be put to death.

And the result

of this darkness

and this threat

of death

is a deep unhappiness,

a deep misery

and anxiety.

They're living

in a deep sense

of discontentment

and depression

and despair.

And Zechariah says

this is the picture

of our hearts in sin.

It's the picture

of our world in sin

that we're lost.

We're stranded.

We're stuck

in a state of darkness

and death

and we're unable

to arrive

at our desired destination

where we would be safe

and where we would be satisfied.

Sin and darkness

and death,

these are the enemies

who hate us

and are constantly

attacking us

and holding us

in the iron grip

of oppression.

And this,

Zechariah says,

is the reason

for Christmas.

This is the condition

from which we need

to be liberated

and released

and set free.

And without this,

we simply cannot understand

what Christmas means.

We can't understand

why God would send

a Messiah for us.

But it's this bad news

that makes the good news

shine all the brighter.

Because look at verse 77.

It says,

that the rising sun

will come to us

from heaven

and shine on those

living in darkness

and in the shadow

of death.

And He is the one

who will give us

the forgiveness

of our sins.

The question is,

who is this rising sun

from heaven?

Who is this,

as the old King James Version

says,

who is this day star,

this day spring

from on high

that will shine upon us?

Is it not Jesus Himself?

Jesus who says

in the Gospel of John,

He says,

I am the light

of the world.

Whoever follows Me

will never walk

in darkness

but will have

the light of life.

Christmas says

that Jesus

is our sunrise.

Jesus,

in the midst

of this world

and darkness

and sin

and death,

Jesus is

the morning sun

who comes

and scatters

the night away.

Jesus is the one

who brings

the dawn

of a new day.

A dawn of a new day

that brings forgiveness

and healing

that brings beauty

and joy.

The dawn of a new day

that enables our feet

to be guided

in the path

that we lost,

the path of peace,

the path of peace

with God

and peace with each other.

And this is why

we love to sing

this great hymn

of Advent

when we sing,

O come thou

day spring,

O come thou

rising sun,

come and cheer

our spirits

by thine advent

here.

Disperse the gloomy

clouds of night

and death's dark

shadows put

to flight.

Rejoice,

rejoice,

Emmanuel

shall come

to thee,

O Israel.

My question

for you,

if you're here today

and exploring

Christianity

and you're just

kind of curious

and open

and discovering

who Jesus is

and what he claimed

to be for the first time,

my question for you is

are you able

to deal with your enemies?

The real enemies

that threaten you

and haunt you,

the enemies of sin

and darkness

and death,

are you able

to deal

with those enemies

in your own

limited resources

and your own

finite strength?

Or do you need

someone much greater

than you,

much stronger

than you

to come

and be

your liberator,

to come

and give you

liberation?

And if you're

a Christian,

my question for you

is does this liberation,

the liberation

that our Messiah

Jesus brings,

does that thrill you?

Does that kind of

overwhelm you

like it overwhelms

Zechariah?

Does it cause you

to burst forth

with song

and say praise be

to the Lord,

the God of Israel,

because he's come

to save us

from our enemies?

It's a song

not only of

benediction and praise,

but it's a song

of liberation

and rescue.

But finally,

I want you to see

it's a song

of preparation.

It's a song

of benediction,

it's a song

of liberation,

and finally,

it's a song

of preparation.

Because Zechariah,

he gives us

this Holy Spirit

filled prophetic song,

and it's a song

about the Lord,

it's a song

about the Messiah

that the Lord

is sending

to save us

from our enemies.

But it's also

about the role

that his son,

John the Baptist,

is going to play.

It's about how

John the Baptist

is going to prepare

people and make

them ready for the Lord.

And that's what it says

in verse 76,

it says,

and you,

my child,

you,

John the Baptist,

you're going to be

called a prophet

of the Most High,

for you will go on

before the Lord

to prepare the way

for him.

And if you know

anything about

John the Baptist's life

and his ministry,

you know that part

of preparing

the way of the Lord

meant that John

simply just stood there

in front of people

and he pointed,

right?

He would just point

to Jesus.

And the main thing

John would say

is he'd say,

behold,

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

John would just stand

there and he'd point

and he'd say,

this is the one.

This is the one

that God has sent

to bear our sins

and our punishment

in himself

on his cross.

This is the one.

He's the only one.

The only means

by which God's tender mercy

can flow into our lives.

The only means

by which God's forgiveness

can come to us

in a life-transforming way.

And what's the whole point

of being redeemed,

being saved,

being rescued,

being forgiven by him,

Zechariah sums it up

in verse 74.

He says he's going to

rescue us from the hand

of our enemies

to enable us

to serve him without fear

in holiness and righteousness

before him all our days.

And that's what

John the Baptist

was preparing people for.

Right?

He said this is the whole point

that God desires

for all the people

that he's made

in his image

to rediscover

the meaning

of their existence.

He wants all people

everywhere

to rediscover

the purpose

of their lives

which is

that they might become

his fearless servants again.

That people everywhere

might become

his holy servants again.

That people might become

the righteous servants

of God.

That is what

John the Baptist

is preparing

men and women

and children for.

And that,

frankly,

is what the church

is here

to prepare people for.

That's what

we're all

to be preparing

people for.

See,

John the Baptist

had a unique

historical role

as the forerunner

and the preparer

of the Messiah.

And yet it's true,

isn't it,

that all Christians

have a responsibility,

all Christians

have a privilege

to,

as it says about John,

go on before the Lord

to prepare the way

for him.

And that means

that we,

all of us,

would share our lives

and we would share

our faith

with our family,

our friends,

our neighbors,

our coworkers.

That we would just

stand there like John

and do this.

And that we would

just bear witness

to Jesus

and we would introduce

other people

that God is preparing

for himself

to Jesus.

And why do we do this?

Why does the church,

why does a healthy church,

a living church

engage in this project?

Why are we praying

for people

who don't know the Lord

that they might be curious

about the Lord?

Why are we praying

right now as a church

that our friends

would open their minds

and their hearts

to just explore faith

for maybe the first time

or the first time

in a long time?

Why do we go before

the Lord

to prepare the way

for him

by inviting people

to just come

and share a meal

at our table?

Why are we

sharing our lives

with people?

Why are we engaging

with them

in simple

and serious

and spiritual conversations?

Why are we putting

so much energy

and time

and effort

into our Alpha course

starting this spring?

Well it's right there

at the very end

of Zechariah's song

in verse 77.

The reason

we're preparing people

for the coming

of the Lord

into their lives

is that

we want them

to experience

what we've experienced.

We want them

to know

the joy

of what it's like

to have their sins

being forgiven.

We want them

to know

the joy

of what it's like

for their darkness

to turn into light.

We want them

to know

the joy

of being released

from the fear

of death

and having a sense

of victory over death.

We want them

to know

what it means

to have feet

that are led

into peace

with God.

Not a conflicted

relationship

with God

but peace

and reconciliation

with God.

Peace

and reconciliation

with other people.

That's what we want

people to know

that ultimately

they would come

to experience

the freedom

and the joy

that we've experienced

that they would

serve the Lord

without any more

fear in their lives.

That they would

serve the Lord

in holiness

before God

and righteousness

before God

all their days.

That is the task

and the mission

of the church

collectively

that is the task

and the mission

of every Christian

individually

is to go

before the Lord

to prepare people

for his coming

into their lives.

And my friends

the question

for us today

is

do you accept

the mission?

The mission

should you choose

to receive it

is to go

before the Lord

to prepare people

for his coming

into their lives.

And so this Christmas

will we pray?

Will we plan?

Will we make invitations?

Will we engage

in conversations

in such a way

that at least one person

that God

has put into our lives

might be made ready?

Might be prepared

for the coming

of the Lord

into their lives?

May it be so

in the name

of the Father,

Son,

and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.