Luke 1:57-80

All right, church.

This morning we will be in Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 1, and we will be looking at verses 57 through 80.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Verses 57 through 80.

And today's passage is all about God's preparation for the Messiah.

If you don't know, Advent is a four-week season when we look back at the wonder of Jesus' first coming and we look forward to the hope of his second coming.

So it's a time to remember God's fulfilled promises and to long for the day when he will totally complete his work of redemption.

So in our passage today, in Luke chapter 1, verses 57 through 80, we look back and we see God preparing the way of salvation, a crucial step in his divine rescue plan for humanity.

Luke 1:57–80

But before we do that, let's start back at the very, very beginning.

All the way back in Genesis 1, God created everything, and it was good.

But as we read on in Genesis 3, humanity committed treason against a holy God.

We rejected God's authority over our lives and we established our own authority.

And the consequences of that are threefold.

One, we are now separated from God, and we have no ability in ourselves to get that status back.

Secondly, we deserve eternal damnation.

And there's nothing we can do to atone for that crime.

And three, lastly, sin now dominates us, and we naturally love self and hate God.

And we cannot even change that motivation without some sort of divine intervention.

So as Romans 3.10 says, there's no one righteous, not even one, there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

Together they have become useless.

There is no one who does good, no, not even one.

But here is the incredible news.

God didn't leave us in that pathetic condition.

From the foundation of the world, God had a rescue plan.

After the fall, he allowed Adam and Eve to live.

He chose to intervene because he had a greater purpose in mind to redeem us.

God promised a redeemer, a second and better Adam who would intervene and undo all that sin has destroyed.

A Messiah who would restore us to God and restore what was broken.

And we see this promise throughout the Old Testament.

We see it first in Genesis 3.15, where God foretells a descendant of Eve who would come and crush the serpent's head.

It's repeated with Abraham, Moses, David.

Over and over again through the prophets, God reminds his people of the coming Savior.

Yet, as time passed, God's people struggled.

They wrestled with their sin, they bore the weight of the law's demands, and they yearned for the day the promised one would appear.

Then came this long, heavy silence, four hundred years between the old and the new covenant, no new prophets, no fresh revelations, just silence.

What was God doing?

Had he forgotten about his promise?

Had he abandoned his people?

Did God change his mind and say, well, I was going to send the Messiah, but never mind, you guys are more sinful than I thought.

But then, in the fullness of time, we read here in Luke chapter 1 that strange things start to occur.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

A humble priest sees an angel and is given a promise.

He becomes mute.

Shortly after that, a young virgin named Mary is given a promise as well that she will bear a child who would be the long-awaited Messiah.

And then Mary and Elizabeth, they meet because they're relatives, and the Holy Spirit is moving, causing Mary to sing for joy.

Even John the Baptist in the womb gets all Pentecostal and starts leaping with joy.

And so this moment is breathtaking.

After centuries of waiting, of yearning, of wondering if God had forgotten, the plan of salvation is in motion.

Quite literally, the seed has been planted.

And what God is doing here in our passage today is He's preparing the way for the Messiah.

He begins to prepare the hearts of lost sinners through signs and wonders, through Zachariah's prophecy, and through a forerunner named John the Baptist.

So first, let us look at how God prepared hearts for the Messiah through signs and wonders.

Let us read verses 57 through fifth through 66.

It reads, Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called him Zachariah after his father, but his mother answered, No, he shall be called John.

And they said to her, None of your relatives is called by this name.

And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.

And he asked for a writing tablet, and he wrote, His name is John.

And they all wondered.

And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God, and fear came on all their neighbors.

And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea.

And all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What then will this child be?

For the hand of the Lord was with him.

Now remember, before this happened, there was four hundred years of silence.

God was not speaking through prophets.

There was no Elijah walking around calling down fire from heaven, no supernatural events, no parting of waters, no bringing manna down from heaven, none of that.

But here in the beginning of Luke, one barren woman is pregnant, a virgin is pregnant, a priest sees an angel, he's now struck mute.

A Jewish family goes against deep tradition and names their child John.

Zechariah gets his voice back and he starts blessing God, as we will see.

The neighborhood is struck with the fear of the Lord.

The only thing I see here that isn't extraordinary is that Zechariah is able to speak up after he agrees with his wife.

So the point is this: you can't explain this stuff away.

You can try, you can say that they're all eating magical mushrooms, you can claim that they're all liars.

You could even attack this very account and say this is just made-up stories.

But the historical and eyewitness evidence is overwhelming.

When God wants to publicize something, he makes it very clear and evident.

He fulfills prophecy perfectly in detail.

He validates new revelations by defying the law of physics.

The problem is not a lack of evidence.

The problem is that we are so often blind.

We shut our eyes, we close our ears, and we do it because we love our sin.

We don't want to know if God's here and moving, because that will interfere with my conscience.

It will threaten my sin-loving lifestyle.

So when God fulfills a promise, he makes it so clear.

Throughout Scripture, He validates what He is doing through supernatural means.

And if there's anything that He is going to validate, it is going to be His glorious plan of redemption.

God is all over this.

Verse 66, for the hand of the Lord was with him.

And God not only gave them signs, but he provides prophecy through the mouth of Zechariah.

Every time in Scripture, when God gives humanity new information, he validates it through miracles and through prophecy.

In other words, God not only gives us evidence that he's at work, but he always gives us insight into his work.

So let's look at verses 67 now through 75.

And his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

So God uses Zechariah, who was just struck mute because of his unbelief, to declare to the whole neighborhood the nature of this coming redemption.

Zechariah has been silently watching everything, and when he finally gets his voice back, he's overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit.

And the first thing he cries out in verse 68 is, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

Zechariah blesses the Lord because he knows that redemption is at work.

The plan of salvation is in motion.

He realizes that this oath given to the prophets of old, this promise that was given to ancient Israel, it's happening.

A horn of salvation from the house of David is being raised.

The epicenter of all human history is occurring in his lifetime.

In Zechariah, via the Holy Spirit, he begins to describe the nature of this redemption.

In verses 70 through 75, he explains how we are going to be redeemed.

And it's threefold.

One, we will be saved from our enemies.

Two, we will receive lavished mercy, mercy that was promised to Israel.

And three, we will be given the ability to serve God without fear in perfect holiness.

So starting with the first in verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

That is what the Messiah came to do.

Now, the Jews got it wrong here.

They viewed this in a carnal, earthly way.

They thought this meant freedom from Caesar.

They thought it meant the Messiah would destroy the Romans and all oppressive governments.

They misunderstood this.

Now don't get it twisted.

There is a day coming in Jesus' second return when he will do that.

He will come with a sword and he will destroy every oppressive human government and power.

Just read Revelation 19.

That day is coming.

But in Jesus' first advent, he came to destroy the enemy.

He came to deliver us from a much worse tyrant called Satan.

He came to destroy the cruelty of sin.

Satan, if you don't know this, is the true enemy behind every enemy.

And Jesus came to strip him of his power over us.

Colossians 1 tells us that Christ came to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness.

1 John 3.8 clearly says that for this reason the Son of God came in order to destroy the works of the devil.

Ephesians 6.12 says, For we do not fight against flesh and blood.

Our struggle, Israel's struggle, was not primarily against people or kingdoms, it is against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Jesus Christ came to deliver us from the demonic forces that hold us captive to sin.

Do you realize that the moment we sinned in Genesis 3, Satan became our ruler?

Then when God's law came through Moses, it actually gave Satan arsenal to condemn us further.

So here's our condition: Sin dominates us, Satan rules over us, and God's law is screaming at us, guilty, you deserve death.

But Jesus Christ came, he paid the debt for our sin, providing atonement, he fulfilled the law on our behalf, fulfilling the act of righteousness that was required.

Then he nailed the curse of the law in his body on the cross, the written demands of the law, saying, guilty sinner.

He nailed that in his body on that tree, and in doing so, he stripped Satan of this accusatory ministry against us.

He publicly shamed Satan.

He took the keys of death from him and trampled his kingdom underfoot.

So Satan's kingdom lost all power over God's people when Christ cried out, it is finished, and he was raised three days later.

And because we live in a time that's post-Calvary, it's now important to know that you do not have to live under Satan's oppression anymore.

By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, you can be transferred, as Colossians 1 talks about, you can be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

You don't have to do Satan's bidding anymore.

But through trusting in Christ and following Christ, you can be free from demonic oppression and sin's addiction.

The devil wants you to believe that there's no way out.

But here's the reality: two thousand years ago, Christ stripped him of his ministry.

He publicly humiliated him and made a way for us to be free from his grip.

He came to deliver us from the enemy.

The second part of this redemption that Zechariah mentions here is lavished mercy.

Look at verses 72 and 73.

To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham.

So this redemption includes promised mercy.

God promised to give Israel and the Gentiles mercy.

Under the old covenant, God gave Israel the law, and they couldn't keep it.

And that was the very purpose of the law, as Galatians 3.24 tells us, to teach us that there's nothing we can do or say to earn God's approval.

The purpose of the law was that we would drop to our knees, throw up the white flag, and say, God, I can't do this.

I need a savior who can keep the law for me and satisfy its demands.

The law cannot produce in you internal righteousness.

Israel had the law.

They continued to serve idols, they continued to ignore God and despise his commands.

And as a result, God disciplined them.

They spent 70 years in Babylon.

And they kept rebelling, and God kept telling them, a day is coming where I will no longer have a uh the law will no longer have a grip on you.

A day is coming when I will lavish abundant mercy on you and to all nations.

A day is coming when the Messiah will come.

And so God promised Israel and by extension the Gentiles, an age of grace.

An age where God provides abundant, sufficient forgiveness towards sinners who deserve wrath.

An age where God pours out endless mercies upon people who are totally drenched in sin.

That he would usher in an age, as Romans 6.15 says, where we are no longer under the law, but under grace.

God kept his promise despite their rebellion.

They were so stiff-necked and stubborn as are we.

But because God is a promise keeper, because of the oath he made to the prophets of old, because of the promise he swore to Abraham, God brought it to pass for the glory of his name.

And we living in the 21st century live in this age.

Friends, do you realize how much mercy we have been given in Christ?

Do you realize that there is mercy upon mercy, upon mercy in the person and in the work of Jesus Christ?

There's no sin too big, no crime too gross, no action too severe, that's that Christ's mercy cannot cleanse at the foot of the cross.

I don't care what your background is, I don't care what your sin preference is, we live in a day and age where mercy is available to you in Christ.

Christ.

But you must repent in believe.

And this brings us to the last part of redemption.

Look at verses 74 and 75.

This redemption will provide the ability to serve God without fear in holiness.

So if you didn't know, Israel could not do this under the law.

You see, getting to God is half the problem.

God came to Israel, which means they literally had access to God.

But that didn't solve the problem, did it?

The problem was that they could not serve him confidently or joyfully because they had so much shame under the law.

Deep inside them, they were tormented with guilt.

It's not enough to take your sinful clothes off.

You must must be clothed in righteousness to serve God with bold assurance.

So remember in Exodus, Moses came down off the mountain from Mount Sinai, and the people were terrified.

They refused to draw near to God, even though animal sacrifices were made.

They stayed at a distance, terrified of the presence of an ever-holy God.

Remember Peter, when he's confronted by the reality that Jesus is the Christ, he literally rebukes Jesus and begs him.

He says, get away from me, for I am a sinful man.

Isaiah in Isaiah 6, when he has the vision, he says, Woe is me, I'm in the presence of God.

Getting out of debt is not enough.

You need forgiveness, but you also need active righteousness.

Even on Israel's best days, when they gave their best sacrifices to God, they still had nagging guilt.

That is why the animal sacrifice system didn't work.

The animal sacrifice system, by the way, which God instituted, was meant to be a future picture of salvation, not a means of salvation.

God instituted animal sacrifice to point Israel towards the Messiah.

It was meant to help humanity see that sin equals death.

Something or someone must pay the penalty for our sin.

So God's purpose of animal sacrifice was for Israel to see their need for a savior.

It was never designed to fix our sinful condition.

If we could earn our salvation through law-keeping or through animal sacrifice, then Jesus didn't have to come.

Instead, it was meant to point them ahead to a greater sacrifice, a final and total sacrifice.

A sacrifice that wouldn't just atone for our sin, but clear our conscience and even more clothe us in righteousness.

As Hebrews 9 says, the gifts and the sacrifices being offered in the Old Testament were not able to clear the conscience of the worshipper.

As Hebrews 10 says, it is impossible, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

This is what our fathers of the faith longed for.

This is what the prophets awaited: a day where people could walk with God in perfect, blameless status with him.

No more wondering if God hates us, no more shame as we lift holy hands to him, no more walking around all day, scared that he might strike me with lightning.

No more fear of God's judgment, but serving him in love, being fully known by him with confidence, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

This is what Christ's redemption accomplished.

Jesus Christ died for our sins, and he provided a one-time sufficient payment for each of our sinful accounts, paid in full every last penny.

But in this transaction, because he stood in our place, he not only paid our debt, but he gave us righteousness, his righteousness.

In other words, in this divine exchange on the cross, God took our sinful accounts and he placed it on Christ, and then he took Christ's righteousness and gave it to us.

Second Corinthians 5, 21.

God made him Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us.

Why?

So that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

God didn't just clean you up, he didn't just say you're forgiven and leave it at that.

He forgave you.

So you are not merely forgiven, you are forgiven and totally actively righteous in his sight.

And for that, we can now worship him without fear.

And because of this righteousness that we receive in Christ, God was then able to permanently seal us with his Holy Spirit.

God can now dwell in us.

We can now worship him anywhere at any moment in spirit and in truth, as Jesus says.

This redemption, what Jesus Christ accomplished in the new covenant, removed all barriers.

It tore the veil.

It removed the sacrificial system, which was just a shadow, anyways.

And it provided for us a new heart, a clear conscience, and a new ability to serve God without any guilt or fear.

And here's the kicker to all this.

This is all received not by law-keeping, not by striving, not by earning, but by believing in Christ and receiving his free gift of grace.

It is a gift, meaning it cannot be earned.

It can only be received through faith.

So if I know that my sins are totally forgiven, God's wrath against my sin has been satisfied.

God sees me now as a perfect saint.

I'm clothed in Christ's righteousness, and the Holy Spirit now lives in me, then I can serve him delightfully, joyfully, without fear, in perfect righteousness.

I don't need to be afraid anymore.

I can approach God's throne boldly.

Not because I'm so great, but because my Savior is.

Not because of my good works, but because of the work of Christ.

Not because of what I can bring to the table, but because of what Christ accomplished on that tree.

So, church, this is the redemption that God instituted through his glorious Son.

This is the redemption that Israel longed for and the grace that we now look back on and experience today and we proclaim today.

So if this was the redemption that the Messiah would institute, preparation had to be done.

And this is where John the Baptist comes into play.

So look with me, if you will, at verses 76 through 80.

It says, And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord and prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

So God is a preparer.

He prepares our hearts to receive his truth, but on a large scale, historical view, God prepares humanity for every new revelation that he gives.

God didn't just drop his holy, perfect Son right into the midst of sin lovers without any preparation.

God instead sent a forerunner named John the Baptist to break ground, to prepare the hearts of people so that they might receive Christ and not crucify him on day one.

And so John's coming was foretold over 700 years previously by another prophet, Isaiah, and I believe Malachi as well, talks about John the Baptist.

But in Isaiah chapter 40, it says this a voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for God.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

And his message and his ministry, as we read on later in Luke, was simple.

It was a baptism of confession and repentance.

To be baptized by John was to admit that you have sin and that you need to turn from it, which was, of course, a great way to be prepared for the Savior's coming.

John the Baptist, the greatest prophet of all time, according to Jesus in Matthew 11, he performed no miracles.

He had no wealth, he lived out in the wilderness like Jeremiah Johnson.

What made him great was not his looks or his charisma, but it was his great faith and witness.

Although this passage is a literal historical moment in history, I believe the same principle applies spiritually to us today.

As we parent our children, as we evangelize lost people, we, like John the Baptist, should be preparing people's hearts so that they might receive the Savior, Jesus Christ.

And we do this through the same means.

Look at verses 77 and 78.

To give knowledge of salvation to people, about the forgiveness of their sins, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide feet in the way of peace.

Church, that's giving people the hope of the good news that you don't need to sit in darkness anymore.

There's a way out, there's an escape.

You can have peace with God.

You don't need to be his enemy anymore.

You don't have to keep getting drunk and keep getting high.

You don't need to keep coveting money and wealth.

You don't need to stay in a place of unforgiveness, blaming God for everything.

You don't need to stay trapped in sexual addiction.

You don't need to stay in a place of pride.

You're always angry and bitter and frustrated.

You don't need to keep being a slave to sin, acting on every evil impulse you have.

You don't need to keep trying to earn your salvation, which is exhausting and it's impossible, anyways.

There is redemption at hand.

That's our message.

That's the good news.

You can be delivered from Satan's grip.

You can receive lavished mercy.

You can serve God in perfect holiness without fear.

And it starts with confessing that you are a desperate sinner.

It starts with confession in repentance, which, by the way, is inseparable from faith.

You cannot have faith without repentance, and you cannot repent without faith.

So John lived his life to introduce people, to prepare people's hearts for Jesus.

He was focused on the mission God had given him.

And as a servant of God, he was unafraid of speaking truth, even when it meant calling people out, like Herod or the Pharisees.

And as we see later in Luke, John, he paved this glorious way for the coming of Christ in his public ministry through a very simple message.

Turn from your sin because the Messiah is here.

In the same way, church, I want to encourage us, we should be cultivating hearts by giving knowledge of salvation, by talking to people about forgiveness, encouraging confession and repentance, guiding feet closer and closer towards the gospel of peace.

Because the reality is this Jesus is still alive.

And he's still in the business of taking broken, sinful, lost people and saving them and restoring them and adopting them into God's eternal family.

So God gave Israel this promise.

And here God fulfills this promise.

He provides signs and wonders for validation.

He provides prophecy to give us insight.

And he raises up a prophet, John the Baptist, to pave the way.

God is orchestrating all things perfectly for the ministry and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And he's doing all of this for you and for the glory of his name.

So, proclamation church, what does this passage teach us?

How do we apply it?

Well, first and foremost, it teaches us to trust in God's timing and his sovereignty.

God is a promise keeper, and his timing is better than ours.

Zachariah and Elizabeth's and Mary's story, it highlights God's perfect timing.

Even after long periods of waiting.

In the same way, maybe you've been clinging to a biblical promise, a promise of sanctification in a certain area, a promise of provision, a promise that God will carry you through, but it's just not looking good.

God seems to be delaying for whatever reason, and you're starting to wonder, is there any hope?

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Is God sleeping here?

Listen, this passage teaches us to trust in God's plans even when answers seem delayed.

If God kept the greatest promise of all time to rebellious Israel, will he not keep his promise for you, O child of God?

God is a promise keeper.

And maybe you think, I just don't see how.

Things seem grim.

I just don't know if God's going to follow through.

Friend, God's ways are not our ways.

He is at work even in the waiting, and he is working it all for your good and for his glory.

And his promise, as long as it's according to his word, of course, will be fulfilled.

If not in this lifetime, it will in the next, as Hebrews 11 reminds us of that.

God keeps his promises, they are irrevocable, and his timing is perfect.

So trust him in that.

Secondly, look back at what Christ accomplished in his redemption.

Don't just understand this intellectually, but like Zechariah, glory in it.

Make sound of joy.

Live in the reality that the enemy has been defeated.

Mercy has been given.

The ability to serve God without fear is here.

It's at hand.

And if you're an unbeliever in the room, I would urge you on God's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

It's the only way.

Because without Him, your life will continue to be meaningless and empty.

And without Christ, your soul will never find rest.

You will be restless in your sin as you stumble around in darkness.

Christ's redemption has solved every problem that sin has created.

Sin brought judgment, and Christ has paid the debt for that judgment.

The fall made us slaves to sin, but in Christ our wills can be set free.

Sin made us puppets of Satan, but through Christ we can be free from his grip.

Sin brought death, but through faith in Christ we can have eternal life with God forever.

Glory in that reality this morning.

And lastly, as we look at John the Baptist, remember that God is a preparer, and his ministry to some degree should live in us as well.

Are you preparing people's hearts to receive Christ?

We have a message of light, a message of hope.

And we're living in a very dark and cruel world.

Share that hope, church.

Share that hope.

Witness to your grinchy neighbors.

Share your testimony to unbelievers.

Gently and lovingly call people to repentance.

I understand that John the Baptist had a one-time unique ministry, but that ministry should be in all of us today because Jesus lives.

He lives.

So we are to, like John the Baptist, point people to Christ.

Because the reality is this: He's coming again.

And we're not sure when.

And if people do not bow their knee to him now in the age of grace, they will bow their knee to him later in the day of judgment.

Friends, let us not be afraid to share the good news and to be good evangelists.

So, church, trust in God's timing, even when he seems silent.

Glory in Christ's redemption.

It cannot be exhausted.

And use your body, your words and actions to point people to the only hope of the world, Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.