The Book of Luke: The Benedictus of Zacharias (Luke 1:57-80)
We are there in Luke chapter 1. Luke 1:57 “57 Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.”. The Bible does not specifically say that Mary was there. We know that she stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months starting when Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant. Therefore she stayed until Elizabeth was 9 months pregnant. She either left right before the child was born or left shortly after. It does tell us in verse 58 that her cousins were there which Mary was a cousin of hers. It is very likely that Mary was there for the birth.
Luke 1:59 “59 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.”. If you remember, when we started this series, we learned about Zacharias. He was promised that he would have a son by the angel Gabriel. Zacharias has a lapse in faith and questions it and he is told that he can’t speak until these things come to pass. The relatives decide the child’s name is Zacharias. Notice what Elizabeth says “60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.”.
Luke 1:63 “63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. 65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. 66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. 67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,”.
Now we have Zacharias who has the ability to speak again. He begins to preach and have this expression of love toward the Lord. He says in verse 68 when he is able to speak “68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,”. When it comes to the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist, both were miraculous births. Zacharias questioned what the angel told him but Mary believed. Another similarity is that they both have this time of expressing and worshipping. For Mary it is referred to as the Magnificat. For Zacharias it is known as the Benedictus.
We are going to break down this speech of Zacharias. There are 3 things that I would like you to notice from this speech. The first thing we notice is the prophecy of Christ. Notice verse 69 “69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;”. I want you to notice that John the Baptist is born but Zacharias starts by referencing Jesus in verse 69 about the horn of salvation coming. All of us should make Christ first in our lives. Notice verse 70 “70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:”.
Go to Genesis 3. While you are turning there let me remind you that Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Zacharias mentioned that Christ was spoken of by the holy prophets since the world began. In Genesis 3, we see the first prophecy of Christ. We see the fall of man in this chapter and then we see the Lord describe this. Genesis 3:15 “15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;…”. Her seed is in reference to all mankind from Eve since we all come from her. However, then it says “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”. The Devil is going to bruise the heel of the Messiah. He will injure him but an injury on the heel is not life threatening. However, when Jesus resurrected, he then bruises the head of Satan. A head wound can be life threatening. This is the promise that the Lord will be victorious.
Let me show you a few other things. The birth, life and death of Christ is highly prophesied in the Old Testament. I won’t show you all of those but let me show you a few references about the birth of Christ in the Old Testament. Isaiah 7:14 “14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”. This is a prophecy of the birth of Jesus Christ. Let me show you the fulfillment of this in Matthew 1:23. Matthew 1:23 “23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”. We need to understand with this prophecy in Isaiah, he is writing about this hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.
Jeremiah 31:15 “15 Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.”. I’m sure that Jeremiah didn’t know what he is prophesying about but this is a clear reference to what took place after the birth of Christ. Matthew 2:1 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”. Herod is the King so he is dishonest and says he wants to worship Christ so asks where he is. The wise men are warned about not coming back.
Verse 16 “16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”. We see this specific prophecy. In the Old Testament we are told that a virgin will conceive. I’m sure people wondered how that would happen. We also see this prophecy in Jeremiah where he probably didn’t fully understand it. He said that a lot of moms would be crying. Then in Matthew 2 we see how this was fulfilled.
Go to Hosea 11. Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”. Here Hosea is prophesying that God would call his son out of Egypt. I’m sure people were confused about this because the Hebrews left Egypt with Moses. However, Hosea is prophesying about the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 2:13 “13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”.
Let us look at another prophecy fulfilled. Micah 5:2 “2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”. By the way, it says Jesus is from everlasting. He had no beginning. However, this does prophecy about the birth of Christ. Notice Matthew 2:1 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”.
There are a lot of prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ and we just look at prophecies in regards to his birth. Zacharias said that prophets have been prophesying about the birth of Christ. Why is this important? As Bible believing Christians, we come to God in faith. We understand that. We must believe that God is who he says he is. However, let me just say that we don’t have an illogical faith without any reason. It’s not a blind faith. It is a faith that has many eye witnesses. There are things within the Bible that confirm it. One of them is the hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled. This is the Word of God.
1st Thessalonians 2:13 “13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”. The Bible we hold in our hands is the word of God. We can reason it. One way to reason it is that man could not have orchestrated all of these prophecies. There is also plenty of science and other proofs of the Bible. We come to God in faith but I’m glad we don’t have an illogical faith.
People have told me recently about family members that follow Odinism. This is an old Viking religion that is catching on in popularity today. Their creation story is that a cow pooped and on that cow poop patty, the earth was formed. Here is all I’m saying. I’m glad we don’t have an illogical faith like this. I’m glad we don’t have this faith which is just mythology, stupidity. Our religion requires faith but it doesn’t require stupidity. Our faith is logical. There are a lot of new religions that have an illogical faith. I’ve run into 2 different ladies out soulwinning recently that have told me about the spirits of their ancestors coming upon them. The 1 lady mocked believing the Bible while she is telling me about the spirit of an ancestor coming upon her. She said she wanted to believe something spiritual. Look, the Bible is a spiritual book. It has logic behind it though. There were many witnesses of the events of the Bible.
When we read the Bible, it is very easy to read over stuff and not pay full attention. When we read this story in Luke 1, I see this detail that has no consequence or reason to be mentioned other than just to highlight that this book was not written by man. If as people we were asked to sit down and make up this story, there are some things that we would not write. There are some things in the Bible that are only mentioned because they actually matter.
Go back to Luke and I’ll show you. Luke 1:60 “60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.”. If we wrote this story, we wouldn’t write verse 62. Zacharias is not deaf. He can’t speak but he can hear. They make signs to him but they could just say things. It reminds me of when people talk to someone and they say “I don’t speak English”. Then the person starts talking louder as if they will understand it then. This is the sort of detail that we wouldn’t write if we are writing a myth. The reason this is written is because it actually happened.
We saw first of all the prophecy of Christ. Let us see the promise of Christ. Luke 1:70 “70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,”. Zacharias makes reference to the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant. I would say that of all of the covenants, this is probably the most well-known. In our modern day, there are a lot of Dispensationalists that prop up Zionism and they talk about this covenant. They tell us to bless these unbelieving Jews referencing the Abrahamic Covenant. As Bible believing Christians, we realize that everyone needs the gospel. This includes the Jews.
Genesis 12:1 “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 shew thee: 2 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: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”. This is what Zacharias is referencing.
From Luke 1, we see that both Zacharias and Mary had an understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant. They also understood something that most Evangelical Christians don’t understand today. Let’s look at Mary in Luke 1. Luke 1:55 “55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.”. Mary understood that the Abrahamic Covenant was confirmed in her seed.
Go to Galatians 3. Galatians 3:16 “16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”. What was the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant? What was the purpose? God would give Abraham a seed that would bless the world. He wasn’t talking about an unbelieving Jew like Seinfeld but of Christ. Look at Galatians 3:9 in the same chapter “9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”. The blessing of Abraham didn’t go to the Jews but to those that believe on Christ. Galatians 3:14 “14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”. It’s always been about Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:29 “29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”. Are the unbelieving Jews “Christ’s” if they reject and blaspheme Christ?
The Bible is very clear about this. What’s interesting to me about this is that Mary and Zacharias weren’t confused about this. When God began to move and announced the births of John the Baptist and then Jesus, they understood. Mary understood that this was the promise of Christ.
We saw the prophecy and promise of Christ. Let us look at the preaching of Christ. Some people might think that Zacharias was talking about his son John when he says these things. Zacharias is talking about Christ, not his son John.
Luke 1:67 “67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;”. When he is talking about the “horn of salvation”, he is not talking about John. Verse 74 “74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.”. Then in verse 76 he shifts gears “76 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;”. He starts talking about his son in verse 76 and talking to his son in verse 76. We saw a few weeks ago that John the Baptist was prophesied to prepare the way for the Lord.
Verse 77 “77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,”. He talks about the fact that John was going to preach the gospel. I want to defend John for a minute. Those who preach the repentance of sins heresy will try to use John as an example of repenting of sins. Yet look at what Zacharias is saying that John will preach while Zacharias is being fulfilled with the Holy Ghost. “77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,”. This is how salvation is.
Now we defend the sinner’s prayer but let me say that salvation is not praying a prayer. If someone believes then we should pray with them for salvation. However, just getting someone to pray a prayer so you can go back to your soulwinning group and talk about how many you got saved is ridiculous. People come back with absurd and impossible numbers. For someone to get saved, we have to explain the gospel. It takes time to explain the beliefs that they must believe.
I understand there is a spectrum when it comes to the repentance of sins crowd. When someone says you must turn from your sins though or quit sinning to be saved then that is a works salvation. Here is what people will say. “Well John taught that you have to repent of your sins to be saved.”. I asked him where John said that and he took me to Matthew 3. Matthew 3:1 “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”. It says “repent ye” but it does not say “repent of your sins”. Did you know that there is not 1 place where you will find this phrase “repent of your sins” in regards to salvation. John preached repentance to be saved but he didn’t preach repent of your sins to be saved. In Matthew 21 we see clearly what John taught in regards to repentance of sins for salvation.
Matthew 21:32 “32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”. Do you see how the emphasis is on belief? It says at the end of the verse “…repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”. Jesus tells them that they failed to repent in order to believe. What did they need to repent of to be saved? They needed to repent of their unbelief in order to believe on Christ.
See, a Catholic that is trusting in their works and the sacraments or a Pentecostal trusting in their baptism or speaking in tongues must stop trusting in that and trust in Jesus to be saved. That is different than “I used to drink and I don’t drink anymore”. That has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is changing your belief and believing on Christ. If they would have repented for salvation then they would change their belief to Christ to be saved. The way everyone gets saved is to quit believing in their false way to heaven and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 19:4 “4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”. When John was telling people to repent, what was he teaching? He was teaching that they should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. John told people that they should believe on Jesus just like we tell people today.
Zacharias tells us about John preaching Christ and preaching salvation for remission of sins. Luke 1:74-77 “74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76 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; 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, “. Now he shifts back to what John will preach about. Verse 78 “78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,”.
Let’s just look at some verses on this. 2nd Peter 1:19 “19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”. Luke 1:79 “79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”. Matthew 4:14-16 “14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
I’m all for having rules and preaching the standards that the Bible teaches. I think it is something that we have lost in fundamentalism. The reality though is that we wouldn’t have to preach standards so much if we could teach people to have a high view of God. If we had a high view of God then we wouldn’t do what we have to do but we would do what we want to do because we love the Lord Jesus. We don’t need rules, we need lights. What we need to be doing with our children is not just teaching rules but teaching them to walk in the light of the Bible. We need to teach them to have a high view of God and do what is right because they love God.
Luke 1:80 “80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”. The Bible tells us that John the Baptist grew and became strong. It says he was in the desert until the day of his showing. There is this theme in the Bible of people being in the desert that are greatly used by God. Until John came out as a preacher and began his public ministry is that he was in the desert.
Galatians 1:15 “15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:”. Paul is telling us that before he had the meeting with Peter and the other Apostles, he tells us what happened. “17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.”. Paul went to the desert before he went to Jerusalem.
Exodus 3:1 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.”. Moses was in the backside of the desert before he started his public ministry. The first 40 years of Moses were in Egypt and the last 40 years were leading God’s people to the promised land. The middle section of his life, 40 years, he spent in the desert.
There is something about the desert. The desert represents solitude. 1 of the major problems we have in our lives is that we have too many distractions. There is something about spending hours in the desert alone with God. We see that with Moses, John the Baptist, Paul and Jesus. I wonder if you and I would take time every day to shut off the computer and phone and just spend time alone with God, I wonder what power we might have upon our lives. Luke 1:66 “66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.”. I want the hand of the Lord to be upon my life. It will require us to get alone with God and the Bible and reading it and memorizing it and applying it and praying to God.
Let’s pray.