Grosey's Messages

Luke 2. THE ANGEL'S SONG

⁸ In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
¹⁰ But the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:
¹¹ today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.
¹² This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough."
¹³ Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!  
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,"

They said that this salvation gave glory to God.

Angels, from the realms of glory, Wing your downward flight to earth,

Ye who sing creation's story, Now proclaim Messiah's birth; Come and worship,

Worship Christ, the new-born King.

"Glory to God in the highest." Why this, that salvation is God's highest glory. He is glorified in every dew drop that twinkles to the morning sun. He is magnified in every wood flower that blossoms in the copse, although it live to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness in the forest air. God is glorified in every bird that warbles on the spray; in every lamb that skips the mead. Do not the fishes in the sea praise him. From the tiny minnow to the huge whales,  all creatures that swim the water bless and praise his name! All created things extol him!

And as the message ran from rank to rank, at last the presence angels, those four cherubim that perpetually watch around the throne of God — those wheels with eyes — took up the strain, and, gathering up the song of all the inferior grades of angels, surmounted the divine pinnacle of harmony with their own solemn chant of adoration, upon which the entire host shouted, "The highest angels praise thee." — "Glory to God in the highest."  No mortal can ever dream how magnificent was that song. And it was sung about a baby!

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!  

Why is the incarnation of the Lord Jesus the subject of the Angel's glorying?

"Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates; and he ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King of Glory shall come in.

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory."

The Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath interpreted Him, so that Jesus could say, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. In Various ways this truth is expressed in the New Testament, but nowhere more impressively than in Hebrews 1.3

The former of these passages tells us that the Son is "the effulgence of God's glory, and the very image of His substance"; that

He is the manifestation of the Divine attributes, and the embodiment of the Divine essence ; that in Him the glory of God is radiated, and His character reflected.

Now mark well that this creating Christ is no philosophical abstraction ; neither is He a creature ; but by eternal nature He is the Son of God. He did not become God's Son at the incarnation, neither when He rose from the dead (Acts xiii. 35; Rom. i. 4), though by the latter event His Sonship was fully manifested; but He is the "only-begotten" of the Father, of the same nature and with the same powers, and to Whom equal worship is due.

Christ is God, without Beginning, Supreme, and Transcendent. This was his own consciousness in incarnate life. He knew that He stood related to God the Father as the sons of men never could, and so, when speaking of that relationship, He distinguished between Himself and His disciples by saying, "My Father and your Father; My God and your God." "My" and "your," not "our"! In the Christian consciousness, also, Christ has ever been regarded as Divine, giving that word the connotation of Deity. The very heart of Christological belief is the truth that Christ is God incarnate ; that He Who was born at Bethlehem, and died on Calvary, was the Divine Logos, in the beginning with God, the full and final revelation of God, and Himself very God.

THE ABSOLUTE ETERNITY OF CHRIST.

Not only is He "the Image of the Invisible God," but, also, "the First-born of all creation" (15), and "He is before all things." This is another pregnant utterance which, presents several truths of the first magnitude.

And, first of all, it announces-

I. The Priority of Christ to all Creation, The Pre-Existence of Christ is nowhere in Scripture argued as a doctrine, but is everywhere assumed and heavily built upon, If Christ be not pre-existent, He cannot be' God, and if He be not God, He cannot be either Creator or Redeemer. You will therefore, see at once how vital is this truth, for Christian faith. Of the many passages which declare or imply it, let me remind you, of a few only.

"When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son"; therefore, before the' incarnation, the Son was with the Father, and, presumably, before all time,

"Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet, for your sakes He became poor, that ye, through, His poverty, might become rich."

A moment's reflection will convince us that "rich" here is declared of Christ as preexistent, and "poor" of Him as incarnate.

"The verse is one which in import transcends-the phenomena of time and space, announcing- not merely that Christ's earthly life was inferior in glory to His own prior condition, but, a yet more sublime thought, that He entered upon the lower state by His own, volition."

Philippians 2:5-11  Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage.
7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form,
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
9 For this reason God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow— of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Then there is that amazing passage in Phil. 2.5, 6, which says that "Christ Jesus, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped."

Surely words could not make more plain the truth which the Spirit would convey, that Christ is not merely like God, but is God, and, therefore, pre-existent and uncreated, absolute in His Eternity. Again, " In the beginning was the Word." Mark the preposition "in," not "from," and the verb "was," not "became." And in the same connection John speaks of "the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father." To these passages must be added the testimony of Jesus Himself, notably, when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am" —a declaration which is reflected in the words of our text, "Who is," in verse 15, and "He is," in verse 17.

Mark it well, "He is," the "He" emphasizing His Personality, and the " is " His Pre- Existence and Self-Existence.

Richard Baxter said, "Nothing can be rightly known if God be not known;" nor is any study well managed, nor to any great purpose, if God is not studied. We know little of the creature till we know it as it stands related to the Creator. Single letters, and syllables uncomposed, are no better than nonsense. He who overlooketh Him Who is the 'Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,' and seeth not Him in all, Who is the All of all, doth see nothing at all. All creatures, as such, are broken syllables ; they signify nothing as separated from God.

The Angels glorified Him as they considered the exaltation that He enjoyed. He was "in the form of God" (v. 6). Our English word "form" scarcely captures the richness of the Greek. This is "form" neither in the sense of material shape or of seeming likeness. The Holy Spirit is saying is, that that which constitutes the very essence of God, that God-nature, God-hood—not merely Godhead now, but Good-hood—has belonged for ever, and will belong for ever, to Jesus Christ.

Joy to the world the Lord is come." "Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning." "Come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord." "Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate deity, Jesus our emanuel." "Yet in the dark street shineth the everlasting light." We sing, "O come to us, abide with us, our Lord emanuel," which means God with us. "Jesus Lord at Thy birth." We sing, "The virgin sweet boy is the Lord of the earth." We sing, "Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing." "How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name." "God with man is now residing, suddenly the Lord descending." We sing, "Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me." And we often sing, "And the Father gave His Son, gave His own beloved one." And so the writers of all the Christmas carols mark out for us the reality that the child is God.

That is not the only thing that Paul says about His exalted position. He says that He had equality with God. Now here the phrase speaks of relationship more than of nature.  Equality with God. And such is the Greek construction in this phrase that we may take Paul to mean either one of two things: either that this equality was His by complete right and fitness, and not by the slightest presump-tion; or that it was something on the retention of which the Lord Jesus would not insist, when by letting it go—this status of equality with God—when by renouncing its heavenly expression, He might reveal His infinite con-cern for you and for me.

This was His own interest. He might have held on to it. He had a perfect right to. But instead of that, He turned His back upon it, because you and I needed a Saviour. From that lofty elevation Jesus came down.

The Angels glorified Him as they considered the reputation that He renounced—"He emptied Himself." That is indeed a fair rendering of the Greek. Weymouth has, "He stripped Himself of His glory," and Phillips is somewhat similar—"He stripped Himself of all privilege."

How far did that self-renunciation go, that self-disglorification, to use the extraordinary phrase of P. T. Forsyth. Did it extend to His deity? How could it, if He was essentially and eternally God? No! Did it extend to His knowledge? It the sense of voluntary self-limitation, yes, in ways that are so mysterious that while we must recognise them they are really quite beyond us. We read of our blessed Lord that in the days of His flesh "He grew in wisdom." We have to face the implications of that. We read again of Him that according to His own confession, as we have it in Mark 13:32, "But of that day and that hour (His Second Coming) knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." Yet I hasten to add that the church universal, and the church evangelical particularly, has always insisted, and rightly, that whatever may have been the self-imposed limitations of our Saviour's knowledge, they were not such as to lay Him open either to incompetence or to error.

Did He empty Himself of His sinlessness? Never! Did He empty Himself of His non-temptability? He did. Here again is a mystery. For we read of Him in Hebrews 4:15 that "He was in all things tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He emptied Himself. You recall Milton's words? There are those who believe that this whole passage in Philippians 2 was a kind of hymn that was sung: it wasn't stiff, formal theology, so much as it was a great expression of adoration. You remember Milton's words- Will you look at it, this amazing deed. You see Him in the carpenter's shop, helping Joseph to make a yoke, in that little place of labour in Nazareth. Yet this is the One who, apart from His self-emptying, could far more easily make a solar system, or a galaxy of systems. Look at Him again, dressed like a slave, with towel and basin—the equipment of a menial —bathing the feet of some friends of His, who but for their quarrelsomeness should have been bathing His feet. Yet apart from His self-emptying and self-abasing He is no servant, but the Master of an army of servants, angels in white, who rejoice to fly at His beck and call. He humbled Himself. This is the revelation of humility, and this is the root of unity. You see how it is all linked together in Paul's thinking and in this unveiling of truth that comes to the Philippian church through him.

The Angels glorified Him as they considered the humiliation that He endured—"And being found in human form He humbled Himself." As though it were not enough for Him to come to Bethlehem's manger; as though it were not enough for Him to come to a town that was a by-word among the citizens—Nazareth; as though it were not enough for Him to come to lead the kind of life of which He could say, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man bath not where to lay His head"—as if that were not enough. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. The humiliation that He endured.

The Angels glorified Him as they considered the identification that He accepted—"He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men" (v. 7). These two phrases, "the form of a servant"—He so identified Himself; and "the likeness of men"—He so identified Him-self. Our Lord's identification of Himself with the life and the labour of a bondservant rests upon an identification that needs care-fully to be interpreted. This word "likeness" —"in the likeness of men"—does not suggest anything artificial about our Lord's humanity. He was not just seeming to be a man; He was real man. If we are Evangelical in our credal thinking we believe that He was as truly man as if He had not been God. He was not seeming to be man. It isn't likeness in that sense. It wasn't something artificial, just a parade. This word "likeness" does suggest that His humanity gives Him a true com-munity with men ; but not a complete identity. That is to say, He is really human, but He is at the same time more than human. So it is that in the paradox of what we call the Incarnation, we have the union of the divine and the human, the infinite and the finite, the eternal and the temporal, the sovereign and the servant. This is the stoop of God down to the level of our desperate need and lostness.

The Angels glorified Him as they considered the crucifixion He would endure. Still in v. 8, "even the death of the Cross." When we read that our Lord became obedient unto death we see that He stooped to mortality. But when we read the phrase, "even death on a Cross," we see that He stooped to ignominy. Now we know, of course, that God cannot die. One writer, grappling with this fact, said that God-be-come-man can die. The sentence is well-intended, but surely it is inaccurate. If God becomes man, what we have is man—a state-ment that would never have satisfied the apostles, or the makers of the Nicene or the Athanasian Creeds. What is true is that the God-man—not man-become-God, or God-be-come-man—but the God-man, Jesus Christ, in the perfect union of the divine and human natures, has a mode of existence in which one of the many acts it is possible for Him to choose, is the act of dying—and choose it He did. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life" (John 10:17, 18). There it is. "That I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself."

"Even the death of the Cross." Now with that brush-stroke, the portrait of our Lord's self-abasement is complete.

Upon that Cross of Jesus Mine eyes at times can see The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;

And from my smitten heart, with tears, Two wonders I confess: The wonders of His glorious love, And my own worthlessness.

I take, 0 Cross, thy shadow For my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than The sunshine of His face;

Content to let the world go by, To know no gain nor loss, My sinful self, my only shame, My glory all the Cross.

Alexander Maclaren The simple, personal name, Jesus, was given indeed with reference to His work, but had been borne by many a Jewish child before Mary called her child Jesus; and the fact that it is this common name which is now exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of our Lord. You and I have a man in the glory, who is plead-ing for us—His name, Jesus."

Psalms 34 Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

1              I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2              My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.

3              Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

4              I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

5              Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.

6              This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

7              The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8              Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

9              Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

10           The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

11           Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12           What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?

13           Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

14           Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

15           The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

16           The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

17           When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18           The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

19           Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20           He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

21           Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

22           The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

1 Samuel 21

10 David fled that day from Saul's presence and went to King Achish of Gath.  11 But Achish's servants said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Don't they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?" 12 David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,  13 so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.  14 "Look! You can see the man is crazy," Achish said to his servants. "Why did you bring him to me?  15 Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?"

David had no choice. The only place he could go to hide was in enemy territory, in the land of Gath. [The name of the king of Gath on that occasion was Achish. In accordance with normal custom, Achish was known by the title Abimelech, which means, "my father the king." This was simply the king's title, like Pharaoh or Caesar.

David was caught between a rock and a hard place. Saul was moving in to kill him, but every step closer to Abimelech was a step closer to torture and death. Then a wild thought hit David out of the blue: "Use psychological warfare. Behave like a lunatic. Act totally crazy." Which he did. And it worked. The king of Gath took one look at David frothing at the mouth, realized that this once mighty warrior was no threat to him, and tossed him out on his ear. In this way, David escaped death. Afterward, he wrote Psalm 34 as a poem about his experience. He praises God for his close escape because he realizes that his plan was such a crazy idea that without God's miraculous intervention, the plan would have never worked. He knew he could not pat himself on the back for his outstanding acting job and take credit for his escape. So, in a public way, through this psalm, he gives glory and thanks to the Lord for his deliverance. In the original Hebrew language, this psalm is an alphabetic acrostic, with each verse starting with a difference letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as it were, A to Z, indicating that it was intended to be committed to memory. David's desire was that no one who reads this psalm should ever forget the valuable lesson he had learned.

That is why David writes in verse 11, "Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD." His message is, when you learn to fear the Lord, you will learn how to overcome your fear of everything else that is less than God.

Like Psalm 25, this is an acrostic psalm with the Hebrew letter waw omitted and an extra pe added at the beginning of verse 22. The title connects the psalm with David's dangerous experience with the Philistines in Gath, as recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10—22:1, after which he fled to the cave of Adullum. The emphasis on fearing the Lord (vv. 7, 9, 11) and trusting His goodness (vv. 8, 10, 12) would fit into this historical context. The Philistine king is called Achish in 1 Samuel, but the dynastic title of Philistine kings was Abimelech, as in the title of the psalm. Egyptian rulers were called Pharaoh and the Amalekite kings called Agag. Verse 8 is quoted in 1 Peter 2:3 and verses 12–16 in 1 Peter 3:10–12.

1 Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if some disobey the [Christian]message, they may be won over without a message by the way their wives live…   6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do good and aren't frightened by anything alarming. 

Peter broadens this aspect of fear to describe how you can combat it. He deals with other issues that cause us fear:

^{1 Peter3:13} And who will harm you if you are passionate for what is good?  ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed, ¹⁵ but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Out of his experience in Gath, David shared in this psalm four instructions for his own followers (1 Sam. 22:1–2), as well as for us today, to help us keep out of those fearful situations that can leave us paralyzed with terror. 

What is it that you fear the most?  A society plummeting into antichristian socialism that will persecute believers? It could be just around the corner.  Do you fear the loss of your house through fire? It could be just around the corner.

Praise the Lord (vv. 1–3)

David was delighted to be out of enemy territory (where he probably shouldn't have gone to begin with) and back in the wilderness with his men. Note the verbs: bless, boast, magnify, exalt. The name "Lord" is used sixteen times in the psalm. If initially, David was speaking to his own men, then he was calling them to interrupt warfare and focus on worship. "In prayer, we act like men [people]," wrote Puritan preacher Thomas Watson, "in praise we act like angels." David gave thanks to the Lord by magnifying Him and exalting His name. See what He did for David: He answered prayer (vv. 4, 15), provided his needs (vv. 9–10), delivered him from trouble (v. 17), and protected him from danger (v. 7). David didn't boast about his own cleverness or skill; he boasted about the Lord, who He is and what He does. They feared the Lord (vv. 7, 9),

His people were set-apart ("saints") as His righteous ones (vv. 10, 15, 19, 21), and were the servants of the Lord God (v. 22). Knowing who we are in Christ and who the Lord is ought to make us want to bless the Lord.

Seek the Lord (vv. 4–8)

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

When David was feeling overwhelmed with fears, the first step he took was that he admitted his fears to God, in verse 4: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." Verse 6 says God "saved him out of all his troubles."  The word "trouble" in the Hebrew means to be tied up, restricted, limited, or inhibited. That is what fear does to us; it ties us into knots, makes our personal world a scary place, and paralyzes us from taking any useful action. So what should you do when you find yourself in the grip of fear? First thing, admit it. Tell God all about it. Be honest about how you are feeling. Don't do the macho thing and act as though you are so tough that nothing scares you. Show the courage to admit your fears. Talk it out with God in lengthy prayer, complaining to God as you would to your closest friend. Why? Because if you want to be delivered from your fears, you must start with humbly admitting that you are afraid.

David gave a threefold witness of what the Lord does for His own: He saves (vv. 4–8), He keeps (v. 7), and He satisfies (v. 8). He sought the Lord and was saved from the fears ("terrors"; see 31:13) within him, and he cried to the Lord and was delivered from the troubles around him. To seek the Lord is the same as to look to the Lord; and when we look to Him by faith, He looks to us and "shines upon us" (4:6; Num. 6:22–27). If we walk in unbelief, our faces will be ashamed; if we walk by faith, our faces will be aglow (Ex. 34:29; Matt. 17:2; Acts 6:15; 2 Cor. 3:18).

When David envisioned a camp of angels around him, he may have been recalling Jacob's experience at Mahanaim ("the two camps"; Gen. 32:1–2). The angels are servants of the saints today and minister to us in ways we will never know about until we get to heaven (Heb. 1:14).

Those who seek the Lord discover that He not only saves and keeps but that He also satisfies (v. 8). "Taste" doesn't suggest a sip or a nibble; it implies feeding on the Lord through His Word and experiencing all He has for us (1 Peter 2:3; see Heb. 2:9; 6:3). It means knowing Him better and enjoying Him more. It was a great blessing for David to be delivered from Gath, and it was a greater blessing for him to be protected by the Lord after he fled, but the greatest blessing was drawing nearer to God and enjoying His presence, not just His gifts. David found God's Word sweet (119:103), and he rejoiced in the goodness of the Lord. "Good" is an important word in this psalm (vv. 8, 10, 12, 14).

Fear the Lord (vv. 9–16)

The key to overcoming all of those fears is to learn to fear God instead. David mentions the fear of the Lord three times in Psalm 34, in verses 7,9,11 ã "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. ... Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. ... Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

What does it mean to live in fear of the Lord?  Jerry Bridges defines it like this: "The essential elements of the fear of God are correct concepts of his character, a persuasive sense of his presence, and a constant awareness of our responsibility to Him". Jerry Bridges, Pursuit of Godliness

Those who fear the Lord (vv. 7, 9, 11) need fear nothing else, for this is the fear that drives out all fear (112:1). When we fear the Lord, He provides all that we need when we need it. Verse 9 is the Old Testament equivalent of Matthew 6:33. "No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly" (84:11 nasb). God promises to give us what is good for us and to cause all things to work together for good (Rom. 8:28).

These verses are full of active verbs that instruct us in godly living: taste, fear, seek, come, listen, keep, turn, pursue. [These are the verses that are quoted in 1 Peter 3:8-12.] David is describing the character of people who choose to trust and obey the Lord. Out of a healthy, holy fear of God, godly believers will conscientiously avoid evil and pursue all that is good. They will consistently say 'no' to what's wrong and 'yes' to what's right.

Desire what is good (v. 12). To be one who "desireth life" means to desire a full life, the abundant life Christ came to give (John 10:10). This kind of life has little to do with possessions, status, or fame, but it has a lot to do with character, faith, and a desire to honor the Lord. They seek the Lord and want nothing less than His will for their lives. Solomon had wealth, knowledge, fame, and power, yet he wrote, "Therefore, I hated life …" (Eccl. 2:17–20). To cultivate a heart that desires what is good, a heart that delights in the Lord (37:4), is the first step toward the life that overflows with the blessing of the Lord.

Speak what is true (v. 13). If we can control the tongue, we can control the body (James 3:1–12); "whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles" (Prov. 21:23 nkjv). To speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and to speak nothing evil is not easy in today's competitive and corrupt society, but it can be done. Note David's prayer in 141:3–4.

"I would rather play with forked lightning, or take in my hands living wires with their fiery current," said A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, "than speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies."

Pursue what is right (v. 14). This means abandoning sin once and for all, doing good as God gives strength and opportunity, and being a peacemaker and not a troublemaker. Christians don't seek "peace at any price," for peace depends on purity (James 3:13–18; Isa. 32:17), but they do make every effort not to make enemies (Matt. 5:9; Rom. 14:19; Heb. 12:14–21).

Sometimes our best efforts seem to be in vain, but at least we obeyed the Lord (Matt. 5:21–26; 18:15–35).

"Pursue" means that we have to work at it, with the help of the Lord.

Expect what is best (vv. 15–16). We must live by faith, trusting the Lord to guide us, care for us, and help us do the right thing. We need not fear because His eyes are upon us (32:8) and His ears are attentive to our prayers. God's face is against those who would do evil to us. This promise is illustrated in Acts 12, when Peter was in prison awaiting execution, the church was praying, and King Herod seemed to be having his way. God saw Peter's plight, He heard the prayers of the saints, and He delivered Peter but destroyed Herod.

Psalm 112:7-8 says of the person who fears the Lord, "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes." Isaiah 41:10,13 also proclaims, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ... Do not fear, I will help you."

Trust the Lord (vv. 17–22)

 "I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." David was remembering deliverance from a real danger, an angry Philistine ruler. He responded to the threatening situation with a petition to the Lord for help, and the Lord heard him. Actually David declares that he "delivered me from all my fears." There have been many other dangerous situations, but when he cried out, the Lord delivered.

A.      Trust the Lord with your frustrations

17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

B.      Trust the Lord with your feelings

18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

C.      Trust the Lord with your future

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

D.      Trust the Lord with your foes

21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

E.       Trust the Lord with your failures

22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Have you ever been on an airplane in the fog when the air gets turbulent and the ride gets rough? At that moment, you may remember feeling tempted to start to worry about whether you'll ever make it safely to the ground. But then the captain's voice comes over the P.A. system, assuring you that everything is under control, that his radar shows that you are right on course, and that in a few minutes the bumpy ride will subside. Just knowing that someone who knows more than you says that everything is under control is very reassuring, isn't it? You can then just sit back and enjoy the trip, realizing it is the captain's responsibility to get you to your destination safely, not you. So, after admitting your fear, you commit it to the captain, forget it, then go back to sleep.

You have a God who takes care of you like that all through the day and all through the night. He never forgets about you. He is always with you every step of the way, through thick and thin. Sure, your life isn't always neat and tidy. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it's confusing. Sometimes it seems terribly unfair and troubling. But even in the midst of those thorny, thistle-filled, sweat-of-the-brow chapters of life, you can know that all of these distresses and setbacks, disabilities, pains and agonies, do not have the final word. They do not have ultimate control over your life. God does. And He will never cease being in control.  So, what is David's formula for coping with fear?

ZACHARIAS' SONG          "The tender mercy of our God." — Luke 1:78.

⁶⁷ Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
⁶⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and provided redemption for His people.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,
⁷⁰ just as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets in ancient times;
⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the clutches of those who hate us.
⁷² He has dealt mercifully with our fathers and remembered His holy covenant—
⁷³ the oath that He swore to our father Abraham. He has given us the privilege,
⁷⁴ since we have been rescued from our enemies' clutches,to serve Him without fear
⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness in His presence all our days.
⁷⁶ And child, you will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
⁷⁷ to give His people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸ Because of our God's merciful compassion, the Dawn from on high will visit us
⁷⁹ to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death,to guide our feet into the way of peace.

King David, the sweet singer of Israel, wrote in Psalm 40, 'I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry...He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.' The apostle John described that new song of redemption in Revelation, using the Greek word 'kainos,' which is defined, 'unaccustomed or unused, not just new in time, but new as to form or quality; of different nature from what is contrasted as old.'
That is an accurate description of the hymns from the dawning of the messianic age that are recorded by Dr. Luke in his gospel, which we have been studying these past few weeks. Last week we heard the 'new song' proclaimed by Elizabeth and by Mary; worshipful adoration expressed in the context of patient waiting and intimate friendship. Today, in Luke 1:57-80, we will see that a 'new song' of worship comes from the lips of Zechariah, the first words he utters following nine months of dumbness.
Zechariah's hymn of devotion is sung after he has waited on God, waited as part of the people of Israel who were given up to exile, in words of the prophet Micah, 'until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth' (Micah 5:3). Zechariah had waited all his life for the seemingly impossible birth of his own son, impossible because of his wife Elizabeth's barrenness. Now he has waited through nine months of dumbness, resulting from his disbelieving response to God's word given by the angel Gabriel.
Zechariah's hymn is sung in a setting of family celebration---the circumcision and naming of his baby boy. This was an occasion of great joy, marked by friends and family, with music, dance and feasting. Verses 57 through 66 describe that event. The first two verses describe the joy God gives Elizabeth at the birth of her baby. Verses 57-58:

Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
In Israel, the birth of a child was an occasion of great joy. When the time of birth was near at hand, the family, friends and local musicians gathered near the home. I wonder how our local hospitals would feel about having a band ready to play in the hallway outside the delivery room! Perhaps some of you couples who have not yet had children would like to consider that. With this particular birth, the joy of the family and neighbors of Zechariah and Elizabeth grew out of a realization that a merciful God, a God who cares about the helpless, had given the gift of new life to this faithful couple.
The naming of the baby results in a heated family discussion. Verses 59b-64:

...and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, 'Not 80; he shall be called John.' And they said to her, 'None of your kindred is called by this name.' And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, 'His name is John' And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.  Zechariah comes to the moment in the ritual circumcision when his son's name is to be announced. The family and friends assume the boy will be named for his father (a common custom), and in his father's silence try to name him Zechariah. Elizabeth rejects that. Her 'Not so' is very emphatic. But the family brushes aside her desire to call the boy John. They try to rule out that break with tradition. Not having the right to name the child themselves, they enlist the help of Zechariah.

Finally, when the family gives Zechariah a board covered with wax on which to write, his response is very definite: 'His name is John.' He did not say, as Elizabeth had, that the child would be called John (verse 60), but, 'His name is John.' The matter was not open to discussion. The angel Gabriel had named the child and Zechariah accepts that. He writes the name as an accomplished fact.
The passage tells us that Zechariah startled his friends and family twice, first with his decisiveness in writing John's name, and then by suddenly regaining his voice following nine months of silence. In the words 'his mouth was opened,' and, 'his tongue loosed' (verse 64), it is clear that the God who had taken away his ability for speech had restored that faculty. His writing of John's name was an eloquent confession of faith, in marked contrast to his faithless questioning of Gabriel's authority nine month earlier. Look at the community's response, verses 65, 66:

And fear came on all theiir 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.
In a word, they were awestruck. That is the meaning of the word 'fear', deep reverence. Beyond that, however, the took to heart the truth, the facts of the event, and the message of Zechariah's hymn which followed.

In verses 67 through 79 we have Zechariah's hymn. Verse 67:

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying...
This is an expansion of Luke's introductory statement of verse 64, after God loosed Zechariah's tongue, when he spoke, blessing God. Mary's hymn of praise, the Magnificat, was a natural expression of her lifestyle of worship before the Lord. Zechariah's hymn, or 'Benedictus' ('Blessed,' in Latin), as it has been known through church history, must be understood as the result of the Holy Spirit coming upon him. Like Elizabeth, when she was in the presence of Mary, Zechariah was allowed to understand spiritual realities. He was granted illumination to speak prophetically, a shining forth of God's revealed truth. Verses 68-79:
The theme of Luke's Gospel appears to be facets of Salvation, the unfolding of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Luke picks up on this theme in each of the periscopes, stories, that he has pulled together to make up Luke's gospel. As a doctor taught by Paul, Luke presents to us the salvation that is in Jesus. He has gathered the background stories probably from Mary, and other family members, in order to unfold to us the story of salvation. 

The Benedictus, Zacharias' song, highlights some essential truths about the Lord Jesus that focus on your salvation!

1.The Source Of Your Salvation Is The Compassion of God

Zacharias, in this his joyful song, extolled the remission of sins, as one of the most extraordinary proofs of the tender mercy of our God. He had been dumb for a season, as a chastisement for his unbelief; and therefore he used his recovered speech to sing of pardoning mercy. No salvation is possible without forgiveness, and so Zacharias says, "To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins."

 "I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God." God is love: not only is he loving, but he is love itself. Mercy is of the divine essence: there is no God apart from his heart, and mercy lies in the heart of God.

The tender mercies of God

2. The Course Of  Your Salvation Is The Visitation of God

The theme of this hymn is established in the twice-used word 'visited.' Verse 68 says, 'He has visited and redeemed his people,' while 78 says, 'Whereby the dayspring will visit us from on high.' Thus both the opening and closing verses speak of the God who has visited his people, the God who will visit his people.

⁶⁸ Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and provided redemption for His people.

78 "Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us."

In what ways has the Lord shown his tender mercy in deigning to visit us? I answer, first, God's great visit to us is the incarnation of our blessed Lord Kings may visit their subjects, but they do not think of taking upon themselves their poverty, sickness, or sorrow:

O children! the Lord so visited you as to become a babe, and then a child, who dwelt with his parents, and was subject unto them, and grew in stature, as you must do. O working men! the Lord so visited you as to become the carpenter's son, and to know all about your toil, and your weariness, ay, even to hunger and faintness. O sons of men! Jesus Christ has visited you so as to be tempted in all points like as you are, though without sin. He really assumed our nature, and thus paid to us a very close visit. He took our sickness, and bare our infirmities.

But remember that he visited us not merely to look upon us, and to talk with us, and to teach us, and set us a high and divine example he so visited us that he went down into our condemnation, that he might deliver us from it. He was made a curse for us, as it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." He took our debts upon him that he might pay them

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, because the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Our Lord so visited us as to become our surety and our ransom. Here is tender mercy indeed

But, blessed be his name, he has visited some of us in a more remarkable manner still, for by the Holy Spirit he has entered into our hearts, and changed the current of our lives. He has turned our affections towards that which is right by enlightening our judgments. He has led us to the confession of sin, he has brought us to the acceptance of his mercy through the atoning blood; and so he has truly saved us. What a visit is this! visit of the Holy Ghost, when he comes to dwell in us, is surpassingly condescending. I have often said that I never know which to admire most, the incarnation of the Son of God, or the indwelling of the Spirit of God.

Secondly, he shows his tender mercy in that HE VISITS US AS THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH.

This means the dawning in the east, the rising of the sun at break of day. When the Lord visits us, it is as the dayspring, because he brings us hope of greater glory yet to come. The first coming of Christ has not at once manifested everything; the dayspring is not the noon; but it is the sure guarantee of it; and so is the First Advent the pledge of the glory to be revealed.

3. The Resource Of  Your Salvation Is The Covenant Promises  of God

⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,
⁷⁰ just as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets in ancient times;
⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the clutches of those who hate us.
⁷² He has dealt mercifully with our fathers and remembered His holy covenant—
⁷³ the oath that He swore to our father Abraham. He has given us the privilege,

He expresses thanksgiving for God's redemptive action. Redemption means to be bought back at great cost. He uses a phrase used in temple worship in giving thanks for the 'horn of salvation,' a phrase already applied to the Messiah in the Old Testament Psalms: 'I will raise up a horn to David' (32:16). This figure is taken from the horns of a bull, where the power of the animal resides. Just as the strength of that animal is symbolically concentrated in its horns, so all the delivering power granted to the family of David for the help of the people Israel will be concentrated in the Messiah. All of this is coming in fulfillment of Old Testament prophetic witness; ancient promises of divine origin and purpose now to be realized in Jesus the Messiah.

First, he says, God is the redeemer of Israel (68-70). Redemption can be personal or national. In this context, Zacharias sees both. He looks back to all the promises of God through the prophets of old in which the God of Abraham promised that he would bring "salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us" (Psalm 106:10). We must remember that the Jews were at that time oppressed by the might of Rome. Quoting this psalm, Zacharias offers hope to the people. Just as God had sent a deliverer in the person of Moses to bring his people out of Egypt long ago, so now God was sending the final Deliverer from the house of David. A thousand years earlier the prophet Nathan had prophesied of David in 2 Sam.7: "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will rise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom ...I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me ...your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."
Second, Zacharias says, God is our deliverer (71-75). The final fulfillment of this national redemption would come from the house of David in the form of the Messiah. God would accomplish this out of a heart of mercy and faithfulness to his covenant with Abraham. In gratitude, the Jews would serve the Lord without fear and live in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of their lives. In Jeremiah 31 we have the new covenant: "'...this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord, 'I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" This new covenant and the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit would enable them to serve God in holiness and righteousness forever. Thus Zacharias refers to the covenants which God had made with Abraham, David, and Jeremiah. Unfortunately, this promise was set aside for Israel because they would reject their Messiah. One day, however, according to Romans 9-11, God will fulfill his promise to Israel.
But the Abrahamic Covenant (the eternal covenant, the new covenant) is still in place on a spiritual level for all, Jew and Gentile alike, who place their faith in Jesus the son of David as their Lord and sin-bearer. They will personally experience spiritual salvation, forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from the kingdom of darkness and the power of Satan, sin, and death. They will receive a new heart and be given the gift of the Holy Spirit who will enable them to serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness.

4. The Force Of Your Salvation is the Redemption in our God

Redeemed

"To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins," from which it appears that God comes to visit us when we are in our sins. If the plan of salvation were that we were to get out of our sins, and then God would come to us, it might be full of mercy, but it would not be tender mercy. Let it never be forgotten that "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

⁷⁴ since we have been rescued from our enemies' clutches, to serve Him without fear
⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness in His presence all our days.
⁷⁶ And child, you will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways,
⁷⁷ to give His people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸ Because of our God's merciful compassion, the Dawn from on high will visit us
⁷⁹ to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Rescued  74

Jesus is that 'dayspring,' that life-giving star, the light that was promised centuries earlier. Isaiah wrote, 'Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you' (Isa. 60:1). Malachi wrote, 'But for you who fear r~ my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise...' (Mal. 4:2). And again, from Isaiah, 'The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined' (Isa. 9:2).  Furthermore, our God visits us when we are in darkness; when we are in such darkness as to know nothing, see nothing, believe nothing, hope nothing; even then the Lord's mercy comes to us. Is not this tenderness? Did you notice that it is said "to those that sit in darkness?" This is more than being in the dark. The man who sits in darkness does so because he feels that his case is hopeless, and therefore he forbears all further action. A poor benighted traveler has wandered this way and that to find a track, but it is so dark that he cannot perceive his road; and so at last he embraces the rock for want of a shelter, crouching to the earth in despair. It is a part of the tender mercy of our God that he visits those who despond and are motionless in a dread inactivity. Those who have lost hope are lost indeed, and such the Savior has come to save.

Righteousness 75

Relief  79

Then it is added, "and in the shadow of death" Did you ever feel that shadow? It has a horrible influence. Chill and cold, it freezes the marrow of the bones, and stops the genial current of life in the veins. Death stands over the man, and if his hand does not smite, yet his shadow darkens joy, and chills hope, benumbing the heart, and making life itself a mode of death. The shadow of death is confusion of mind, depression of spirit, dread of the unknown, horror at the past, and terror of the future. Are any of you at this time bowing down under the shadow of death? Has hell gaped wide, and opened her jaws for you? Have you in your despair made a league with death, and a covenant with hell? Thus saith the Lord, "Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand;" for the Lord has come forth, and visited you in the person of his dear Son to deliver the captive, and save those who are appointed unto death.

"to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." Is not this tender mercy? If he had not come to shine on such I should never have been saved. A gospel for the cheerful would never have met my case; I wanted a gospel for the despairing.

Our God shows his tender mercy in that HE VISITS US WITH SUCH WONDERFUL AND JOYFUL RESULTS — "to give light to them that sit in darkness, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Our point is this, that when the Lord Jesus Christ visits us, he actually brings light to our darkness; really leads into the way, and makes that way a way of peace to us.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth  Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing, 'Glory to the New-born King.'

Give to our God immortal praise; Mercy and truth are all His ways; Wonders of grace to God belong, Repeat His mercies in your song.

He built the earth, He spread the sky, And fixed the starry lights on high ; Wonders of grace to God belong, Repeat His mercies in your song.

He fills the sun with morning light,  He bids the moon direct the night;  His mercies ever shall endure,  When suns and moons shall shine no more.

He sent His Son with power to save From guilt, from darkness, and the grave; Wonders of grace to God belong, Repeat His mercies in your song.

-ISAAC WATTS.