Grosey's Messages

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.