December 20
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace,” Luke 1:76-79.
The text to which we turn our attention contains some of the prophetic sayings of Zacharias at the birth of John the Baptist. Zacharias believed the word of the Lord that the child with whom God blessed him and Elizabeth in their old age would be the forerunner of the promised Messiah. He said, “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways.” Zacharias believed that their son, John, would “go before the face of the Lord” and prepare the way for the coming of the Son of God.
How would John carry on his ministry? He would bring the way of salvation to the knowledge of the people of God. The heart of the message of salvation is the assurance of the forgiveness of sins. Before Jesus was born, Zacharias was proclaiming to the people that the promised Savior would provide for all people the forgiveness of sins. He was proclaiming the same message that was proclaimed by all the prophets of God, by the evangelists, and by the apostles. All of them directed people to “the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us.”
Yes, the forgiveness of sins was not gained or provided through the wisdom or the knowledge of mankind. The forgiveness of sins is offered us through the message of the cross. However, the apostle Paul wrote in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:18. Later in the same Letter, Paul wrote, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified . . . These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:2, 13-14.
“The Dayspring from on high” – that is, the promised “Star . . . out of Jacob,” Numbers 24:17 – is Jesus, the Light of the world, who came just as all the prophets foretold. The apostle Peter wrote, “We have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a Light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts,” 2 Peter 1:19.
Yes, Jesus came “To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” By nature, we are in the dark spiritually, and we are walking in the shadow of death without any hope for eternity with God. But through the message of God’s mercy and forgiveness through Christ, God has called us out of darkness. The apostle Peter wrote, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,” 1 Peter 2:9.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s Son and your Savior whose blood has washed away your sins and opened for you the gate of heaven. He conquered sin, death, and the devil so that, through faith in Him, you can go through this life and into the next life and be at peace with God!
Jesus, I will ponder now, On Thy holy Passion;
With Thy Spirit me endow, For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith, May the image cherish,
Of Thy suff’ring, pain, and death, That I may not perish. Amen.