Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
Have you ever noticed how a well-trained dog will come to its master’s call and ignore everyone else? Years ago I had a dog named Adak. He was a beautiful Malamute Husky who was extremely intelligent. I worked with Adak every day and he became attuned to my voice and my instructions to the point where I could give a command and even if Adak was in the middle of chasing a squirrel (something he dearly loved to do!) he would immediately stop and obey.
Continue reading “Ears for God”God is amazingly good about explaining things to his people. So far in Zechariah’s prophecy, we have seen who is being raised up, what he will do, when this will happen, where it will occur, and now why.
…because of the tender mercy of our God...
This is not a ruthless mercy, a calculating mercy, or a pitying mercy, but a tender mercy. Such a phrase suggests a depth of love that might be expected between mother and child, or the new love of a man and woman. And why mercy? Well, we already know the answer to that. No one to this point in time has ever been able to live a sinless life.
Continue reading “Who, What, When, Where … Why?”As we get closer to Christmas Day, we are walking through the scriptures that tell us the story of Jesus’ birth. We have seen the Annunciation or formal announcement of the coming events by the angel Gabriel to Mary. We have seen Zechariah’s voice restored after proclaiming his baby’s name to be John as the angel Gabriel instructed him. Now we hear John’s words of prophecy by the Holy Spirit regarding the coming Messiah and his own son’s mission as the herald of the coming king. John will be called a prophet of the Most High and will go before the Lord to prepare the way for him…
… to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins…
John’s mission was to proclaim salvation through the forgiveness of sins. He must have been a very effective preacher because people came from all over the Holy Land to hear his words. Many of them humbled themselves, admitting their sin and confessing their desire to repent. Those that did receive a symbolic baptism of water, a ceremonial washing as it is called in some places.
Continue reading “John’s Mission”Up until this point in Zechariah’s prophetic song he has been talking about the coming Messiah, Jesus. Now his vision switches to his own newly born son, John.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him…
At the time John is born, Zechariah and Elizabeth are old people. It seems unlikely that they would have still been alive when John started his ministry, so they would never see the fulfillment of his calling with their eyes of flesh. Through the Holy Spirit, however, Zechariah is able to see what John will become: a prophet of the Most High, preparing the way before Him.
Continue reading “Vision”In verses 69-71 (“Horn of Salvation”) we looked at the difference between how the Israelites viewed their enemies and who God sees as the real “enemy.” In this passage, Zechariah returns to that same theme but here he explains the reason why this is important.
…the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
To serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness is a picture of great beauty.
Continue reading “Without Fear”When John the Baptist was born nobody would know about the “Baptist” part for almost 30 years. What people did know was that something amazing was happening. Zechariah had seen a vision in the temple and had become mute, unable to argue with anyone let alone The Messenger from God. Then Elizabeth, a woman well past the age of childbearing became pregnant. For nine long months, Zechariah was unable to say anything until the time came to name the baby.
” All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord’s hand was with him.”
If you were God and you wanted to prepare your chosen people for a major event, what better way than to be silent for two hundred years or more? No prophets, no word from God until without warning God’s Messenger Angel, Gabriel, appears to Zechariah and then to Mary herself. Two women become pregnant within six months of each other, both by miraculous means. In a world where people love to talk about what happens to others, suddenly there was much to talk about!
Continue reading “The Hand of God”