Luke 1:57-80 Birth of John and the
Prophecy of Zacharias
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.
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.
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.
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 spoke, 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,
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;
70 As he spoke by the mouth of his holy
prophets, which have been since the world began:
71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand
of all who hate us;1
72 To perform the mercy promised to our
fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
73 The oath which he swore to our father
Abraham,
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,
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby
the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
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.
80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in
spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
This is beautiful! Read it, let it
wash over you. Just a few notes, as few as possible.
A word about the form. There are two parts, actually two sentences: 68-75, 76-79
+ The first part, 68-75, speaks of the salvation of God which is coming through the Messiah or Christ.
+ The second part, 76-79, answers the question, What manner of child shall this be?
Reading this prophecy is like reading the Old Testament, and that would be because they are still in Old Testament times.
He doesn’t mention Jesus or Christ,
but everything about this has the aroma of Christ:
Visited and redeemed his people – Jesus is Emmanuel,
God with us
A horn of salvation – horn speaks of
strength, He is the mighty Savior
In the house of his servant David – Jesus is the son
of David
The oath which he swore to our father
Abraham – Jesus is God keeping his promise
Dayspring – the Greek word
translated dayspring is the word for The Branch in the Greek Old Testament,
which is a reference to Messiah
How beautiful is the description of
the salvation of God! that we being delivered out
of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and
righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
NEXT: Elisabeth
1 Verse 71 in the
KJV reads, “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us” I used the literal translation. I like it better.
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