This is the third Sunday of Advent season, and this will be part three in our short series called Advent the Musical. Today we're going to look at Zechariah's song, which historically has been called the Benedictus. I began this series by telling you what Advent means. It means coming or visit or arrival. There are many this Advent season more excited about the advent or arrival of some new movie, maybe the Star Wars movie, than they are about celebrating the coming of Jesus to earth in the flesh. The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ. The incarnation is a word describing the historical fact that the second person of the triune God came down to earth, took on flesh so that he could not only walk among us, but also he could go to the cross on Calvary for us. His incarnation is his first advent, his first coming to a world in great need and in deep darkness. After the cross, he ascended to heaven, sat down on his throne at the right hand of the Father when he began his rule and world restoration plan. So we are also recognizing and anticipating the return of Christ in his second advent as well. Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000-year-old event in history. It is that, but it's far more than that. We're celebrating the critical part of the story about the love of God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. We're celebrating when God began putting all things back to right through sending his son to a dark and broken world which he so loved. In our day, when many Christians are preoccupied and obsessed, some of them, with the exact timing of the second advent, we are more excited about his first advent, when the kingdom of Christ began. It began gradually advancing and increasing in time and in history. It was at his first advent when a child was born and a son was given and the government or the kingdom was on his shoulders and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, as it says in Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. The last couple weeks we talked about Mary's visit to Elizabeth. Elizabeth's baby John, John the forerunner. We don't call him John the Baptist because everybody knows he was Presbyterian, right? Elizabeth's baby, John, leaped for joy in the womb when Jesus in Mary's womb drew near to him. Mary sang for joy in what is called the Magnificat, and we've been talking about that the last couple of weeks. Today we're gonna look at the events surrounding John's birth. You may wonder why we're looking at John during Advent, but he was a big part of the story as the proclaimer. His job was to proclaim the coming or the advent or the arrival of the King, King Jesus. You could say that John was the first person to celebrate advent and he did it first by leaping for joy in the womb. Leaping for joy in the womb. It was not only for him, it was joy to the womb, the Lord is come. It was joy to the world, the Lord is come. We will see this also in Zechariah's prophetic song today as well. Zechariah was John's dad. And before we get to his song, I want to give a little bit of background first. We find both the background and the song in Luke 1. Before we get to our text in Luke 1, verse 57 through 80, I want to read some of the context from earlier in Luke 1 before we get to the actual text. So Luke 1 starting in verse 5 says this, In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. This is a classic case of so-called bad things happening to good people. But we serve the life-giving God of resurrection, who can take bad things and turn them into good and glorious things. He can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. Notice in the text I just read, verses 5 through 7, it says two good things about Zechariah and Elizabeth, and then it gives two bad things that was happening to them, quote, unquote, bad things. So two good things about them and two bad things happening to them. The two good things about them were their lineage and their righteousness. Their lineage, it says, Zechariah was a priest of the Aaronic division of Abijah. Elizabeth came from the daughters of Aaron, so they had the right lineage. Their righteousness, it says in verse 6, they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. So the two bad things happening to them were Elizabeth's barrenness and their old age, it says both, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and it says they both were advanced in years. They couldn't have a child, but it wasn't because they were somehow being punished by God for something that they did wrong. The text is very clear that they were both righteous. Her barrenness wasn't a direct result of something they had done terribly wrong. They were both righteous, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. That description is pretty intense. It reminds me of the description of Job in the Old Testament. Job chapter 1 verse 1 says, And look at all the bad things that happened to Job as well. He turned away from evil and evil turned on him. Luke wants us to know that Zechariah and Elizabeth's childlessness was not a direct result of their sin. They weren't being punished for something they did or for something they didn't do. They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly. And notice it says they were righteous before God. in the eyes of the all-seeing God. They were righteous before Him, not just in appearance, only before men like the Pharisees, but they were actually righteous before God. This is something, and that's not to say that they were perfect, that they never sinned. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And we're gonna see in the story where John did have his doubts when the angel comes to him. This is something I think we all need to know. Just because you're going through hard times, rough times, there's not necessarily a direct connection to something you did wrong. Life is messy, the creator is creative, and all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. All things are not good. Many things are seriously bad and horrible to experience. All things, though, will eventually work together for good. We are called according to His purpose, not our own purpose. God is not watching us with lightning bolts of tragedy and just waiting for us to make a wrong move or a wrong choice so He can just blast us hard with it. That's not how it works. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved on himself. Jesus took the punishment that we deserved on himself at Calvary. Jesus took the pain that we deserve on himself at Calvary. Jesus took the shame that we deserve on himself at Calvary. Jesus took the condemnation that we deserved on himself. Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." You might think, well that's a dangerous teaching to say that. This whole grace thing, that's kind of dangerous. If God is not going to zap me when I make a mistake, I might as well make all kinds of mistakes and let my freak flag fly. Just make mistake after mistake. Or you might say, if Jesus took on all my punishment, I must have a free pass to just sin away without any consequences at all. Well, Paul answered those kind of objections in Romans 6, starting in verse 1. He said, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Let's go back to Luke 1, Zechariah and Elizabeth in verse eight. It says, now while he, speaking of Zechariah, while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by Lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. So there were so many priests, so many divisions, I think there was 24 divisions of priests, and there were so many of them, and they had to draw lots in order to see who had the high honor of entering the temple and burning incense in the temple on behalf of the whole nation. It's likely that for Zachariah, this occasion to serve in this way in the temple was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So this was a big deal. He was chosen by Lot, which means, based on the fact that God is sovereign and God is writing the whole story, that Zechariah was chosen by God. Zechariah was a priest and he was chosen by the casting of lots, similar to our rolling the dice or flipping a coin. They cast lots and Zechariah had the high honor of going into the temple and praying on behalf of the entire nation of Israel. Then something even more amazing happened. In verse 11, it says, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. Many will rejoice at his birth. As I've mentioned many times in the past, the first response that everyone has when seeing an angel is fear. These are warriors in God's heavenly army, and they're scary. Fear. They have to always say, do not be afraid, unless they're coming to do warfare. So ladies, when your husband tells you that you look like an angel, he's really saying, you're scary looking. The first thing that angels always say is when they're coming with a message is do not be afraid. He tells Zechariah that his prayer has been heard and his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son. Then verse 15, it says, for he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. So he was to abstain from all wine and beer either because he was dedicated to priestly service or because he was to take the Nazarite vow. It doesn't say necessarily in the text. Then the angel says he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. We saw evidence of that last time when he leaps for joy. He leaps for joy in the womb. He's filled with the Spirit in the womb. He leaps for joy in the womb. because Jesus is there in his mother's womb. All right, and then verse 16 of Luke 1, it says, And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I'm an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept herself hidden saying, thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people. It's interesting that Zechariah asked Gabriel a question that seems on the surface very similar to what Mary asked when Gabriel told her she would have a son. Zechariah asked, how shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years. Mary, when told she would conceive and bear a son, asked, how will this be, since I am a virgin? Why was Zechariah, why was it kind of a bad thing for Zechariah to do it, but not for Mary? Well, the difference is that Mary was just asking about the logistics of the thing. Zechariah was asking because he didn't believe. He didn't believe, it was doubt. He didn't believe the words of the angel. He didn't believe the words he was hearing. So Zechariah lost his ability to speak at all. So with all that as the background, let's now go down to verse 57 in our text. Let's have everybody stand in honor of the reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word. Luke chapter one, starting in verse 57. Luke one, verse 57. Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called him Zechariah after his father. But his mother answered, No, he shall be called John. And they said to her, none of your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John. And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loosed. And he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their 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. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us. to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear. in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high. to give light to those who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel." This is the word of the Lord. Right, you may be seated. So Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, as he had been from the womb, and he begins his prophetic song in verse 68. Nine months of Zechariah's silence instantly changed. He begins blessing and praising God. Zechariah's silence that was broken at the naming of John was a microcosm of what was taking place for the last 400 years. during the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the intertestamental period, the time between both, there was 400 years basically of silence where God wasn't speaking and bringing prophecy or sending prophets until John. He was seemingly silent during that time, just as Zechariah had not spoken for a time, but now breaks forth in song. God had not spoken for four centuries, but was now speaking in a new, deeper, and fuller way than ever before. God, after the 400 years of silence, speaks, and his words, or his word, actually becomes flesh and dwelt among us. So Zechariah shouts out a song of thanksgiving about all that was happening. The first stanza of the psalm begins in verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. God had come as promised. He was now visiting his people. Remember advent means to come or to visit. We have all had visitors, especially at Christmas time. Some visitors make us glad when they arrive. Others make us glad when they leave. But Zechariah was clearly glad and singing prophetically out in Thanksgiving because God had come. God was visiting his people. God was redeeming his people. Zechariah's son will be preparing the way for this visit. R.C. Sproul, who just passed this last week, he went into the presence of God this past week, so I had to use at least one quote from him, I think I have two. He has some interesting thoughts on this kind of visitation, describing what this visit means, the word visit. He said, the theme of God's visitation is rich in scripture. The faithful people of Israel continually look forward to those moments when God would come to visit his people. The Greek word for visit used in verses 68 and 78 is episkopio from epi and skopio. The word skopio is related to the English word scope. while epi simply intensifies the idea of the word to which it is added. The type of visit is in view then is not a casual dropping appearance, but a stay to carefully scrutinize the situation. Bishops are called episkopos because they are the overseers of the flock of God. They are called to visit the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry. They are given scrutinizing care of God's people. Jesus is the bishop incarnate of our souls. His visit to this world was cloaked in mystery and has changed the course of history. He came not as a military general, but as a baby in a raccoon crib. But he came to care for our souls. He came with divine blessing and redemption. That's Sproul. The fact that God was visiting his people is repeated in verse 78. It says, And that points back to Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 60, verse 1 through 3. It says, For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. How has God visited his people? The answer's in the next verse, verse 69 of our text. And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. The Savior had arrived in Mary's womb. The long-awaited Messiah was here. This horn of salvation is Jesus, not John the Baptist, it's Jesus, John was not of the house of David. Jesus is the horn of salvation. The kind of horn meant here is not a musical instrument, but a deadly weapon of the wild ox. This is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is called a horn, the horn of salvation. So we have to go back to the Old Testament to see what it means. Psalm 92 verse 9 and 10 says this, For behold, your enemies, O Yahweh, for behold, your enemies shall perish. All evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. You have poured over me fresh oil. The horn is a sign of strength, and it means victory. In Micah 4.13, God says to Jerusalem, Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and your hoofs bronze. You shall beat in pieces many people. Verse 70 says that the coming of this horn of salvation was prophesied of old. One of the clearest examples of this kind of prophecy is Psalm 132, verse 17, where God says concerning Jerusalem, Jesus didn't only come to save us from our sins, he also came to begin his process of taking down enemies. The crucifixion and the ascension were the beginning stages of him taking out his enemies one at a time. The last enemy to be destroyed would be death. He came down to earth so that he could rise up to his throne in heaven and begin putting all enemies under his feet, creating that killer footstool through time and history. This is what Zechariah says next in verse 71. He says that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. The child born, the son given would have the government on his shoulders and the increase of that government and peace there will be no end in order for his government and kingdom to grow and increase and expand, rival governments, rival governments and kingdoms must be taken out. This is not just spiritual and ethereal, this is what is happening in time and in history. He continues, Luke 1, 72, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. We are delivered and set free so that we could serve. Not only are we delivered from our bondage to sin and death, he's also delivering us from our enemies so that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. As Jesus said in Matthew 11, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. God's aim in raising a horn of salvation is not merely to liberate an oppressed people, but to create a holy and righteous people who live in no fear because they trust in Him. Again, R.C. Sproul says, the irony of New Testament lordship is that only in slavery to Christ can a man discover authentic freedom. The irony is pushed further by the New Testament teaching that it is through a slave-master relationship to Jesus that a person is liberated from the bondage in this world. So speaking of visitors, I found this illustration this week and it's pretty good. Back in 1886, twin brothers lived in a western town. Their names were Martin and Morgan. Oh, we know some twins with two M words. They were the original M&Ms. Martin and Morgan. They looked so much alike that even their closest friends could not tell them apart. But looks was the only way they were alike. They certainly didn't act alike. Martin was the obedient son. He was kind to others. He was a Christian and had high moral standards. Morgan, on the other hand, was a different story. He was disobedient to his parents. He was unkind. He lied. He cheated. He stole. He was always in trouble. As Martin and Morgan grew older, the differences between them also grew. Martin continued to excel in everything he did. Morgan, however, got deeper and deeper in trouble. He began to have run-ins with the law. First, it was for minor offenses. But the older he got, the more serious the trouble. He was in and out of jail as a teenager. Then as a young adult, he committed the ultimate crime. He killed someone and was found guilty of murder. He was sentenced to die by hanging. It was Christmastime and Martin came to visit him in jail. Martin loved his twin brother, Morgan. Others had long since given up on him. Martin still believed that there was hope his twin. Others concluded he was hopeless. The law was merciless. Morgan would die. Others were unforgiving. Justice must be served. But Martin, well, Martin was a loving brother. He had a brother's heart. No matter what his brother had done or become, he would always be a brother. Greater than Martin's heart is God's heart. He's kind toward us, even though We've sinned. He still wants to bring us his salvation. Martin knew that Morgan had just one hope. He convinced Morgan to take off his shirt and pants. Then Martin took off his shirt and pants, and the two exchanged clothes. A few minutes later, the guard came back. He came to let Martin out of the cell, but it was Morgan who walked out of the door to freedom. They took Morgan to the gallows without realizing it was actually Martin. They walked him up to the steps of the gallows. They tied his hands, placed a hood over his head, and placed him on the trapdoor. They placed the noose over Martin's neck. When the sheriff nodded, the trapdoor was sprung, and Martin dropped to his death. Morgan was free. But he had a decision to make. He could either continue to live as he had always lived and end up right back there waiting to be hanged, or he could take the gift Martin gave him. He could start a new life. Martin bought Morgan's release from the penalty so he might be motivated to live a different life. This is the way God visited and redeemed his people at the first advent. He too put his clothes, his clothing, his clothes of righteousness on us in order to save us from the penalty of death and damnation that we deserved. But he set us free so that we could serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. David Stone points out three lessons we learn from this song, from Zechariah's song. First, it's not your story, it's God's story. It's not your story, it's God's story. Zechariah knows and embraces his role in the Christmas story, the Advent story. He doesn't try to take center stage. He doesn't steal the spotlight. Zechariah knows that his family is only serving to prepare the way for the Messiah. Second, It's not your timing, it's God's timing. Israel had been waiting for this for a couple thousand years. It probably seemed like the right time when they were in Egypt or in exile in Assyria or in Babylon or Persia, but God waited till now. Zechariah maintained his faith even while waiting for God's timing to act and deliver his people. We can't control or predict when God will act, and it's rarely on our time schedule, but it's always the right time. Third, it's not your son, it's God's son. It would have been easy for Zechariah to make this birth and blessing all about his family, all about his son, but Zechariah realizes that there's a much bigger picture going on here. Notice that pretty much the whole song is not about Zechariah's son. It's about Jesus. The whole song is about Jesus. When he finally gets to his son, he quickly turns it around and makes it about Jesus again. Look at verse 76. He speaks to the son in verse 76. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. David Stone says, and I'll close with this, what if you were to view your Christmas celebration this month as if you were the setup man for Jesus? So the people to whom you give gifts, and even the gifts themselves, are all designed to somehow put the focus on Jesus, not on you, not on your family, not in your timing. It's all Jesus. Now to the King, eternal and mortal, invisible to God, who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. Please stand. Let's pray together.