Luke 1:67-79 ~ Songs of Advent: Zechariah’s Song of Faith
67His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and
redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from
our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— 72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to
rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in
holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on
76
before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of
salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our
God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79 to shine on those living in
darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Even in the Silence, God is at Work!
So, what’s your favorite Christmas song? Well, to answer that question I suppose
we have to ask are we talking about secular tunes like ―Rudolph, the Red-nosed
Reindeer‖ or sacred hymns like ―Silent Night!‖ I’m thinking about the latter this
morning –those hymns and carols. Either way, though, whether it’s ―We Wish You a
Merry Christmas‖ or ―Once In Royal David’s City‖ Christmas songs are that kind of
music that you can really sing best this time of year. ―Let it Snow, let it snow‖ doesn’t fit
well in the middle of July. ―Away in a Manger‖ doesn’t strike us as a stirring Easter
hymn.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re going to take some time this Advent season and
look at some ancient hymns; Songs of Advent. There are four of them in the Bible.
We’ve been focusing on one of them this morning: the Song of Zechariah. We’ll look at
how this Advent Song is really about faith.
To get a good grip on the whole context of this song we need to do a bit of digging
into the Bible. We have to go back about 400 years to the prophet Malachi, which is
where the Old Testament stops.
The Old Testament ends with this mysterious phrase in Malachi 4:5–6, written
four centuries before the birth of Christ: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before
that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers
to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and
strike the land with a curse.” Just like that, the Old Testament comes to a close. It’s
confusing, cryptic, and disturbing. It’s not really the way you want to end a book—unless
you’re planning to write a sequel.
Notice that Malachi makes reference to another Old Testament figure; the
prophet Elijah. Elijah was arguably one of the most famous of the Old Testament
prophets. He was relentless in his call for God’s people to turn away from their sin and
back to the one true God. He stood up to evil rulers, and never tried to sugarcoat his
words. Even though Elijah had died hundreds of years before this passage was written,
many in Jesus’ day believed that this Scripture implied Elijah would come back from
the dead. Some even thought Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy. So, as it was,
God’s people were left hanging, wondering, and waiting; ready to break into song. But
the time had to be right.
After the prophet Malachi penned those words, there were no prophets and no
written revelations from God for 400 years. That’s how much time elapsed between the
end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. Four hundred years.
That’s longer than the United States has been a country.
Talk about an awkward silence. Most of us are probably uncomfortable with
silence. Have you ever been in that conversational lag, and there were 10 seconds of
silence? It feels like an eternity. You feel like you have to jump in and fill the silence.
Have you ever prayed and prayed about a struggle in your life, and as best you could tell,
God was silent?
Most of the people in Zechariah’s day had given up waiting and hoping and
praying to God because it seemed like God wasn’t listening. Life went on as normal.
Nothing different seemed to happen, at least not like the stuff they’d heard about in
their Bible stories. So, gradually people got on with their lives, more or less, they left
God behind. Now, Israel had the law of Moses and the words of the prophets, but God
wasn’t saying anything new and most people forgot what he had said. Only a few held
on to the words and promises of God.
God may have been silent from a human perspective, but he wasn’t quiet or still.
Remember St. Paul said in Galatians 4: ―When the time had fully come God sent his
Son.” Even in silence, God has a plan.
Four centuries passed as God quietly prepared for Christmas. From 356–323
B.C., God raised up a man named Alexander the Great. As Alexander took his army
around the Mediterranean region, he set up cities and libraries for the sole purpose of
spreading the Greek culture and language. By the time Rome came to power, Greek was
the language of commerce and education. This influence led to the translation of the Old
Testament into Greek—what scholars today call the Septuagint. Gentiles, or non-Jews,
were then able to become acquainted with God’s prophecies. In the silence, God was
preparing for Christmas. When the Romans conquered the Greeks and finally came to
power, they furthered Western civilization. One of Rome’s biggest contributions to the
Mediterranean world was their roadway system, hence the saying, ―all roads lead to
Rome.‖ The Roman roadway allowed people to move from one province to another and
to carry the Words. In the silence, God was working. To the Jewish nation, it looked like
God had abandoned them. In reality, he was preparing the world for his greatest
work—the coming of his Son.
Then God went further. Finally, after 400 years, when everything was ready, God
spoke again through an angel. When the angel Gabriel spoke, he picked up right where
Malachi left off. Zechariah and his wife were going to have a baby—John—and that baby
was the very one that Malachi promised would come—a powerful, influential prophet
who would be like Elijah. Like Elijah, John the Baptist called people to repentance; he
called people back to God. Like Elijah, he didn’t mince words. As a priest, Zechariah
was probably one of the few people left in that day who understood the Old Testament
Scriptures well enough to make the connection between John and Elijah.
And this was just what Zechariah and Elizabeth were praying for. Silently, they
had hoped and prayed that God would give them a child. And Gabriel said that God is
ready to answer your prayer. And how does Zechariah respond? ―Really?‖ he says.
―Now?‖ ―Oh, that’s just perfect! Talk about bad timing, Lord! Just my luck! When I’m
ready to have grandkids I become a father!‖
Not to oversimplify this, but think about it. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were
praying for a child. Their culture put a high sense of honor on children. They were also
probably trying to have children. Now, God answers their prayers in a way that would
not only give honor Zechariah and Elizabeth; their child was destined to help fulfill
God’s plan of salvation. And all Zechariah can say is ―Gee, thanks for this bit of
inconvenient truth!‖ All I can say is that is very typical of us, isn’t it?
God has taken great care to execute his plan. He orchestrated time and events so
that his Son, Jesus, would be born at the right time in the right place; born in a manger,
living among a people and in a culture filled with prophetic and religious significance, he
died the most horrible death imaginable by the hand of the Roman Empire, he rose from
the dead in a glorious and mysterious way. Think of our faith and how the images and
symbols of our faith (a cross for example) it just would not be the same if God planned it
any other way.
Zechariah knew that God was at work; he knew God could grant children to
people past childbearing years—Abraham and Sarah, for example. – so we really can’t
excuse Zechariah for questioning the angel. As a result, Zechariah lost the power of
speech. After 400 years of silence, God finally speaks, only go silent again! But God used
silence. Even in silence God is still at work. The Lord was preparing Zechariah for
Christmas.
Zechariah must have poured over the Scriptures, trying to understand what was
happening. He must have spent time in prayer, trying to understand what the angel had
said. Why name my son John? Well, the name means ―gift of God.‖ John would be the
one Malachi had predicted, but was that all? Just another prophet? Another prophet for
people to ignore? No, the more Zechariah was silent, the more he thought about the last
thing the angel said: “And he will … make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” The
Lord. Was the angel talking about the Messiah? The Chosen One? The Savior?.
In the silence, God had prepared Zechariah to understand the bigger picture—
more than just a tabloid birth: ―old woman has baby.‖ When the silence was finally
broken, Zechariah sang, but he didn’t sing a lullaby.
It was a song of faith. Zechariah sang, not about his own son, but about another
baby who would soon be born to a distant relative of his wife. It’s not until verse 76 that
he addresses his own son and the role he would play. Little baby John would grow up to
be a messenger, to prepare people for the coming King. After 400 years without a
prophet, people had to be awakened from their spiritual apathy. They had to hear the
old, old stories. They had to remember the promises of God. They had to become aware
of their sin and the barrier that it was to God. Through John’s life work, God served
notice that his plan for salvation was finally at hand.
And this song is meant for us because Zechariah sings about the very same
blessings we have in Jesus. The same reason we worship and sing. We have been
purchased from slavery to sin. We have been given the forgiveness of sins. We have the
promise of a new day when the Lord will finally make everything right. In this beautiful
song, Zechariah gave several pictures of the salvation we have in Jesus.
And the lesson for us is this: Even in silence, God is at work. When you find
yourself in heavy silence, it helps to read of others who have gone before you. It helps to
remember that although God did not make himself known for 400 years, he was at work
the whole time preparing the way. God will redeem the silence in your life. Whether
you’ve been crying out for the salvation of someone you love; the restoration of health
for yourself or someone else; for an end to the financial hardship you’ve been under, or
for the stress and mental strain of life to ease up—God is still working, even when you
cannot see evidence of it. This is the essence of faith —being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see. It’s because our faith rests on the broad shoulders of a
faithful God. Just like Zechariah, we learn that God is at work … even in the silence.
And he leads us to sing songs of faith. Amen.