Thoughts for the Day

Luke 1:68-80 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us — to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 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.  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, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

I find it instructive to compare Gabriel’s message to Zechariah in the temple with Zechariah’s prophecy recorded after the narrative of John’s circumcision.  It could be the prophecy was purely and spontaneously the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. More likely the groundwork had been set by his ruminating on Gabriel’s words – both to him and to Mary – studying the scriptures and praying over the intervening months, and, as the Holy Spirit fills him, it bursts out.  So, three observations. 1 “How can I be sure of this?” has become “Praise the Lord … he has redeemed his people”.  Unbelief has turned to certainty such that what has only just begun he describes as completed.  2. Gabriel says only that John will “make ready a people for the Lord”, but Zechariah’s prophecy speaks more about Jesus, the “rising sun” for whom John will prepare the way and who will fulfil God’s promises of rescue, redemption and salvation … and I note again, Zechariah is now so confident that he speaks of these things in the past tense, as already “done deals”.  He says more specifics about John’s role than Gabriel had but leaves no doubt it is part of a much greater event.  3.  My bible provides over 20 Old Testament references covering almost every phrase of this prophecy, but not for its final words that [Jesus will] “guide our feet into the path of peace”.  Is it fanciful of me to read into this an inkling that Jesus will not quite fit preconceptions of the Messiah?