Thoughts for the Day

Luke 1:68 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.”

Those gathered at John’s circumcision ceremony have just witnessed Zechariah’s sudden ability to speak after being struck dumb in the temple nine months or so previously, and one look at the parents will remind them of the miraculous nature of John’s conception.  What does this all signify?  Surely Zechariah will have everyone’s full attention as he begins to speak about his son. Except that he doesn’t, at least not immediately.  Luke devotes twelve verses quoting from Zechariah’s speech and only refers to John in the last four. We will pick up on those tomorrow, but today I’m focussing on the first eight verses in which he praises God and speaks prophetically about the arrival of the Messiah.  It could be this triumphant outburst was purely and spontaneously the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit and it surprises him as much as everyone else.  More likely, though, the groundwork had been set over the intervening months.  He has had plenty of time to ruminate on Gabriel’s words – both those to him and those to Mary – to study the scriptures and to pray.  And now, as the Holy Spirit fills him, the results of his meditation fall into place and this prophecy bursts out.

What a changed man he is!  Back in the temple, his question “How can I be sure?” was a desperate expression of his disbelief.  Now, not only does he have the evidence of the birth of his son before his eyes, but he understands the significance.  He declares not that God will come to redeem his people, but that God has come and has redeemed his people, not that he will raise up a horn of salvation for us, but that he has raised up a horn of salvation.  And why? To show mercy, to remember his covenant, to rescue His people from their enemies and to enable them to serve Him righteously and without fear.  He knows with such certainty that John’s birth must lead to the coming of the Messiah that, on the strength of the former (and Mary’s story), he confidently describes the latter as already achieved.

And all this after nine months (or 400 years) of silence, Zechariah must have been so excited!