Big Idea: Zechariah regains his ability to speak and he prophesies concerning the events taking place. Jesus is the one who fulfills the promise to David. He is our conquering King. He has come to defeat our enemies. Our greatest and first enemy is sin. Jesus is our redeemer who died on the cross to free us from our sin.
The Prophecy ___________________________
Luke 1:67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying…
Prophecy is God directly _____________________ the significance of events in human history.
In Luke 1:67-79, we see not merely a historically inspired telling of the events (narrative) but God’s explanation of those events (prophecy).
The Prophecy __________________________
Luke 1:68–70 (ESV) — 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
2 Samuel 7:1–17 (242)
The promise to David has both an immediate or “temporary” fulfilment and also a far and more permanent fulfillment.
The Prophecy __________________________
Luke 1:69–71 (ESV) — 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
Here is why it is so important to establish the nature of prophecy from the promise that is given to David concerning his heir. What we see in our text for this morning is that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the heir promised to David and that he ushers in a kingdom that is eternal, that is one that last forever, and that kingdom is both spiritual and physical. Or to say it another way, there is an immediate and far fulfillment to Jesus’ kingship. To say it another way, there is an initial phase to this deliverance already accomplished and an ultimate phase to this deliverance, not yet accomplished.
The first enemy to be defeated is sin.
In the biblical conception of it—we shall not be able to say it too emphatically—salvation broadens its beneficent reach to cover every evil that afflicts the afflicted race of man. And that with the best of reason. For in the center of its center, in the heart of its heart, salvation is deliverance from sin, and accordingly it is deliverance from all the evils that find their roots in sin. Every evil of every kind that has ever entered the sphere of human life is consequent on sin and but the manifestation of sin’s presence and power in humanity. (B. B. Warfield, “Jesus Only,” The Saviour of the World)
Scripture to Ponder:
Ephesians 2:1–7 (ESV) — 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
