Sing of the Light

revise for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Don't shorten. Keep in paragraph format. I have to confess I'm not a expert puzzler, but I do I do enjoy a good jigsaw puzzle. Um, I don't know if you are how you feel about puzzles, but I'm assuming that most of you, if you have put a puzzle together, you didn't just dump the box out and just start looking for random pieces to put together, right? There's a there's a little bit of a method to the madness. Usually, you you flip all the pieces over and then you start with the edges, right? Everybody knows this, but yet every time when you put together a puzzle with somebody, that's the first thing they say. Let's start with the edges. Start with the edges. You get that framework built out and then you kind of work your way into the middle. Then the Gospel of Luke is a little bit like a jigsaw puzzle in that way. Luke doesn't just dive right into Jesus. He kind of starts with a little bit of a framework with Zachchariah and Elizabeth and John the Baptist kind of giving us a little bit of an edge to work with before he moves into talking about Jesus and his life. What I like about the way Luke presents Zachchariah and Elizabeth in the beginning of his gospels, he helps us to learn a little bit about some these two people. And we see he describes them as righteous. Both of them not perfect, but they live lives of obedience to God. They were surrendered to his will and his commandments. We also learn a little bit about them personally. We learn that they were old and that's nothing novel, but something specific about them in their old age. They had no children. And this is something that we've seen a few times throughout scripture. The Lord working uh supernaturally in the lives of people who are without children even into their old age. And yet, as a part of God's plan and purpose, he causes them to conceive. And that's what happens. The angel Gabriel appears to Zachariah and he tells him that he and his wife Elizabeth are going to give birth to a very special son. Not Jesus. Obviously, we know that's a special birth that happens to two different parents. but that this special son is going to be a forerunner for Jesus. He is going to go before and prepare the way for the coming of the long awaited Messiah. And as this one who would go before and who would testify about the coming of the Messiah, there were going to be some things that were very special about this child beyond the fact that he was going to be born to them in their old age. So, one of the things that Luke lets us know that Gabriel tells Zachchariah about their son is that he's going to be a Nazerite from his birth. And that's something that's very unique. We know that was true of Samson. He was said that he was a Nazerite from birth. But a what a Nazerite was was someone who dedicated themselves for a part of their lives, usually for a set amount of time, and they forsook certain things in order to devote themselves more intentionally and intensely to the worship of God. But this particular person was going to be that way from his birth. Another thing that was going to be special about him as this forerunner, the one who was going to go before the Messiah to prepare prepare the way. He was going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah. Gabriel says, so he's going to be like the prophet Elijah. And this is also very special. He was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth as well. in all of this so that he would be equipped to prepare the hearts of God's people to receive their long awaited Messiah. This is what Gabriel tells Zachchariah. Now, that's a lot to take in all at once, right? Just the fact that you and your elderly wife are going to give birth to a baby, that's enough to sort of be like, "All right, okay, we're excited, but now our lives are going to change, right? Things are going to be different now." Um, but then to have all these extra things about your son and who he's going to be is a lot to take in. Zachchariah responds in a very doubtful way, which to me is is I would think anytime an angel comes to you and tells you anything, you're just going to be like, "Okay, I believe it." You know, who am I to question you, Gabriel? you know, um, but Zachchariah is rather doubtful actually, and his response is it, how shall I know this? And basically is basically saying to Gabriel, prove it. H how how are you going to make this happen? And because of that, because of his doubt, basically saying to Gabriel, we'll prove it because my wife and I are old. He's there's some consequences he has to bear and that is he is mute until his wife gives birth to their son. Now his doubt you remember when Gabriel comes to Mary she asks him some questions too. Hers is more in the spirit of curiosity. How's this going to work Gabriel? Because I'm a virgin. How am I going to give birth to a baby? And so Gabriel has to say well here's how it's all going to work out. Whereas Zachchariah is like I don't believe it. Prove it. This is uh this is the story that we are introduced it to in Luke's gospel. And what we learn about Zachchariah after this encounter with Gabriel where Gabriel lays down all of the special circumstances of this son that he and his wife Elizabeth are going to be parents to. and tells him, "Okay, since you doubted me, you're not going to be able to speak until you and your wife give birth to this son." We do learn that Zachariah continues to serve faithfully in the temple. Zachariah was a priest. He was from the tribe of Levi. And it's when his son is finally born that we read um in Zechariah chap or excuse me Luke chapter 1 67 that he sings a song a prophetic song after John the Baptist is born. So let me read that song that he sings. He says, "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 has spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets from 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 the 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 way and to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sin. 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. There's certain aspects of this song that are very similar to Mary's Magnificate we looked at last Sunday. There is uh definitely a statement that the Lord cares for his people in this song. Isaiah said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people." He cares for his people. There's statements in here that indicate that Zachchariah is rejoicing because the Lord remembers his people. He says he has shown mercy promise to the fathers. He remembers his holy covenant with Abraham. This is very similar to some of the same similar words that Mary herself saying in joy. And Zachchariah also emphasizes the fact that the Lord saves. He says he has raised up a horn of salvation. I I love that picture. Horn. Horn is is a both an offensive and defensive weapon for certain animals. For example, if you ever watch a bull fight, the bulls have their full unadulterated horns out there. Very pointy, very stabby, right? The whole point is that this guy is going to fight this bull with the potential of being gored, right? Ah, very dramatic. But you watch a rodeo bull riders, the bulls almost always have their horns cut off the ends of them. They're not pointy because they want this guy to ride this bull, but they don't want him getting stabbed by any horns. Horn is like a weapon. Have you ever thought of little baby Jesus born in Bethlehem as a weapon? A weapon of our salvation. a weapon that God the Father has used to defeat our greatest enemies, Satan and sin and judgment and death. That's what he came to do. It's hard to imagine a little baby like that, right? This is our This is our great deliver. This is our conquering king. This is the one who is going to defeat our mortal enemy, the one we are helpless against. And it's through this little baby that God has blessed us with salvation. Zachchariah's song, just like Mary's, is a song of salvation. But there's an element of salvation in Zachariah's song that we don't see in Mary's, and that is the idea of illumination, light. We see in this song light coming into the darkness and that is something to sing about. The first thing when we get to this idea of light focuses in on John the Baptist his son and it is the light of knowledge that God is shining on his people through the ministry of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was not the light, but he was a light helping people to recognize the true light of the world, Jesus. What was it that John the Baptist testified? If we go to farther into the gospels and we lean into the ministry of John the Baptist, when Jesus comes to be baptized by him, the declaration of John is, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This was the light that John the Baptist was shining. The light of knowledge that this is the Messiah. This is the deliverer that God the Father has sent into the world to bring salvation to his people. Salvation from their sins. The forgiveness of sins that God was going to bring into the world wasn't just going to be he was going to wave his hand and say, you know, don't worry about it. Don't worry about that stuff. You know all those things that I have been saying for centuries that if you do them, you'll receive condemnation and death and judgment. And you remember all those things that I have uh administered judgment on you for for millennia when you strayed from my way and strayed from serving me and obeying me. You remember all those things? Well, I'm just going to say don't worry about it. That was that's not the that's not the salvation that God brings. Don't worry about all that yucky bad stuff. You don't have to raise any hands. This this is just for in your own heart. Okay. Um do you ever find yourself it's the end of the night and you're ready to go to bed and you walk through the kitchen and you see there's just dishes just piled up on the counter and in the sink and you're just like ah. Once again, you don't have to raise your hands. Don't even nod your head. Okay, this is a confession for me. And you just don't feel like dealing with it. And so you go to bed and you're like, I'll take care of it in the morning, right? I'll I'll get that stuff in the morning. Well, that's not how God treats sins. That's not the salvation they I'll just I'll worry about it later. That's not his approach to sin. Maybe somebody else will take care of it. Maybe the dish fairies will clean it all in the night and when I wake up the dishes will be clean, the kitchen will be nice and tidy. No, forgiveness for sins is is going to come through the taking away of those sins by Jesus paying the penalty for them with his own life on the cross. G and John the Baptist is shining a light through his life, letting people know that this time has finally come. The one who can actually do this for us is here. And he is going to bring us salvation. He's going to take away the sins of the world by doing something about it, by giving himself as a substitute. And so Zachchariah realizing this that if his son is the one who's going to come in the spirit and power of Elijah that he's going to be um indwelt by the Holy Spirit from his birth that he is going to go before the Messiah that that means that salvation is right at hand. And so when he in his song says, "You child will be called prophet of the most high for you will go before and prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of sins." He's recognizing this amazing reality that's happened. My son is going to be the one to shine the light of knowledge, letting people know here comes the savior. The Savior is on his way. Now, you and I, we're not John the Baptist. We We don't go before Jesus in the same way. But we do stand with John the Baptist when we give people the light of knowledge. When we share the gospel with people, when we tell them about salvation for sins through Jesus Christ, when we like John the Baptist, point people to him. In Romans chapter 10, the Apostle Paul says this, "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, but how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Beautiful are the feet of the people that go and tell people about salvation through Jesus Christ. The only way people are going to be saved is if they believe. The only way they're going to believe is if they hear. The only way they're going to hear is if people tell them. And this is exactly what John the Baptist did. But rather than doing it after Christ has lived, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, he does it before. And Christ is living on earth while John the Baptist is fulfilling his ministry. So he can point to a person who is actually alive and say, "That's the guy right there. This person whom I'm baptizing, he's the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now, John the Baptist throughout his life even sometimes had his own doubts because Jesus' ministry wasn't necessarily fulfilled maybe exactly the way John envisioned it or in the timeline and he has to come send his disciples to Jesus and say, "Are you the guy or should we be looking for another person?" And Jesus says, "I'm the guy." He doesn't say it that way, but that's what he says. Uh, any of you guys ever been to a lighthouse? Lighthouse. The old days when people actually lived in them and worked in them, they called them lightkeepers. They kept the light. They would trim the wicks when they were used whale oil and all that and they would keep the oil replenished. They had to clean the lens off because it would produce all this soot, this light burning there. So, and they had to maintain the mechanical parts that would make the light the reflector rotate and things like that. And so through all of their efforts, the efforts of these lightkeepers, you could say that they brought salvation to all the sailors navigating coastal waters. They would let them know about, you know, they were approaching the shore and also let them know where they were along the uh the path they were traveling because all the lighouses had a unique pattern that the lights would flash at. So they would know not only, oh, there's a lighthouse there, they would know where they were at. And so they were these helpful navigational aids to them, bringing safety and salvation to the sailors. So I think lightkeeper is a very fitting name for a Christian who wants to live in the spirit of John the Baptist, a proclaimer of the light of knowledge, someone who takes seriously their calling to bring this good news about Jesus Christ to the world. Zachchariah sings a song celebrating the fact that the light of knowledge through his son is coming into the world. His song also sings about another kind of light, the light of life. I mentioned last Sunday that Mary, despite not being a priest or a rabbi, that her magnificate demonstrated a very firm grasp of scripture, that she not only knew it, but she understood what it meant. And that is expressed in her song. Well, Zachchariah is a priest, and it shows in his song as well. His prophecy is anchored all throughout Old Testament scriptures. From his understanding of the covenants to his identification of his son as the fulfillment of prophecy to the realization that Jesus Christ is the morning star who will shine in the darkness. All of this lets us know that Zachchariah understood that what was coming into the world was a very special light, a light of life. Barry read just a little while ago from Isaiah chapter nine. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. In verse 78 of Luke chapter 1, if you look there, the very end of that verse, Zachchariah said talks about that the sunrise shall visit us from on high. The sun is pretty bright light, right? I think it's we can all say we benefit from it. The brightest light by far in our sky 400,000 times brighter than the full moon. Sometimes Jesus in scripture is called uh the daypring, the morning star. These are all words that just mean the sun. And it's a way of describing him poetically as someone who is bringing light into the world. And in fact, if you turn over to Revelation, Revelation chapter 22, the very end of scripture, we have in John's vision Jesus Christ himself in verse 16 of Revelation saying this, I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. I'm the sun. I am the brightest light in your life. I am the light that shines, bringing not just knowledge, but bringing life, bringing true salvation. In scripture, darkness is often used as a metaphor for sin and separation from God. We are either in darkness sort of like groping around trying to find our way but unable to because we can't see anything and because we can't see anything, we can't find anything that we need. And so because of this darkness, we are helpless. This is why in Isaiah chapter 9:2 the the whole point of people who had walked in darkness now they have seen a great light that they're no longer blind just trying to find whatever they can lay their hands on but they actually can see now so true salvation can be uh can be realized in 1 John 1 verse 6 John says if we say we have fellowship him while we walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth there there John is emphasizing the aspect of sin and that because of this sin we can't say that we have fellowship with God we we actually have separation from him he's not suggesting that you have to be perfect in order to have fellowship with God. But the idea being that a life of perpetual habitual sin is not the sign of one in fellowship with God. It's one who a sign of one who's still in darkness. I don't know if you've ever been in a cave, like a real cave, a pit, a cavern. Maybe you've been up to Lassen in that lava tube. If anybody have been up in there and you go in the middle and you turn the light off, you don't see anything. Same thing if you go on any of these big cave tours. I've been on a couple. I've been to Marvel Cave in Missouri and Lu Caverns in Virginia and they always do the same thing. They get you in this big cavernous hole in this cave and there's stelactites everywhere and they have lights all around it and you can see sort of the majesty of this big hole in the earth and then they cut the lights off and I mean you literally can have your hand two inches from your face and you cannot see you can't see anything and just that idea of complete and total pitch blackness it's it's unnerving. You imagine being like I always imagine you you hear about the people that just discovered this cave, you know, way back when, you know, somebody stumbled upon it and just imagine being in there sort of maybe not realizing how big it was and you were ill equipped and then all of a sudden your light went out. That's what I always imagine. You're in the cave and your light's out and now what do you do? You're you're at the mercy of stumbling around trying to find your way out of this thing. It's very, I don't know, scary. I'm glad they turn the lights back on in the tour and they don't say, "Well, now you got to find your way out." I want to read another verse from Isaiah, not Isaiah chapter 9, but Isaiah 60. Isaiah 60:es 2 and three say this. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, thick darkness for the people, but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you, and the nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. I love this this verse. If you if you ever listen to Handel's Messiah, this verse is referenced in a song right before for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And he's sort of leading the way, handles leading the way that this prophecy is talking about this light that's going to come to you. This the light of Christ. What's also interesting about this this uh prophecy in Isaiah chapter 60 is it it also hints at our role as being children of God who are redeemed from our sins by Jesus Christ that we are lightbearers as well. It's going back to this idea, but because says the nation shall come to your light and the kings to the brightness of your rising. As as God's light of salvation through Jesus Christ shines on us and we're saved from our sins, we become reflectors of that light. Not unlike the moon reflects the light of the sun. Look back to Luke chapter 1, Zachchariah's prophecy again in verse 76. This is once again picks up where he talks about John the Baptist. And you child will be called the prophet of the most high. For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways and 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. There's so much here that I love, but right off the bat, I love the fact that this salvation, this forgiveness of sins will be the result of God's tender mercy. Remember, the wages of sin is death. This is what God has has promised from the day one, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in the day that you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will surely die. The consequences of rebelling against me and going your own way is going to be death and judgment. That is what our rebellion against a holy God demands. But because of this little baby born in Bethlehem, because of what he would go to do, the sinner's debts are canled and our relationship with God is restored. because he wouldn't just be born, but he would be born and he would live a sinless life. And he wouldn't just live a sinless life. He would go to the cross and die. He wouldn't just die, but he would be buried and rise from the dead three days later. And he wouldn't just rise from the dead, but he would ascend to the right hand of his father, where he rules and reigns and intercedes for us. All of that is part of the tender mercy of God towards sinners. That the light of the sun rising into the darkness of the world would mean that those who sit in darkness, I almost imagine that as like you're not you're not groping around any anymore. You've just sort of given up and you're just sitting in darkness now. and in the shadow of death just waiting the inevitability. And now this light that shines guides our feet into the way of peace. Peace is that that Hebrew word shalom. You ever heard that word before? Shalom. It's sometimes used as a greeting, sometimes used as a see you later. You know, it's a wellwish. all of that. But the concept of it is the idea of wholeness, completeness, fulfillment, fullness. DA Carson says this that shalom conveys the notion of positive blessing, especially that of right relationship with God. And and this is what Zachariah's promise sort of the crescendo at the very end. He's saying you've gone from being sitting in darkness in the shadow of death because of this light. You are now in a place of right relationship with God. Complete wholeness. You've gone from brokenness to complete restoration. You you've gone from separation to an amazing relationship with God. All because of what this child is going to do. We get the blessing of looking back knowing what has happened. Zachchariah proclaims this looking forward in anticipation of the fulfillment of these promises. John Calvin makes an interesting observation about this fact when he comments on Zachchariah's prophecy and this is this is my this is my paraphrase of what Calvin says but he says in in sight of his son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah if this led Zachariah to such elevated thoughts about the power of Christ what kind of response should we who are living after Jesus' life, death, and resurrection and ascension have? But then he also adds a little bit of a a dark twist and he says, "How much worse is it that even people who saw these things with their own eyes still rejected him and mocked him?" Let's not let's not mistake this sad reality that many people saw the same things that Zachchariah and John the Baptist and Jesus' disciples and Mary his mother saw and they just were like, "I'm not buying it. I don't think so. I still want to live my own life. I still want to go my own way." I think where we stumble a little bit at Christmas is we we look at some of these verses and we think about Jesus born in Bethlehem and the mangers and we sing the songs and it leads us to just having some warm fuzzy feelings. Not not unlike when we decorate the Christmas tree or we hear, you know, Christmas carols are finally on the radio or we participate in whatever our favorite Christmas traditions are and they give us these feelings of nostalgia or warmth or whatever. And retelling the story of Jesus born in Bethlehem can kind of do the same thing but just end right there. For many of us, it's just kind of a warm holiday tradition. We talk about Jesus being born, but it really thinking about God humbling himself to the to the point of being born on earth and or or as Paul talks about in Philippians where he takes it all the way to the cross, humbles himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. That shouldn't give us the same feelings as watching our favorite Christmas movie. I mean, that should take us a lot deeper, not only into a sense of uh reflection and gratitude, but also an evaluation of how am I living my life? Am I living my life in service of the one who gave himself for me? Do I recognize that I once sat in darkness in the shadow of death, but his light shone on me and because of that I was rescued out of that darkness. It needs to I I hope it does stir you with warmth and joy, but I hope it takes you a lot farther than that. When we carve out time to talk about Jesus birth, if the light of Christ has shone on you, you should rejoice. That's what it means. Rejoicing is expressing your joy. Where we're looking at some songs, I think it should cause we it should cause your heart to sing, but it should cause you to sing, too. You should burst forth in song. When we sing these songs on a Sunday morning or when you're listening to your favorite Christmas album and some of those just rich Christmas songs are being played there. I mean, you should want to just belt those out, sing. I think it should also make you want to be just like the shepherds in Bethlehem, right? After they went and saw, they went and told everyone. They were they couldn't keep their mouths shut about it. They were letting everyone know that this light has shone in the world. The light we were waiting for. This light that was Isaiah told us would shine on people in darkness. This light that Isaiah described as this morning star that would come. It has come. He is here. He has brought salvation with him. Sing about it. Go and tell people about it. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you so much for this song of Zachchariah. We thank you that he just like Mary was looking forward to things that had not happened but was regarding them as if they had already been accomplished because he was so confident in your love, in your care, in your ability to fulfill your promises. He recognized that s things that had been talked about for centuries were now right on the verge of coming true through the birth of his son and who he knew would come after his son and what he knew the one who came after his son would accomplish. There was a joy in what he sang about. And may we who know this to be true because we come after it has accomplish been accomplished. May we have that same joy. May we express it with our words and in our hearts. And may we see the need to go and tell people, shining this light of knowledge into their lives so that they can know the light of life, so that they can know the joy of salvation. As we continue to reflect on the birth of Christ throughout this Christmas season, uh may you fill us with joy and give us all the warm fuzzy feelings, but may you take it so much deeper into our hearts and affect our lives so much more permanently because of it that we would be light keepers, shining it into our dark world. We ask all this in your name. Amen.