Luk 1:67-79 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 67 Zacharias - prophesied - The word prophesy is to be taken here in its proper acceptation, for the predicting or foretelling future events. Zacharias speaks, not only of what God had already done, but also of what he was about to do, in order to save a lost world.

Luke 1:67-79

Verse 67

Zacharias - prophesied - The word prophesy is to be taken here in its proper acceptation, for the predicting or foretelling future events.

Zacharias speaks, not only of what God had already done, but also of what he was about to do, in order to save a lost world. Verse 68

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for, etc. - Zacharias praises God for two grand benefits which he had granted to his people. 1. He has visited them. 2. He has ransomed them.

1. He speaks by the spirit of prophecy, which calls things that are not, as though they were; because they are absolutely determined by the Most High, and shall be all fulfilled in their season. God visits his people in the incarnation of Jesus Christ; therefore this Christ is called by him, Κυριος ὁ Θεος, Jehovah the God of Israel. Here the highest and most glorious character of the Supreme Being is given to Christ.

2. This God redeems his people: it is for this end that he visits them. His soul is about to be made a sacrifice for sin: he becomes flesh, that he may suffer and die for the sin of the world. God, by taking upon him the nature of man, has redeemed that nature from eternal ruin.

He hath - redeemed - Εποιησε λυτρωσιν, he hath made a ransom - laid down the ransom price. Λυτροω signifies particularly to ransom a captive from the enemy, by paying a price. The following remarkable passage from Josephus, Ant. b. xiv. c. 14, sect. 1, fully illustrates this meaning of the original. "Herod, not knowing what had happened to his brother, hastened λυτρωσασθαι, to ransom him from the enemy, and was willing to pay λυτρον ὑπερ αυτου, a ransom for him, to the amount of three hundred talents." Sinners are fallen into the hands of their enemies, and are captives to sin and death. Jesus ransoms them by his own blood, and restores them to life, liberty, and happiness. This truth the whole Bible teaches: this truth God has shown in certain measures, even to those nations who have not been favored with the light of his written word: for Christ is that true light, which enlightens every man that cometh into the world.

How astonishing is the following invocation of the Supreme Being, (translated from the original Sanscreet by Dr. C. Wilkins), still existing on a stone, in a cave near she ancient city of Gya, in the East Indies! "The Deity, who is the Lord, the possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of natural beings, at the beginning of the Kalee Yoog (the age of contention and baseness). He who is omnipresent and everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the Eternal One, the Divinity worthy to be adored - Appeared here with a Portion of his Divine Nature. Reverence be unto thee in the form of (a) Bood-dha! Reverence be unto the Lord of the earth! Reverence be unto thee, an Incarnation of the Deity, and the Eternal One! Reverence be unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of mercy; the dispeller of pain and trouble, the Lord of all things, the Deity who overcometh the sins of the Kalee Yoog; the guardian of the universe, the emblem of mercy toward those who serve thee - (b) O'M! the possessor of all things in Vital Form! Thou art (c) Brahma, Veeshnoo, and Mahesa! Thou art Lord of the universe! Thou art under the form of all things, movable and immovable, the possessor of the whole! and thus I adore thee. Reverence be unto the Bestower Of Salvation, and the Ruler of the faculties! Reverence be unto thee, the Destroyer of the Evil Spirit! O Damordara, (d) show me favor! I adore thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under various forms, in the shape of Bood-dha, the God of Mercy! Be propitious, O Most High God!" - Asiatic Researches, vol. i. pp. 284, 285. (a) Bood-dha. The name of the Deity, as author of happiness. (b) O'M. A mystic emblem of the Deity, forbidden to be pronounced but in silence. It is a syllable formed of the Sanscreet letters a, o o, which in composition coalesce, and make o, and the nasal consonant m. The first letter stands for the Creator, the second for the Preserver and the third for the Destroyer. It is the same among the Hindoos as יהוה Yehovah is among the Hebrews. (c) Brahma, the Deity in his creative quality. Veeshnoo, he who filleth all space, the Deity in his preserving quality. Mahesa, the Deity in his destroying quality. This is properly the Hindoo Trinity: for these three names belong to the same Being. See the notes to the Bhagvat Geeta. (d) Damordara, or Darmadeve, the Indian God of Virtue. Verse 69

And hath raised up a horn of salvation - That is, a mighty and glorious Savior: a quotation from Psa 18:2. Horns are the well known emblems of strength, glory, and power, both in the sacred and profane writers, because the strength and beauty of horned animals consist in their horns. Horns have also been considered as emblems of light; therefore the heathen god Apollo is represented with horns, to point out the power, glory, and excellence of the solar light. The Chaldee paraphrast sometimes translates קרן keren, horn, by מלכות malcuth, or מלכותא malcutha, 1Sam 2:10; Jer 48:25, which signify a kingdom: but it is likely that the allusion is here made to the horns of the altar; and as the altar was a place of refuge and safety, and those who laid hold on its horns were considered to be under the protection of the Lord, so, according to the expression of Zacharias, Jesus Christ is a new altar, to which whosoever flees shall find refuge.

Some imagine that this form of speech is taken from the custom of ancient warriors, who had a horn of steel on the top of their helmets, which ordinarily lay flat, till the person came victorious from battle, and then it was erected, as emblematical of the victory gained. Such a horn as this is represented on the helmet of the Abyssinian kings and warriors: see the plates in Bruce's Travels. To this custom of wearing or lifting up the horn, the following scriptures are thought to allude: 1Sam 2:10; Psa 112:9; Psa 148:4; Lam 2:17. In ancient gems and coins, this form of the horn on helmets is easily discernible, sometimes flat, sometimes erected. A horn, filled with various fruits, was also the emblem of abundance among the ancients: hence their cornu copia, or horn of plenty. From all this we may learn that the Lord Jesus gives a luminous, powerful, prevalent, glorious, and abundant Salvation or Refuge to mankind.

In the house of his servant David - Or, in the family: so the word οικος, house, is often used in the Sacred Writings. In Luk 1:32, the angel states that Mary was of the family of David; and Zacharias, who, from the nature of his office, must have been well acquainted with the public genealogical tables, attests the same thing. This is a matter of considerable importance; because it shows forth the truth of all the prophetic declarations, which uniformly state that the Messiah should come from the family and sit on the throne of David. Verse 71

That we should be saved (literally, a salvation) from our enemies - As Zacharias spoke by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the salvation which he mentions here must necessarily be understood in a spiritual sense. Satan, death, and sin are the enemies from whom Jesus came to deliver us. Sin is the most dangerous of all, and is properly the only enemy we have to fear. Satan is without us, and can have no power over us, but what he gets through sin. Death is only in our flesh, and shall be finally destroyed (as it affects us) on the morning of the resurrection.

Jesus redeems from sin; this is the grand, the glorious, the important victory. Let us get sin cast out, and then we need, fear neither death, nor the devil. Verse 72

His holy covenant - See the note on Luk 1:54. Verse 74

Being delivered, etc. - The salvation brought by Jesus Christ, consists in the following things: -

1. We are to be delivered out of the hand of our enemies, and from all that hate us; so that sin shall neither have dominion over us, nor existence in us.

2. We are to worship God, λατρευειν, to render him that service and adoration which the letter and spirit of his religion require.

3. Ye are to live in holiness, a strict inward conformity to the mind of Christ - and righteousness, a full outward conformity to the precepts of the Gospel.

4. This is to be done before God, under the continual influence and support of his grace, and with a constant evidence of his presence and approbation.

5. This state is a state of true happiness - it is without fear. Sin is all cast out, holiness is brought in; God's power upholds, and his approbation cheers and comforts, the believing heart. Thus misery is precluded, and happiness established.

6. This blessedness is to continue as long as we exist - all the days of our life, in all ages, in all situations, and in all circumstances. What a pity to have lived so long without God in the world, when so much happiness and glory are to be enjoyed in union with him! Της ζωης, in the last clause, is omitted by many MSS., versions, and fathers. Griesbach has left it out of the text: however, it is but of small importance whether we read all our days, or, all the days of our life. Verse 76

And thou, child, etc. - Zacharias proclaims the dignity, employment, doctrine, and success of his son; and the ruin and recovery of the Jews and the Gentiles.

1. His dignity. Thou shalt be called (constituted) a prophet of the Most High. Prophet has two acceptations: - 1st. A person who foretells future events; and; 2dly. A teacher of men in the things of God, 1Cor 14:3. John was a prophet in both senses: he proclaimed the mercy which should be communicated; announced the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and taught men how to leave their sins, and how to find the salvation of God. See Luk 3:5-14. His very name, Jehochanan, the grace or mercy of Jehovah, (see Luk 1:60), was a constant prediction of the salvation of God. Our Lord terms him the greatest prophet which had ever appeared in the world. He had the honor of being the last and clearest prophet of the old covenant, and the first of the new.

2. His employment. Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. He should be the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, none being capable of succeeding him in his ministry but Christ himself. He was to prepare his ways, to be the honored instrument, in the hands of God, of disposing the hearts of multitudes of the Israelites to believe in and follow the Lord Jesus.

3. Zacharias points out the doctrine or teaching of John. It should be γνωσις σωτηριας, the science of salvation. Men are ignorant, and they must be instructed. Human sciences may be profitable in earthly matters, but cannot profit the soul. The science that teaches God must come from God. No science is of any avail to the soul that does not bring salvation with it: this is the excellence of heavenly science, and an excellence that is peculiar to itself. No science but that which comes from God can ever save a soul from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin.

4. Zacharias predicts the success of his son's ministry. Under his preaching, the people should be directed to that tender mercy of God, through which they might obtain the remission of their sins, Luk 1:77, Luk 1:78. Those who are sent by God, and preach his truth, and his only, shall always be successful in their work; for it is for this very purpose that God has sent them; and it would be a marvelous thing, indeed, should they labor in vain. But there never was such a case, since God made man, in which a preacher was Divinely commissioned to preach Jesus and his salvation, and yet had no fruit of his labor.

5. Zacharias points out the wretched state in which the inhabitants of Judea and the Gentile world were then found.

1. Their feet had wandered out of the way of peace, (Luk 1:79), of temporal and spiritual prosperity.

2. They had got into a state of darkness - they were blind concerning the things of God, and the things which belonged to their salvation.

3. They had become contented inhabitants of this land of intellectual darkness - they had sat down in it, and were not concerned to get out of it.

4. They were about to perish in it - death had his dominion there; and his swift approaches to them were now manifested to the prophet by seeing his shadow cast upon them. Ignorance of God and salvation is the shadow of death; and the substance, eternal ruin, is essentially connected with the projected shadow. See these phrases explained at large on Mat 4:16 (note).

6. Zacharias proclaims the recovery of a lost world. As the removal of this darkness, and redemption from this death, were now at hand, John is represented as being a day-spring from on high, a morning star, that foretold the speedy approach of the day, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. That these words should be applied to John, and not to Christ, I am fully satisfied; and cannot give my reasons better for the arrangement I have made in the preceding notes, than in the words of an eminent critic, who, I find, has adopted nearly the same plan with myself. The passage, as I read it, is as follows: Through the tender mercy of our God, by which he hath visited us: a day-spring from on high, to give light to them that sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death, etc. "Let the reader judge, whether my arrangement of this passage, which much better suits the original, be not far more elegant, and in all respects superior to the old translation. Thou, child! wilt be a teacher - Thou Wilt Be a day-spring from the sky. And with what beauty and propriety is John, the forerunner of our Lord, styled the dawn of day, that ushers in the rising of the Sun of righteousness! And the concluding words - to guide our feet into the way of peace - is a comprehensive clause, after the manner of Hebrew poetry, belonging equally to the former sentence, beginning at - And thou, child! - and the latter, beginning at - A day-spring from the sky: for the people spoken of in the former are the Jews; and in the latter, the Gentiles." - Wakefield.