Bible Materials

JESUS, A HORN OF SALVATION

by   11/21/2008   Luke 1:57~80

Message


Today we come back to the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. John was finally born to the childless family. The story could have been about the baby shower and the family’s joy. Yet, it is a the story of the parents’ obedience and the father Zechariah’s song concerning Jesus. It is likely that they were the most beautiful family in the Bible because God was the centre of the family. They were different from Adam and Eve; in a true sense they were living in the Garden of Eden. Let’s think about the family and Jesus described in the song of Zechariah. First, the obedience of Elizabeth and Zechariah (57-66). Look at verse 57. “When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.” To God’s people, things happen according to God’s time schedule. There is a right time for everything. Look at verse 58. “Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.” They were really a beautiful community in the Lord. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. It was a joyful occasion to them. They joyfully circumcised the child, though it was a painful operation to the baby. And out of joy they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, “Zech. Jr., the blessed one.” They were all in a joyful mood in celebration and congratulation. In this atmosphere, something unexpected happened. Look at verse 60. “but his mother spoke up and said, ‘No! He is to be called John.’” It was really a surprise to the neighbours and relatives. So they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” To them naming the son John was shaking the Jewish traditions that were the backbone of the people. They must have thought, “Elizabeth, who do you think you are that you opposed the Jewish tradition and culture? We came to share your joy of having a son and congratulate the circumcision and naming of your son. Why do you ignore our good intention and disappoint us? Is this the way you treat us?” Yet, Elizabeth was inflexible, because she was obeying God according to the angel Gabriel’s message. She was absolute in her obedience to God. Elizabeth was not just a good-minded old lady. She was a God-fearing woman. She was a woman who knew when to say, “No” in order to obey God and please him. Elizabeth was quite different from Eve. Eve did not know to say, “No,” even to the temptation of the devil, the enemy of God. As a result she disobeyed God and made her husband fall. In the New Testament, in Luke’s gospel, it is so good that we see women’s obedience consecutively, Mary’s obedience and now Elizabeth’s obedience. It is like the paradise restored. When the relatives realized that it was impossible to dissuade Elizabeth, they turned to her husband Zechariah to negotiate with him. They made signs to the father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet and began to write, “His name is…” At this moment, they were baffling, hoping to see the latter, “Z.” However, to everyone’s astonishment the letter “J” was shown and then, “ohn.” The complete sentence written on the tablet was “His name is John.” Zechariah probably was very much encouraged by Elizabeth’s clear and absolute attitude in naming their son. He did not compromise. Both of them were inflexible in obedience to God. Though, it meant breaking the Jewish backbone-like tradition and disappointing their neighbours’ expectation. It also obviously involved their heart circumcision to deny their human desire to possess the son and fame the family line through their son. We learn from them how to obey God. Then God worked mightily in and through them. On writing, “His name is John,” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbours were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea, people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. When the parents obeyed God, the Lord’s hand was with the child to bless and guide him. Second, the song of Zechariah (67-80). Look at verses 67,68. “His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.’” At the time of his son’s circumcision and being named, Zechariah’s main theme of his song was not his son, but God and God’s Son. Zechariah praised God that he had finally come to this world to visit his people. His visitation meant redemption for all people. For the past 300 years since Malachi, there had been no prophets raised; no word of God was heard. It was the darkest time in the history of Israel. His people thought that God had forgotten them. In fact he did not. He had never forgotten them even one day. The Lord God is a God of great faithfulness and keeps his promises. At last he had come to redeem his people. So he praised the Lord, the God of Israel in rapture and surprise. Look at verse 69. “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” After praising God, the first thing Zechariah mentioned in his song was a horn of salvation. In the Bible there are two kinds of horns: one is the horn of salvation, and the other, the horn of Satan. The horn salvation is the emblem of the glory and power of God Almighty (Dt 33:17; Ps 148:14; 1 Sa 2:1,10; 2 Sa 22:3; Rev 5:6). The Horn of Satan is the power of sin and death (Da 7:21; Rev 12:3; 13:1). When we think about the history of Israel, most of the time they suffered under the oppression of other nations, such as Amorites, Moabites, Philistines, Midianites, etc. There was a time when King David defeated all the neighboring countries and established the united kingdom of Israel. But right away after his death the nation was divided into northern and southern Israel. Then both nations were invaded by Egypt, Assyria and finally conquered by Babylonia. Even now they were under rule of Roman Empire. Once, 2,000 rebellious Galileans were crucified by Romans. In a sense, the history of Israel was the history of suffering and misery. They were groaning for salvation. It is right that they needed salvation from all the merciless ruling of powerful nations. But spiritually speaking they needed salvation from the most merciless and powerful rule of Satan. In truth they suffered because of their sins. When they rejected God, God’s protecting and blessing left them. They became like orphans in the world. Then Satan did not lose the change to take them captive under his rule. This applies to all mankind There are various kinds of sufferings. But in fact people are suffering under the horn of Satan because of their sins. Sin is Satan’s bait. In the Bible Satan is depicted as one that has seven heads and ten horns. Satan’s power with ten horns is undefeatable in the world. And Satan’s craftiness with seven heads outwits all human smartness. People’s suffering under Satan’s rule is unspeakable. In Roman chapter one there is a description of a society under Stan’s reign. People “have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.” We hear about terrorists again and again. “They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful. They disobey their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.” They are very creative in doing evil (Ro 1:29-31). Some become so powerless and helpless to manage their lives. In our society many young people are addicted by drug, alcohol or pornography- site. Homeless people are increasing. Many young kids are abused. Many women are harassed. There are systems that need to be changed. But it is more than social system problem. Bible says about the prince of this world, Satan. Behind all human misery and tragedy there is Satan’s rule, since the beginning of man’s fall. Satan’s power, that is the horn of Satan, seems to be devastating the whole world. Individually, one who is impaled by Satan is left in a critical condition beyond recovery. Then what good news that he has raise up a horn of salvation for us! Jesus is the horn of salvation. He saves mankind from the horn of Satan with his mighty power. There was a crippled woman. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all for eighteen years. Jesus could see that she was crippled by a spirit. Out of shepherd heart, Jesus immediately set her free from her infirmity. It was the Sabbath and Jesus was accused of healing the woman on the Sabbath. Jesus’ answer was this: “Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound her for eighteen years, be set free on the Sabbath from what bound her?” To Jesus her eighteen years’ suffering was long enough. Jesus could not bear her one more day’s suffering. So Jesus set her free from the horn of Satan immediately and straightened her up. Once, Jesus cast out seven demons from a sinful woman. Then she became the most holy and beautiful woman because of her love for Jesus. On another occasion Jesus drove 5,000 demons out of an angry violent young man. The power of 5,000 demons was like the power of a Roman army, legion. Yet, at the presence of Jesus even the legion of demons was powerless and helpless. At the command of Jesus, “Come out of this man, you evil spirit?” all the demons came out one by one. Then the young man became completely fine. He was made so gentle and graceful, and became a very powerful evangelist in his country. In our times, when people reject Jesus, they are rejecting the horn of salvation. Then Satan’s work becomes rampant. It is surprise to hear that when there is a little pressure of homework or project in school, the next day many students are absent. When they have a vacation, they are okay. They travel to many good places having many funds. However, when the pressure comes, they become powerless, too powerless to handle the situation. A lady, when her company work became heavy, could not sleep at night. She had to see her psychiatrist. In the computer world, firewalls are absolutely needed. Without firewalls all kinds of virus can come and damage our files and even make our computer crushed. Likewise without the firewall of the horn of salvation, an individual is severely damaged, a home, ruined and a society, insane. But Jesus the horn of salvation protects and saves with his mighty power. This is the reason we study the Bible and obey God’s word and pray. Let’s hear Zechariah’s song continually. “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 fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies…” Raising the horn of salvation was according to God’s promise. Enemies’ hatred is extreme and the hand of the enemies is so tight to grip the prey. We must know that in the spiritual world, we have one enemy, Satan, who really hates us. His grip is so tight. We must know that life is a battle because of the existence of our enemy. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” We need to fight a spiritual battle each day for ourselves and our children and family and God’s flock of sheep. If we confide in our own strength, we lose the battle. But when we confide in the horn of salvation Jesus, the victory is assured. The saving and rescue work can be done through our faith in him, who crushed the horn of Satan through his death and resurrection. Praise God for raising a horn of salvation for us. Because of the horn of salvation the paradise can be restored. Look at verses 74b and 75. “…to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” The horn of salvation not only saves us but also enables us to serve him. Men’s happiness largely relies on whom to serve. When the Israelites did not want to serve God, in reality they had to serve other merciless kings and masters. God let them do so in order that they might know how hard it is to serve the alternative, not God. Serving the alternative is in fact serving Satan, It makes one a slave. However, when we serve God, we are truly free and happy. Once we could not serve God because of Satan’s fear, unholiness and unrighteousness. But thank and praise God that the horn of salvation enables us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Now Zechariah briefly says about his son in his song, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High.” The son would be identified as a prophet of the Most High. He would 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. Then Zechariah’s song comes back to God’s Son, Jesus: “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.” In this last part of his song Zechariah introduces Jesus as the rising sun that comes to us from heaven. Can you imagine the world without the sun? When the weather becomes cloudy and gloomy without sunlight, people usually say, “I am in a bad mood because of the weather with no sunlight.” Spiritually speaking what they say is true. Without the rising sun Jesus, people’s mood and emotions become terribly bad. Without the sun the world becomes dark, dormant and deadened. Plants cannot undergo photosynthesis. They say that for the healing of many patients a proper mount of wind and sunlight is needed. Likewise the rising sun Jesus heals and nourishes. He guides our feet into the path of peace. He fills us with his bright hope for our future. We thank and praise God for sending us Jesus, who is the horn of salvation and the rising sun. Through him and in him we have salvation from the horn of Satan and victory over it and light over any darkness. May we have him in our hearts and fight a good spiritual fight each day.



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