Thoughts for the Day

Zechariah's prophecy

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.....

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

As we saw with Elizabeth and Mary, so too with Zechariah, he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the prophetic voice that had been missing for hundreds of years is now alive again. Zechariah begins to speak of God's plans for the future. He does not concentrate on his own son initially, but on the coming Messiah. It is a hymn of praise to God for His work in rescuing His people, and is often sung in the service of Morning Prayer in the Anglican Church and is called the Benedictus (the Latin word for 'Blessed').

Only halfway through does the Holy Spirit inspire Zechariah to address his newborn son, John. He will be the prophet of the "Most High" and will "go before the Lord to prepare His ways". He is to warn the people of the Messiah's coming and to encourage them to confess their sin. Then Zechariah tells those who are listening that the end result will be like giving light to all who live in darkness and under the threat of death.

The scene is now set for God's plan to accelerate as we leave Advent behind and move to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus.

Heavenly Father
we thank You for the birth of John the Baptist,
for his parent's faith and for Zechariah's foresight
who saw Your great plan coming to fruition.
May we welcome the coming of the Christ-child
once again this Christmas,
and help to lead our world out of darkness and into light.
Amen.