Light Shines in the DarknessSample

At his first advent, Jesus was not the only man born into the world with a mission. No, there was another and his name was John. John is a wonderful model of the ministry to which we are called—pointing everyone always to Jesus. Both Jesus and John were born miraculously to women who couldnʼt have children—Mary because she was a virgin and Elizabeth because she was barren in her older age—much like Sarah those long centuries before, the first of Israelʼs miraculous mothers. Both were born into the world like twin witnesses to Godʼs faithfulness: Jesus as the fulfillment of every promise and John as the herald announcing the promises were now fulfilled. 

From our passage today, we are shown a truly amazing proclamation of the salvation that was dawning in Israel. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah says that now is the time when “[God] 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 spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old” (v. 68-70). The coming of Christ into the world was nothing less than God fulfilling his promises, the words spoken through the prophets, and “the oath that [God] swore to our father Abraham,” (v. 73) that through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 

Understood through natural eyes, this promise to Abraham may appear to be about having prosperous descendants who even benefit the nations around them. It is in fact the promise of Jesus himself—He is the promised seed of Abraham through whom all people, from every tribe and tongue, are redeemed (Galatians 3:16-18).

John would have a role to play in the ministry of the coming Savior from Davidʼs house. John would prepare the way of the Lord. He would make disciples until finally, he would give all his disciples away. John was the final prophet who appeared before the Lord came, like the watchman on the wall crying out that the sun was finally dawning after a long night. The wait was over. Now, finally, was the time of Godʼs tender mercy—a time when “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” (v. 78). 

In the midst of our time, may we be like John crying out for all to acknowledge Christ. May we know that for those who are in Christ, Jesus is a light to all of us who must go through times of darkness