67 When Zacharias’s voice was restored to him, he sang from the fullness of the Spirit a prophetic blessing.
68 Zacharias: May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed!
For God’s intervention has begun,
and He has moved to rescue us, the people of God.
69 And the Lord has raised up a powerful sign of liberation for us
from among the descendants of God’s servant, King David.
70 As was prophesied through the mouths of His holy prophets in ancient times:
71 God will liberate us from our enemies
and from the hand of our oppressors!
72-74 God will show mercy promised to our ancestors,
upholding the abiding covenant He made with them,
Remembering the original vow He swore to Abraham,
from whom we are all descended.
God will rescue us from the grasp of our enemies
so that we may serve Him without fear all our days
75 In holiness and justice, in the presence of the Lord.
76 And you, my son, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
For you will be the one to prepare the way for the Lord
77 So that the Lord’s people will receive knowledge of their freedom
through the forgiveness of their sins.
78 All this will flow from the kind and compassionate mercy of our God.
A new day is dawning:
the Sunrise from the heavens will break through in our darkness,
79 And those who huddle in night,
those who sit in the shadow of death,
Will be able to rise and walk in the light,
guided in the pathway of peace.
80 And John grew up and became strong in spirit. He lived in the wilderness, outside the cities, until the day came for him to step into the public eye in Israel.
Terrie's Comments:
This is a beautiful scene! Both John's parents had experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit early in John's life. It was promised that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. This was essential for his parents to experience this so that they would not discourage his relationship with God as he grew up. It would have been possible but humanly speaking we tend to parent from our experience rather than by faith so much of the time.
John grew up and became strong in spirit. He lived in the wilderness, outside the city.... perhaps if more of us strengthened ourselves outside of our busy lives, away from people we would grow stronger in spirit as well. Jesus demonstrated this pattern of behavior. There are several accounts of Jesus withdrawing to have time in prayer and renewal :-) It is important to withdraw and spend time with God to maintain our strength and grow our faith!
Tori's Comments:
I'm curious why God declared the near coming of Jesus through Zachariah, other than to give more hindsight once everything was said and done.
We have a praise music list that we add to on a regular basis. You can find the link to it in the right hand column of this blog or by scrolling to the bottom of this page.
Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!
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Please keep all comments respectful. We want to remember that each of us is at a different place in our walk with God. This is a place for us to share openly about what has been revealed to us as we open up Gods word and to learn from others. Please take every opportunity possible to build each other up in love :-)