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Zechariah's prophecy on page 1032 of the church Bible. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he 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 of old. That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us. To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet, the most high.

For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Helen, thank you so much. Well, please do keep your bibles open. In Luke, chapter one, Zechariah's prophecy. Well, put yourself into Zechariah's shoes for a moment. Nine months ago, the angel Gabriel came to you at the temple.

He told you that your wife Elizabeth, far too old to have children, would give birth to a son. And because you weren't quite sure this was right, the angel struck you. Dharma. Now your wife Elizabeth, has been at home for the past year. You've not been able to speak.

And for the past three months, Mary, one of your in laws, who's also pregnant, has been staying over. Two pregnant women in laws staying over for months, and you not able to speak. I imagine when you were able to speak again, there might be a few things you'd like to say, a few things you'd like to get off your chest.

Of all the things Zechariah could say after nine months, look what he says. Verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. You see, Zechariah hasn't been silent inside. Rather, he's been like a bottle of champagne gently shaken by God's blessing over these months.

And now the cork pops out in praise. Zechariah hasn't been moaning. He's not been complaining. He's been praising. And this morning we're going to see three things which God has done to cause Zechariah to praise, followed by two short prophecies that he makes.

So here's three things about God. Zechariah praises the God who visits his people. Zechariah tells us in verse 68 why he's praising. Why does he praise? End of verse 68.

Because he has come to his people and redeemed them. Or there he has visited and redeemed his people. This word to come to visit has a real sense of care, not just a sense of passing by, a quick trip, but to come, to stay, to visit. It's a personal and caring word. And I think many people view God, if they think he exists at all, as distant, a fairly uninterested observer in world affairs.

But not Zechariah's God, not our God. He draws close, he steps down, he comes alongside, and with more than just kindly words, he has visited and he has redeemed them. He's rescued and saved. To redeem means to buy out of slavery.

It sounds like he's remembering the story of the exodus, the God who comes, who visits, who redeems. But he's singing it now. He's singing it now. You see, this little baby in Mary's womb is God's appearing, his visit, his advent, his redemption.

It's hard to know always exactly what Zechariah is singing about. Sometimes it feels like he's alluding to the past, but it also feels very much like he's singing about Jesus.

It's what's sometimes called the prophetic perfect tense, if that means anything to you. But the prophetic perfect tense, he's speaking about something as though it's already happened. So sure he is, that it will. God has come down. God has redeemed.

God has raised up, God has saved, God has shown mercy, because Zechariah is absolutely convinced that the growing child in Mary's womb will accomplish all of that.

The God who visits his people, he has come in this baby. Secondly, he praises the God who raises up a horn. He raises up a horn there in verse 69, when the Bible speaks about a horn, it's a picture of power, like the strong horns of an ox, like the mighty warrior with a horned helmet. This is a picture of power. But we see here it's power in two distinct ways.

Verse 69, he has raised up a horn of salvation with Zechariah singing that this is God's power to save, his power to rescue and to intervene. God is mighty to save his people. And see that it's salvation for us.

God is not an impersonal force. He's a personal rescuer, a God who gives power for his people. He came to bring salvation for us, for you.

It's a great truth, isn't it?

Not only is God not distant, but he's come.

He's also not impersonal. He knows you, he loves you, he has come. Salvation for us, salvation for you.

Here is an unborn baby in the womb of a young woman and Zechariah is singing about his power, his warrior like rescue, and his kingliness goes on to say in the house of his servant David, this horn, this power, this leader will come in David's house. We've been thinking about David's life in recent weeks, haven't we? We talked about David as a signpost king, pointing us to God's true king here. Now Zechariah believes we've arrived at the destination. God's true king is here and he's here for you.

And Zechariah sings about it as though it's already happened. But it only makes sense to sing that if you know that God is faithful in keeping his promises. And here he is again, raising up a powerful saviour in the house of King David, the God who raises up a horn. Thirdly, he sings of the God who rescues from enemies. You see, the focus in Zechariah's song is not salvation or rescue in abstract, but specifically we see in verses 71 and 74 that we should be saved from our enemies, that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies.

That's what this powerful horn will do. That's how he will save his people. Now you'd be forgiven for thinking he was coming with a sword and an army to kick out the roman occupiers. They obviously looked like the enemies of God's people at that time. But Mary's already been told what kind of saviour Jesus will be.

It's recorded in beginning of Matthew's gospel where he records the angel's visit to Joseph. Remember what Joseph was told? You are to give him the name Jesus because he will save people from their sins. That's the kind of saviour we're talking about. We're told that God rescues his people, that they might serve him for verse 74, and that we being delivered from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

That's why God saves us, that we might serve him and enjoy him all our days. So the biggest problem for us our biggest enemy is not the Romans or any earthly power. No, our biggest enemies have always been sin and death, those things which stop us from serving and enjoying God. You see, this baby has come to defeat our biggest enemies, to meet our deepest needs, to rescue us from the darkest pit.

Zechariah meets a pregnant Mary with a tiny child growing inside her. And he bursts into song about God's power, about his salvation, about a new king, about rescue from enemies. Zechariah sings it because God is keeping his promises. He's got a plan to save.

And so Zechariah's song closes with two prophecies. One about his son John and another about Jesus is a prophecy about John. It's there in verses 76 and 77, says, 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 in the forgiveness of their sins. Well, he was right, wasn't he? That's what John grew up to be.

He came as a prophet. He was Elijah like. He came to prepare a way to preach repentance of sins, to make people ready for the coming of the Lord. He says, one will come after me.

Zechariah's words, spoken with great truth, with great insight about what John would grow up to be and do. But he also gives us a prophecy about Jesus. The controversy 78 and 79 says, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby 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. Here he prophesied about another visit, another coming from the sunrise. That's a great name for Jesus, isn't it?

It's not one I often remember. You think all these names of Jesus, Jesus, the sunrise. He's the sunrise, he's the dawning light. And here, Zechariah, he alludes to Isaiah, chapter nine, doesn't he? That famous Christmas reading.

Remember those words? The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. And in Isaiah's day, he's talking about exactly the same things. A child is about to be born. He's prophesying about rescue from God's enemies, about their defeat.

You see here, Zechariah's prophecy is picking up those same themes about defeating enemies of sin and death.

The Bible often talks about sin as living in darkness and death like a shadow. Most notably, of course, in psalm 23, Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness. John tells us Jesus is the light that darkness has not overcome. Jesus is the light who invites us to walk with him in the light rather than to sit in darkness. Jesus is the light of life.

He's the light of resurrection sunrise.

So, as in a moment we come to this table. We come to remind ourselves of these things. We come to remind us of his death on the cross which would pay the penalty for sin and break the curse of death. We come to proclaim afresh his resurrection. Enemies of sin and death defeated light that shines in the darkness.

So friends, come to this table now come to feed on Jesus.

Zechariah was full of praise at the sight of Mary's bump, so confident of all that he would do. Now we have even greater vision. We celebrate from crib to cross. All of God's promises realised in Jesus.

How much more now should we see? How much more should we now rejoice and feast on him, the one who has visited us. Our horn of salvation, our king of kings. Our sunrise over death. Let's pray.

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. Lord Jesus, thank you that you are our horn of salvation, our king of kings. Our resurrection sunrise. Jesus, give us the faith of Zechariah to praise you for all that you've done and all that you will do through Jesus, our saviour. Amen.