God’s salvation after His silence.

by R. Herbert

Where does the story of the New Testament begin? The Gospel of John gives us a prequel, introducing the preexistent Word who became the Son of God. But the actual first events of the New Testament are recorded in Luke 1.

As the gospel story begins to unfold in this chapter, we know that, historically, there had been over four hundred long years of prophetic silence in ancient Israel — from the time of the prophet Malachi (about 420 bc) to the appearance of John the Baptist in the early first century ad. It was as if God had forgotten His people. As the majority of Israelites fell progressively further from Him, He no longer reached out to them with prophetic guidance and light.

But that would change with a sudden outpouring of revelation — a flash of great spiritual truth that came through an unexpected prophet. There was no prophet in Judea at that time, until prophecy returned to the lips of a priest.

Prophet priest

Luke tells us that both Zechariah and Elizabeth, the priest and his wife who became the parents of John the Baptist, were descended from the priestly family of Aaron. The Hebrew name Zechariah means “God remembers” or “God is remembered,” and in a way, both meanings were fulfilled in the lives of the priest and his wife. They certainly remembered God, as Luke affirms: “Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” (1:6). God, in turn, remembered the righteous couple and blessed them with a child in their old age (vv. 24, 25).

We are all familiar with this part of the story. An angel appeared to Zechariah while he ministered in the temple and promised the priest a son, although Zechariah would be speechless until the child was born. Elizabeth gave birth to the child John, who would become one of the greatest of Israel’s prophets (Matthew 11:11). Yet before that occurred, Zechariah became the instrument of God’s remembering His people and returning the word of prophecy to them.

In first century Judea, it was customary for the father to name his child, and, in so doing, to formally accept the child into his family. This is why it’s interesting that when the time came to name the baby, Elizabeth clearly said the child’s name was to be John, because Zechariah could not speak (Luke 1:57-64). The neighbors turned to him for confirmation. As Zechariah wrote the name John, his voice was returned to him and he “was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied” (v. 67).

Priest’s prophecy

If we are to truly understand the importance of this event, we must not forget the four hundred years of God’s silence leading up to it. In a real way, Zechariah’s prophecy was the beginning of God’s giving of truth through His human servants in the New Testament. (Mary’s earlier prayer is in the past tense, showing what God had accomplished, while Zechariah’s words are largely future-tense prophecies.)

Although we may tend to see the priest’s prophecy as a detail in a larger story regarding John the Baptist, we should pay particular attention to what Zechariah said:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 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 rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear . . . to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God . . . to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (vv. 68-71, 74, 77-79).

When we think of salvation, we tend to think of it in a single dimension: that of Christ’s sacrifice and the resulting offer of salvation from our sins. This is, indeed, the central aspect of
salvation. But Zechariah’s prophecy shows that God’s salvation of those who turn to Him is even broader. Under divine inspiration, Zechariah clearly identified the coming Messiah who would be heir to David’s throne. He would provide salvation for His people from “our enemies and all who hate us,” from sins, and from “darkness and the shadow of death.”

Salvation from enemies. Zechariah may have presumed this meant physical enemies of that time, like the Roman conquerors of Judea. But we know from the Bible’s larger prophetic picture that the physical salvation of God’s people from their enemies would come later — at the Messiah’s return.

But there is also a spiritual application of this prophecy. Jesus did save His people from their spiritual enemies: the spiritual powers that desire our destruction (1 Peter 5:8, 9). This aspect of our salvation is certainly in place now (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 2 Timothy 4:18).

Salvation from sin. Zechariah also foretold that the promised One would bring salvation to His people through the forgiveness of their sins. Luke records the angel telling Mary, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus” (1:31). His name, of course, means “salvation.” Matthew’s account makes this explicit by saying, “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (1:21).

While we often think of this salvation in a somewhat abstract way, like the canceling of a debt or the overturning of a guilty verdict, we should remember that it is salvation from the very wrath of God. The apostle Paul made this clear: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9). Sometimes we need to remember this to see the full extent of this aspect of the salvation we are given.

Salvation from death. Finally, in saying that we are saved from “living in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79), Zechariah indicates that we are saved from the way we naturally live, according to our own carnal minds (Ephesians 2:3). As Matthew’s Gospel puts it, quoting Isaiah: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (4:16). This refers not only to sin and sinfulness but to the sad darkness that clouds most human minds so that we hurt ourselves and others endlessly for lack of knowledge of what is good, sane, and right (Hosea 4:6).

Complete salvation

So Zechariah’s inspired words not only reinstate prophetic revelation from God but also show us, in a single passage, the three forms of salvation we receive through the work of the Son of God: from the spiritual enemies who would destroy us, from God’s righteous judgment of our sins, and from ourselves ­— from destroying our own well-being due to our spiritual blindness, which ultimately leads to death. The words of the unexpected prophet show that God saves us from far more than an abstract spiritual debt. Rather, in His kindness, He saves us in every way that we need to be saved.