Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 1:68- 80 "TO PERFORM THE MERCY PROMISED TO OUR FATHERS" Luke 1:72"
Day 28 – Luke 1
Text: Luke 1:68- 80
“TO PERFORM THE MERCY PROMISED TO OUR FATHERS” Luke 1:72
The hymn of praise of Zacharias is similar in style to the didactic historical psalms of the Old Testament (Compare Psalm 78, 105, 106 etc). These ancient Psalms were didactic in that one of the functions is to not only to praise God, but also to teach Israel deep lessons about God.
A number of lessons were highlighted. One of them is to emphasize the fact that the Lord was One who was characterized by mercy. Deut. 4:29-31 comes to mind as we take time to meditate on the “mercy” of God.
“But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.” (You might like to read Psalm 136 that has as its theme, the refrain “His mercy endures forever”).
“TO REMEMBER HIS HOLY COVENANT… THE OATH WHICH HE SWORE TO OUR FATHER ABRAHAM” Luke 1:72,73
Another lesson highlighted is the fact that God was One who would always remember His Holy Covenant. What God promised Abraham was correctly understood as “an oath”.
The word “Covenant” has the idea of a “treaty”. God gave a treaty to Abraham, albeit a treaty between two unequal persons. On the one hand, there is the Sovereign God as the Giver of the treaty or covenant (Sometimes also called “testament” ; hence the Old Testament is actually a reference to God’s covenant to Abraham; and the New Covenant, or New Testament is a reference to a special treaty that came about through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ).
God did not just make a personal promise to Abraham. He reiterated that He would always stand by His word of promise to Abraham’s descendants. He first gave His word of promise to Abraham and this was elaborated on in subsequent communication with Abraham (Cf. Genesis 12, 15, 17, 22 ). He then confirmed that Covenant with Isaac (Genesis 26), and with Jacob (Genesis 28).
God’s Covenant with Israel was specially highlighted when He spoke to His people at Mt Sinai. The laws of the Covenant were well encapsulated in the famous Decalogue, or The Ten Commandments (Exodus 19-20).
THE PURPOSE-RESULT OF THE COVENANT
What was God’s purpose in giving them His Covenant with Israel. Zacharias understood his theology very well, when he wrote these words.
“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 the days of our life” Luke 1:74-75
There was high purpose in God giving His people the Old Covenant. He wanted His people to be His servants. Isaiah the prophet emphasized the servanthood of Israel again and again (Isaiah 41, 43 etc). It was Israel’s great honour to be God’s servants.
However, purpose and results are not always equitable. The sad fact was that Israel refused to be faithful servants of God. Instead, Israel chose to serve idols! The ancient history of Israel is a sad one, of a nation bent on rebelling against their Covenant God!
In the hymn of Zacharias was the hint of a new dawn. God was revisiting His people. He was going to bring about a special redemption. He was going to honour His oath given to Abraham. It is right that the nation was also taught how to prepare itself to reciprocate appropriately. “To serve the Lord all the days of our life” would indeed be an appropriate response to God.
APPRECIATING THE WORD OF GOD AT AN EVEN DEEPER LEVEL
Zacharias was right when he highlighted the fact that the Lord was a Covenant-Keeping God. He will always keep His word of promise. Let this powerful word from Hebrews bring great encouragement to the heart.
“Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…”
(Hebrews 6:17-19)
Let us take time to once again reflect on our understanding and appreciation of the Word of God. Let us learn deeply from the didactic hymn of praise of Zacharias. Let us confirm within our hearts that we truly appreciate the Word of God given to us.
We too are “heirs of promise”. We too may rejoice that God has given us both His “counsel” and His “oath”. By these two things, God has bound Himself to fulfil His Word of Promise. He, being God, cannot lie. He will always fulfil whatever He has promised!
Our faith in God and His promise is compared to an anchor. This anchor is sure and steadfast! Let us reaffirm our faith in God and His promises given to us, who are the heirs of promise. May our hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit. His filling will cause us to appreciate the wonderful promises of God! May we love to hide His Word of promise in our hearts!