Everlasting Love

Everlasting Love – Second Sunday of Advent

This is the second week of the Advent season. Last week reminded us that we had long hoped for the appearance of the salvation God had promised. This week we are reminded of His great love.

Even though mankind succumbed to the temptation to distrust God, and thereby gave themselves into slavery to the enemy, God’s great love for us never changed. Because He loved us, He promised to provide redemption and salvation. As the time for the appearance of the Anointed One approached, a messenger was sent to pave the way. His name was John. When John was born, his father Zacharias spoke the prophesy recorded in Luke 1:68-79

Luke 1:68-79 (NASB)

68  "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

69  And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—

70  As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

71  Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;

72  To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant,

73  The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

74  To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

75  In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

76  "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

77  To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,

78  Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79  TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

This morning I want to observe some of the wonderful ways in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is delivered by Zacharias, father of that great locust eater, John the Baptizer.

68  "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

It’s notable that God’s visiting and accomplishing are both in the past tense. Jesus had not yet been born and He certainly had not yet gone to the cross. Because God exists outside the realm of time, things do not happen in the same way they appear to us. From our perspective, here on earth things appear to be happening in a specific order within history. So, we waited for a very long time to see God’s plan of redemption and salvation come about, but it was already accomplished in eternity.

1 Peter 1:20 (NASB)

20  For He (Jesus) was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

When we are tempted to doubt that Father will deliver on His promises, it can be helpful to remember that He exists outside of time and whatever promises He has given us are met in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NASB)

20  For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

That means, that what Jesus did on the cross actually delivered on all of God’s promises so the whole idea that He might not keep a promise is impossible.

69  And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—

Last time we talked about God’s promise to raise up a shoot from the root of Jesse, who was David’s dad, and we saw that this shoot was Jesus. Here again it is underscored that Jesus of Nazereth is the promised Anointed One.

70  As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

71  Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US

Psalm 106:10 (NASB)

10  So He saved them from the hand (power) of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand (power) of the enemy.

This passage from the Psalms is talking about the Egyptians. Like Goliath was “the Philistine” and stood for the enemy of our souls, so Egypt stands for that old serpent who tempted Eve.

72  To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant,

73  The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

It’s worth noticing here that Zacharias refers to the Abrahamic covenant rather than the Mosaic covenant of the Law. This is important because God’s covenant with Abraham was unconditional. The Mosaic covenant was all about the Law and it was conditional. It’s terms were essentially, “do good, get good; do bad, get bad.” Here are the terms of the Abrahamic covenant:

Genesis 12:3 (NASB)

3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

This is very good news for us because we all find ourselves unable to do good. Father is merciful in not giving us what we deserve. He is gracious in giving us what we do not deserve. Zacharias prophesied about it in anticipation of the soon arriving Messiah.

74  To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

The Anointed One came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19:10 (NASB)

10  "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

He came to set us free.

John 8:34-36 (NASB)

34  Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

35  "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

36  "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Free people do not live in fear. Living fearlessly is one of the benefits we can see in this world from the love of God.

1 John 4:16-19 (NASB)

16  We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17  By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.

18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

And then the glorious verse 19 shows us how God’s love causes us to bear fruit that will last.

19  We love, because He first loved us.

75  In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

This part of Zacharias’ prophesy may seem daunting. How can we really live in holiness and righteousness before Almighty God all our days?

Colossians 1:21-22 (NASB)

21  And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

22  yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

21  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Philippians 1:6 (NASB)

6  For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

76  "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

77  To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,

78  Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79  TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

This final component of the prophesy is a blessing on John, but we follow in his footsteps to some degree. We go before the Lord to prepare His ways, give His people the knowledge of salvation by telling them their sins have been forgiven.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NASB)

18  Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

19  namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

This is what witnessing looks like, by the way. It’s not our job to convict the world of sin; the Holy Spirit does that. It’s not our job to convince people that God exists; because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. Romans 1:19 (NASB). Our job is much more like that of an ambassador, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians. It’s more like the job of a witness, who tells what happened to them personally. We witness what our Lovely Lord Jesus has done in and for us, and we plead with people to be reconciled to God because in His great love, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.

Finally, the prophesy mentions that the Sunrise from on high (Jesus) will shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. It ends by telling us that the reason for this is to guide our feet into the way of peace. I mentioned at the beginning that this second week of Advent is a reminder of His great love. Next week calls us to be joyful, and the final week—Christmas week—culminates with assurance of peace; but we’ll talk about that in two weeks.

As you wait in eager anticipation of Christmas and all the traditions and happiness and celebration it brings, remember that you are waiting hopefully for the appearance of the One source of true life, the One who is love; the One who makes joy complete; the One who gives peace that passes understanding. This is why we anticipate Christmas before it actually arrives and why it truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

As the angel said, all those years ago, “I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.”