Advent Day 15

"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 from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us . . . "

    ~Luke 1:67-71

For most of my life, my definition of prophecy has been narrow. In fact, it's basically been future-telling. Yet throughout the Bible prophecy is most often explained in terms of exhortation. It's meant to uplift and renew the body of Christ. In the Old Testament this meant more looking forward because the Messiah had not yet been born, but prophecy is also statements of truth and spiritual perception. As Zechariah prophesies, he praises God and speaks to what he knows about Him as well as what he does not yet understand. 

After 400 years of silence, Zechariah praises God for visiting and redeeming His people, but at this point, he only knows God as the Father. He can see the God who walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, who appeared before Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who delivered Israel time and time again, but he does not yet know the very story of which he is a part. Zechariah does not yet know Jesus. 

The moments God has visited His people have been exactly that, moments. But now God Himself is being born into the world. Jesus is visiting the world as a baby and living a full life of growth and ministry, making connections and friends, leaving a legacy. He is of heaven, and yet He made a home on the earth that He might enter into our communities, experience life as we do, and walk with us. And only through this visit, the very visit that is in progress as Zechariah speaks, are God's people redeemed. This is the ultimate redemption that they've been waiting for since the Garden. 

The Messiah, the horn of salvation, the descendant of David, is here. The story of salvation is in Zechariah's midst, and even without understanding it, the Holy Spirit moves him to declare the truth in praise. His spirit knows what his mind has not yet grasped.

We have a battle cry of good news. God is in our midst. The Savior has come. We have a reason to move with boldness, to spread the message to both our enemies and our friends and throughout the world. His message, the same message veiled in every prophecy of the Old Testament, the single message underlying everything else, is being fulfilled. 

It's a message for Israel. And though they don't know it yet, it's a message for the Gentiles. It's a message for the enemies from whom they have been saved. And it's a message that will be hated by many who hear it. But it's a message that saves. Our God saves. He is the great Redeemer. We have no cause for fear. We are victorious. We can move with boldness, prophesying to the nature of who God is, declaring our confidence to the world. Those who reject Him may seem stronger, but our lives rest in His hands. He is our keeper and protector. Nothing need hold us back. We are propelled forward because our God saves, and we are His to hold.

Salvation is here.