57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbours. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, 70 as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, 73 the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered 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 before the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Today we will be taking a look at Zechariah’s Benedictus, the second hymn or psalm of praise we find in the opening chapters of the Gospel of Luke. To understand just where this fits into the timeline and also the depth of Zechariah’s worship, we need to see the circumstances which led up to Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
Zechariah was a priest in the temple, and he and his wife Elizabeth were old, and being barren, Elizabeth had no children, but the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that they would have a son. “Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.’” (Luke 1:12-13)
Zechariah though, did not believe Gabriel, as we see in verses 18-22. “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.’ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realised that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.”
Later on, when Mary was told that she would also have a child, her reply to Gabriel in verse 34 was, “how will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Two questions, asked by Zechariah and Mary: “How shall I know this” and “How will this be?” The questions are the essentially same, but the state of the hearts behind those questions were poles apart. Zechariah asked in doubt, while Mary asked in faith. We know that Zechariah doubted, because he was left unable to speak for more than nine months, while Mary asked in faith. This we know from what Elizabeth said to her in verse 45. “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
The scene now shifts to the birth of John the Baptist.
Luke continues in verses 56-58, “Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” Elizabeth had her baby and the whole town came to celebrate. In a small village any birth is a public event, but even more so in this case. Zechariah was a priest, and at her age, Elizabeth was not supposed to have children, but God had been gracious, so the people praised Him for blessing Elizabeth with a son. The angel’s promise had come true: “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Luke 1:14).
On the eighth day it was time for John to be circumcised. According to the law given in Genesis 17, Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son needed to be given the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham, so in obedience and faith, they presented their son for circumcision, the physical act which marked his entrance into the covenant community. Everyone in the village came to the house to welcome their child into fellowship with the people of God, and traditionally, this was when Jewish children were formally given their names.
Tradition dictated that Elizabeth should name her son Zechariah. The firstborn son was always named after his father, but Elizabeth surprised everyone by naming him John: “On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, ‘No; he shall be called John.’” (Luke 1:59–60)
This was highly unusual, and the people tried to convince Elizabeth to change her mind, but she wouldn’t, so they turned to Zechariah, but he couldn’t speak. In fact, the text says they made signs to him, probably meaning he was deaf as well. He had been deaf and mute for nearly a year, which excluded him from the conversation Elizabeth was having with everyone. Zechariah, as the father of the child, had the final say, so as verses 62 and 63 tell us, “They made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they all wondered.”
Zechariah was as insistent about their son’s name as Elizabeth was. They were prepared to go against the wishes of their family and friends to do the will of God. Our English translations record that Zechariah wrote, “His name is John” in verse 63, while in the Greek New Testament, ‘John’ was the first word Zechariah wrote down: “John is his name.” No debate. No discussion.
He didn’t write, “We’re thinking about calling the baby John.” Zechariah wrote, “John is his name.”
This was not a name he had chosen, but a name that was given by God to express the child’s true identity. Names in Biblical times mattered. Zechariah means “God remembers.” Elizabeth means “God is faithful,” while John means “God is merciful or gracious.” Six months later, John’s cousin would be given the most blessed name of all - Jesus, which means “God saves.” Luke is telling us the story of salvation, and these people are part of the story. The faithful God who shows mercy to sinners has promised to save those who come to Him through Jesus Christ.
At the instant Zechariah wrote down John’s name his voice returned. “And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbours. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him.” (Luke 1:64–66)
Not only that, but the first thing Zechariah did after having his speech restored, was to praise God with what has become known as the Benedictus.
The timing of the restoration of his speech is important. He was silenced because he did not believe that Elizabeth would have a son, so one would expect him to be healed at the moment of John’s birth, but this did not happen. Jewish baby boys were circumcised on the eighth day, so Zechariah was speechless for another week. He did not find his voice until he named his son John. Only then did the angel’s promise fully come true. Or to put it another way, God waited until Zechariah acted on his faith. By calling him John, Zechariah now showed that he truly believed what God had told him through the angel Gabriel.
Mary and Elizabeth, plus of course, Jesus and John, tend to receive most of the attention when we consider the events which Luke describes, but we have so much to learn from Zechariah. For nine months he had been alone with his thoughts, no doubt replaying the conversation he’d had with Gabriel over and over again, not knowing if he’d ever be able to speak again.
But, he had come to believe that his son would prepare the way for the Saviour. By obeying the word of the Lord and naming his son John, Zechariah showed that he did eventually believe God’s promise to him.
The words on the tablet showed that God had done a gracious work in Zechariah’s life, bringing him a firm faith. At first Zechariah doubted, but God disciplined him in a way that taught him to trust. This is something God often does, and it is always a mercy when He does it. He often uses the hard experience of suffering to teach us to trust Him.
God works in our lives to bring us to the point where we are able to trust His promise of salvation. Some people, like Mary and Elizabeth, believe right away. As soon as they hear God’s Word, and the glory of the Gospel, they know that it is true. They believe that Jesus died on the cross to save them from the hell that sin deserves.
Believing right away is always better, because as soon as we believe, we receive the joy of knowing Christ. But some people are more sceptical, like Zechariah. They want to believe, but they’re still not quite sure. They haven’t actually rejected Jesus Christ, but they haven’t accepted Him either.
Some of you have been Christians for most of your lives, but for others, your faith in Christ is something which only became a reality after many years of questioning and searching. There’s an old saying that so and so is “as stubborn as a mule.” That’s not fair on mules. I think the saying should be changed to stubborn as a human being…
There are times when God deals with us the way he dealt with Zechariah - the hard way, because we are stubborn, and for many of us our journey to faith is a long and difficult one, but for those who are prepared to hear the word of truth, God brings us to the point of understanding that Jesus Christ is who He said He is, the Son of God, and the Saviour of all who put their trust in Him.
Whether we believe this sooner like Elizabeth or later like Zechariah, the important thing is to make sure that we believe it in the end, because everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ will be saved.
Zechariah was not able to speak for at least nine months, which is a long time to remain silent, so it’s no surprise that when he did speak, he had something important to say. The first words out of his mouth were words of praise to God.
Once he believed, Zechariah had to worship. It is the only legitimate response from a saved sinner - when we realise what God has done, and how He has saved us, we respond to Him in worship and praise.
Genuine faith always expresses itself in praise, while at the same time, where there is no real worship, we should ask whether there is any true faith at all.
Zechariah’s hymn of thanksgiving is called the Benedictus, meaning “blessed,” because this is the song’s first word in Latin. Zechariah blessed God for blessing him. Just like Mary with the Magnificat, the Benedictus was the song of Zechariah’s heart.
The Benedictus has many similarities to Mary’s Magnificat. Both Mary and Zechariah were among the first to praise God for the Messiah’s birth. Both of them spoke in the past tense, although both of them were also looking to the future. The words for both songs came from the Old Testament.
Like the Magnificat, the Benedictus is full of Biblical references, especially from the prophets. Zechariah was a priest. He was familiar with the ancient psalms and prophecies, so his hymn is rich with Biblical truths.
The Benedictus has two distinct halves. In verses 68-75 he blesses the Lord, while from verse 76 pronounces blessings for his son.
First Zechariah blesses God for coming to save His people. “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; 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.”
This blessing tells us all about salvation. Zechariah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, praised the God who saves His people.
What is salvation? According to Zechariah, it is something that comes from God, and not from us. He blessed God for visiting His people. This was something he had experienced personally when the angel appeared to him at the temple. But this visitation was not for him alone. By sending the angel, by giving Elizabeth a baby, and especially by putting His Son in the virgin’s womb, God was visiting His people. He was entering our situation from the outside, because without His intervention, we could never be saved. Salvation is not a human invention, but a divine visitation. It is not something we achieve by going to God, but something God has done by coming to us in Christ. No one is ever saved except by the grace of God.
God’s gracious salvation comes as the fulfilment of His promise, and this salvation means deliverance. In verse 68 he says that God has both “visited and redeemed” His people.
Jesus came into our world for a specific purpose - to redeem us. Redemption is a term borrowed from the market place. It is a release from bondage through the payment of a price. In the second verse of Robert Walmsley’s hymn we sing, “Jesus, the Saviour, this Gospel to tell, joyfully came, came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell, sharing their sorrow and shame; seeking the lost, saving, redeeming at measureless cost.”
By His blood shed on the cross on our behalf, Jesus has saved us and redeemed us as He paid the price of our salvation.
In verse 71 Zechariah says something very interesting - “That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.” God’s people have always had enemies. Since people hate God, it is only natural for them to hate His followers. In the Old Testament, Israel’s enemies included the Egyptians, the Canaanites, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. In Zechariah’s day the great enemy was the Roman Empire. The people wanted a new exodus, in which God would rescue them from Rome, but again, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Zechariah was speaking not only about the people who hate Jesus Christ and His church, but our ultimate enemy - Satan, the one who holds us in bondage to sin - the one we need to be redeemed from.
Just as in the days of Jesus’ earthly life, there are many who hate Him and all those who stand on the side of truth. However, unlike the man-made religions in our world today, Christianity is not merely tolerated. Instead, it is hated and oppressed at every opportunity, and the reason is that the devil, who is our real enemy, knows it to be the truth. All other religions are no threat to Satan because they are false, empty religions which offer no hope of salvation. The gods of other religions do not exist. True, Biblical Christianity stands quite alone.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”
In Luke 4 Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, when a demon-possessed man cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are - the Holy One of God.” (Luke 4:34)
Satan and his demons know exactly who Jesus Christ is. It’s been said that only human beings are arrogant and foolish enough to deny and reject Jesus.
Zechariah said it best in his opening words of the Benedictus. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.”
The last thing Zechariah did in the first part of his song was to explain God’s purpose for His people, “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.” (Luke 1:74–75)
To serve God is to glorify Him in our worship and in everything else we do, as we lead holy lives. God saved us, not only to get us to heaven, but so that we can live for His glory, but to do this first we have to be liberated from the selfishness of our sin. God’s salvation is for our sanctification, and this always leads to service.
Zechariah’s song is a song of salvation, and now, as we stand on this side of the cross and the empty tomb, we can see that everything God has promised has been fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the salvation that comes from God. God had to intervene. Had He not sent His Son to be our Saviour, we would never have been saved. We needed someone to live a perfect life and die an atoning death in our place. This was the salvation God promised, and the death and resurrection of our Saviour have delivered us from sin, death, and Satan. We are no longer enslaved by our selfishness, but are now free to give our lives away in service to others. This is why God has saved us. He has given us His grace so that we can live for His glory.
In the second part of the Benedictus, Zechariah blesses his son, and the order here is significant. Zechariah was a proud dad for the first time, but he knew the subordinate position of his son, despite his greatness. Jesus, years later, was to say, “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.” (Luke 7:28) The angel Gabriel told him that John would be “great before the Lord.”
John was the last and greatest prophet of the old covenant, but what made him great was his relationship to Jesus. He was older than Jesus, but second in significance. Zechariah understood this, so his Benedictus focussed on Jesus, yet he knew that John had an important role to play in the unfolding plan of salvation, so he also received a blessing. “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, 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.” (Luke 1:76-79)
The blessing Zechariah gave his son was in keeping with the promises he received from God. John was the forerunner - the prophet who went ahead to prepare the way, and he would do this by preaching the message of salvation. Salvation, remember, is not about deliverance from earthly enemies. John was called “to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins.” (Luke 1:77)
Salvation is the forgiveness of sins.
Just like the people of Israel, we are usually wrong about what we really need, because we look first at our outward circumstances. We want God to save us from things like a bad job, bad finances, bad health or a bad government.
Now, of course, God is concerned with these things, and there are times, when it is in accordance with His sovereign will, that He does intervene in the “here and now” for us.
God’s priority though, and the number one reason He entered our world in Jesus Christ, was to save us from the penalty of our sins.
What we need more than anything else is to be in a right relationship with God, and this is only possible through the forgiveness of our sins. A right relationship with God comes exclusively through the cross where Jesus died for sinners. As the apostle Peter said in Acts 10:43, “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
When we trust in Christ, God forgives all our sins, and He does this because of His tender mercy, as Zechariah said in verse 78.
Forgiveness is the supreme expression of God’s compassionate mercy for sinners. There is no greater gift for a sinner to receive than mercy.
In the final 2 verses of the Benedictus, Zechariah pictured the journey of salvation as a journey from darkness into light. “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.” (Luke 1:78-79)
Before coming to salvation we are in spiritual darkness. We are in the darkness of our sin, waiting for death to devour us.
But now, because of Christ, everything has changed. Until we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are in the darkness of unforgiven sin. But when we trust Jesus, as Zechariah did, His light comes into our lives and we are able to see our way. Turn to Christ. Believe in Jesus, and the dark night of your sin will be over, and His perfect light will shine on you to guide your feet into the way of peace.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read Luke 1:5-23
This background helps us to understand the depth of Zechariah’s praise in the Benedictus.
Zechariah suffered because of his unbelief (which by God’s grace, was only temporary).
How have you struggled with completely believing God, and how did He reveal Himself to you?
Read Luke 1:57-66
After 9 long months of silence, Zechariah showed his faith in God as his speech was restored. Apart from breaking with tradition by naming his son John, in which other ways do we see evidence of true faith in Zechariah?
Read Luke 1:67-79
How does Zechariah present the Gospel in verses 67-70 and 77-79?
Who are the enemies he refers to in verses 71 and 74, and what is the deeper spiritual meaning here?
What is salvation?