God Remembers His Promises

Often the psalms recorded in Scripture recount the promises of God, and His remembrance and fulfillment of those promises. Zacharias' Spirit-inspired proclamation recounts several of God's promises, and declares that God has now fulfilled them.

He refers to God's covenant with David, that there would always be an heir to sit on David's throne--a promise seen by the Jews as Messianic in nature. Now God was raising up the strength of salvation in the house of David, something promised by all of the prophets since the world began. The very first prophecy made, in Genesis 3:15, was one of Messianic salvation for a fallen race. What really strikes me about this particular declaration is that Zacharias was a priest, as was Elizabeth. They were of the tribe of Levi, not the family of David or the tribe of Judah. Zacharias wasn't speaking about the birth of his son, John. He was speaking about the child yet unborn, growing in the womb of his own young house guest.

The promises of Messianic salvation include guarantees of deliverance from their enemies, and from all who hated them. Through Jesus Christ, God was accomplishing that liberation--not just of the Jews, but of all mankind--from the greatest enemy of all, our adversary the devil.

And Zacharias sings of the mercy promised to the fathers through holy covenant, a covenant made with Abraham 2000 years in the past. The saving grace of God was not a back-up plan; it was not plan-B, or God's second choice for mankind. It was the only plan that God ever had, a plan that he reiterated every time He made a covenant with mankind--from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses to David and finally to us. His is a plan of salvation, instituted before time began. The Revelation calls Jesus the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and says that our names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. In other words...

Before there was a sinner, there was a savior.

Before there was a fall, there was a forgiver.

Before there was a ransom needed, there was a redeemer.

Jesus Christ the righteous. And Zacharias recognized the real reason that the time of salvation had come. They and us both have been delivered from the enemies of sin, sickness, satan and self that we might serve the Lord without fear, that we might live before Him in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives. But such service, such life, can only be experienced through the blessing that is Jesus Christ!