Tuesday, January 29, 2019 – Luke 1:76-77
Advent of John the Baptist, Pt. 7
Zachariah’s Great Praise, Pt. 5 – For Sending John to Teach
Salvation.
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
The
Gospel of Luke
II. The Identification of the Son of Man
with Men, Luke 1:5-4:13.
C. The Advent of John the Baptist, vs. 57-80.
1. The Birth of John and rejoicing, vs. 57-58.
2. The Circumcision and Naming of John, vs. 59-66.
3. Zachariah’s Proclamation and Prophecy, vs. 67-80.
3. Zachariah’s Proclamation and
Prophecy, vs. 67-80.
c. Praise to God for keeping His promise to Zachariah, in giving him a
son to be the forerunner to the Messiah, vs. 76-77.
Vs. 76
Luke 1:76, “And you, child, will be
called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO
PREPARE HIS WAYS.”
In the Greek,
this begins with KAI SU DE, “and you
also,” now pointing to Zachariah’s “child,”
PAIDON. This child “will be called,”
the Future, Passive, Indicative of KALEO, “the
prophet,” PROPHETES also used in vs.
70, “of the Most High,” HUPSISTOS
also used in vs. 32, 35, for God the
Father.
What a
privilege this was for Zachariah. What a privilege it was for John! In fact,
the Lord Jesus would later say in Luke
7:28, “I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than
John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
John was the
greatest and last of the OT prophets. His ministry was to usher in a new
Dispensation, the Age of Grace, a.k.a., the Church Age, through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. John had the great privilege to announce the coming of the
One who would “make the crooked paths straight and bring the salvation of God,”
Luke 3:5-6. But, the Church Age
believer has a special union with Christ and spiritual relationship with the
Father that OT saints, such as John, did not have. Because of our union with
Jesus Christ, being His body and bride, Church Age believers are “greater.”
Also, note Luke 7:28 says, “born of women,” that is earthly speech.
Yet, the believer is born of God, spiritually. Therefore, as great as John was
among humans, the believer, Old and New Testament, are greater spiritually than
John’s earthly. But remember, John too had a spiritual birth in the
Dispensation of Israel and his spiritual is greater than his physical.
We can only
imagine Zachariah’s great joy at this point, as he focuses his eyes on the
little baby boy in his arms and declares that he will be a great prophet to
usher in the Messiah. There had not been a prophet for Israel in over four
centuries. Now, his son would be a great and unique one, as he will be the
forerunner. “He will soften the ground.
He will till the soil of Israel’s heart. He will not be the Savior, but John
will make things ready for the Savior by teaching people how they are to be
saved. John will be a giant index finger pointing the way to God’s salvation
from sin.” (Christ-Centered Exposition.)
Then, we see
something of John’s ministry, “you shall
go,” is the Future, Middle Deponent, Indicative of the Verb PROPOREUOMAI,
προπορεύομαι that means, “go before, precede.” It comes from the Preposition
PRO, “before,” and the Verb POREUOMAI, “to go, depart, travel, walk, etc.”
With this, we
have a double emphasis using the Preposition ENOPION, ἐνώπιον that means, “before, in
the sight of, or in the presence of.” It is used quite extensively by Luke,
Paul, and John, cf. vs. 6, 15, 17, 19,
75. Therefore, he was to “go before
in the presence of.”
PROPOREUOMAI
is only used here and in Acts 7:40,
in the NT. There, it is used of Israel who desired to “make false gods to go before” them, instead
of waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain. Given the context in both
passages, the word means more than just going before; it connotes preparing the
way for someone who is to come, and that someone is God. So, we see the deity
of Jesus Christ in view as the God/man, who would come to bring redemption and
salvation. That is also seen in this text as the word KURIOS for “the Lord,” comes next, which too speaks
of the Deity of Jesus Christ. All of this is a double emphasis on John’s
ministry and the Deity of Jesus Christ, showing the great privilege and
responsibility John had.
Sometimes we
tend to underrate the work of John the Baptist. We think of him simply as the
one who came to prepare the way of the Lord, and we forget that he also
presented a message of grace, a definite proclamation of the gospel. It was he
who said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world,” John 1:29. Could you get a clearer gospel
message than that anywhere? That is the gospel of the grace of God in all its
simplicity. It was given to John to point the Savior out, not merely as the
King of Israel, not merely as the One who was to fulfill the promises and reign
in righteousness over all the world, but as the One who was to provide
salvation for sinful men. It is only through Him that salvation comes.
Then we have
something of what John would do, “prepare
His ways,” HETOIMAZO AUTOS HODOS. It means that John would witness and
evangelize prior to Christ beginning His ministry, so that the people would be
prepared or ready to receive Him. This is in fulfillment of the prophesy given
in Isa 40:3 and Mal 3:1, as John also stated in Luke 3:4, and of the Elijah figure foretold in Mal 4:5 and vs. 17, cf.
Mat 17:10-13; Mark 9:11-13.
Isa 40:3, “A voice is calling, ‘Clear
the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for
our God’.”
Mal 3:1, “‘Behold, I am going to send
My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek,
will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom
you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Mal 4:5, “Behold, I am going to send
you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the
LORD.” Cf. Mat 11:1, 14; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27.
As Jesus
stated in Mat 11:14-15, “And if you are
willing to accept it, John himself is
Elijah who was to come. 15He who has
ears to hear, let him hear.”
Therefore, in
fulfillment of Isaiah’s, Malachi’s, and Gabriel’s prophesy, vs 17, Zachariah now prophesied about
his son.
Vs. 77
Luke 1:77, “To give to His people the
knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”
John will “give,” the Aorist, Active, Infinitive
of DIDOMI, “to his people,” LAOS
AUTOS, “knowledge,” GNOSIS,
“knowledge, doctrine, wisdom,” “of
salvation,” SOTERIA.
Israel had a
false idea that the Messiah’s salvation would be from political evil. John was
needed to tell them that it was from sin that God proposed to deliver them.
This would not be theoretical knowledge, but personal knowledge of the inward
experience of salvation as the result of God’s Divine gift. This phrase, “knowledge of salvation,” is unique in
Scripture and Christianity. It implies the aspect of experience that would only
be realized through the “forgiveness of
sin.”
In this, John
would bypass ritualistic religion and go right to the heart of spiritual life.
Salvation that was earlier couched primarily in political terms, vs. 69-75, now takes on a spiritual
quality.
This
salvation is given, “by the forgiveness
of their sins,” EN APHESIS AUTOS HAMARTIA.
“Forgiveness,” is the Noun APHESIS,
ἄφεσις from the Verb APHIEMI. It means, “release, forgiveness, deliverance,
suspension of punishment, pardoned, etc.” Its roots mean, “to send away.” It is
actually a synonym of APOLUTROSIS, “release, redemption, deliverance,” of Luke 21:28.
Luke 21:28, “But when these things
begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
is drawing near.”
Figuratively,
it was used in the Classical Greek language as a technical legal term for
“releasing” someone from a legal obligation, such as the forgiving of a debt,
and means, “remittance or forgiveness.” In the Bible, the LXX of the OT and the
NT, both the noun and the verb are used 45 times in regard to our sins. The KJV
uses, “remission.”
Forgiveness
is the principle component of the expression of God’s mercy. Forgiveness is the
principle result of redemption. The basic expression of salvation brought
through Jesus is forgiveness, which is the taking away of our load of guilt and
giving us freedom to reach the potential God created in us.
Therefore,
the two major themes of these praises, (Mary’s and Zachariah’s), is God’s mercy
and redemption that are clearly in view here, and the next verse. And remember,
the name John means, “God is merciful,” and Zechariah’s whole song celebrates
God’s wonderful acts of mercy which spring from the fact that the essence of
His being is mercy. Therefore, God’s mercy is demonstrated and fulfilled in
forgiveness.
The thing
forgiven is “our sins,” AUTOS
HAMARTIA, ἁμαρτία that means “sin, sinful deed, or sinfulness.” This implies
that God will treat the sinner as if he had not committed sin.
This too
fulfills prophecy; that found in Jer
31:34, “‘They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their
iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’.”
Of John it is
stated in Luke 3:3, “And he came into
all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins.”
Luke shows
that the key enemies are not other people, such as the Romans, but the devil
and sin for which one needs forgiveness in order to find peace, vs. 79. Future “salvation” in Isaiah
includes deliverance from political oppressors; but, as here, it is predicated
upon Israel’s restoration to Divine favor through forgiveness of their sins.
Zechariah’s
prophecy defines John’s life in relationship to Jesus’s life and mission. John’s
task was a significant one in holy history: showing the Jewish people their
need for salvation and directing the lost to the forgiveness of sins. John did
not “prepare the way” by teaching that the true “salvation” was to be found in
mere deliverance from the yoke of the Roman Empire. To the contrary, he taught
that salvation was found in the “'forgiveness of sin.” He thus not only gave
“knowledge of salvation” in the sense that he announced the fact that it would
be given, but also in the sense that he clearly taught what it consisted of.
John was not a preacher of revolt, as the turbulent and impure patriots of the
day would have liked him to be, but of repentance. His work was to awaken the
consciousness of sin and the need for a Savior, and so to kindle desires for a
salvation which was deliverance from sin, the only yoke that truly enslaves.
Eph 1:7, “In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of His grace.”
From this we
also see that, all lasting meaning is found when we define our lives as John
did his. Greatness comes from serving the Lord, not from serving ourselves.
Greatness comes when we, like John, say, “We
must decrease; Jesus must increase,” John 3:30. The prophet of salvation never
replaces the bringer of salvation.
Acts 5:31, “He (Jesus) is the one whom God exalted to His
right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins.”
“When John baptized, it was for
remission of sins. His baptism was the recognition, on the part of the people, that
they were sinners and deserved to die. As they went down into the waters of
baptism, they were saying as it were, “We ought to die for our sins.” But John
told of One who was coming to pay the penalty for those sins, and the people
believed the message, and so rejoiced in the knowledge of forgiveness.” (H.A. Ironside Expository Commentary).
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