It had been many months since Zacharias had spoken a word. But the last thing he communicated silently was on a writing tablet confirming that the name of his son would be John. And then his voice suddenly returned. When it did, “he spake, and praised God” (Luk 1:64).1 But praise was not the only thing flowing from his lips. Zacharias was “filled with the Holy Spirit2 and prophesied” (v67 ESV). The priest had become a prophet.
Verses 67-79 record what is often referred to as the Benedictus, a Latin translation of the first word Zacharias spoke: “Blessed.” Like Mary’s song, his too is filled with Scripture. Mary quoted mostly from the Psalms while Zacharias cited the prophets (especially in verses 76-79). One function of the Benedictus is that it answers the question about John: “What then will this child be?” (v66 NET). The end of Zacharias’ song will tell us.
The hymn is made up, then, of both praise and prophecy – praise to God for remembering His covenants with David and Abraham (vv68-75), and prophecies about John and Jesus (vv76-79).
The Praise Portion
First, notice Zacharias’ praise to God for remembering His covenant with David (vv68-71). “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David” (vv68-69). Obviously, Zacharias was aware of the lineage of Mary and Joseph; they both came from David’s line, so he knew they had royal blood in their veins. And because Mary, in particular, had royal blood, the son in her womb did also. Additionally, Zacharias had heard what Mary told them about Gabriel’s visit, promising that her virgin-born son would be given the throne of His father David (v32), fulfilling the covenant the Lord made with him in 2 Samuel 7. Zacharias believed that message and praised God for it.
In the first movement of his song, Zacharias did what Mary did: he used prophetic past tenses to describe the coming of the Messiah and the redemption this Son of David would accomplish (“He hath visited … hath redeemed … hath raised up …”). What he sang about was as good as done. Interestingly, the first phrase of the Benedictus gives us another David connection. It was David who said “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel” (1Ki 1:48) in relation to his son Solomon sitting upon his throne. Now that phrase is on the lips of Zacharias. Therefore, “the first son of David and the ultimate Son of David were celebrated with identical praise to God.”3
Zacharias refers to the Messiah as the “horn of salvation” (v69), symbolizing strength and power to deliver His people (see Psa 148:14).4 The Horn would accomplish this deliverance in two ways. First, He would bring about redemption (v68), releasing His people from terrible bondage. Second, the Horn would save Israel from their enemies and from the hand of all who hate her (v71). Later, New Testament Scriptures would describe this bondage as spiritual, not just physical. Christ would release His people from their bondage to sin by the shedding of His own precious blood. Spiritual release would precede a physical one. The physical would be delayed because the nation would reject Jesus as their Messiah (13:34-35; 19:41-44), something of which Zacharias was obviously unaware when he spoke these words.
But the deliverance Zacharias expected and for which he praised God definitely had an earthly component to it, as verses 71 and 74 indicate. He might have been thinking of verses such as Leviticus 26:6-7: “And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid …. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.” Or perhaps Micah 4:4 came to mind: “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.” Zacharias did not know that this deliverance would come in two distinct phases, tied to the Messiah’s two comings. He did not have the perspective of Calvary. What he knew was that the long-awaited Messiah, the promised Son of David, had come. And Zacharias’ overflowing heart could not keep silent.
Second, listen to Zacharias praise God for remembering His covenant with Abraham (vv72-75): “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham” (vv72-73). Zacharias quite naturally moves from the Davidic Covenant to the Abrahamic Covenant because the promise to David rested upon the original promise to Abraham. Because he mentions “being delivered out of the hand of our enemies” (v74), Zacharias may have been thinking of what the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 22:17: “And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” Zacharias was likely envisioning the Messiah coming in glorious power, smashing the might of Rome and bringing relief to His oppressed people Israel. And his hope was an honorable one, for it was not only grounded in the promises of God but was for a holy purpose: that His people “might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life” (vv74-75). But that fulfillment would have to wait. We are awaiting it still. But make no mistake, God will fulfill His promises to David and Abraham. Christ, the Son of David, will return, defeat His enemies, and deliver His people Israel after a time of terrifying tribulation. He will establish an everlasting earthly kingdom, and Israel will serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before the Lord Jesus Christ. In that day, a Benedictus will be sung by the whole nation: “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD” (Psa 118:26).
The Prophetic Portion
With verse 76 comes a shift in Zacharias’ song. He begins using future tense verbs. Not only is his topic different but his grammar is also. This last portion of his song is filled with prophecy. It is not now two figures in the past, David and Abraham, that occupy his mind, but two figures in the future, John and Jesus. His own son John will be “the prophet of the Most High” (v76 ESV), while Jesus will be “the Sunrise … from on high” (v78 ESV), lighting the path of peace. Verse 76 says that John will prepare the way for the Lord while the next verses explain how he will do it: “to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God” (vv77-78). John’s ministry would be different in many ways, but one blessing that came from his teaching was “knowledge of salvation.” How could those hearing his message know they had salvation? By the forgiveness of sins. Luke tells us John preached this wonderful gift of forgiveness (3:3), truly a blessing from “the tender mercy of our God.”
But this forgiveness could only be secured by the second Person Zacharias sang about. John would proclaim salvation and forgiveness, but the Lord Jesus would provide it. John prepared the way; Jesus is the way! John was the shining lamp who attracted many in the nation to Christ. But Christ is Himself the Light of the World who will “guide our feet in the way of peace” (v79).
Zacharias uses the prophecy from Isaiah 9 to describe what the Sunrise, the Messiah, will do. The people of Israel are portrayed as a caravan that has lost its way, overtaken by the night. They are stranded in total darkness and even begin to think of death as its shadow encroaches upon them. They do not know what to do nor do they know where to turn. And then it happens. The first beams of sunrise are upon them and they can see the way to safety. Zacharias can see those first beams and praises God that “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” (vv78-79 ESV). Indeed, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited … his people” (v68). How did He visit them? By the particular visit, the long-awaited visit of the Sunrise, the Light of the World!
The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,
The Light of the World is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in;
The Light of the World is Jesus!
Come to the light, ‘tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, but now I can see:
The Light of the World is Jesus!5
Can You Sing?
We close this article by noting some penetrating questions that come out of Zacharias’ song. Ask yourself if you can praise God for these things.
- Do you have “knowledge of salvation”? Are your sins forgiven (v77)? The Bible says we can be sure we are saved. The apostle John wrote, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life …” (1Jn 5:13).
- Have you realized that Jesus Christ is the Sunrise promised here (v78), the Light of the World? Have you trusted Him as personal Savior, realizing He died and rose again for you?
- If you are saved, are you serving the Lord “in holiness and righteousness” (vv74-75)? Christian service is not simply activity for the Lord. It has a moral quality to it.
- Is it your desire, as was that of Zacharias, to serve the Lord “all the days of [your] life” (v75)? Service for Him is not to be merely intermittent, but is to characterize all of our days.
- Are you, by God’s grace, walking in “the way of peace” (v79)? The Lord Jesus said to His own, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Joh 14:27).
- Do you praise God for fulfilling the many promises of His Word?
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
2 Zacharias is the last in his family to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 1 (see verses 15,41 in relation to John and Elisabeth).
3 R. Kent Hughes, Luke Volume One: That You May Know the Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 74.
4 This imagery of power and strength would be later seen in the horned helmets of warriors.
5 Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)
