[Text: Luke 1:68-80] “Who is Jesus? The Hero of the Story.”

We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the promises of God from Genesis. This Advent season, we’re going to spend some time looking at the time in the Story when the promises broke into reality. We’ll do it by answering the question, “Who is Jesus?”

[Read (starting in v. 57 for context) and Pray – Father, your people of old waited for you to come and rested in your promises. Help us now to do the same, believing that you have come in the person of Jesus and will come again to complete the redemption begun in him. In his name we pray. Amen.]

Think about your favorite hero from any story you’ve ever read – comic book or novel, fiction or true. Who is it?  Okay, think about the moment in the story when everything is at its most hopeless, when the damsel is in her greatest distress. What happens in her heart when she sees her hero show up?

Despair gives way Hope. Uncertainty yields to Confidence. When her eyes leave the Terror in front of her land on the face of her hero, fear melts away and in its place is a sudden, piercing joy.

That “distress replaced by joy” is such a part of the Story of Scripture. We’ve heard it repeated in Genesis and it infuses every part of the Old Testament. Time and time again, Yahweh came to people in distress and when Yahweh came, making promises to them, hope and confidence returned to His people and though their circumstances did not always immediately change, their fears were relieved and joy arrived.

Now, imagine yourself in Zechariah’s life at the end of the Old Testament, a time of deep distress for the people of God.

- You have the word of God from Moses and the prophets, you know the promises of redemption God has made, but Yahweh has not spoken a new word to His people in nearly 400 years! Silence can do crazy things to your heart. And on top of that…

- You live in a day when Romans occupy the Promised Land and, while these foreigners give you some freedom in worship, you feel the heavy hand of Rome on your life. And the Romans had been in power for nearly 70 years…and before them it was an increasingly corrupt Jewish dynasty…and before them the post-Alexander-the-Great, Seleucid dynasty who had cruelly oppressed and suppressed the Jewish people. A long night of fear has hung over your people for centuries. And on top of that…

- Now that the Romans are in charge of everything, your work as a priest is done under a high priest who was an appointee of the Romans. The leadership of the temple of Yahweh…works for the pantheistic Romans! And on top of that…

- Your work is done in the Second Temple (the first was destroyed more than 500 years prior) and, unlike the first, the presence of God had never come down on this temple. Your work is done in devotion to Yahweh, but not done in the presence of Yahweh as it was in the first temple. And on top of that…

- There’s your own heart! You know your own heart and know the deep need of forgiveness that is in you. And while you’ve embraced the Lord as your hope for life and peace, you also know that things still aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. You know that because you’ve heard the Story so far and you’ve heard all the promises of God about redemption and forgiveness and restoration – but you know that that Story is still in search of an ending – the promises haven’t come true yet. And so you’re waiting and watching and longing for the rescue to happen, for Yahweh, the Hero, to come.

All of this is stacked on your heart like stones upon stones and the weight of that distress is crushing. But after everything Zechariah has heard from the angel and now seen with his own eyes, he recognizes…something is happening. He’s putting together his own story and the story of Mary, who had lived with Zechariah and Elizabeth his wife for a few months. Mary told them of her baby, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, whose name will be Jesus, Immanuel, who will be called the Son of the Most High and will sit on the throne of David forever and ever – a kingdom with no end.

And so, from Zechariah’s lips we hear this announcement from Yahweh saying that the Turn in the Story has come, the good unraveling has arrived, and the long dark night is already being overcome by the rising sun. The Hero of the Story has come at last.

This announcement from Yahweh is such a gift to Zechariah and his people, but it is also a gift to us in our time in the Story. It’s a gift because when we see feel the weight of our circumstances on our shoulders, this Word tells us that the Strong Savior has already come to rescue us. When we feel the weight of this World’s oppression pressing us, this Word shouts that the victory belongs to Yahweh and the Champion who wins it has already come and fought for us. When we feel the weight of distress over a world that shouldn’t be this way and the distress that our own sinful hearts are responsible for all the brokenness we see, this Word speaks to us of forgiveness and mercy and holiness and righteousness and peace – peace! – that been given to us from Yahweh Himself, through our Lord, Jesus Christ.

So hear in this man’s worship the message of the Gospel; hear the victory of God promised in the Garden achieved, the redemption promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob accomplished, and the restoration promised by the prophets proclaimed as fulfilled. And his own son would prepare the way for the Rescuer to do his work.

When John was born Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the people of God. And after nearly 400 years of silence from the LORD, Zechariah’s message was essentially this: “This is it! This is the time in the Story when Yahweh comes, when fear of darkness is removed and the Sun rises. This is the time when everything He promised is breaking through. Everything promised is coming true! This is the time that we’ve all been waiting for! It’s the arrival of the rescue; of the Rescuer who brings forgiveness and peace – the Shalom of God we have lived without for so long. Real peace is here at last.”

And every word of Zechariah’s praise and message is saturated with the word of God from the Story of the Old Testament. In the 12 verses of Zechariah’s Benedictus there are at least 36 direct references to Old Testament promises – and I’m sure there are more echoes and allusions that number doesn’t include!

These echoes of the promises from earlier in the Story mean that this rescue God sent wasn’t a “Plan B,” but had been in the works ever since the beginning. So, what Zechariah was announcing was simply this: Yahweh made promises and now He’s keeping them. And because He is keeping His promises, we can serve Him without fear in the peace He gives us.

And so the first words out of his mouth are the words of a man in distress who has seen his Rescuer coming. Zechariah says, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel…” That’s his starting point. That’s the most pressing word that jumps past his lips because of what he recognizes is happening. As he sees the promise Redeemer breaking into reality the recognition of that isn’t just a fact to be known, an intellectual truth to be acknowledged. The coming of the Hero is a day for Zechariah to celebrate and so he raises his voice to bless and worship his promise-keeping God.

In his book, The Biblical Museum , T.W. Aveling tells this story: “In the year 1830, on the night preceding the first of August, the day the slaves [of the] West Indian Colonies were to come into possession of the freedom promised them, many of them, we are told, never went to bed at all. Thousands, and tens of thousands of them, assembled in their places of worship, engaging in devotional duties, and singing praises to God, waiting for the first streak of the light of the morning of that day on which they were to be made free. Some of their number were sent to the hills, from which they might obtain the first view of the coming day, and, by a signal, [make known] to their brethren down in the valley the dawn of the day that was to make them men, and no longer, as they had [been to that point], mere goods and [property], — [but] men with souls that God had created to live forever. How eagerly must these men have watched for the morning!”

Zechariah is your brother who stood on the top of the farthest hill and saw the first light of the dawn of your freedom. And he shouts out the arrival of your salvation but his thoughts aren’t really on you. His thoughts aren’t first and foremost even on himself. His mind and heart is captivated by the Savior and God of Israel – the whole people of God – and so he praises and worships and rejoices in the God who has come to rescue and claim a people for Himself.

Zechariah models for us what is always the right response when we recognize the grace of God – worship. To borrow a phrase from John Piper, Zechariah “makes much of God.” And it flows out of him so easily because he remembers the distress of the dark night of sin – so many years of oppression endured, so many years of longing to hear a word of hope from the LORD, so deep a need for forgiveness and restoration – and now the wait for the sunrise is over. How can he not praise the Lord when his soul is satisfied at the arrival of his Redeemer?

But maybe worship isn’t as easy for you right now. Maybe the weight of your circumstances – or even the weight of sin – still sits on your shoulders and threatens to sink you into the earth. What are you supposed to do?

Go back. Go back to the Story. Go back to this Story and listen to what Zechariah says has happened, not only for you but for all the people of God throughout time. This is where we each must go when fears rise again and doubt clouds our thinking. Listen to Zechariah as he tells us the Story and the good news of the Hero’s arrival.

In the first several verses, Zechariah gives the reasons for his worship, and he gives them by announcing the fulfillment of the promises made earlier in the Story. He blesses the Lord God of Israel (v.68) “for (he gives his reasons) he has visited and redeemed his people.” When you can’t worship and your soul is unsettled and restless, remember that before you could come to the Lord in worship, He came to you. In Exodus 4, it was the LORD who visited His people in their affliction in Egypt. In Psalm 111, it was the LORD who sent redemption to his people and promised a fuller redemption as He spoke through the prophet Isaiah (43:1). Notice the tense of the verbs. Zechariah says, “he HAS visited and redeemed.” Now, Zechariah knows that John was just born and Jesus hasn’t yet been born. And yet because of what he’s seen and heard from the Lord he knows that the redemption of the people of God is as good as accomplished now that Yahweh is on the move.

Zechariah worships because the Lord (v. 69) “has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,” echoing the LORD’s promises to King David in 2 Samuel 7 that through David would come a strong, eternal King who would reign forever by the steadfast love of God. The “horn of salvation” is none other than Yahweh Himself in 2 Samuel 22:3 as David celebrated the strength of Yahweh and His power to deliver His people from all their enemies.

But none of this is a surprise to Zechariah. He recognized what Yahweh was doing because it was all “as (the Lord) spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” From the prophets, indeed from the promise of God to the serpent in the Garden, he knew that the promised salvation would be a rescue of God’s people from their enemies and “from the hand of all who hate us.” And the rescue would be the display of mercy Yahweh had promised to Israel’s fathers in the Covenant Yahweh had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Zechariah looked back to the Story and knew that this redemption Yahweh was working was meant to free the people of God from all fear. And because fear was gone, the people of God would serve their Lord as they were made to do, to worship him, to stand before Him in “holiness and righteousness…all our days.” Could it be? How could Zechariah, how could any man with a sinful heart stand in the presence of God with holiness and righteousness?

It would be possible because the redemption Yahweh was accomplishing through Jesus was not merely a military or political triumph that would kick the Romans out of the Holy Land. Zechariah understood that their need was deeper and Yahweh was meeting their deepest need.

The salvation Yahweh had brought would reach into the deepest pits of human hearts and rescue people from what they could never free themselves from by force of might or political maneuvering. In v. 77, the message that Yahweh gave through Zechariah, the mission that his son, John, was sent to perform, was “to give knowledge of salvation to (the people of God) in the forgiveness of their sins….”

When it’s hard to worship, when the feeling just isn’t there, go back and think on this phrase, letting the glory, the weight of it sink in. Because Jesus came, there is no condemnation for you who by faith belong to him. Because Jesus came, you don’t have to be afraid. Because Jesus came, all the anger, all the lust, all the controlling, all the laziness, all the greed, all the sin that still rages in our hearts is forgiven and removed from us as far as the east is from the west. Hear that Gospel and hold it close to your breast and rest in Jesus who has saved you and won by his blood the forgiveness of your sins.

Your forgiveness comes, v. 78 tells us, “because of the tender mercy of our God….” And it is the same mercy that Zechariah understands will cause the “sunrise (to) 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.”

The image of the sunrise is one of the favorites of the prophets as they saw from afar the coming of the Messiah.[1] You hear it in Isaiah 60,

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

And again in Malachi 4,

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”

John would grow up and become strong in spirit and would one day appear to Israel and fulfill his calling to prepare the way for the Lord. But for Zechariah and for you, the arrival of Jesus in our Story is the rising of the Sun and the chasing away of the night. It is the turn in the Story that can still pierce our hearts with a sudden joy that our God loved us enough to send His only Son into the world we shattered with our own sin. He loves us and came to rescue us and to save us. That’s the truth that begins to work against the lie we so often believe – that lie that whispers “God doesn’t really love you.”

Part of our life together in the Body of Christ is a calling to remind each other that the Savior has come and he has come with forgiveness and grace and peace to us. And each time we forget the Gospel and sin or sorrow or distress darkens our mind, we have God’s Word and our brothers and sisters – don’t neglect the gift of community God has given you – we have God’s Word and our brothers and sisters to remind us of the Gospel so that the sudden joy can return and chase the darkness and fear away once again. It’s the life we live – forgetting and remembering; repenting and believing – but there is hope that it won’t always be this way.

There is hope because this is not the end of the Story. And in Christ we hear more promises from the Lord – promises of more grace as God continues His work in us, promises of eternal life in the age to come when all our grief and distress will be no more. Both now and in the world to come there is the hope of perfect peace, all because Jesus, the Hero, has come and brought the sunrise of light and peace with him.

[Pray – Father, we confess that we so often neglect Your Word and forget the promises you’ve made to us and then we wonder that our joy diminishes and think that you’ve abandoned us. But we praise and worship you, Father, for the gift of your Son and in him we know that all your promises are true. And the fulfillment of those promises, even the ones yet to be obtained, don’t depend on our faithfulness, but on yours. And thank makes us thankful, Father, and hopeful that Your peace is ours now and will be ours fully in the age to come. We praise you and worship you and pray to you in the name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.]

[Transition to the Lord’s Supper]

As amazing as his arrival as the God-infant was, the healing and peace Jesus was sent to give to us would only be possible through something Zechariah, quite possibly, couldn’t have imagined, although we see it more clearly in the Story now that Jesus has come.

The forgiveness, holiness and righteousness that are ours by faith in Jesus did not come simply because Jesus was born. They are ours by faith because he died as the sacrifice for our sins. We experience the tender mercy of our God because Jesus knows the full measure of Yahweh’s wrath against sin. Our feet are led into the way of peace because Jesus’ feet were pierced and went down the way of death. This meal proclaims both your hope and the cost of you hope. It is the promise of forgiveness to all who believe in Jesus and the declaration that forgiveness was won for you only by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. See and smell and taste and feel the love of Jesus for you through this bread and this cup as he raises you to himself by his Spirit, declaring that he died for you and now lives for you, to take care of you, to encourage and strengthen you. He began this work when he came to us unlooked for. He will finish it. He promised.

[1] St. Luke Vol. I, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 12.