It’s time to sing again. Last week we sang Mary’s Song. Today I want us to sing Zechariah’s Song. His song is the second of four songs of Advent that Luke chose to include in his Gospel. No one knows how good a singer old Zach was, but the song he composed was really terrific. And what great timing—it began immediately after publicly agreeing with his wife that the name they had chosen for their son was John. The family had thought the name for the baby should have been Zechariah, after his dad. God must have concluded that John the Baptist was easier to say than Zach the Baptist!

 

In any event, the second song of Advent is the subject of this week’s “Tuesday Morning.” It is attached below. Read on whenever you are ready to sing. Let’s hear it from the top! It’s Advent. It’s time to sing.

 

Tom Barnard

Another Old Singer

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Zach’s Song

Tom Barnard

 

is name was Zechariah. If he had been the father of anyone but John the Baptist, history probably wouldn’t have remembered him at all. But because he was the father of John, his story is very significant. Zechariah’s story is recorded in Luke 1:5-25. His song is recorded in Luke 1:67-80.

 

Zechariah was a priest of the division of Abijah—a descendant of Aaron. Elizabeth, his wife, was also a descendant of Aaron. They were a special couple. But they had no children, which no doubt grieved them both. We can only imagine how many times they fasted and prayed for a child, only to arrive at old age with their hopes for a family of their own unfulfilled. They were childless. That was about to change.

 

One day, while Zechariah was performing his priestly duties, his routine was interrupted. It was his role that day to enter the temple and burn incense, while worshippers outside prayed. Zechariah was stunned to discover that he was not alone at the altar of incense—another presence was standing near him. It was an angel of the Lord, who said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:13-15).

 

This was too much for an old man to hear. He could not believe such a thing was happening to him, and to his wife. His spontaneous moment of unbelief cost him his voice. The angel told him that for the next nine months he would not be able to speak out loud, until the day of the naming of his child. Bad timing.

 

And so it happened just as the angel had said. Elizabeth conceived, and in due time their son was born.
 

On the eighth day following his birth, family and friends gathered to witness the circumcision of the baby. When it came time to name the child, those present assumed he would be named Zechariah, after his father. Elizabeth protested, saying, “No! He is to be called John.” Zechariah was still mute, but he wrote on a writing tablet, “His name is John.” Immediately his muteness was gone, and he began to sing.

 

Each line of Zechariah’s song tells part of the story of God’s plan to redeem lost men and women. Here is the message of the song Zechariah sang that day.

 

·        God himself has come. “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come” (v. 68). Faith had become sight. The kings and prophets of the Old Testament had not returned in the flesh. But God had. Centuries of prophecy were about to be fulfilled.

·        God has come to save. The message God wanted sung is the message of salvation. God had come to bring “salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham” (vv. 71-73).

·        God has come to enable. Rescuing the lost was only part of God’s plan. His plan included enabling them “to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all of (their) days” (vv. 74-75). Redeeming the lost was the first step; enabling them to live powerful lives was the second.

·        God has chosen John to introduce Christ to the world. Zechariah sang to his infant son, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (vv. 76-77). God’s plan had been set in motion. John would be part of it.

·        God’s Son would be a light to those in darkness. Zechariah prophesied that Christ would come to “shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide (their) feet into the path of peace” (vv. 78-79). In the Fourth Gospel the Apostle said: “Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:4-5 NLT). A spiritual dawning had begun. The night was over.

 

It’s Advent. It’s time to sing again. It’s time to sing of the Savior who brings light to a world lost in sin. It’s time to sing of One who enables believers to live victoriously. Joy to the world, the Lord has come!