ZECHARIAH’S SONG

“He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David . . . to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” Luke 1:69, 74, 75

After nine or so months, Zechariah’s silence was broken in the act of naming his new son. After his encounter with the angel in the temple, his silence gave him all the more time to reflect on the reality that God was doing something significant.

Undoubtedly, he must have played the conversation with the angel over and over in his mind. We are able to read the thought-out, pent-up response in Zechariah’s song recorded in Luke 1:68–79. It was a song of praise for God’s intervention in the life of his family, celebrating the birth of their longed-for son. But it was also a song of praise for God’s intervention in the nation and in history. The angel had given suggestions of the significance of this son and the call to transformation he would bring to the nation (see Luke 1:16, 17).

It seems that Zechariah had also noted the angel’s “Do not be afraid” and figured out that it involved more than simply a response to his momentary fear at the angel’s appearance. Much more than that, this new intervention of God in history would “enable us to serve him without fear.” The relationship between God and His people, between God and all humanity, was entering a new phase. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the old priest and new father recognized that this was something to celebrate. Hearing and amplifying the angel’s “Do not be afraid,” he proclaimed the rescue of his people and a restored relationship with God that would shine a new light into the darkness and “guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:79).