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But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush^[a] and Seba in your stead.
⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.
⁵ Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
    I will bring your children from the east
    and gather you from the west.
⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
⁷ everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

We’ll give certain individual parts of this section a little more attention over the coming days, but first of all I simply want to note how surprising the ”But now…” is after what we have read chapter 42:18-25. In spite of the sins of His people, God shows abundant mercy. He is determined to have a people who will be for His glory, and have them He will.

‘…the love of God, continually rebuffed, continually returns with the initiative…These verses give Israel in eloquent detail the assurance Christ gives to his church, that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.658.

‘Now the sun, breaking out thus of a sudden from behind a thick and dark cloud, shines with a pleasing surprise.’ Matthew Henry.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Here is a prayer to pray for your children, your grand-children, your great-grandchildren, your…well, it’s a good prayer for anyone really: that they will grow and become strong in spirit. There is the possibility that this could read that John became strong ”in the Spirit”. Really, though, however you take it, it’s two sides of the same coin. A person only becomes strong in spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Eph.3:16,17a).

Now, who are you going to pray for today?

⁶⁷ His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

⁶⁸ “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David
⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
⁷¹ salvation from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us—
⁷² to show mercy to our ancestors
    and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³     the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
    and to enable us to serve him without fear
⁷⁵     in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ 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,
⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Like Mary’s ‘Magnificat’, this, Zechariah’s ‘Benedictus’ (Latin for ‘Blessed’) is full of Old Testament resonance and allusions. The joyful notes of fulfilment blare out from its trumpets, and it all comes to a magnificent crescendo with the beautiful depiction of the Messiah’s coming being like a sunrise (78,79). I don’t know about you, but it causes me to think about Isaiah 8:22-9:

Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

For those of us who have also ‘seen the light’, we take our place next to Zechariah in the choir stalls. Those saved by grace want to sing about it. It truly is amazing.

 All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Re-reading the Christmas story in Luke’s gospel this year, I have been struck by the thought that these monumental, historic events took place in remote, out-of-the way places. This realisation is not new to me, but it has spoken to me in a fresh way, now that Jilly and I live in ”hill country”. We are located in a tiny village, close to a thousand feet above sea level, in a secluded and lesser known Yorkshire Dale called ‘Coverdale’.

In the 1950’s Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones preached a series of sermons on the subject of ‘Revival.’ A number of years ago I read them in print form, and I seem to recall him saying that the next revival is likely to break out in some obscure place no-one has ever heard of.

I often think about this. I have spent much of my life and ministry in fairly remote places that are unknown to many people. But God is everywhere. He is in the remote and hidden places too. Earlier this year, we attended a service in nearby Melmerby Methodist chapel, just a mile or so up the road from our home. It can probably comfortably seat around 50-60 people at the most. But the presence of God is palpably there. The lay-preacher who led the service said to me afterwards, ‘Coverdale has a rich spiritual heritage.’ We understand that, in the past, God has met with many people in this Dale, and raised up a significant number of preachers. Our prayer is, ‘Do it again Lord!’

There are many parts of the world where Christians may feel somewhat ‘out of the way.’ There are no palaces or centres of government for miles. But let us take heart that God has a habit of doing mighty works in such places.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2).

Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.

It is the preacher’s task to declare what ‘is’. It is not to voice personal opinions and preferences and traditions or to change the parts of the Bible we don’t like. There are many parts of God’s Book that do not chime with the modern mood, and which clash with secular values. It is not our job to change them for something more palatable – more in keeping with current tastes. Don’t re-write the Bible.

There are certain things that just are because God says they are. This is what we are called to proclaim. Our authority lies in God’s revelation, not in our own opinions.

”His name is John” because God says it is. Zechariah takes his stand on what God has said. This may be a deviation from the norm; a break with the cultural and traditional, but it is what God has said via the angel. Here he stands, he can do no other.

Obedience always brings blessing (64). The blessing may take many forms, but there is such freedom in bowing to the authority of Scripture.

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

Tradition!

It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is regularly good actually – preserving the best of the past and carrying it into the present. There are many fine and honourable traditions within cultures, societies, and in the church. ‘Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire’, it’s been said. Certainly it can be.

But it’s been said that the seven last words of a dying church are, ‘We never did it this way before.’

When God is doing a new thing, tradition must not get in the way. But tradition will want to, will try to. Tradition will put on its gloves and fight.

Tradition.

This is what Zechariah and Elizabeth ran up against when they wanted to call their baby ‘John’ (see v.61). It wasn’t the norm – not the done thing. But according to the word of God given by the angel, it was the will of God that Zechariah and Elizabeth’s baby should be so named. So tradition had to bow to God’s purpose.

Tradition can offer a good guide, but it must not become our jailer.

 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 

It was New Year’s day 1982 I think. I remember being in my cramped bed-sit in Morecambe, watching a Val Doonican special on the little colour TV someone had kindly passed on to me. The theme of the programme was ‘time’. Time truly is, as someone said, a one-way street, and we must move inexorably forward with it. That was 42 years ago, and I remember it as if it were yesterday. But there’s no going back, even if I wanted to (which I don’t!). Time marches on.

Today’s verse, however, is not simply about time per se, but God’s timing. It wasn’t only the biological time for Elizabeth to have her baby, because her gestation period was over. It was also about the divine timetable. Elizabeth’s ‘due date’ was known in heaven long before it became known on earth.

As we pray, and wait for the Lord, we may wonder whether we are facing a denial. But it may just be a delay.

“Mercy may seem slow, but it is sure. The Lord in his unfailing wisdom has appointed a time for the outgoings of his gracious power, and God’s time is the best time.” C.H.Spurgeon.

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Ro.12:15).

I suspect that for many people it is in some ways harder to ”Rejoice with those who rejoice” than it is to ”mourn with those who mourn”?

What is it that can make it hard for us to celebrate someone else’s blessing and success?

Martyn Lloyd Jones observed:

‘Because the one rejoicing has probably had a great success or bit of good fortune. Then this element of competition comes in…. It’s innate within human nature. We want to become high and great and important. It is one of the main things that happened to man after the Fall: he became proud and self-centered…

And so we find it easy to sympathize with people who are not successful. They are not in competition with us. We feel we are in a better position. We’re up and they’re down, so we can afford to weep with them. It’s more or less natural.‘

Abigail Wallace also notes: ‘…the self-preoccupied- whether with disappointment and hurt or with a sense of superiority- find it hard to rejoice in another’s success.’

PRAYER: Lord, please forgive us for pettiness, and small-heartedness – for the selfish jealousy which cripples us inside, and diminishes us in stature. Enlarge our hearts, and may the fruit of the Spirit grow abundantly within us.

‘Enlarge, inflame and fill my heart with boundless charity divine…’ Charles Wesley

And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me –
    holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants for ever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.’

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

There it is again – that emphasis on the reliability of God’s Word (54,55). Mary sang about ancient prophecies/promises which were coming to pass before her eyes, in her day, and in her body. God keeps His Word, and that should put a song in any heart.

 ‘For no word from God will ever fail.’ (1:37).

This is one of the most famous songs in Christianity. It’s often referred to as the ‘Magnificat’ because that is its first word in Latin.

‘It’s the gospel before the gospel, a fierce bright shout of triumph thirty weeks before Bethlehem, thirty years before Calvary and Easter. It goes with a swing and a stamp and a clap. It’s all about God, and it’s all about revolution. And it’s all because of Jesus – Jesus who’s only just been conceived, not yet born, but who has made Elizabeth’s baby leap for joy in her womb and has made Mary giddy with excitement and hope and triumph…God would have to win a victory over the bullies, the power-brokers, the forces of evil which people like Mary and Elizabeth knew all too well, living as they did in the dark days of Herod the Great, whose casual brutality was backed up with the threat of Rome. Mary and Elizabeth, like so many Jews of their time, searched the scriptures, soaked themselves in the psalms and prophetic writings which spoke of mercy, hope, fulfilment, reversal, revolution, victory over evil, and of God coming to the rescue at last.

All of that is poured into this song, like a rich, foaming drink that comes bubbling over the edge of the jug and spills out all round. Almost every word is a biblical quotation such as Mary would have known from childhood. Much of it echoes the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, the song which celebrated the birth of Samuel and all that God was going to do through him.’ Tom Wright: ‘Luke for Everyone’, pp.14,15.