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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;

Jesus said to His disciples plainly, ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33b). It’s not a matter of if but when. But as in the Isaiah passage, along with the prediction of difficulty there also goes the promise of something beautiful.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

²⁵ He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

²⁶ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!”

So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, ²⁷ and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. (Daniel 3:24-27).

I am reminded of the wonderful hymn, ‘How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord? Note particularly verses 3 and 4, but it’s all good!

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.

In order to live the Christian life well, we have to understand that we do not belong to ourselves. We are ‘doubly’ the Lord’s we might well say: both by creation and new creation. We’ve been ‘redeemed’ – bought back from the slave market, not with ”silver or gold”…”but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pe.1:19). We have come ‘under new management.’

This truth is a comfort to us. He will be with us in all circumstances. He takes full responsibility for His own property. He will never leave or forsake us.

But it is also a challenge. It has very practical implications for every area of our lives – including our sexuality:

 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. (1 Cor.6:18-20).

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Ro.7:4).

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...

…Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

It has been said that ”Fear not” is the most frequently repeated command in the Bible. Probably we need its repetition because we are so prone to fear. If we can fully grasp the implications of the gospel, we will understand that believers really have nothing to fear, not in any ultimate sense. But living as frail, flawed people in a fallen world, we are likely to have to fight in order to live fear-free. However, we are not alone in our struggle. There is a part of Zechariah’s ‘Benedictus’ that we didn’t really focus on when we read it recently:

“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. (Luke 1:68-75).

Whatever God commands He also enables. If He says to do (or not do) something, He will help us, if we trust Him.

‘Fear knocked at the door; faith answered, and there was nobody there.’

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.