What Child is This?

Sermon Transcript

We’ve been blessed recently at our church with somewhat of a baby boom, and it’s been a joy to see so many new parents. It’s fun to think about what they might be when they get older. Will they grow up to be like their parents? Is Serena destined to be a super-track-basketball combo athlete? Will Roslyn maintain the Kansas politeness of her parents, or will she become a true Philadelphian who pushes people out of the way on the subway?

What would a good life for those kids look like? Probably many of us would see college, a good job, and having a family of their own as part of that desirable life. I’m sure we’d all see good character as part of that equation.

In the passage we just read, it’s clear that this child, John, is not just destined to lead a good life, but one that is special to God and has significance for many people. This child was born to old parents well past childbearing age, and his birth was announced as an angel. He received a name that is different from any family members, and when he’s named, his father, who was formerly mute, miraculously starts speaking again. People can’t stop asking, “What then will this child be?”. So what does a blessed life, set apart as special to God, look like?

This birth of this child, John, announces the beginning of a new era of God’s relationship with his people. We’ll see that with this child’s birth, the time of mercy has come. Specifically, God’s promise has come, God’s covenant fulfilment has come, and God’s preparing prophet has come.

God’s promise has come

Our passage begins with a statement: “Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.” As we’ve been studying the book of Luke, we’ve mainly been looking at things that God has promised to do in the future. He promised Elizabeth and Zechariah through an angel that they would miraculously have a child in their old age. He promised Mary and Joseph that they would also have a son, though Mary was a virgin. But now, the time to make promises is ending, and the time to fulfil those promises has come with Elizabeth giving birth. God’s promise has come.

The reaction of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s neighbors throughout verses 57-66 is one of wonder at the amazing mercy shown to this couple who bore a son in their old age. Verse 65 tells us that “all who heard [these things] laid them up in their hearts”, meaning they reflected on them with a sense of awe and wonder. I apologize for putting a 3 point sermon within  a 3 point sermon, but there are (at least) 3 wonderful things that are worth rejoicing in about the birth of John and storing up in our hearts as we reflect on them. We should wonder at John’s birth, Zechariah’s belief, and Zechariah’s speech.

First, the very fact of John’s birth is wonderful. Luke 1:7 tells us that Elizabeth, his mother, was barren (incapable of having children) and that both his parents were old. When an angel announces John’s birth, he says, “how shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years”. And yet, what the angel said really did happen. Elizabeth became pregnant, and now the time had come for that child to be born.

Verse 59 tells us that Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives rejoiced because the Lord had shown great mercy to her. What great mercy she had received! J.C. Ryle comments on this verse, saying, “There was mercy in bringing her safely through her time of trial. There was mercy in making her the mother of a living child. Happy are those family circles, whose births are viewed in this light – as especial instances of ‘the mercy’ of the Lord.” There is reason to rejoice in the birth of every child as a mercy from the Lord. And because of the miraculous nature of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, there was all the more reason to rejoice for Elizabeth’s neighbors! Church family, do you rejoice like Elizabeth’s friends and neighbors every time someone receives the Lord’s mercy in the gift of a child? It may be especially challenging for some of you to do that, especially when you desire to receive similar mercy from the Lord and have not received it. But it is really possible to rejoice when others rejoice, because it truly is a mercy of the Lord every time a baby is born.

When was the last time you rejoiced because a neighbor, family member, or church member, especially of the household of faith, received mercy from the Lord, whether through childbirth, success at work, or just because of their joy and contentment in the Lord? When we do that, we glorify the God who acts mercifully by remembering his goodness. And as Romans 12:15 reminds us, we should also mourn with those who mourn as a way to show mercy and live in harmony with those who wait for mercy. But when we see the mercy of God come to someone else, we ought to rejoice with them, just as Elizabeth’s friends and neighbors did when the time came for her to bear a son. So as we store up the mercy of John’s birth in our hearts, let us rejoice in every mercy God shows to others and to us.

Second, Zechariah’s demonstration of belief in naming the child is wonderful. As we read a couple weeks ago, Zechariah had been made mute by the Lord when he disbelieved the angel’s promise that his wife would become pregnant. It was as if God had said, “if you don’t have anything coming from faith to say, don’t say anything at all”. But now, Zechariah gets a second chance to obey. The custom of that time, as verse 59 tells us, would be to name a firstborn son after their father or grandfather, as the one who would ordinarily carry on the family line and name. But the angel who spoke to Zechariah told him that the child’s name would be John, meaning ‘the Lord is a gracious giver’ (Luke 1:13). So the choice John made in naming the child would demonstrate whether he’d learned to believe God during his time of discipline, or not!

When the time came for the child to be circumcised on the eighth day, relatives expected the child to be named Zechariah. They asked Elizabeth, and Elizabeth obediently said, “No; he shall be called John”. The relatives thought, “surely there must be a mistake”, so they asked Zechariah. But Zechariah, still mute as punishment for his disbelief, obediently wrote, “His name is John”. There was no question in his mind. He doesn’t even say, “his name will be John”, but simply notes that his name is John, because that’s what God said it would be.

Zechariah could have made plenty of excuses for not naming his child John. Wouldn’t it be a good thing for his family name to continue? Why should his friends and relatives think he’s weird for naming my child John? But Zechariah learned from his time of discipline, and obeyed God.

We should store up this lesson in our hearts when we experience times of discipline; like Zechariah, we should use difficult times to learn to believe God more. If you’re experiencing the consequences of sin or unbelief in your life, or just going through any period of trial, know that it’s from the Lord, and it’s not too late to learn from it. Jesus says in John 15, “every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit”. Have you considered that God may be pruning you, not to punish you or get even for something that you’ve done, even if parts of your situation are your fault, but because your Father loves you and wants you to bear much fruit? What would it look like for you to exercise faith in your current situation? Even if faith looks surprising to your neighbors, like it did to Zechariah’s, it is a glorious thing to have the kind of belief in God that is built up during times of pruning.

Third and last, Zechariah’s restoration is wonderful. As soon as he declares the child’s name to be John, God removes his discipline and opens his mouth, and he begins blessing God. And fear comes on the friends and neighbors present. Nobody in the whole area can stop thinking and talking about it!

It would have been shocking and even terrifying to witness Zechariah’s mouth opened. He had been totally unable to speak for 9 months, and all of a sudden, he’s praising God! When God restores people, they act different, and that can be a fearful thing to see! It’s a reminder that God is real – he really does forgive sins, he really does restore sinners, and that means he really does have authority to declare who is and is not forgiven. If you do not trust Jesus to save, that should be a fearful thing!

But if you have Christ, how much more should you rejoice with awe at the work of God in changing lives! How wonderful is God, who gives people like Zechariah, and like us, a second chance to believe and obey! We too should wonder when we see the mercy of God when people get a second chance to obey. We should wonder and rejoice when we see a sinner repent and we get to witness their baptism, and when we reflect on how God has given us a second chance in Christ. We should wonder when we look around this room and see saints who are walking with the Lord even when it’s hard to obey, because they’ve received a second chance in Christ.

We should also be quick to forgive others, because we know that our God is a God of second chances. God forgives and gives us a second chance to obey, so we should forgive, even if someone were to sin against us 77 times. And when that person repents, we should wonder at the mercy of God and not react with suspicion or file it away to bring up later if they sin again.

It is a wonderful thing to witness God’s mercy through the fulfilment of his promise to Elizabeth and Zechariah. In the birth of John, Zechariah’s belief in God in naming the child John, and Zechariah’s tongue being loosed, we get to celebrate the coming of the time of mercy.

With all these miraculous events surrounding John’s birth, it’s clear that this is not an ordinary child! The natural question to ask is, “What then will this child be?”, since it’s obvious that the hand of the Lord is with him. That’s exactly the question everyone is asking in verse 66. So let’s press on to see what this child will be!

God’s covenant fulfilment has come

The rest of the passage, starting in verse 67, is a prophecy given to Zechariah by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit makes it clear that John’s birth is connected to God’s covenant fulfilment. Zechariah begins by prophesying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”. So this child that has just been born is associated with God coming to his people and his promise of redeeming, or buying them back, from their enemies. Just as God mercifully fulfilled his promise to Elizabeth and Zechariah, he will mercifully fulfil his covenant promise to all the people who are his. After hundreds of years of waiting, God’s covenant fulfilment has come. Somehow, the child John will be part of that covenant fulfilment.

In praising God for visiting and redeeming his people, Zechariah is pointing out something absolutely essential to rejoice in about God. He is not a God who is far off or uninterested in human affairs, but who visits and redeems his people. And the way he expresses closeness with his people is to make covenant promises to them. God does not need anything from anyone. But by making covenant promises, he binds himself to relationship with his people. The basic formula of every covenant is God saying “you will be my people, and I will be your God”, and then defining what that relationship looks like. By making covenants, he makes his role as their God “failable”. God does not need to make promises to his people, but if he does, he’s bound by his name to follow through on them. What a gracious thing for God to do!

And now, the time has come for God to show that he has not failed, but has begun to fulfil his covenant promises by visiting and redeeming his people. Zechariah specifically blesses God for fulfilling two covenants: the covenant with David in verse 69, and the covenant with Abraham in verse 73. To answer the question, “what then will this child be?”, we will first need to understand the covenants God made with David and Abraham. Then, we can look at how John is connected to their fulfilment.

First, the Davidic covenant. David was Israel’s most exemplary king, the one who “was a man after God’s own heart”. And God promised to bless his household and the kings that would come after him. You can find that promise, the Davidic covenant, in 2 Samuel chapter 7 (page 259 if you’re using the Bible under your seat). We won’t read the whole passage, but it’s important to note a few key features so that we can understand what this child will be fulfilling. We can summarize the Davidic covenant as the promise of a royal son who will save from enemies. So by mentioning the Davidic covenant, Zechariah is connecting the birth of his child to the promise of a king like David, and descended from David, who would rescue Israel from their enemies.

First, God says in 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” When David dies, there will come after him another ruler from his line. In the next verses, God promises that David’s son will save Israel from their enemies. He will also build God a temple (or house), and God says that he, God, will be that King’s father, even disciplining him with stripes (lashes) as a father would discipline his children. So this king will be David’s son and God’s son. And he promises that David’s kingdom and line would continue forever. So this promised king will be not only David’s son, but God’s son, who God will love and discipline, and who will build God’s temple, and who will reign forever. It was a great promise that only God could fulfill.

David’s son Solomon reigned after him, defeated Israel’s enemies, and built God’s temple. He died in a good old age. But the time between Solomon and John’s birth was one disaster after another. The kings that came after Solomon were disobedient to God, the people were brought into exile. The temple that Solomon built was destroyed. Since then, although the people had returned to the land, they had been ruled almost without exception by foreign kings, and were under the control of Rome at the time of John’s birth. The promise to David that his sons would reign forever had not come to pass. So, was God’s promise of a royal son for David who would reign forever moot? Zechariah says that the covenant promise has not been broken! He prophesies that that a horn of salvation has now been raised up from David’s house to save the people from their enemies, just as God has promised through the prophets. The time of God’s mercy had come.

In addition to the Davidic covenant promise of a royal son, Zechariah prophesies that his child will participate in the fulfilment of God’s covenant to Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-4, God promises Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrew people: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That promise is reiterated to Abraham’s descendents in Genesis 26:4, and it’s made even more clear that this blessing to all the nations would come through an offspring of Abraham. We can summarize the Abrahamic covenant like this: it’s God’s promise to Abraham that his offspring will not only be a curse to the enemies of God’s people, but will be a blessing to the whole world. Clearly, this promise too awaits its fulfilment at the time of John’s birth. The enemies of God’s people, like Rome, had prospered rather than being cursed. Israel, the nation of Abraham, was a backwater province of the Roman empire, not a blessing to the whole world.

If we put these two covenants together, Israel was waiting for the fulfilment of an incredible promise. It was the promise of a royal son of David, Abraham, and God who will save from enemies and be a blessing to the whole world. And at the time of John’s birth, the Holy Spirit spoke through Zechariah to declare that the time of covenantal fulfilment has come. He says in verse 74 “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” With the birth of John, the time has finally come for God to deliver his people from their enemie.

And that deliverance has a purpose. It’s so that God’s people might serve him without fear. In the language of the Davidic and Abrahamic covenants, they’re redeemed from their enemies so that they can serve God by living holy lives and blessing the whole world. God would bring salvation to his people so that they could walk in something better, leading lives of service to God and blessing others.

Christian, do you know that your salvation has a purpose? You were saved, not so that you could just continue to live your life as you had been before but without the guilt of sin, but so that you can serve God without fear. You were saved for service to God. You were saved so that you can bless others by telling them the good news of Jesus and live a holy and righteous life by the power of the Holy Spirit that is pleasing to Him. You no longer need to fear the wrath of God, and this is not a license to do whatever you want, but so that you can serve God in gratefulness and be a blessing to others.

How have you been seeking to use the blessing of salvation to be a blessing to others? Who might God be calling you to bless this week, since you have been so abundantly blessed? How is God calling you to serve him without fear, since you know that you are no longer his enemy, but his friend?

Citylight church, do you know why God has saved us out of the world and brought us together as a people? It’s not so that we can all be friends with the nice people here. It’s not so that we can come on Sunday mornings and feel good emotions and sing songs that we like. It’s so that we can serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, to bless the city of Philadelphia and all nations. There are lots of things I love about our church. I love the kindness of the people. I love the friendships I have here. I love the music. I love Pastor Mike’s preaching. I love the doctrine and theology. I’m a terrible nerd, so I even love the 3 hour members meetings. But none of those things are an end in themselves, and you should not think of any of those things as the point of our church. Brothers and sisters, we have been saved from our sins so that we can make disciples across the street and across the world, to declare the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching disciples to obey all that he has commanded. So are we going to be a church that rests in our salvation, or one that is saved for service that is pleasing to God and a blessing to others. Are we going to be a people of faith without works, or a people who are zealous for good works for the glory of God? Let’s not forget that the promise that begins to be fulfilled in John’s birth is not for us only, but a blessing for the whole world.

So we’ve seen that beginning with John’s birth, the time of God’s mercy has come: that God’s promise has come, and that God’s covenantal fulfilment has come. But how exactly does the birth of John fit into this fulfilment of God’s mercy? We still haven’t answered the question, “What then will this child be?”. Is John going to be this royal son of David, Abraham, and God who will redeem Israel from their enemies and be a blessing to the whole world? How will he participate in the covenantal fulfillment of that promise? The rest of the passage will show us.

God’s preparing prophet has come

In verse 76, Zechariah turns from blessing God to talking to his newborn son. He tells John, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.” That’s the answer to our question, “What then will this child be?”. In John, God’s preparing prophet has come.

John is not the royal son of David, Abraham, and God who will redeem Israel from her enemies and bless the whole world. But he will prepare the way for that royal son. Look at the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 4. He is the “son of David”, the “son of Abraham”, and at the end of the genealogy, the “son of Adam, the son of God”. John’s job is to announce the forgiveness of sins to prepare for Jesus, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and the Son of God.

Parents, if a prophecy came to you that your child was going to live a life that was like John’s, would you rejoice in that as Zechariah did? If an angel told you that your child was going to be poor, eat bugs in the wilderness, and get beheaded, but that he was going to tell a lot of people about Jesus, how would you feel about that? How would you take it if a prophet told you that your child would grow up to be a missionary who no one would remember, who would die poor from a horrible disease in a country you couldn’t find on a map, but who would make Jesus’ name great among people who’ve never heard it before?

What if an angel told you that you were never going to get your dream job, or get married, or retire early, but that you would lead many people to Jesus? Does that sound like a good life to you?

This is the kind of life the Holy Spirit revealed to Zechariah that his son would have – a life where he would not be great in himself, but a life that would prepare the way for the royal son of God. And when he heard it, Zechariah blessed the Lord God of Israel because he had visited and redeemed his people. May we also see a blessed life as one that makes Jesus great. May people look at our lives and not say, “that person is blessed”, but, “blessed is the name of Jesus Christ”.

So how does John prepare the way for that royal son? Verse 77 tells us that he does it by announcing salvation in the forgiveness of sins. Remember, this royal son is supposed to be a curse to those who curse Israel and to deliver Israel from enemies. The most obvious enemies to God’s people were the foreign rulers over them. What does the forgiveness of sins have to do with defeating the Romans? If your job was to prepare people for a king who was coming to rescue your people from oppression by a foreign power, how you would prepare them? Wouldn’t you say, “buy a sword” or “take your money out of the bank”, or “dig a bomb shelter in your backyard”? What’s the purpose of saying, “your sins are about to be forgiven”? This should tell us that the kind of enemies the royal son is going to defeat are not only the Romans and the Herodians. And it should tell us that the way he’s going to defeat those enemies is not going to be through military conquest.

The problem that the Israelites had, and that we have today, is that we miss who our biggest enemies are. The reason that Israel was sent into exile and defeated by foreign powers was because they had been disobedient to God and his covenants, so God punished them. The problem behind the problem was that they could not stop sinning against God. God gave them his perfect Law, and prophets to call them back to that law. But they just kept worshiping idols, oppressing the poor, and sinning against their Creator. So God sent them into exile and put them under foreign rule both as a consequence of their sins against him and to call them to repentance.

Everyone in this room has done the same things that Israel did to deserve God’s exile and punishment. Israel sinned by worshipping foreign gods, and we’ve sinned by worshipping sex, money, power, and ourselves. Israel sinned by disregarding God’s good commandments, and we’ve done the same thing. We’ve even grumbled against God, just as Israel did, when he doesn’t give us the things we think we deserve. Just as Israel deserved to be thrown out of the land that God had given them and exiled to Babylon for their rebellion against him, we deserve to be thrown out of God’s presence forever and spend eternity in hell.

Friends, it doesn’t matter if all your earthly enemies are all defeated if you’ve made God your enemy by sinning against him. It doesn’t matter if the problems in your life are fixed if you have a problem with God. Do you think that if you just had that child you’ve been praying for, or a better job, or a spouse, or better health, all your problems would be fixed? What if God put those things in your life as a reminder to you that you need to be in right relationship with him more than you need any of those other things? Our biggest problem is that we need to be saved from the wrath of God that is coming on account of our sins.

That’s why the message that John brings about the forgiveness of sins is such good news. Because the only way that we can be made right with God is if he forgives our sins. And you can’t forgive your own sins – only God can do that, because he’s the one that all our sin is against. You can’t fix your sin problem yourself. But the good news is that the time of God’s mercy has come, and he is ready to forgive sins. Look at how the Holy Spirit speaking through Zechariah describes the mercy of God in salvation in verses 78-79: “the sunrise shall 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”.

There is a way of peace, but we can’t see it because we are in darkness. We need light, but we can’t make the sun rise. More than sitting in darkness, we’re in the shadow of death. We can’t walk the path of peace with God because we are too blind to see it, and too dead to get up from sitting in darkness. We need the tender mercy of God to act, to rise on us like the sun to give us light and life. And that is exactly what God in his mercy has done. He sent his prophet, John, to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, the royal Son of God, of David, and of Abraham, who defeated our greatest enemy. The Son of God, fully God, took on humanity to become a son of David and of Abraham, to visit and redeem his people. He came into the world for this reason, to destroy the works of the devil. On the cross, Jesus saved us from our greatest problem, our own sin. As David’s promised son, he was disciplined with stripes, not for his sin, but for ours, to stand in Israel’s place and ours and pay the penalty for sin. He redeemed us from the curse we’d brought on ourselves by dying for our sins on the cross. As the righteous Son of God, he rose again from the dead so that we could have new life in him. As Abraham’s son, he sent out his disciples to bless the whole world by proclaiming the forgiveness of sins to all nations.

Jesus is the one who gives light and life to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, who has dawned on us like the sun. Just as Isaiah foresaw, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. And just as Malachi prophesied, the sun of righteousness has risen on us with healing in his wings.

The time of God’s mercy has come. God has visited and redeemed his people. There is nothing else to wait for – all has been accomplished. So turn away from sin, repent of turning away from the light, and receive the the forgiveness of sins offered in Jesus. Believe that he died for your sins and was resurrected on the third day, and you will no longer be God’s enemy, but his child, clothed in the holiness and righteousness of Jesus. If you’d like to know more about what it would look like to turn away from sin, receive Christ, and be baptized, I, one of the elders, or the person who invited you today would love to talk to you about that.

So now we can finally answer the question, “What then will this child be?”. This child, John, will be the preparing prophet who prepares the way for another child, the royal son of God, David, and Abraham, by announcing the forgiveness of sins in the time of God’s mercy. What a special calling.

You might be thinking: John’s birth was special, and he had a particular role in God’s covenant fulfilment. His miraculous birth uniquely equipped him to be God’s preparing prophet. Jesus even said that John was the greatest person who’d ever been born from a woman, meaning everyone. John was literally the GOAT. What does this have to do with me?

But do you know what? You are actually more equipped than John ever was to prepare the way for Jesus! You know so much more about the forgiveness of sins and the tender mercy of our God than John did, so you are much more equipped to announce that salvation to others. After telling his disciples that John was the greatest person ever born to a woman, he tells them that the most insignificant person in the kingdom of heaven would be greater than John. Do you think that God only uses people like John with miraculous birth stories to proclaim the forgiveness of sins in Jesus? No way! He uses ordinary Christians, born again of the Spirit.

John had the Old Testament promises given to David and Abraham, but he died before he saw the death of Jesus Christ for our sins on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. He never saw the fulfilment of the forgiveness that he announced, but we have! John, Elizabeth, and Zechariah saw the first rays of dawn and rejoiced, but we have seen the sun.

So if the light of Christ has shone on you and you have received the forgiveness of sins, serve him without fear by proclaiming his mercy in the forgiveness of sins in his death, and new life in his resurrection. Now that you have received not just the promise of Jesus’ coming, but the knowledge of his death and resurrection, and new birth by the Spirit, “what then will you be?”