Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Luke 1:68-71 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people ... as he said through his holy prophets of long ago) ... to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham."
I WILL TRUST MY FAITHFUL GOD
What adds more luster to the picture of our powerful, invincible, conquering Lord is that all the things He accomplished for us weren't done "on the spur of the moment," "out of the blue," as a stroke of good fortune. Every detail of Jesus' life from His birth to His suffering and resurrection and ascension to the right hand of power happened under God's guiding hand in answer to promises made over centuries.
Promises such as these:
+ "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (Genesis 3:15).
+ "To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
+ "The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
+ "For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:2).
These, and many others, were advance predictions of what God said He would do for us in Christ ... and He DID!
This, too, is what caused Zacharias' heart to brim over with joy in the Benedictus. He praised the Lord because recognized in the coming Savior a powerful testimony to the undeserved love of God. He must have mused within himself: "Oh, what a gracious God I have! In Him I will put my trust!"
This is something we may do as well. For if God so loved our sinful world that He gave us His own Son, in keeping with prophecies made over thousands of years, He will make good on all His promises to us. Through His Word He'll keep us as His own through the duration of our earthly sojourn, providing for our needs of body and soul, and causing everything to work for our everlasting good.
He shall come down like showers Upon the fruitful earth,
And joy and hope, like flowers, Spring in His path to birth.
Before Him on the mountains Shall peace, the herald, go
And righteousness, in fountains, From hill to valley flow.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 59:3)
