Hope Delivered

Doubt Turned to Praise

Today we look further into Zechariah’s song. Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus. But when the angel joyfully announced the coming birth of his son, Zechariah was plagued by doubt. His wife had been barren her whole life, and they were both very old. As a consequence for his unbelief, Zechariah was unable to speak for the entire 9 months of her pregnancy! After John was born, his speech returned. Full of the Holy Spirit, Zechariah worshiped with these words, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). 

Zechariah no longer doubted the power of God! His doubt had been turned to a deep, unshakable faith. Zechariah had seen God’s power through the unlikely birth of his son, and it fueled his faith in God’s promise of sending the Messiah to rescue them! What an amazing time to live in to see prophecy fulfilled.

Hope and Deliverance

The Jews were an oppressed people, during the time of Jesus, Israel was under Roman occupation. Indeed, they lived amongst their enemies. We live next to Ukraine and have Ukrainian friends whose parents live in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. To say life is hard for them is an understatement. When they are sick, there is no treatment for cancer. Often they cannot sell or buy property. They are dissuaded in many ways from leaving. In order to survive, they have to feign obedience to their oppressor. 

While it was not an active war zone, I imagine some of these themes of oppression ran true in Israel. It is in the midst of occupation that Zehcariah’s prophetic words resonate with hope and deliverance. The Jews knew from the prophecies of Isaiah (Isaiah 42) that God would send a rescuer, a redeemer. They just didn’t know when. This song is Zechariah’s proclamation that the time had now come!

Unshakeable Hope

What I love most about Zechariah’s words is that they remain true for us today, too! Because of Jesus’ first coming, we have an eternal hope. Because of the coming of Jesus, we are delivered from sin. This is true even if we live in the midst of physical oppression. Isn’t this great news?! For you, for me, for our Ukrainian friends who believe in His name – there is hope.

Because of our certainty that Jesus has rescued us and redeemed us from the bondage of sin and the power of the evil one, we can live without fear. This enables us to “serve him without fear” (Luke 1:74). We can learn so much through Zechariah’s doubts and silence, which overflowed into an abounding hope! “For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope” (Romans 15:4). May we serve the Lord today, without fear, for we are safe in the hand of Jesus!