Might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life . What Zacharias looked on to was a glorious theocracy based upon national holiness. Israel, freed from foreign oppression and internal dissensions, would serve God with a worship at once uninterrupted and undefiled. read more
The course of the Christian life. These words of Zacharias will very well indicate the course through which a Christian life passes from its commencement to its close. I. IT BEGINS IN SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION . "We being delivered out of the hand of our enemies." In order to "walk in newness of life," we must be rescued from the thraldom of sin. And there is a twofold deliverance that we need. One is from the condemnation of our guilt ; for we cannot rest and rejoice in the... read more
His holy prophets ... - All the prophets are said to have referred to the Messiah, from the beginning of the world. The most striking of these were Jacob Genesis 49:10; Moses Deuteronomy 18:15; Isaiah Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 53:1-12.Since the world began - This is not to be taken literally, for there were no prophets “immediately after” the creation. It is merely a general expression, designed to denote that all the prophets had predicted the coming of the Messiah. Compare the Luke 24:27 note;... read more
Saved from our enemies - The enemies of “man” are his sins, his carnal propensities, his lusts, and the great adversary Satan and his angels, who continually seek to destroy him. From “these” the Messiah came to save us. Compare Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:21.The hand - The power; or to save us from them. read more
To perform the mercy - To show the mercy promised. The expression in the “original” is, “To make mercy with our fathers” - that is, to show kindness to our fathers; and the propriety of it is founded on the fact that mercy to “children” is regarded as kindness to the “parent.” Blessing the “children” was blessing the “nation;” was fulfilling the promises made to the fathers, and “showing” that he regarded them in mercy.His holy covenant - The word “covenant” means compact or agreement. This is... read more
The oath - This oath is recorded in Genesis 22:16-17. It was an oath in which God swore by himself (because he could swear by no greater, Hebrews 6:13-14) that he would surely bless Abraham and his posterity. That promise was now to be entirely fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah. read more
Might serve him - Might obey, honor, and worship him. This was regarded as a “favor.” This was what was promised, and for this Zechariah praised God.Without fear - Fear of death, of spiritual enemies, or of external foes. In the sure hope of God’s “eternal” favor beyond the grave. read more
Luke 1:68-70 . Blessed be the Lord God of Israel Who is also the God of the spirits of all flesh: but Zacharias, speaking of the work of redemption calls him only the God of Israel, because to Israel the prophecies, promises, and types of redemption, had hitherto been given, and to them the first offers and proposals of it were now to be made. Israel, as a chosen people, was a type of the people of God to be called out of all nations and ages, whom God had a particular eye to in sending the... read more
Luke 1:71-75. That we should be saved from our enemies Spiritual as well as temporal, invisible as well as visible; and from the hand of all that hate us From Satan and his angels, and all adverse power, and especially from our sins. This certainly was the mind of the Spirit that now inspired Zacharias, as appears by the whole tenor of Scripture; but whether he fully understood his own words is impossible for us to say. It is certain the older prophets, in some cases, did not fully... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 1:71
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us . When Zacharias spoke these words, his mind, no doubt, was on Rome and its creatures, Herod and his party, whom Rome had set up. The deliverance of Israel, in every Hebrew heart, was the first and great work of the coming Deliverer; but the inspired words had a far broader reference than to Rome, and the enemies of Israelitic prosperity. The expression includes those spiritual evil agencies which war their... read more