The Benedictus

The Benedictus

Luke 1:67-79

Main Idea: We sing because the Lord keeps his promises through Christ’s mighty and merciful salvation.

I. The Lord’s Redemption (1:67-69a)

After nine months of silence due to unbelief (1:20), Zechariah’s “mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed” at the naming of his son, John (1:64). As Zechariah is “filled with the Spirit” (1:67), he bursts forth in a song of blessing (Latin ‘Benedictus’) to the Lord, overflowing with the Word of God. 

“The first words out of his mouth were “Blessed be the Lord!” This showed the true condition of Zechariah’s heart. His suffering had done him spiritual good. Before he did anything else, he wanted to give praise to God. What came out was an exuberant eruption of praise. All of the joy that had been pent up inside the priest during the long months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy now came pouring out in a cascade of exultation. Once he believed, he had to worship, because whenever we know what God has done for our salvation, we are compelled to praise him for it. Genuine faith always expresses itself in jubilant praise, and where there is no real worship, we may wonder if there is any true faith at all.”

~ Philip Ryken, The Incarnation in the Gospels

He blesses and sings to the Lord because… 

  • He has “visited” his people (cf. Ex. 4:31; Ruth 1:6); the promise of the birth of Jesus was nothing less than the visitation of God himself to our broken and fallen world. 

  • He has “redeemed” his people (cf. Ex. 6:6), releasing them from bondage and slavery.

  • He has “raised up a horn of salvation” for his people (cf. Ps. 18:2; 148:14; 2 Sam. 22:3).

II. The Lord’s Remembrance (1:69b-74a)

Zechariah’s song recognizes that the coming of Christ is the fulfillment of all the covenant promises of God made to his people (2 Cor. 1:20). Before the ministry of John the Baptist, God’s people had experienced 400 years of silence, but now all “that he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets of old” (1:70) was coming true. 

Zechariah identifies two primary covenant fulfillments in Jesus: 

1. Jesus is the promised King of David’s line who will rule over God’s people forever (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-13; Ps. 132:17; Isaiah 9:6-7)

Matthew 3:1-3: In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
    make his paths straight.’”

2. Jesus is the promised offspring of Abraham, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen. 17:4-7; 22:18; Gal. 3:16)

Part of the fulfillment of all of these covenant promises is the good news that we will be “saved from our enemies, and the hand of all who hate us” (1:71, 74). These ‘enemies’ are not only earthly opposition but the greater powers of sin (Heb. 9:26), death (Heb. 2:14-15), and the devil (1 Jn. 3:8).

III. The Lord’s Radiance (1:76-79)

John’s ministry was to be a prophetic forerunner of the coming of God himself in order “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (1:17). This ministry is necessary because of the glorious realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the “knowledge of salvation” (1:77).

This salvation is marked by: 

  • The forgiveness of our sins (1:77b)

  • The tender mercy of God (1:78a)

  • The “sunrise from on high” (1:78b-79) that drives out darkness and death’s shadow

Malachi 4:1-2: For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

The good news of the gospel contained in Zechariah’s Benedictus ought to produce:  

  • Repentance

  • Service (1:74b-75)

  • Singing

“The Christian church stands at the juncture of two ages: the old age of approaching winter where God’s own people along with the world at large are frozen in sin, separation, and death – and the age to come where the glow in the eastern sky announces the coming of the rising sun… Those who serve God still stand in a dark place, but we strain forward with expectation and an unconquerable hope toward the horizon where the Sun of Righteousness will appear someday with healing in his wings.”

~ Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ

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