Luke 1:67-79 English Standard Version

Zechariah’s Prophecy

⁶⁷ And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people ⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, ⁷⁰ as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,  ⁷¹ that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; ⁷² to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us ⁷⁴ that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. ⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

The child being prophesied over is John the Baptist, Zechariah’s son. What John does in his life prepares the Lord’s way to redeem His people. John is the forerunner spirit spoken of by Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:3 English Standard Version (ESV) A voice cries:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

What we often say to the lost is that they need to come to God but the message is to prepare a straight path for Christ to come to us.

We do not come to God, He comes to us.

Acts 26:16-18 English Standard Version

¹⁶ But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷ delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you ¹⁸ to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

This witness is about Jesus speaking to Saul, who becomes Paul. He had met Jesus on the road to Damascus. We all know the story. We have read it many times. Getting around to this point in Paul’s testimony to King Agrippa has taken up four chapters of the book of Acts.

At the beginning of chapter 26 Paul is given the chance to defend himself against his accusers. His situation is one in which he has been passed from Felix to Festus to Agrippa all the while in chains.

Finally we come to the point of this telling tale.

What do we tell people when they ask a difficult question?

“How do I put my faith in Christ?”

Listen to what Paul began with in his defense of his faith.

⁴ “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵ They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.”

The testimony of how faith is placed in Christ starts with what we were and what we believed that was wrong to begin with. It is a confession of condition, being wrong.

The truth cannot be heard until we come to this understanding; we were wrong.