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A Horn of Salvation Came and Redeemed Us
Luke 1:57-80
Key verse 68-69
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his
people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”
(Slide 1) Merry Christmas! Christmas reminds most people of nice gifts that they
received. Today’s passage is Zechariah’s song that introduces the greatest gift from
God to us. To Zechariah, this gift brought greater joy than the birth of his son or
recovery of his voice. The gift is Jesus, the Horn of Salvation! Jesus has come and
redeemed us, based on God’s mercy and promise. Like a rising sun, Jesus shines on
those living in darkness and in the shadow of death. And He enabled us to serve him
without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. This is Jesus
Christmas gift to us. It is the gift he gives to all who accept his redeeming grace and put
their faith in his salvation power. May Jesus saving power and redeeming grace fill our
hearts with joy as though we are receiving the best Christmas present ever. Let’s pray.
(Slide 2) Brief introduction of structure/outline of message
I. Baby + God’s great mercy = Joy and song of praise (57-66)
(Slide 3) Finally Elizabeth gave birth to a son. It was such an amazing gift to her and
Zechariah who were upright in the sight of God. (6) They waited many years for this
moment and were extremely happy. The joy that the baby brought was not only theirs.
Look at verse 58. “Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great
mercy, and they shared her joy.” The joy for the birth of a baby boy spread across all
the people who heard the news. From the baby, they saw the great mercy that God
shown to Elizabeth. What is mercy? Mercy, by definition, is “the compassionate or
kindly forbearance shown toward other person in one’s power”. God, in his power, could
give them a son, like Abraham, or not. But God was compassionate and did not forget
Zechariah and Elizabeth, while they were serving God as a priestly family in a dark and
Godless generation under Herod and the Roman empire. God’s mercy lifts up our
hearts. We may often get discouraged about our difficult situations or all the troubles
going around the world. But God is compassionate and merciful. He shows his mercy to
those who believe in him. His great mercy is the reason for our joy.
(Slide 4) Eight days after the baby’s birth, Zechariah still not speak a word. The baby
had to be circumcised and given names. Relatives of Zechariah were going to name
him after his father Zechariah. At that time, Elizabeth spoke up and said, “No, He is to
be called John!” She sounded very adamant about it. How would she have known the
will of God to name him John? Elizabeth did not hear angel Gabriel’s voice herself. And
Zechariah could not talk at all since he just came out of the temple 9 months ago. But
she deeply accepted God’s will upon her son through her husband’s experience. Both
her bearing a child in her old age and Zechariah suddenly being muted were highly
remarkable. They realized the great scheme of God and surrendered their son, rather
than following the family tradition and making him one of many other priests.
Naming him John sounded weird to relatives. There was no one among Zechariah’s kin
who had the name John. So they asked Zechariah to make sure. To everyone’s
astonishment, Zechariah wrote, “His name is John.” Then another, bigger surprise
happened. Look at verse 64. “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set
free, and he began to speak, praising God.” The first thing he did after 9 months of
silence was to praise God. When he could not speak, he thought more and prayed
more. He thought about his coming child in a miraculous way, the Lord who made it
possible, and his history. From God’s history, Zechariah’s thoughts extended from what
God had done, to the great things he would do, and most importantly the coming
Messiah. And in prayer, Zechariah saw what God would accomplish through John and
the Christ. When he could envision a new and beautiful picture of the magnificent things
God would do in the coming years, he burst out in a beautiful song of praise upon
recovering his voice. The effect of this event was widespread. People were filled with
awe and were talking about it, wondering and anticipating what baby John would do.
The Lord’s hand was on this event and it was very obvious to everyone.
II. “A Horn of Salvation” has come and redeemed us. (67-71)
(Slide 5) Verses from 68 through 79 are the song of praise that Zechariah sang, filled
with the Holy Spirit. Verse 67 refers to it with the word “prophesied”. This prophetic song
is so rich in beautiful metaphor and describes the most important thing, salvation, which
God wants to accomplish through Jesus. The song also describes the basis and
purpose of salvation, as well as the role of John the Baptist.
Look at verse 68. “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and
has redeemed his people.” Israel longed for God’s presence for a long time while they
were in relentless wars and defeat to the neighboring nations. But they could not feel
God’s presence while they forgot the Lord and served foreign gods. There were
distance and many obstacles like sins between God and Israel. In order for the two to
meet, one of them had to come to the other. When Israel could not come to God
because of their sins that they could not redeem, God came and redeemed them. God
knew that he had to do this, because he could not forsake his chosen people. The
Messiah that God promised was in fact his one and only Son.
Who is the one raised up by God to come and redeem? Look at verse 69. “He has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” What does “horn
of salvation” mean? (Slide 6) Here “horn” represents power and glory. An animal’s horn
can keep it safe from the attack of predators. Imagine the horn of an African buffalo.
Even the fiercest beasts such as tigers or lions cannot easily beat the African buffalo
because of its strong horns. But without horns, buffalos may be powerless and
defenseless, like a soldier who broke and lost a spear or a sword. Also, horns have
beauty, honor and glory. Antlers of reindeer look marvelous and noble. Viking warriors
used to adorn their helmets with horns to represent their power and spirit. Ancient kings
would decorate their crowns luxuriously with horns to show dignity and royal honor.
(Slide 7) Then, why is the horn of salvation good news for us? Why did God raise up
Jesus and why are we now celebrating his coming with joy? It is because Jesus is
raised up for OUR salvation! Salvation was the main purpose and focus of why Jesus
had to come to the world. Then from whom or what does Jesus save us? Look at verses
71-72. “salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us” We cannot
consider our salvation without acknowledging that we have enemies. We usually do not
consider ourselves as princesses in fairy tales, who sit and wait for a prince to defeat a
monster and save us. We live in a free nation and can do and speak whatever we want.
However, we do have enemies in our lives. Enemies force their own wills upon us and
make us do whatever they want, instead of what we want. For example, those who have
problems with gambling, drinking, drugs, bursting anger, and uncontrollable sexual
desires constantly suffer from these issues. People who have these problems ruin their
lives. These problems are like strong horns – like a buffalo with sharp and deadly horn
charging at them.
When I was a student, I knew that I had to study before exams. But I was sometimes
worried when I couldn’t figure out the materials. Then I would lose focus and flee to look
up garbage on the internet and wasted time. I once hated a person and lost sleep, but in
retrospect, the reasons were so petty that I no longer remember them. We all have
experienced such an attack from our enemy, the devil. So, we argue with our parents or
spouses that we love. People lie, steal, destroy and kill. We inflict many pains upon
ourselves or others because of anxiety, lust, envy, greed, and sinful pleasures, either
out of ignorance or against our wills. This is why we need God’s horn of salvation. We
need a stronger horn to defeat the horn of our enemies. So, God raised up Jesus for us.
Jesus is the strongest, the most beautiful and glorious horn that can save us from any
horn of our enemies. Jesus is the very gift that we most needed for salvation and
Zechariah was singing this song to give us the news that the horn finally came to
redeem us!
(Slide 8) We are mostly saved already. Many of us deeply accepted Jesus as the gift of
God. But don’t we still feel so many horns are still out there? Don’t we sometimes find
ourselves wounded by such evil horns and groan from the pain they cause? Don’t we
often regret ugly words or foolish behaviors we did? Yes, we do. I had to apologize to
my wife many times for being stubborn and grumpy for no reason. I often had to be
sorry for myself for being lazy, lustful and proud, feeling great distance from God. We
need Jesus the horn of salvation every day. He did not just come to us for the
Christmas season. He came to us and redeemed us, in order to stay with us for all our
days. We need Jesus in our 20s when we need God’s direction for life. We need Jesus
in our 30s and 40s to work hard without losing faith and raise up and support our
children physically and spiritually. We still need Jesus in our 50s, 60s and beyond to
remain healthy and strong to leave behind and teach spiritual wisdom and heritage. So,
we together should acknowledge the need of Jesus the horn, trusting and depending on
him throughout our lives. After Jesus saved us, he is always near us and within us. As
Jesus came to us, we should come to him. We come and meet Jesus when we open
the Bible, when we pray, when we meditate him through Daily Bread devotion or Bible
study, and when we obey to him by loving one another. The horn of salvation Jesus can
defend us today from any horrible horns in the world, just in the way he saved us the
first time from our old sins.
III. What salvation does and John’s mission (72-80)
(Slide 9) In the 2nd part of Zechariah’s song from verse 72 through 80, we can learn
what else Jesus the horn of salvation does for us. First, Jesus shows us mercy and
reminds us of his holy covenant. Look at verse 72 and 73. “to show mercy to our
ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father
Abraham.” We can see God’s two major attributes ‒ mercy and faithfulness through
Jesus’ salvation. As mentioned previously about mercy, God in his power granted
salvation and defended us with His Son, though the ancestors did not really deserve
Him by their own deeds. And God made sure that he did not forget the holy covenant he
swore to Abraham. Gen 22:18 is his promise to Abraham: “through your offspring all
nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Ancestors blew their
commitment and provoked God’s anger, but God did not blow his covenant and blessed
all nations with salvation through Jesus as a reward of Abraham’s obedience.
(Slide 10) Second, Jesus rescued us and enabled us to serve him. Verses 74b-75 read,
“and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all
our days.” This verse tells us what kind of life lies ahead after we are saved by Jesus.
Salvation is not just the end of bondage from our enemies. It is the beginning of new life.
That new life is to serve God freely rather than serve our enemies like slaves. Do you
know the difference between slaves and servants? Slaves serve their masters with fear.
But in Jesus, we serve God without fear. Fear is a terrible motivator, for it robs us of joy
and makes us weary. Tyranny in any form involves fear to take control over people.
Most of all, there is no love in fear and no fear in love. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no
fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”
Serving God without fear means that we do not worry about being punished. Instead,
we realize God’s amazing love through Jesus, who became our horn to save us. In the
course of victory to Satan, Jesus had to suffer on the cross. He was punished and died
on our behalf. When we believe this as the truth, we are no longer driven by fear when
standing before God. Isn’t this unbelievable? We serve God of love, instead of serving
our sins and the devil. We do so with no fear, though our enemies used fear to drive us
under their controls.
When we serve God, there are two precious values we inherit from Jesus ‒ holiness
and righteousness. Holiness refers to being specially recognized or declared sacred.
Righteousness is a condition that a person can reach to the point of perfection before
God. No one can earn such conditions by any kind of struggle and effort. They originate
from Jesus. We attain holiness and righteousness by accepting Jesus. And these are
valid before God all our days. There is no expiration date or retirement or termination in
our serving God. We eternally belong to God and serve Him voluntarily and in love.
(Slide 11) Let us look at verses 76-77a. Interestingly, they are basically the only verses
in this song of Zechariah that concern his new born son, while the rest are about Christ.
There were two important missions that the baby John would do. First was to go on
before the Lord as the prophet to prepare the way for the Most High. (76) Second was
to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. (77a)
John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Lk 3:3).
People found their sins. All felt guilty and in need of repentance. John the Baptist taught
them that salvation comes through the forgiveness of the sins. In this way, he prepared
the way for Jesus, so sinners may be forgiven by Jesus and saved.
Look at verses 77b-78a. Salvation is through the forgiveness of sins. And forgiveness
reflects the tender mercy of our God. All men are sinners, regardless of whether they
want to sin or not. In court, even if the crime was unintentional by a defendant, he can’t
be found ‘not guilty’ until the judge declares him ‘not guilty’. When we were still sinners,
Christ died for us (Rm 5:8) and God forgave us. Forgiveness is not an easy thing. It
requires the utmost level of maturity. God had tender mercy on us. God does not want
to crush any of us, because he loves us so tenderly that Jesus chose to die on the cross.
(Slide 12) When we feel the tender mercy of our God, we feel like the rising sun coming
to us. Look at verses 78b-79. “by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to
shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the
path of peace.” The rising sun has two connotations: hope and victory. The rising sun
brings us a new day. Even if we experience a terrible day because of our sins, we have
a new hope in tomorrow because of the salvation and protection the rising sun Jesus
gives us. r. No matter how dark it was last night, rising sun can beat any darkness of
yesterday. Jesus is such good news like the rising sun to those living in darkness. He
guides our feet into the path of peace. By his resurrection, he won the victory over the
shadow of death. Jesus’ resurrection helps us find peace. And his guidance can lead us
into the kingdom of God where no one can harm us or tempt us.
In this way, Zechariah’s song concluded. John grew and became strong in spirit. But he
lived quite differently from his own family tradition of priesthood. John lived in the desert,
rather than in the temple. He could have inherited good spiritual influence from his
parents. Yet in the desert, no one was around. He was strong enough not only to
survive but to be prepared to accomplish God’s will until the day came for him to
prepare the way for Jesus.
(Slide 13) In conclusion, this passage gives us one clear reason why we are merry for
Christmas and for the coming of Jesus. It is because of his salvation for us. Jesus is the
horn of salvation, having the power, honor and glory to defend us and defeat our
enemies. He is the son of God who forgives our sins with his tender mercy, based on
the holy covenant. We are no longer slaves of our sins. We are servants who serve God
all our days without fear. We thank God for Jesus who gives us holiness and
righteousness that were perfectly his. Praise God, who in his tender mercy and love,
who gave us the greatest gift of God ‒ Jesus, the horn of salvation