I picked back up in Luke this morning reading about the birth of John the Baptist. If you can remember the story, Zechariah and Elizabeth were “old as dirt” and an angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he would have a son. Now, Zechariah was pretty skeptical and because of that…he was unable to speak until the child was born. Now, let’s fast forward…the time had come for this child to make his appearance! Typically, a son was named after their father, so when they told the crowd that he would be named John, Zechariah was able to speak again (after writing the name John on a tablet). I can imagine everyone being pretty shook up about this…it says fear came over all the neighbors and they were talking about this through all of Judea! Everyone was wondering what this child would become…son of a priest…they knew the Lord was with him. It gets better!
Immediately, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied! He begin to praise God and talk about Jesus (not even knowing who Jesus was)…not his newborn son. Now, I’m not saying that is weird or anything like that, but how awesome that this man has not spoken for 9 months because of his unbelief and when he does open His mouth, he is giving a word from the Lord…praising God and preparing the people for the coming Messiah! Most parents are too busy wrapped up in the new child to thank God the one who gave him/her to them…but that’s for another day 🤣
Zechariah talks of a horn of salvation for us by the house of David…
…Rescue from our enemies…
…Service without fear…
Now, that doesn’t seem like much just reading those words, but I kept going back and reading “horn of salvation”…because there’s a lot of imagery there. Twice in the Old Testament you find this term used by David after God saved him from Saul. God was his horn or salvation…his shield of defense and his offense (his horn). Horns are powerful on animals…I would definitely hate to feel the wrath of of a Texas Longhorn…because if they get angry, it’s not gonna be a good day for me. Picture that power as the power of God! I see why the horn for the people in that day was a sign of awesome strength and victory!
Now, in Luke when you hear Jesus referred to as the horn of salvation it makes sense…He is our victory over sin! He is power! He was a liberator of Israel and also a liberator of our soul! A spiritual conquerer is coming to a manger real soon!
Zechariah’s obedience in naming his son John was just one step closer to guiding our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79). John prepared the way to give us the knowledge of salvation through a stable in Bethlehem that would hold victory for the world! Jesus…our horn of salvation from the house of David!
