Zechariah is the father of John the Baptist. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were childless and too old to have any children, yet Zechariah is told by an angel of the Lord that his wife will have a child, and that child will be a prophet in the power of Elijah, and that he will be the forerunner of the Messiah. Zechariah questions this prophecy, since it seems impossible to him. He is told by the angel Gabriel that because he doubted the word of God, he will not speak until the day that the child is born. On the day the child was to be named, Zechariah was again able to speak, and we are told that the Holy Spirit filled him, and he prophesied these words.
It is important to note that these are the words of the Holy Spirit spoken through Zechariah to the people that were gathered in the temple for John’s circumcision. They would have all been familiar with the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah. In this ten verse section there are at least 16 allusions to the Old Testament, making it clear that John’s birth, and more importantly, the birth of Jesus three months away, would be the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel.
These words are spoken for John and about John, but John the Baptist was merely the precursor to Jesus, and all he did pointed forward to Jesus. Even in this solemn prayer of dedication at his circumcision, John is pointing the way to the Messiah. This section is centered upon the actions of God. With the birth of John, and later of Jesus, God “has come to his people.”
The word Zechariah uses for “has come” is literally “visited” (ἐπισκέπτομαι). The word has the connotation of an inspection or examination. Zechariah is saying that God is about to come to inspect his people. In the Old Testament, when God “visited” his people, it could be to bring them some sort of blessing, or it could be to bring the judgment. In Exodus 3:16 God has “observed” the suffering of his people (ESV, same word appears in the LXX), and in this case he is about to rescue his people from their slavery.
Zechariah’s words are therefore a prophetic warning that in the near future God would visit his people, and that “visitation” might not be a time of great blessing and favor. God may be visiting in judgment! There is an element of foreshadowing in Zechariah’s words: at the end of Jesus’ ministry he weeps over Jerusalem because they did not recognize that “this day” was the time of God’s “visitation” (ἐπισκοπή, a noun from the same root as 1:68). Sadly, the people did not heed the warning and were unprepared for God’s inspection.
This is what happened with the birth of Jesus: God has literally come to man. By becoming flesh Jesus was able to offer to his people ultimate forgiveness of sin. We do not usually associate the Christmas story with a time of God’s judgment, but it is significant that this first prophecy of Jesus’ ministry in Luke describes Jesus as the coming judge.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
I had never known the meaning behind the word for “has come” or “visited”. It makes me think how Jesus had to come from His perfect, heavenly home/place to earth. It also serves as a reminder that we are here as pilgrims; we are wandering here, it is not our home or final destination. This is not the point of the text; however, it is what the use of the word, “visited”, made me think of. The song of Zechariah here is one of prophecy. Jesus was coming. Jesus visited earth to judge or to bless, as the word “has come” or “visited” was used in the Old Testament. Zechariah prophesied of the blessing that Jesus was going to be. Luke 1:68 reads “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us…”. He came to die and be a ransom, to justify those who he called. He was bringing salvation and redemption. Zechariah did not know what this was going to look like, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit to testify of the coming and future work of Christ. Jesus was sent as a blessing and gift to the children of God. This prophesy from Zechariah is full of joy and the good news of the gospel. He talks of salvation, of the fulfillment of promises, forgiveness of sins, and a life of peace. This is what we gain from Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. The message from the Spirit here reminds us to have Christ as our focus of hope. There is also a warning we can gain from the foreshadowing of the second coming, or visitation that we should be aware of and prepared for. The second coming of Christ will not be one of blessing and redemption, but of judgement. The way we will be prepared for the second coming is to put our hope and faith in the good news of the first.
I think that it is interesting that the word Zechariah uses for “has come” actually means “visited” I feel like it puts it into a new perspective. When I think of the word visited it makes me think that Jesus is coming to check on his people not that he has just come to earth just because. “Zechariah is saying that God is about to come to inspect his people. In the Old Testament, when God “visited” his people, it could be to bring them some sort of blessing, or it could be to bring judgment.” (Long) I think it is comforting knowing Jesus does check on his people and occasionally brings blessings, I know this to be true. In some of the hardest times, Jesus has come and blessed me in some sort of way. I do think that it is important that God visiting his people doesn’t only mean that he could potentially be bringing blessings to his people but rather that is time for judgment, for God to judge the people of the world. Overall I think that when Zechariah uses “has come” which also means “visited” that not only is it a reminder that God does check on His people but that the time of judgment will come where Jesus separates the good people from the evil people of the world.
In the New Testament, Zachariah is an important figure as the father of John the Baptist. His story is about faith, doubt, and God’s promises. Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were older and didn’t have children when the angel Gabriel brought them incredible news: they were going to have a son who would be a prophet, preparing the way for Jesus. This moment is key to the Christmas story. When Gabriel tells Zechariah that Elizabeth will have a baby, he questions how this is possible due to their age. Because of his doubt, Gabriel says Zechariah won’t be able to speak until the baby is born. This shows the importance of trusting God’s promises. Zechariah’s prayer is packed with references to the Old Testament, liking John’s birth, and Jesus’ soon arrival, to the hopes of the people of Israel. John isn’t the main focus; he is meant to point to Jesus, the true Messiah. Zechariah emphasizes that God “has to come to his people.” The Greek word for “has come” suggest that God is visiting or inspecting His people. In the Old Testament, such visitations could mean blessings or judgment, depending on how the people have acted. While we usually think of Christmas as a joyful time, Zechariah’s prophecy also has a warning. Jesus’ arrival is about offering forgiveness, but it also comes with the message that God’s presence calls for a response from us. Zechariah’s words mix hope and warning. His message tells us that the births of John the Baptist and Jesus mark a crucial moment in history, one filled with joy but also a call to be aware of God’s presence in our lives.
After reading this blog post, I find this to be a very interesting perspective on the prophet of Zechariah especially since I find how the little details of these prophets are such a foreshadowing and the accuracy of what happens to Jesus. What I find most interesting about this post is that you bring up the fact that Zechariah didn’t believe that God would bear him a child, so his punishment was he was not able to speak until that child was born, and that this is basically the same thing as what the people did when the visitation of God in flesh form occurred and they did not acknowledge that this was their visitation. In my own thoughts, after reading this I have been thinking about how people would believe if the second coming of Jesus came today, and if they would have the same sort of fault of not recognizing what is going on like the people did when Jesus was on Earth the first time. I feel like the same would happen again just for the fact that history repeats itself like before, however, I hope that as Christians that we would be able to not repeat history, and that we would have the knowledge to understand what is going on this time when he does come.
I found the Zechariah’s prophetic role about John the Baptist and the coming of Jesus Christ to be very interesting. The first thing That I found interesting is the fact that Zechariah was not able to speak until John was born and then proceeded to use some of his first words at John’s circumcision which used John to led up to the birth of Jesus. John’s role as the forerunner is crucial, preparing the way for Jesus, just as prophesized in Malachi and Isaiah. One other point that I found interesting was how Jesus’ birth brought salvation but also judgment which goes very under the radar when we talk about the story of Jesus’ Birth.