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Jesus, the Horn of Salvation

Luke 1:67-79
Key Verses: 1:68,69

“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.”

Merry Christmas! At Jesus’birth, the angels sang, “Glory to God and peace to men.”Rome ruled the western world under the banner, “Pax Romana.”But there was no real peace. The world needed a Savior who was mighty to save and strong to deliver. God sent him, Jesus, the Horn of Salvation. Today we want to think about the song of Zechariah, which helped prepare for that first Christmas. And we want to prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus at our Christmas worship service next Sunday. Zechariah introduced the Horn of Salvation. He and his wife were among the people who were waiting for the coming of the Savior. God blessed their family with a miracle baby. Every new baby is a miracle. But when little John the Baptist was born to the old priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, it was a special miracle. Zechariah had prayed for a son, but he couldn’t believe God’s word of promise, so God gave him ten months of silence to think about it. During that time he meditated on the word of God and on the Messiah whom God was sending. He repented of his unbelief. He looked back, to God’s promises of long ago through the prophets. He looked forward to the redemptive work God would do through his son and through the Messiah. He looked at the present–the tiny baby in his arms. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He sang about God’s great work of salvation: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.”

Part 1: “he has come and has redeemed his people.”(67-68)First, God has come. He came in the flesh to make his dwelling among us. Jesus the Messiah is God incarnate. Second, “he has redeemed his people.”Redemption is a term used in the slave market, or in a pawn shop. In a pawn shop, It means to buy something back; in the slave market it means to pay the price and purchase freedom for a slave.

Once a little boy made a boat, lovingly out of a block of wood. He attached a small sail and brought it down to a gentle stream to see it float. Suddenly, it was swept away in the current and carried out to the ocean. The little boy was very sorry to lose his boat. Then one day he was walking by a pawn shop and saw it in the window, with an expensive price tag on it. He had no money. So he took odd jobs and worked hard and bought the boat back. He said, “Little boat, you are twice mine. I made you and I bought you.”God says the same thing to Israel and to us. “I made you and I bought you. You are mine.”

When the Israelites were groaning in slavery in Egypt, God sent them a message: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people and I will be your God.”(Ex 6:6) Slaves cannot redeem themselves. They need a redeemer. God himself broke the iron grip of Pharaoh by 10 mighty acts of judgement. And he brought the slaves out of bondage.

We become slaves of sin when we do not honor God as God and do not thank him. (Ro 1:19-21) When we do not accept God’s sovereignty and love we become slaves of our sinful nature, and thus slaves of the devil. We become proud and ungrateful, rebellious and bitter. Only the blood of Jesus can purchase our pardon and set us free. Paul wrote: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins...”(Eph 1:7) and Peter wrote: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish...”Zechariah praised the God of Israel who redeemed his people. He redeems us by the horn of salvation, Jesus and by the rising sun, Jesus.

Part 2: The horn of salvation (69-75).How has God come and redeemed his people? Verse 69 says, “he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David...”What is the meaning of “horn”? I thought that it might be a horn like Tim Fitch or David Choi blow. But apparently it refers to the horn of a bull or an ox or a goat that the animal uses as a weapon. The footnote says that “horn”symbolizes strength. Psalm 92:10 says, “You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox...my eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries...”In Revelation 12, the devil is described as having seven heads and ten horns. This means that he is very smart and very powerful. He is the one who leads the whole world astray. He is called the accuser, for he accuses God’s people endlessly. Accusers and complainers are in league with the devil. We must know that we cannot defeat the devil by our own strength. But the horn of salvation, Jesus, is stronger than the ten horns of the devil. He defeats the devil.

Some people have been pierced by Satan’s horns. Doubt is surely one of his horns. Satan tries to make God’s people doubt God’s love. He tries to make us doubt God’s absolute word, doubt our salvation, doubt God’s work in our lives. Jesus the horn of salvation can defeat the devil’s doubt. Another of Satan’s horns is fear. Hebrews 2:14 says that the devil holds us in slavery by our fear of death. He pierces us with the horn of fear. We fear failure; we fear sickness; we fear the future. We fear rejection. We are even afraid to invite someone to the Christmas worship service. Jesus can defeat the horn of fear.

Satan pierces us with the horn of despair. We give in to our old bad habits of lust or alcohol or drugs or pornography or laziness or eating too much, and we give up in despair. It is Satan’s horn. When we depend on ourselves, we fail time after time. Despair comes from the root of pride in our hearts which says, “I think I can run my own life and do my own thing without God’s help.”Jesus the horn of salvation defeats despair when we call on him for help. Satan sometimes pierces us with the horn of bitterness. We become bitter and feel like victims because of something someone says or does to us. The horn of salvation Jesus takes away bitterness and heals our hearts.

A beautiful woman allowed Satan to take hold of her rebellious spirit and push her into an immoral act. She was pierced by Satan’s horn and could not be free from slavery to an immoral relationship, even after she married. She needs to come to the horn of salvation, Jesus and surrender to him. A young man loved his wife, but when she was unfaithful to him he was pierced by Satan’s horn. He could not overcome sorrow and bitterness or the grip of Satan on his life. He needs to call on the horn of salvation Jesus and receive his help.

A sincere young man, protected from evil influences all his life, saw the ugly reality of death when his brother killed himself. This young man blamed God and God’s servants, not realizing that his enemy was the devil. So he became angry and bitter and finally his wife became a depression patient. He needs Jesus the horn of salvation. A loving mother lost her only son to cancer. She accepted God’s sovereignty and love and continued to serve God with all her heart. But deep in her heart was Satan’s piercing. She needs the healing that only Jesus the horn of salvation can give.

One young man really liked a girl. But when she committed adultery with a married man, he was deeply hurt and attempted suicide. But he could not die because of the fear of death. From that time on, he could not love girls, concluding that all women were his enemies. He was deeply impaled by Satan. At a UBF Bible conference, he heard Jesus’prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”(Lk 23:34) By the power of the Horn of Salvation Jesus he forgave his girlfriend and even himself. For the first time in his life, he tasted true peace from God. He experienced that the horn of salvation is mightier than the horn of Satan. Jesus the horn of salvation can rescue wounded, powerless young people and raise them as powerful servants of God. Praise Jesus who is the horn of salvation for everybody.

The horn of salvation saves us from all our enemies. Zechariah prophesies about enemies two times: “salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us”(71). and “to rescue us from the hand of our enemies...”(74). He saves us from enemies of doubt, fear, depression, despair, bitterness and from all our wounds. But our real enemy is Satan. He pierces whoever has an unprotected heart. One young single mother of five could become bitter and develop a victim’s mentality, but the horn of salvation has protected her and she is full of faith and joy. We need the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and the sword of the Spirit. Most of all, we need the horn of salvation to do battle for us. He is stronger than the ten horns of the devil. He defeats the devil and the power of sin by his death on the cross and by his glorious resurrection.

Look at verses 70-73. Zechariah saw the horn of salvation in the context of God’s history. He said, “[God] has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets of long ago.”(72) God promised to send the Messiah through David’s line. (Isa 9:6,7; 11:1) God swore an oath to Abraham (73). After Abraham had offered Isaac, God swore by himself that Abraham’s descendants would possess the cities of their enemies and that through Abraham’s offspring all nations on earth would be blessed. This promise was fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah. Our God remembers his covenant. He sent the horn of salvation to rescue us from our enemy Satan and to enable us to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days”(74-75). (No retirement.) Our God is faithful. What a blessing it is to serve God without fear. We are a holy nation people because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, our horn of salvation. We are set free from slavery so that we can serve our God without fear, in holiness and righteousness all our days.

Part 3: “And you my child...”(76-77)Let’s read verses 76 and 77. “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins...”Zechariah finally turned his attention to the little baby boy in his arms. His son, John would be a prophet. He would prepare the way for the Lord. He would not be the Messiah. He would be the forerunner of the Messiah. How would John prepare the way? First, by exposing the sin problem of all people. John would preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People’s hearts would be prepared for the coming of the Savior. Second, he would introduce Jesus, the Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. May we also prepare our hearts to come and worship Jesus at our Christmas worship service next Sunday. Let us prepare by repenting of sin and welcoming Jesus.

Part 4: “The rising sun will come to us from heaven...”(78-79)Read verses 78-79, “because of the tender mercy of our God, 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.”God could crush us for our sins and our rebellion against him, but in his tender mercy God forgives our sins. (78) Because of God’s tender mercy, the rising sun which comes to us from heaven shines his light into our darkness. People in slavery to sin and Satan live in darkness and in the shadow of death. It is the darkness of sin, the darkness of death, the darkness of depression; the darkness of meaninglessness. People living in darkness have no peace. The rising sun shines on us from heaven to guide our feet into the path of peace.

The worst kind of darkness is the darkness of ignorance, especially wilful and deliberate ignorance that denies the truth. Romans 1:18 says that men suppress the truth by their wickedness. Jesus said: “...Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light...But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light...”God’s word is truth. The Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. (Ps 119:105) For many centuries godless people have attacked the truthfulness and authority of the Bible. They have always failed. They attack the Bible because they don’t want to accept God’s sovereignty. They want to believe that everything is relative, including moral standards. Those who read the Bible and seek to live by it, find that God’s word is indeed truth and that God’s light shines in our hearts. It dispels ignorance and leads us in the path of peace.

Jesus the rising sun is the true light who gives light to every man. He gives us this invitation, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”(Jn 8:12) When we accept his invitation he guides our feet into the path of peace. (79) There can be no peace in the Middle East until Jesus the Horn of Salvation, Jesus the Rising Sun comes into every heart. Jesus made peace when he took our sins upon himself and restored our relationship with our Creator God. At his birth, the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”When we accept his grace and lay our burden of sin on him we have peace. God has come and has redeemed his people by raising up Jesus the horn of salvation. He has redeemed us by sending Jesus the rising sun to shine on people living in darkness and in the shadow of death. He has redeemed us so that we can walk in the path of peace and serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.