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Benedictus
(The Song of Zechariah)
Church of England - Common Worship
Luke 1.68-79
Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, ♦
who has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, ♦
born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets God promised of
old ♦
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us,
4 To show mercy to our ancestors, ♦
and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath God swore to our father
Abraham: ♦
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 Free to worship him without fear, ♦
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
7 And you, child, shall be called the prophet of
the Most High, ♦
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his
way,
8 To give his people knowledge of salvation ♦
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God ♦
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 To shine on those who dwell in darkness and
the shadow of death, ♦
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1.68-79
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union
Benedictus
(The Song of Zechariah)
Luke 1.68-79
Prophetic worship
As Zechariah contemplates his brand new baby boy, the Holy Spirit fills him with a knowledge of the significance of his son's role in life:
to prepare the people of God for their imminent salvation.
The oath made to Abraham will be fulfilled, the covenant kept.
As promised, a king has been born in the line of David, a strong king.
As an animal's horn could give it victory in battle, so a strong leader could defeat Israel's enemies, enabling them to serve God without fear of their oppressors (v 74).
Good God!
And yet this prophecy takes the concept of salvation from the realm of politics and blows its significance far wider.
Zechariah, with insight from God himself, declares that salvation not only means defeated enemies (v 74), but the forgiveness of sins by a loving and merciful and faithful God (vs 77,78).
The painful and sacrificial means by which this will be accomplished are yet to unfold.
Just a few years further down the line, God's own Son will become the ultimate sin offering on the altar.
But for now Zechariah knows redemption is just around the corner, and he praises God with joyful extravagance.
A story that touches us too
The people of Israel lived their lives within the context of ancient stories, passed down, generation to generation.
Promises made to distant ancestors were held on to in the belief that God would one day make good on them.
Through Jesus we have been grafted into that same history, and the salvation spoken of through the prophets has come to us too.
Let's ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding of the significance of what this means and to lead us into worship and praise for the wonder of this truth.
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