Luke 1:57-80
Below is a sermon manuscript from December 14, 2025. Watch the sermon here.
Introduction
Have you ever held your breath while driving through a tunnel? When you get one, there is a big gasp. Your body is reacting to you not breathing for that period of time, and you and others can audibly hear it. In our passage this morning, it’s much more than holding of a breath; here, John is unable to talk. But when we do, everyone knows it. It’s as if it’s the only thing he will ever say again. A heart song, a prophecy, a prayer, a declaration that all need to hear. His soul has been waiting for this moment. Scripture tells us that out of the heart the mouth speaks, and here we have Zechariah’s heart held before us, a heart that is filled with the Holy Spirit and making much of God’s work in history. Let’s listen in.
Read Luke 1:57-80
This passage both points back to Mary and her song and also points ahead to Jesus’ birth. Once again, Luke’s careful compilation of the details in an organized way is evident. God is using Luke’s gifts to give us this Scripture. What a privilege! Let’s break down this passage by focusing on the first section before the song and then looking at two major aspects of the song.
God Can Still Use You
Zechariah’s obedience showed his faith
There are differences in what is meant by the term faith. Some see faith as mere assent. By this, it means a person agrees with certain truths. But that is different than how the Bible sees saving faith. Saving faith personally rests on Christ, not just on facts about him. It’s one thing for Zechariah to have faith that God is a God of the miraculous. But it is another thing for him to actively trust in God’s truth when it is revealed to Him. Often, situations reveal our hearts. They can sift us and reveal where we are not trusting in God. When additional situations come, they again reveal something in how we respond. For Zechariah, this time we see evidence of active trust. He obeys. He trusts God – not only for His work in History – but for His work for Zechariah.
Scripture speaks of childlike faith, and children can often reveal this to us and reveal our lack of faith. There have been times when driving where the weather is bad or something is happening. I have told the kids they need to be quiet so I can focus. I remember one time I said that and they said, “But can we pray, Dad?” A simple phrase, “But can we pray, Dad?” Both demonstrated their active trust and revealed where I was lacking in that moment.
What do your actions say about your faith? How do they reveal what you are trusting in? Are you keeping God at arm’s length, content to trust some basic facts about Him but unwilling to trust Christ alone for your salvation? It’s not too late. Today, you can surrender your life to Jesus. Perhaps you have met God’s good news to you with indifference or unbelief before, but today, actively trust in Him. If you do it will transform your life. You will live for God, not because you have to, to make yourself feel better, to earn God’s favor, but you will want to follow him because you are actively resting in what He has done for you in Christ.
God can redeem your past failures and use your present obedience
Do you have a scar, or have you ever had a broken bone? There is healing; you are able to move past the initial pain of the incident, but there is a lingering scar. It doesn’t define you, but it’s part of your story.
Zechariah’s story is like that. Yesterday’s disobedience may complicate, but never negates, today’s obedience. Think about your own life. Perhaps you have had periods where you felt the weight of your past decisions. Maybe your failures weren’t as apparent to everyone as Zechariah’s silence, but they still follow you.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the shame. To be defined by it. But this is what Satan wants, not God.
God has the power to redeem; we see this in Zechariah, and you can likely think of examples from your own life or the lives of others you know. Situations where you have messed up, there are consequences, and yet God brings you out of it.
But for others, this is complicated. Past decisions make present obedience hard. There may not be an easy path forward. There may never be a full recovery to what things were like before. But even amid remaining earthly consequences, there is forgiveness because of the one that John points toward – the One who pays the penalty for all our sin, the One who gives hope to the hopeless.
Present obedience can be further complicated by external factors
In Zechariah, we see spirit-filled obedience, obedience that overcame not only his own disobedience, but also shows us the hope for those who have failed, and his faith also overcame the cultural expectations of the day. We don’t know the motivations of the people pressing in on Elizabeth, but maybe it’s encouraging to see that family pressures and certain expectations are nothing new. Sometimes, regardless of intentions, family desires may be at odds with God’s desires.
Regardless of the motives of the family, we have Elizabeth suggesting one thing and them suggesting or seemingly steering toward another, and Zechariah is left with the decision, side with his wife, who is following the Lord, or not. At the same time, the crowd doesn’t really align with sinful temptation. Perhaps there are hints of a reversal of Gen 3 here in Elizabeth as a redemptive figure who, unlike Eve, points her husband toward obedience to God’s Word.
God Prepares the Way
Who will this child be?
The circumstances pointed to something beyond them. The question “What, then, will this child be?” Reverberates through the people. It’s a question that illuminates what people were thinking and how they were discussing. Have you ever been in a situation where everyone has a similar question, but it’s not really verbalized, and when it is, everyone is looking for the answer? Maybe it is waiting in a long line, and you’re thinking, “What’s the hold up here!” Or a traffic jam. Maybe it is watching an event, and something crazy happens, and you are thinking, “Did I see that right?” Or a person misspeaks or says something they didn’t intend, and everyone’s head tilts to the side as if choreographed. That’s a little like this scene. Wait, what’s happening here? The question hits the air, and everyone is ready for it. They want to know. It’s like a dog whose owner just said “treat.”
God answers the questions through Zechariah’s Song
The questions are answered through Zechariah’s song. Perhaps this song had been on his heart and mind during the past nine months. Unable to speak, God was preparing him for this moment and using him in a great way. As one of the guys pointed out in men’s Bible study, Zechariah’s big moment had come. He was called to give the blessing over the people while serving at the altar of incense. But then he was unable to speak. Now, he speaks and blesses in a way that is not only for the people who are looking on, but is also recorded for us today.
Zechariah tells us both of Jesus and of John. We will start with John.
God Prepares the Way Through John
John is preparing the way like a snowplow preparing the way for Jesus to come. Part of this mission is to set the stage. While the people may anticipate a conquering hero who brings political and physical deliverance, John comes baptizing, calling people to repentance, and preparing people for the spiritual realities that the messiah will bring.
Wilcock says it like this,
The true enemies were not as most Jews thought foreign invaders, but spiritual foes, and it was to be the work of Zechariah’s son John ‘to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins’ (1:77). That is where the revolution has to begin. Before there can be a right relationship between man and man, there must be a right relationship between man and God, and the sin which spoils that must be repented of and removed.[1]
John prepares people by realigning their expectations
John’s ministry, then, is a realignment ministry. He prepares people for salvation by correcting their expectations. And the same realignment is often needed today. We might be tempted to come to Jesus primarily to fix our marriage, solve our problems, heal our bodies, or repair our nation. These things matter, and Jesus does care about them, but the greatest need is salvation from sin. If we miss that, we risk pursuing all the secondary goods in a self-righteous way and piling sin upon sin.
John’s own preparation Takes Place Differently
As I reflected on this passage, one thing that struck me was how different John was from his parents as well. They had waited years for this moment, and within nine months, Zechariah was prophesying to a crowd of people. But what happens with John? We are not told details about his childhood. We have, as one commentator put it, 30 years of life wrapped up in a few words.
Our family watches Christmas movies on Friday nights during this time of year. This week, we watched Elf. I was struck by the fact that he was just a baby, and then in the next scene, he is a 30-year-old. The movie wasn’t too concerned with giving the details in between. It’s pretty similar here. We may be curious, but we aren’t given the details. God didn’t preserve them for us in Scripture.
What is interesting is that by all accounts, we have the people primed and ready for something spectacular and then radio silence for years. This is such a contrast to the platform-building enterprises of today, isn’t it? Instead, it seems that God is preparing John in the shadows for his ministry. Perhaps the separation into the wilderness was a way to prepare John and keep him from pride, like how God used the wilderness years to test and humble Israel (Deut. 8:2-3), maybe John would be tested and refined during his time in the wilderness, prepared for just the right moment.
This would align well with Mary’s song of God casting down the proud and lifting up the humble. John’s hidden years in the wilderness embody this pattern.
God Is Faithful To Keep His Promises
God is fulfilling his promises in Jesus
Zechariah speaks of his son, but he starts by talking about Jesus. In the messiah, God is visiting his people. The idea of God visiting in Scripture is related to either God coming in judgment or in salvation. Here, the context is Jesus bringing salvation. It’s similar to Exodus 4:31, “And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.” This is God saving his people from Pharaoh’s oppression. But as we have seen already, this salvation is much greater.
We also see this greater salvation in the details that Zechariah uses in God’s visitation.
In Jesus, God is faithful to the covenant made with David
Luke has already made connections between Jesus and David, and here he continues to do so. The audience can’t miss the point. They are looking for a Davidic messiah who will liberate the people, and he is coming. He is referred to as the horn of salvation. Horns are used in Scripture to convey power and might. Hughes adds further insight.
An animal’s horn is its weapon for defense and vengeance, and also its ornament of beauty. The Davidic horn would be “raised up” in a mighty display of power in the birth of Jesus—“a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David”[2]
Israel’s forever King is coming to establish his forever Kingdom.
We might think of Isaiah 9:6-7,
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.[3]
Jesus, the mighty one is coming, he is coming to provide salvation and deliverance in a way that gives hope not only for this life but for eternity.
In Jesus, God is faithful to the covenant made with Abraham
Not only is God faithfully keeping the Davidic covenant, but he is keeping the covenant made to Abraham. Zechariah speaks of the mercy that God showed the fathers, those who came before. And now he is being merciful in bringing about the great fulfillment of his promises. Abraham was to be a blessing to the nations, this will be picked up later on. But here the focus is on God’s oath to Abraham’s future descendants and the promise of protection from enemies (Gen. 22:16-18).
In Jesus, God is faithful to liberate His people
Zechariah describes being liberated from the enemies.
For Zechariah the great enemy was the Roman Empire. People were longing for a new exodus, in which God would rescue them from Rome. So when Zechariah spoke of deliverance, he may partly have been thinking in political terms. But as we shall see, he was also looking for a more lasting liberation—one that would bring freedom from sin.[4]
The liberation also brings a purpose. It is so that the people could serve God wholeheartedly. In Christ, there is freedom from the bondage of sin. We are no longer enslaved but freed to live faithfully for God. It is true that we still struggle with indwelling sin, but we are no longer defined by it.
Consider the fulfilling aspect that is taking place, which we can experience now on this side of these events. This is the only reference to the word “covenant” in the gospels besides Jesus’ use of the word. There, he is referring to the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Here, the word echoes back to God’s faithfulness to his covenant people, and the fulfillment of these promises brings with it the hope of the New Covenant. It’s in this covenant that not only are some filled with the Holy Spirit, but all will be permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Brings Light in Darkness
Zechariah’s song also describes Jesus as bringing light into the darkness. In the tabernacle, there was to be a light always remaining lit to signify the presence of God. Jesus describes John as a light in John 5:35, but one that people could tolerate only briefly before it was extinguished. But Jesus comes as the sun. His is a light that can never be put out. He comes to bring light into the darkness, and those who try to put it out will find that their attempt was in vain because the grave could not hold him. The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (Jn. 1:5).
Salvation is as good as done
Do you notice the past tense of the idea of redemption? God has visited and redeemed his people, verse 68. This indicates certain fulfillment. The term visited echoes the times in the Old Testament when God visited his people in order to save and bless them. It’s used later in Luke 7:16 when Jesus raises the widow’s son and the people say,
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”[5]
This exaltation is evidence of Zechariah’s faith. Have you ever had someone say, “I’ll take care of it” And you this “we’ll see.” Maybe it’s your spouse saying they will do the dishes. Your kids are saying they will clean their room. Or a co-worker submitting their portion of the project. They say it will be done, but you have to keep checking them over and over. This is the opposite of what Zechariah does here. There is praise that God has already accomplished it. His promises are coming into being in real time, and they are already as good as done.
Conclusion
Salvation is as good as done, and yet it has not been accomplished in real time. John still needed to grow up and begin his ministry. Jesus wasn’t even born yet. God’s promises are secure, and yet we often find ourselves in the midst of them. Christians await the return of Jesus even as we live on this side of Jesus’ first coming. We look forward to our heavenly glorified bodies even as we experience new spiritual birth even now. For those who will come to Christ, God knows your story. But for some, maybe even in this room, it hasn’t been realized in real time yet. Perhaps all the events in your life have served a role similar to John’s, preparing the way for you to encounter and meet Jesus. You can meet him personally this morning by turning from your sin and trusting in Him. He came to bring salvation. If you go to him in faith, trusting in what he has done for you, you will be saved.
[1] Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 37.
[2] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 75.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, Luke: That You May Know the Truth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), 75.
[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, vol. 1, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009), 61.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 7:16.
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