A Great New Testament Prophecy That Needs More Attention by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Thanks for joining us today. The prophecy “teased” in the headline is the prophetic prayer of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. In my NIV study Bible, the prayer’s subhead is “Zechariah’s Song” and notes, “This hymn is called Benedictus, (‘Praise be’) because the opening word in the Latin Vulgate translation is ‘Benedictus.’”
This prophetic “song” — recorded in Luke 1: 68-74 — immediately follows the birth of John the Baptist. Let’s read it now and then discuss why Zechariah’s prayer is a great New Testament prophecy that I would argue does not receive enough attention:
“‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He 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), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us — to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 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, 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’” (Luke 1: 68-74).
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It is essential to understand the context of Zechariah’s prayer in light of John the Baptist’s miraculous conception story in Luke 1: 5-24. And, in case you missed it, read Vol. 90: The Lesson of John the Baptist’s Conception Story.
Briefly, Gabriel, “an angel of the Lord,” appeared to the high priest Zechariah in the temple. (Gabriel is on several world-changing missions from God. At his next stop, he informs Mary about the news that launches the Christmas card industry.) Now, Gabriel tells Zechariah that wife Elizabeth (thought to be barren) would conceive a child who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
