Anchor My Faith

Title: The Tender Mercy of God (Luke 1:78-80)

In the previous lesson Zachariah’s prophecy turned its focus on John; what he would become and do as an adult. He would be a prophet, chosen by God to go before the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people to be ready for new and radical ideas concerning their relationship with God. John would begin to give them knowledge of salvation, which would touch their hearts and begin a change of behavior. He would begin to teach them that salvation is connected with the forgiveness of their sins. In this lesson we will look at why God is going to do this by providing this means of salvation.

This will happen: “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78 – 79 ESV). Remember from a previous lesson when God looked at us and saw our miserable condition as sinners? When he did he didn’t turn away from us with an attitude of it serves them right, but instead from deep within his being there was found a tenderness of love for us and a kindness or good will toward us because of our miserable and afflicted condition and he had a desire to help us. Our God is truly a God of tender mercy.

Because of our sin we exist in the shadow of death and unless God does something we will continue under his wrath of eternal death. As we sit in this darkness God responds, as an expression of his tender mercy, and raises up one who will give light. This “sunrise shall visit” is a metaphor of the coming of the Messiah. We spoke in an earlier lesson how Jesus would come with life that would provide light for our darkened souls. This idea is central to John 3:16 (ESV): “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That visit from God is Jesus the Son of God who is sent, who comes with eternal life to provide the light that will replace our darkness.

Having committed a crime worthy of death, one would fear coming before a holy and powerful judge, but this judge, who is a tender mercy God, sends his only Son to die on the cross as a ransom, or payment, for our sin. He will take the wrath of God in our place and as he does it provides peace for us knowing that we have been set free to now serve him in holiness and righteousness.

Our lesson is long, but we need to briefly look at one more verse in this section: “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel” (Luke 1:80 ESV). This one verse covers the childhood of John. He grew into a man, strong in spirit, being prepared by God for his assignment as a prophet. During these years of growth, he dwelt in the hill country where his father resided in a place of obscurity, away from the public. Then when the time was right, at about age 30, he entered public ministry.

Prayer

Father, the narrative of the life and ministry of Jesus continues to move forward. John the Baptist has been born, and Zechariah’s prophecy has informed us of his future as a forerunner of Jesus. It seems to be time to bring Jesus into view, but first we must look at what Joseph is going to do to Mary when he finds out that she is pregnant. Father, I know that you have this under control. We look forward to see how this works out.