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And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Christ, but which is also applicable for the 'Church Age'.
Many people claim to be prophets and, at best, they are prophets of Satan. Many people claim to be experts on prophecy because they know what someone else said. That does not make them an expert. In addition, all prophecy involves using symbols and a lot of people misuse symbols. I've had people who don't know the first thing about God's way to interpret God's word claim that they are an expert on symbols based upon what someone else told them and that they accepted without verifying.
With all of these false claims, we have a lot of false doctrine which is based upon wrong interpretation of prophecy and wrong interpretation of symbols. In addition, we have lots of people who want to 'take a stand' on their doctrine because their pride and reputation are riding on their claims. Woe be to the person who steps on someone else's pride.
As a result of these truths, getting into prophecy can lead to arguments and hurt feelings and I usually avoid prophecy and try to avoid symbols for this reason, even though I am qualified to deal with both.
In this case, I will deal with a prophecy about Christ, which applies to the saved of today. (Please notice that I am not dealing with the interpretation, which is actually for the Jews, but an application.) And, I hope to not strep on any toes. However, God's people should understand this prophecy and also understand how to figure out Biblical symbols and true Biblical prophecy.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is that Satan quoted Bible and took it out of context in order to pervert the meaning. Therefore, one of the main safeguards against error is to consider all Bible references within their context. In particular, context is critical to properly interpreting prophecy and symbols.
One reason for this requirement is the fact that symbols can have different meanings in different context. We have a rule of one interpretation but many applications. The basic definition of Bible words is the single interpretation. Symbolic use of the Bible words are part of the many applications. For example, the definition of water
is: 'the basic liquid of life'. That definition is used some places in the Bible. However, it is also used symbolically for spiritual cleansing. In addition, in John 3 when Jesus said Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit
, He was comparing physical birth to spiritual birth. In this context, the phrase Except a man be born of water
is speaking about a woman's water breaking in physical birth. Therefore, we see two different spiritual applications which are different from the basic definition which the Bible also uses.
One of the truths about Bible prophecy is that God gives us an idea about how future prophecy will be fulfilled, but God always hides the exact way that He fulfills it. He gives prophecy to challenge devils to stop Him and proves that He is the most powerful being when He fulfills it in spite of all of the devils trying to stop Him. Thus, the true purpose of prophecy is to encourage God's people to trust Him because of all of the prophecy which He has already fulfilled. It is not to tell people what God plans to do in the future so that they can do what no devil had done and avoid God fulfilling prophecy in their life.
Next, some prophecy is to the nation of Israel, some to an individual and some to people in general. Our section has all three types. Luke 1:67-75 is a prophecy to the nation of Israel and does not apply to us. Luke 1:76-79 is about John the Baptist and about Christ. The prophecy about Christ is all that applies to us and is all that we should be worried about. Related to this is the fact that lots of people want to know about the prophecy of end times. Part of that is because lots of people are gossips and God's people are to avoid that sin. Most of that prophecy applies to the Jews as a nation, and therefore does not apply to us. Unless you are going to be a missionary to Jews, the main reason to know about that prophecy is the fulfill the lust of the flesh for feeling important and becoming a gossip.
Part of that prophecy is for lost people. However, anyone who is lost and can hear the Gospel but stays lost will be sent a strong delusion
(2Thessalonians 2:11-12). So, they will lose any chance of becoming saved once the 'Rapture' happens. Only people who never had a chance to hear the Gospel will have a chance of getting saved during the 'Great Tribulation' and that does not include anyone who wants to know about Bible prophecy.
Therefore, the only thing about end-times prophecy that we need to know is that the next thing to happen is the 'Rapture' and we better try to get our friends and neighbors saved before that happens or they have no hope of salvation.
With that in mind, we can return to Luke 1:76-79, which is the prophecy about John the Baptist's future.
And thou,
child,
shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God;
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Please see the section called Minor Titles of the Son of God in the Significant Gospel Events Study about the titles in this sentence and links to other similar minor titles for the Son of God.
As already mentioned, every sentence from Luke 1:57 through the end of the chapter are related with every sentence, after the first, starting with the word And, which adds it to the prior sentences in this section. Here we see that the neighbours and cousins, of Elisabeth had problems accepting that God was doing something unusual while the section prior to this one told us that Mary and Elisabeth had no problems accepting the same thing. As part of dealing with their (the neighbours and cousins) problem believing that God would act outside of their expectations, God restored speech to Zacharias and had him prophesy. This sentence is part of that prophecy.
In this sentence, we see a restatement of Isaiah 40:3 and it is applied to John the Baptist, who was sent to prepared the way for the ministry of Jesus.
Our sentence has two Equivalent Sections with the Second Equivalent Section starting with the word for
and telling us why the First Equivalent Section is true.
Our First Equivalent Section tells us that John the Baptist shalt be called the prophet of the Highest. We see the capitalized Highest in Psalms 18:13; Luke 1:32, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:76; Luke 6:35. In every case, this is a name for God the Father. Thus, John the Baptist shalt be called the prophet of God the Father. With that noted, we need to look at the reasons given by God, in this sentence, for why John the Baptist would be given this title. We also need to note that nothing is said about his foretelling the future.
We have been told that a prophet
was 'someone who foretells the future' for so long that we have accepted that definition as Bible truth. However, while some prophets did, not all did. The exact phrase sons of the prophets
is found ten (10) times in the Bible and while all of them prophesied, we do not read about all of them telling the future. What we do read about them all doing is delivering a message from God. Therefore, that is the true Biblical definition of a prophet
and 'telling the future' is an application which applied to many, but not all, true Biblical prophets
. In addition, we see that this definition fits with what our sentence tells us about John the Baptist being called the prophet of the Highest.
One thing needs to be noted and that is that many preachers of today claim that all preachers have the spiritual gift of prophecy. That is not true. The Pharisees and Scribes taught religious doctrine which came from famous preachers and their traditions. They were not prophets but were jealous of true prophets and killed them because true prophets challenged their authority and positions (Matthew 23:29-39; Luke 11:46-54; Luke 13:34; Romans 11:3; 1Thessalonians 2:15). The truth is that, like Paul, a true Biblical prophet of today will reveal truths in God's word, without perverting the meaning of God's word, and the truths revealed must not be part of popular religious traditions. An example is pointing out that 'There is no place that tells us to ask Jesus to be our Saviour and that doctrinal error leads to many false professions while telling people to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is not doctrinal error'. (In the Bible, the name of Jesus and the title of Lord have different doctrinal meanings and give us different relationships with the Son of God). 'A true Biblical prophet delivers God's message without changing any of God's message even when it does not match the message of popular religion'.
With those truths noted, we can not look at the true interpretation of the Second Equivalent Section, which is telling us why (for) John the Baptist shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.
On our Second Equivalent Section, we have three Steps that John the Baptist will take to fulfill this role that God has given to him. In the First Step, we see John the Baptist accept the role that God gives to him. God does not take away anyone's free will and force His will on them. In the Second Step, we see what John the Baptist is to do within this role, which is to prepare the way for Christ
(the dayspring from on high
). In the Third Step, we see what Christ (the dayspring from on high
) will do.
We see the exact phrase go before
in: Genesis 33:12; Exodus 23:23; Exodus 32:1; Exodus 32:23; Exodus 32:34; Deuteronomy 31:8; 1Chronicles 21:30; Psalms 85:13; Psalms 89:14; Isaiah 45:2; Isaiah 52:12; Isaiah 58:8; Matthew 14:22; Matthew 26:32; Mark 14:28; Luke 1:17; Luke 1:76; Acts 7:40; 2Corinthians 9:5. This phrase is used for 'lead the way as in a guide and also as a herald of an important person'. In the case of this sentence, John the Baptist is the herald of the most important person of all time (before the face of the Lord
). [As mentioned in the note for this sentence, within the Lord Jesus Christ Study, This is the third time in Luke that the title Lord
is used in reference to Jesus. Each of these times are prophecies from God the Father specifying that Jesus
would be Lord
].
Finally, our First Step tells us the purpose of John the Baptist being an herald and that is: to prepare his ways
. The main message from John the Baptist, was repent. This was how he would prepare God's people for his ways. Isaiah 58:8 says: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD
. True Biblical repentance is turning away from sin but it is also turning towards God in personal worship and obedience. This is what John the Baptist required people to prove that they did and it was what the religious and civil authorities objected to. They were willing to turn from obvious sin but not willing to turn towards God, and His ways in obedience. Their refusal is why God delayed His offer for the kingdom until after the 'Church Age'. However, the Jews rejected the message from John the Baptist, and from Jesus, before God reacted as God did.
In our First Step we saw that John the Baptist accepted the position and job that God gave him. The fact that the people refused his message was not his fault and he was rewarded for delivering the message regardless of the reception of the message. People need to remember that when God gives us a job, like delivering a message, we are responsible for doing the job and are to leave the results up to God.
In the Second Step, we see what John the Baptist is to do within this role, which is to prepare the way for Christ
(the dayspring from on high
). As already mentioned in this note, for the prior Step, the main message of John the Baptist was repent. We see repentance for the remission of sins in Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Luke 24:47 and Acts 2:38 with the two first references telling us what John the Baptist preached. The word by
is: 'in detail how we get from one place to another place'. That is: salvation...by the remission of their sins
means that the way to get to true Biblical salvation, from a position of condemnation, requires the remission of their sins. With that, we can say that the first phrase, of our Second Step, tells us that John the Baptist was to give knowledge of salvation to God's people and tell them that it required them going the way of remission of their sins. This required, of course, God sending the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world
(John 1:29) in order to pay for those sins. That is the only way that anyone truly receives the remission of their sins.
The second phrase of our Second Step tells us that we receive the remission of our sins
Through the tender mercy of our God
. A lot of people just read over critical words, like through
without thinking about the doctrine involved in the word. Think of a mountain range that is a barrier to where you want to go. Now think of a tunnel that goes through the mountain range. To get to the other side of the mountain range, we must enter it on one side and exit on the other side. Likewise, the requirement to recognize our need for God's tender mercy ('not getting the punishment that you deserve') is a barrier to the religious person who wants to believe that they can pay for their own sin and earn their way into Heaven by their works. True Biblical salvation...by the remission of...sins
requires us recognizing our need for God's tender mercy and our entering it. Only after exiting it on the other side of receiving it allows us to receive true Biblical salvation...by the remission of...sins
.
Other than mentioning that this tender mercy must come from the God of the Bible, and not religion nor some other being not any other source, I will move on and leave further details to preachers.
Our Third Step starts with the word whereby
and might seem to give a direction of events that is opposite of the true direction. This is actually saying that the Third Step was done in order to accomplish the Second Step. That is: the plan that we see in the Second Step resulted in the action that we see in the Third Step and the Third Step accomplished the plan that is stated in the Second Step. (I hope that is not too confusing.)
The word dayspring
is only found here and in Job 38:12. Commentators claim that this is a symbolic reference to dawn and to Christ. Job is a poetic book full of symbolic meanings and both symbolic meanings fit the usage in Job. However, our current reference of dayspring from on high is only a symbolic reference to Christ.
At the time that Zacharias spoke this prophecy, Mary was already three months pregnant. That meant that Jesus
was already in the world and the past-tense of the phrase the dayspring from on high hath visited us was accurate. (The word hath
is" 'an ongoing pas-tense form of the word has' and the start, of this ongoing visit, occurred in the past of when Zacharias prophesied.)
Putting the thoughts of the prior two paragraphs together, we interpret the first phrase, of our Third Step, to tell us that Christ
had come to Earth (visited us
).
The second and third phrases of our Third Step tell us what Christ
will do as a literal physical man (visited us
). Our sentence tells us that He came to accomplish two purposes. The first purpose is To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death
. There are several notes which explain the use of light
and darkness
in the New Testament. As also given in the word definitions, below, we see that light
is: 'The spiritual gift from God that overcomes spiritual darkness from sin and Satan. Spiritual light allows us to see and understand things from God's view. Spiritual light allows us to see how to walk, work and live in this world in a godly way'. Matthew 1:21 tells us: she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins
. The phrase save his people from their sins
means: 'get them out of their sins', which requires the spiritual light
which our current sentence is talking about.
In addition to the meaning of light
and darkness
, we have the phrase them that sit in darkness
. These people are settled and not moving. They have no reason to get out of their darkness because it comes from false religion which tells them that they will go to the light of Heaven from a life of sitting in darkness. Jesus Christ definitely upset the leaders of false religions by bringing true spiritual light to the darkness of their false doctrines.
Our next phrase is: them that sit...in the shadow of death
. They are in the shadow of death
because death
is looming over them, and keeping them from God's light
, and they don't even realize it. Consider carefully the doctrinal position of Nicodemus when he first came to Jesus
as reported in John 3. Jesus
brought true doctrinal light
to Nicodemus and he avoided the second death
(Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8).
Our third phrase, of our Third Step, is the second thing that Christ
took human form (visited us
) to accomplish. Here we see that He wants to guide our feet into the way of peace
. In this phrase, and when the Bible talks about our walk, it is talking about the small every-day things which we do repeatedly. Psalms 120:7 says: I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.
This is the experience of many people, even the saved. In that Psalm, king David wrote: Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
(Psalms 120:7). His problem was that he was abiding with the wrong people and his every-day reactions were wrong for peace because he was a man of war (1Chronicles 28:3). Psalms 119:105 says: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path
. That means that God's word is to guide us in the small every-day things which we do repeatedly (a lamp unto my feet
) and our goal for life (a light unto my path
). Our last phrase tells us that Christ came to turn us from the experience of king David to an experience that is expressed by Psalms 119:105 and becomes a guide our feet into the way of peace. If we truly want peace we must make that a major goal of our life and a guide for how we respond to the everyday aggravations of life. Out sentence and last phrase tells us that Christ
came to show us how to have true Biblical peace even while we live in this flesh.