Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah's Prophecy, A Message of Repentance

by David Chadwick

Zechariah's prophecy gives strong gospel implications to the importance and need for repentance.

Luke 1:77-78 says that John, in preparing the way for the Lord, would "give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high…"

Zechariah knew that John's life's mission would be to point to Jesus. John the Baptist would bring a message of repentance before people even heard Jesus's message. His words would prime the hearts of people to receive the Word (John 1:1).

Jesus's message would then bring people the knowledge of salvation and offer the forgiveness of sins. Through him, all of mankind would be offered the perfect union that had once existed between God and his creation. Jesus would restore everything that had been broken. He would repair, reunite, redeem, and rebuild!

My dear friends, our greatest need as humans is not more "stuff" that we don't actually need. Rather, it is to know that we are forever forgiven, that our eternity is secure through Jesus, and that our lives are meant to bear fruit for his Kingdom while living on this broken earth. If we truly understood these realities, we would never need to worry about anything again!

God made this salvation message known first through John and then through Jesus. Because of the "tender mercy of our God," he does not want any of us to receive what we deserve. If karma is true, then all of us deserve an eternity in hell for our sins, disobedience, unrighteousness, and godlessness. None of us are blameless and without fault. Any sin, even the slightest one, scars us. God knew this!

Instead of leaving us to wallow in our brokenness, God, rich in grace and mercy, came to us. He came to us from "on high," heaven, and visited us like the sunrise visits us every morning of every day. What do we do to cause the sun to rise each day? Absolutely nothing! It's only because God loves us SO much that he gives us this daily reminder of his mercy and grace.

Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." What a great God we serve!