DECEMBER 14 ZECHARIAH’S SONG By Kris Stout Executive Vice President of International Ministries, Word of Life Fellowship
Today’s Passage: Luke 1:67–79
In the summer of 2018, our family took a “vacation of a lifetime” out West before the kids were all out of the house. While visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we decided to get up extra early and hike to a famous point to watch the sunrise. What a spectacular sight – to see this enormous canyon initially cloaked in darkness, then gradually light up into a thousand colors! It was so amazing it hardly looked real, but it was. Immediately following the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah – John’s father – prophesies about both his son and the coming Messiah, Jesus. In Luke 1:76–79, he declares: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to 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 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Did you catch that? Zechariah calls Jesus the “sunrise”! When I was a young boy, I too was sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death – until a new light dawned in my heart, changing my outlook completely, bringing spectacular color to my life, and guiding my feet into the way of peace. Most of the people we rub shoulders with every day – some of them close friends and relatives – are still in the shadow of that same darkness. Jesus is the New Dawn, the Bright Morning Star, the Light of the World, and He wants to shine through us (Matthew 5:16). How can you reflect that sunrise hope to those around you this season?
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