Luke 1:72 To accomplish mercy with our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, (73) The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, (74) To grant us that we, having been delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, (75) In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. (76) And you also, little child, shall be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, (77) To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the forgiveness of their sins.
Here [vv. 72-73] Zachariah says that God remembered His covenant. This refers to God's faithfulness in keeping His word, which was made His covenant by His oath. God's covenant is enacted upon His promise (Heb. 8:6). A promise is a common, ordinary word, a word without confirmation. In the Old Testament, after God made a promise, He sealed it with an oath. He swore by His Godhead to confirm His promise, by His oath thus making the promise His covenant. In verses 76 and 77 Zachariah prophesies concerning his own son [John], the forerunner of the Man-Savior. The "Lord" in verse 76 is Jesus the Savior. Zachariah prophesied that the forerunner would go before the Lord to prepare His ways. The angel had told Zachariah that his son would turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God and "prepare for the Lord a people made ready" (Luke 1:16-17). He would prepare the way of the Lord by changing people's minds, turning their minds toward the Lord and making their hearts right, thus causing every part of their hearts to be straightened by the Lord through repentance so that the Man-Savior could enter into them to be their life and take possession of them.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, p. 43. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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