New Covenant

So good to have you with us today. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. It's wonderful because of so many prophecies coming true. We have the blessed opportunity to study them, to come to grips with what the Old Testament said, because Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism. Judaism is the root. Christianity is the fruit. We understand that. We've come to grips with that. We understand what the Old Testament says and how the New Testament is the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken concerning the arrival of the Messiah.

And with his coming came a promise, a new covenant promise that dealt with the forgiveness of sins. That's what Christmas is about. That's what the Bible is about. The Bible is not a self-help book or a book that will help you through your daily problems. That's not what the Bible is for. The Bible is to help you understand God in his redeeming work. If you go to the Bible for another reason, you'll be disappointed. That's not what the Bible is for. The Bible is a comprehensive study of God and what he came to do for man to redeem him from his sin.

It's all about redemption and the process in which God accomplished that so that you could have your deepest need met, the forgiveness of sins. If you go to the Bible looking for something else other than the forgiveness of sins, you will be disappointed because that's not what the Bible is for. It tells us the truth about the living God of the universe. If you want to know God, the Bible is where you go. It's about the knowledge of the Holy One, the true and living God. And the Bible portrays that very clearly for us.

In the Gospel of Luke, a book that we've been studying for a number of years, there is the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth. It sets the tone for our study today on the new covenant. Remember Zacharias? He was a priest. He was advanced in years, the Bible says.

We understand that meaning somewhere in his upper 70s, probably even in his 80s. So was his wife Elizabeth. She was barren. She had no children. If you're a Jew, that's a huge stigma, especially if you don't have a son. Jewish women lived to bear sons. That was their hope. That was their joy. But Elizabeth, she had no child alone, a son. And one day the angel Gabriel came to Zacharias when he's performing his priestly duties in the temple and told him that his wife Elizabeth would have a son. He would be the one who would go in the spirit and power of Elijah.

And he would pave the way for the Messiah. Zacharias, a priest who knows the Old Testament, had a hard time believing that. So the angel said, you know what? If you don't believe, can't speak, you can't hear for the next nine months. We know that because the Greek word kophos used throughout the book of Luke deals with not only the deaf but the mute as well. So he couldn't speak and he couldn't hear for nine months because he wouldn't believe the prophecy that Gabriel gave him. Think about it. It's been 400 years since there was a prophecy given to Israel.

500 years since there had been a miracle in Israel. That's a long time. And what happens during that time? People become apathetic. They become lethargic. God's not speaking anymore. Then all of a sudden the angel Gabriel shows up to Zacharias and says, here's the plan. He doesn't believe the plan. So the angel says, can't hear, can't speak because you don't believe. Elizabeth, she becomes pregnant. She has this boy named John. In fact, angel Gabriel tells him, this is what you can name the boy. You can name him John.

Because God had a plan, a plan that would be fulfilled through that young boy who would grow to be a man. The greatest man ever born of a woman said the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he was born. The day he was born on the eighth day, they were going to name him and they named him John. For nine months, Zacharias couldn't speak. Zacharias couldn't hear. And all of a sudden he burst forth in all of this praise. And the Bible records for us the benedictus of Zacharias, the blessing of Zacharias in what he says.

And what Zacharias says in Luke chapter one verses 67 down to the end of the chapter helps us understand the coming of the Messiah and the new covenant as presented in the old testament. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter one.

Luke chapter one. And it says in verse 67, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and accomplished redemption for his people. That's the theme of Zacharias' song. He has accomplished redemption for his people. Finally, redemption is going to happen for God has visited us.

When it says that God has visited us, that means the supernatural has invaded the natural. Okay. God has come to his people. He says this, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David, his servant. This is the Davidic covenant. This is what we covered last week, a little bit. David's promise from God. Remember, we told you that there are 62 chapters in the Bible that deal with David. The covenant is given in second Samuel chapter seven, 40 other times in the old testament, that covenant is referenced because David becomes essential figure of the old testament because Messiah, when he comes will be called the son of David and he will sit on his father's throne in Israel and rule and reign over Israel in that kingdom.

That's the Davidic promise. It's about the, it's a universal promise. It's about the promise of how God will rescue his people from their enemies. It's the promise of a sovereign. He talks about that. He says that he has raised up a horn of salvation for us. The Messiah was called the horn of David. Why? Horns speak of beasts and speak of the ability to conquer and to rule. And this is the horn of salvation that's arrived. He says in verse 70, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

That would be fulfillment of Davidic promise. Zacharias is a priest. He understands old testament prophecy. And so he immediately goes back and says that God has visited us for God to visit us. That means he has accomplished redemption. If he's accomplished redemption, that means Davidic promise has been accomplished as well. And then he takes you even further back and goes to Abrahamic promise. That was two weeks ago, right? We talked about that. God's call upon Abraham and the covenant given to Abraham.

It was given in Genesis chapter 12. Remember that? It was ratified in Genesis 15. It was reaffirmed in Genesis chapter 17. It was renewed in Genesis 26 and 28. It was reiterated three other times in the book of Genesis, because it was all about the promise of a seed. The Davidic promise was a promise of a sovereign ruler. The Abrahamic promise was a promise of a seed. That seed would be the sovereign ruler. It would be a promise of how Israel would receive a blessing. And they would then be a blessing to the nations of the world.

And so here Zacharias takes us back even further than the time of David to the time of Abraham, because everything is coming into focus. Everything now was being fulfilled. And what happens in the new Testament is all a fulfillment of what happens in the old Testament. See? And so Christianity becomes the fruit of Judaism, which is the root. And Zacharias says, to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father, that's the Abrahamic covenant, to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Folks, that's what Israel longed for. A fulfillment of Davidic promise, a fulfillment of Abrahamic promise. Davidic promise was universal. Abrahamic promise was national. New covenant promise would be personal. Davidic promise centered around a sovereign who would rule in the land. Abrahamic promise centered around the seed that would become that sovereign who would rule in the land. The new covenant promises salvation that can only be accomplished through a sovereign who was a seed that was promised to Abraham.

See that? That's how it all comes together. And what Zacharias does in this Benedictus is bringing it all together for us, puts it into focus for us so we begin to understand it because that's what God wants us to see. And so it says in verse 76, and you child will be the prophet of the most high for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways. Here's Zacharias. He's holding that boy, that eight year old boy, eight day old, excuse me, boy in his arms. John, you will be the prophet of the most high.

This is important because the Messiah is called the son of the most high. Remember back in Luke chapter one when the angel Gabriel came to Mary, verse 32 talking about the Messiah, he will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. This kingdom will have no end. That is the promise given to Mary. Well, Mary spent three months with Elizabeth. Zacharias would have known about what the angel Gabriel had told Mary.

And now he says, you're the prophet of the most high God because the son of the most high is about to be born. Now, son of the most high, the word son is weos, which means equal in nature to the most high God. Whenever the weos is used, it has never refers to origin. That's a completely different Greek word. This word weos never refers to origin, but always to position and always to preeminence and always referring to equality in nature. You are the prophet of the most high God because the son of the most high God is going to be born.

God, he's affirming God in the womb of Mary. He says, you're going to go and you're going to prepare the way. Wow. Can you imagine that? You're going to prepare the way. And boy, did John prepare the way he came out of the wilderness, like gangbusters, like a locomotive. And he came preaching the message of redemption. Here was Zacharias. He knows his boy is the fulfillment of Malachi 3, verse number 1. Malachi 4, verse number 1 to 6. Isaiah 40, verse number 3. He's a priest. He knows the Old Testament.

He holds in his arm a fulfillment of prophecy. His son is going to pave the way. His son's going to prepare the way for the Messiah. And how did he do that? How did John the Baptist prepare the way for the arrival of the Messiah? Did he go out in the street and say, okay, guys, get on your royal garb. The King is coming. Let's have a party. No, that's not what he said. He said, repent that you may obtain the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist, Old Testament prophet, listen carefully, new covenant message.

Old Testament prophet who preached the new covenant message, forgiveness of sins. Came out, this is what he said. Luke chapter 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough road smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Listen, you don't see the salvation of God unless your heart's prepared to receive what God has for you.

And everything he says there about the ravine, the mountains, the crooked places, the rough roads, it's all about repentance. The wilderness is your heart. The paths is the path of repentance. And that path of repentance is seen by the ravines being filled up, the deep things in the heart of a man where sin hides itself. And every mountain and hill should be brought low, dealing with the heights of a man's arrogance and his pride, and the crooked shall become straight. Talking about the deceitful things, the lying, and the sinful slandering.

And then he talks about the rough roads, talking about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes are part of life. We talked all about that in Luke chapter 3. It's all about the pathway of repentance. And that's what John the Baptist came to preach. He came to preach repentance so that you would be able to receive the forgiveness of sins. And you know what? They killed him. They killed him. They cut his head off because he confronted their sinfulness. And self-righteous people don't like to be confronted under sinfulness.

So they cut his head off. So the son of the most high came, he preached the same message John preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And they tried to kill him in Luke chapter 4. By throwing him off a mountain. They couldn't do it because his time had not yet come. And finally he gave his own life away when they crucified him on the cross.

Then the apostles came following John the Baptist and Jesus and they preached the same message. Guess what they did to them? They killed them too. What's that tell you? You preach a gospel of repentance in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins, somebody's going to kill you. That's the moral of that story. That's the way that works. Read Revelation chapter 20. How are people in the tribulation? Why are people in the tribulation who are Christians beheaded? Because of the word of the testimony of the gospel.

That's why they preach repentance. They confront sinfulness and that's what John the Baptist did. So Jesus did. That's what the apostles did. They all died because he preached the truth. You see, they were looking for external redemption and Jesus provides internal redemption. They were looking for the monarch. They were looking for the king. They were looking for the pomp and circumstance. They were looking for the opportunity to rule. They were looking for the land. They were looking for Davidic promise and Abrahamic promise.

But listen, you cannot have fulfillment of the promise given to David and the promise given to Abraham unless there is the fulfillment of new covenant teaching. See, the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic covenant will never be fulfilled until the new covenant is fulfilled in the nation of Israel. And so John came and preached an internal change and all they wanted was an external king. That's all they wanted. They were looking for someone to call them sinners. They didn't want to be called that because they didn't see themselves that way.

They saw themselves as righteous people. They saw themselves as holy people. They saw themselves as the children of Abraham. We are the children of the living God. We're God's people. We don't need to repent. That's what Gentiles do. See, they were self-righteous. They didn't see themselves as God saw them. They saw themselves as they wanted to be seen. And so it says in verse 77, this is where the new covenant begins to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins. That's how you know that John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet was a preacher of the new covenant.

He came to preach the forgiveness of sins. Boy, what a message. What joy would come to the nation had they believed, but they would not recognize they were sinners. Therefore, they would never realize they needed a savior, the son of the most high God. How do we get our hands around this new covenant teaching? Let me say it to you this way.

This becomes absolutely crucial. The Bible is very clear that we are sinners. We're not sinners because we sin. We're sinners because we're born with a sin nature, right? Romans 5, verse number 12, death passed upon all men for all have sinned. Why? Because the one man, Adam, remember way back the second day in our prophecies of Christmas was the first sin, right?

Sin entered the world. And then death entered the world because sin entered the world. Now every man's born a sinner. Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. No man can know it. Man is born a sinner. He's not a sinner because he sins. That is true. But the reason you sin is because you are a sinner.

You're born with a sin nature. That has to change. If you look at Romans 7, it says that it's called the presence of sin.

Under the title, the law of sin. Romans 7 calls it the law of sin and Paul uses the word law metaphorically because there's not a bunch of rules and regulations that say this is the law on sin. The word law is used metaphorically because the word law really is a word that means force, compulsion, drive. There's a law of sin. There's a force of sin that's within man. There's a drive within man that makes him only do one thing and that's sin. Romans 3 says there is none who does good. There is none who seeks after God for all have sinned.

Every man sins. Why? Because there's a force within. It's called the law of sin. It makes me want to sin. Let's put it in modern day terms. The law of gravity. We understand the law of gravity, right? The law of gravity is not about a set of rules and regulations. The law of gravity is a force. It's a compulsion that if I take you outside and crawl on top of our building and we all jump off, every one of us will fall to the ground. None of us will stay afloat. None of us will fly because there is a force that brings us down to the ground.

Who put that there? There is a force that brings us down to the ground. It's called the law of gravity or the drive of gravity. We are going to fall to the ground. You think about that in your own life. That's the way sin is. It's a force. It moves within. It makes you want to sin and you can't get around it. You can't escape it. You can't escape the law of gravity. No matter how hard you try, you jump off a building, guess what? You're falling to the ground. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much energy you muster up, you're falling down.

You're going to go down. You're going to go splat. That's what it is. That's the law of gravity. It's a force that brings you down. No matter how hard you try, you're going to sin. It's like the law of hunger or thirst. It moves you. Our sexual drives, they move you. Sorrow can be a force. Anger can be a force. It just compels you to do the wrong thing. That's what sin does. It's a force and there's no way you can get around it because it dominates on the inside. That's why there has to be a new covenant.

Now, folks, listen, you might not understand this. You might not be able to grasp it up till now, but I'm going to show you the promise of that new covenant and what it does. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. And so because sin dominates from the inside out, laws on the outside can't change what's on the inside. So God gave the Mosaic Law, okay? Shall not commit adultery, shall not lie, you shall not, you know, go on down the road, all 10 of them, right? And we have all the 10 commandments. Can't keep them.

Can't keep them. Thou shalt not covet. Really? Really? There isn't a person alive who doesn't covet. You can't keep those commandments because the law was given to show you your sin and your inability to keep God's standard. Can't do it. No matter how hard you try, you cannot do it. No law on the outside, no amount of, of penalty that God says, this is what I will do if you do this, will change, change your desire to go against God.

Just won't. And God will say, if you do this, I'm going to punish you. Israel did it. They punished him. In fact, Israel, when they received the 10 commandments, they said, we're going to keep these commandments and they couldn't do it. They couldn't do it. They broke the very first commandment as soon as they could, when they began to worship another God.

That's just what we do. Sin dominates your life. Therefore, therefore we need an internal change. What was the hope for Israel? What was the hope for any person that they might obtain the forgiveness of sins? They might learn to obey. Well, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zachariah, Malachi, all presented new covenant teaching. The promise of change, the promise of change from the inside out. The most common set of verses on the new covenant is found in Jeremiah 31. Turn there with me, if you would, please.

Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 31 verse number 33. God says, but this is the covenant, which I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days declares the Lord, I will put my law within them. Now translate the word law into force. I will put my force within them, right? And on their heart, I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again, each man, his neighbor and each man, his brother saying, know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, because the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more.

That is new covenant teaching. And Jeremiah explains to us that there's going to be a force that God will instill in me to make me want to keep his law. Turn to the book of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and understand that Ezekiel explains this from a different perspective. Ezekiel 36 verse number 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and listen, here's the next phrase, cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. God says, when my spirit is within you, listen carefully, I will cause you to walk in my way, in my commandments.

Let me tell you something about new covenant. When you understand new covenant teaching and the spirit of God is within you, there is now a force as there was a force to sin before you were saved. Now there's a force that moves you to be sanctified. That's why the Bible says, if any man's in Christ, he is a new creation.

You show me a person who doesn't have the force to obey the law of God. And I'll show you a person who knows nothing of new covenant teaching. They don't get it. They don't get it because there is that compulsion. There is a drive within you that says, I want to know God. I want to obey his word. I want to follow him. That's what I want to do because that's what Jesus said. He said, if you love me, you'll obey me. That's what the new covenant teaching was about. I will cause you. I will force you.

I will make you walk after me. That's what the new covenant is all about. See, because you've been forgiven of all your sins. Now turn to Luke chapter 22. Is this going to get better for you? It just keeps getting better and better and better. Listen to this verse 19, Luke 22. And when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this and remember to me. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten. Now listen carefully at a Passover meal, there are four cups, right?

The first cup is the cup of Thanksgiving, the cup of Thanksgiving. That truly is a cup that celebrates God bringing Israel out of Egypt. The second cup is called the cup of plagues where the host of the Passover will stick his finger inside the cup and sprinkle it on the tablecloth.

He does it 10 times. If you ask a Jew, why you do it 10 times, he'll tell you because the 10 plagues in Egypt, if you ask him why he uses the finger, he says, it's representative of the book of Exodus, the finger of God that caused the plagues. Okay. The Passover was very symbolic. So you have the cup of Thanksgiving. That's cup number one, cup number two, the cup of plagues.

Okay. And then you have the third cup. There's only one cup that's taken after the meal. Only one cup has two names, the cup of redemption or the cup of blessing, the cup of redemption or the cup of blessing. And that cup specifically designed to thank the Lord God for what he did. The cup of redemption, because they, they took the blood, they put it on the doorpost and the death angel passed over them. The cup of blessing, because they were able to experience God blessing his people by sparing their lives.

And the Lord God says on this day, in the same way, he took the cup after they'd eaten saying this cup, which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

This is the fulfillment. This is how the new covenant is ratified through my blood. So Christ says, listen, instead of, instead of celebrating your physical deliverance from Egypt, you are now going to celebrate your spiritual deliverance from the evil one.

That is the new covenant, because unless I deliver you spiritually, there is no force within. It's going to cause you to walk in my name and follow my word. This was the promise of new covenant teaching that somehow there would be someone who would ratify. And this is, this would take us all the way back. You see, because every, every old Testament person was saved the same way. Every new Testament person saved. Don't think that people in the old Testament were saved the different way that we are.

They were saved believing in what God would accomplish. We are saved in believing in what God did accomplish, right? Abraham knew the seed. He had to believe in the seed, right? But he had to do more than believe in the seed. He had to believe in the seed as a substitute. Every Jew in the old Testament had to believe not only the promised seed that would come through the loins of Abraham and through the loins of David, but they had to believe that that seed was the substitute for their sins. Because in Genesis 22, when Abraham took his son, his only son up onto Mount Moriah and was about to kill his son, because God said, sacrifice your son.

God would stop him and provide for him a substitute. And Abraham said on that day that God's name is Yahweh Yireh. That is God will be seen. Where will God be seen? On Mount Moriah, where he took Isaac, which means foreseen by God. What was foreseen by God was that his son would be seen as a provision for all mankind. And Abraham knew about the substitute, just like every old Testament believer believed that there was coming a substitute. That's why the old Testament taught the death of the Messiah.

Isaiah chapter 53, the suffering servant, you read it last night. Remember that? Isaiah 53, in the Advent Jesse Tree devotional book, all about the suffering servant. Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Daniel chapter 9, Messiah will be cut off. They understood old Testament prophecy. They understood the substitute, the seed, that seed who was the substitute would be the sovereign ruler of the world. That's Abrahamic covenant. That's Davidic covenant. And that is all new covenant teaching. See, the new covenant was as valid in the new Testament and the old Testament as it is in the new Testament.

Just as valid. Why? Because they believed in what would happen. We believe in what did happen. They look forward to Calvary. We look back to Calvary, but they were still saved by grace through faith. Faith in what? Everything the Messiah, everything God told them about the coming of the Messiah and what Messiah would do. That's how they were saved in the old Testament. That's how we're saved in the new Testament. They anticipated the day where they would be totally redeemed on the inside, set free from the bondage of sin.

Christ says at that Passover, that last official Passover, this come is the new covenant. This is how the new covenant will be accomplished. This is how it's going to be ratified. It's going to be ratified in my blood. That's why the book of Hebrew says that this is a better covenant. It's the best of all covenants because you're able to receive the forgiveness of sins. That's why this is such a powerful, powerful prophecy. I will make you walk after me because right now you don't want to do that.

Right now you're trying to follow me. You just can't. You can't do it. You're trying, but that law of gravity that pulls you down is like the law of sin that pulls you down time at the time of the time again, but I will cause you to follow me. I will cause you to walk after me because I'm going to put my spirit in you. Unless my spirit's in you, you can't do that. But once it's there, this will be now the dominating force of your life. That's why we say when someone's a believer, their life is characterized by obedience, not disobedience.

Their life is characterized by a love of God, not a love for the world. Their life is characterized by a commitment to obey the precepts of God, not a desire to disobey the precepts of God because God's spirit is within you and it forces you. It moves you to love God. We love him. Why? Because he first loved us.

You think we love him without him loving us? No, not in your life, but because he first loved us. So it says in verse 78, because of the tender mercy of our God, that's why this is going to happen. Back in Exodus chapter 34, Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. What did God show him? His mercy, his long suffering. He's slow to anger. He's a forgiving God. In Zacharias, Noah's Old Testament, he says, we're going to receive the forgiveness of sins because of the tender mercies of our God. That's the way he says that.

This is so good. With which the sunrise from on high shall visit us. Folks, that is the fulfillment of Malachi chapter four, verse number five, where in the sunrise, the S-U-N, not the S-O-N, the S-U-N, the sun of righteousness shall come. Folks, listen, the sunrise from on high will visit us. What is that? That's supernatural invading the natural. You see, Zacharias knew Old Testament. They knew about the sunrise. Psalm 84, 11, the Lord God is a sun, S-U-N, and a shield, right? A sun and a shield.

The Messiah will be son of David, S-O-N, son of man, son of God, but also son, S-U-N, of righteousness. The Messiah is called the Lord of righteousness. Jesus says, I am, Revelation 22, the bright and morning star.

I am that star. Revelation two says that if you're an overcomer, you receive the morning star. The morning star is yours. When the, when the Magi came looking for the Messiah, they were led by what? A star, right? Because numbers 24, verse number 17 says that a star shall rise out of Jacob, which is a title for the Messiah. So the Jews know the Messiah is called the star. That's why there's a star on the, the, the flag of Israel, star of David, speaking of the Messiah that's going to come. They all know about the star.

Jesus says, I'm that bright and morning star. I am that bright and morning star. Peter said in 2 Peter 1, verse number 19, when the day star rises in your heart, Zacharias says, the sunrise from on high shall visit us. Messiah is here. He is the star that shall come out of Jacob. He is the bright and morning star. When the sunrise shall visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. That's us. That's us. That's Israel. Those are Gentiles. That's why Simeon said, when he took the, the newborn Christ in his, in his arms, eight days there, when it came to dedicate in the temple of Luke chapter two, he said, the light of revelation to the Gentiles.

What did God say? God said, I am the light of the world. John said, God is light. Everything about God is around the glory and the light and the star, the brightness of who he is. See? And so the sunrise from our eyes shall visit us because we need him to shine on us because we are in darkness. It speaks of ignorance. It speaks of separation. It speaks of a lostness. We are lost until that sunrise shines. When it shines on us in our darkness, it will guide our feet to the way of peace. The way of peace.

Zacharias knew that the Messiah coming would be called the Prince of Peace. He understood that. Isaiah the prophet said in Isaiah chapter 59 verse number eight, that Israel did not know the way of peace. In Isaiah 54 10, the new covenant is called the covenant of peace. And that's why when the Prince of Peace arrived, he would weep over the city, Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, which means the city of peace because they forfeited their peace. He was a sunrise from on high that would shine down on their darkness that they, he might guide them in the way of peace.

And they forfeited that peace because they did not want an internal change. They did not want to be redeemed from their sin because they didn't see themselves as sinners. Zacharias was a righteous man. According to Luke chapter one, he understood that he was a sinner. He understood that the forgiveness of sins would come from the arrival of the Messiah. His son would be the prophet of the most high God. And then it says, the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit. He lived in the desert until the day of his public appearance in Israel.

But before that, there was the birth of the Messiah. In Luke chapter two, there is the arrival of the Messiah in fulfillment of all that Zacharias said, he's now here and everything that was prophesied would come true about that Messiah. And next week, Christmas Sunday, we'll study the arrival of the Messiah and how it changes everything in our lives. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today and the great joy of your word to study together. Our prayer, Lord, is that we would truly come to grips with what your word teaches about the coming of the Messiah and accomplish a redemption for the people of God.

Truly Lord, you are a great God. You're worthy to be praised. We are so grateful for all that you've done. If there be one among us today who is not, not born again, never given the life to Christ, make today be the day. May they realize this Christmas season that you are the sunrise from on high, that you are the son of the most high God, that you truly are the one that can save them from their sins and cause them to walk in newness of life. Lord, we thank you for this season. May we relish every moment that we might be proclaimers of your truth.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.