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And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us ….” (Luke 1:67-71)
Did you ever notice the weird way Zechariah describes what God is doing? He says, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.” Zechariah puts it in the past tense.
Now, that makes sense if you realize that Jesus is already on earth at the moment Zechariah is speaking. Jesus is inside His mother Mary as an unborn baby, and it will be six more months before He is born in Bethlehem. So yes, I can see why Zechariah says, “He has visited” His people.
But why does he say, He has “redeemed His people” ? Because Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross is more than 30 years in the future! Why the past tense?
I think it’s because Zechariah—or maybe I should say, the Holy Spirit—knows that what Jesus will do to redeem us from sin and evil is so guaranteed to happen that he can use the past tense about it. Jesus’ death and resurrection is so sure and certain that God can talk about it as already accomplished. He is our trustworthy Savior forever.
WE PRAY: Dear Savior, I know nobody as trustworthy as You. Thank You that I can lean on You with all my heart. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- How do you know when someone is trustworthy?
- How can you tell whether Jesus is safe for you to trust or not?
- Tell about a time when God came through for you.
Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.
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