“The Case for Christ - Zacharias’ Prophecy (3)” - (part 10)

Once again, turn in your Bibles to the first chapter of Luke, please.

It did not take much time for Zacharias - in his doubt and his unbelief of the Word God had given him through the angel - to be changed and to receive and understand the light of the Word of of God.

He sat ‘in darkness’ and was ‘under the shadow of death’, so to speak, before he could speak these words of prophecy coming to him through the Holy Spirit.

It is the last part, verses 78 and 79, that he was given the function of the coming Christ.

Through the tender mercy of God, God would give the knowledge of salvation of Christ by the remission of sins.

And, then it reads on, ‘...whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’

Zacharias’ vision looked ahead wherein he saw the ‘Dayspring’, or the Daystar, the dawning of Light arising.

It was the sure word of prophecy that ‘...shines like a lamp in a gloomy place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star arises in your hearts.’ (2 Pet 1:19)

The breaking of that day, the time of the Incarnation of God’s Son, was at the door!

What a momentous event it was that was about to be divulged and unfolded to the world!

Even Christ referred to this time of His Incarnation, in 
Jn 8:56, when He said: ‘Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.’

By now, we must certainly realize that this wondrous news of the Gospel of Christ had been declared with the greatest of care and with the utmost certainty throughout the entire Old Testament in the various prophecies.

And, it was done so that men could clearly understand and firmly believe them.

Even the sequence of miracles leading up to it carefully opened up the way for this dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We see, along with this sequence of miracles, the Holy Spirit giving Zacharias a vision of what was happening: a vision of God’s tender mercy in action: God’s intended purpose for man coming to fruition!

Never in a hundred years could Zacharias have seen how God intended to fufill His divine promise without Zacharias first throwing aside all of his unbelief and doubt of God’s Word so that the shadow of ‘death’ was lifted from his own heart!

And, now, he is able to announce that people who ‘sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’ are promised the knowledge of God in Christ, the precise light they longed to see.

Here is the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2: ‘The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.’

Salvation could not, and would not, break forth until it had become utterly dark, until the land had become so dark that the ‘bonds and afflictions’ of death were inescapable.

For a long time, Israel ‘sat in darkness, sitting in the shadow of death’, cursing God, and, all the while, not knowing if God even knew of their suffering, or if He cared, or even if He was alive!

That is a very sad state of affairs!

So, tonight, I would like to consider more fully the meaning of the phrase of: ‘...light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death...’ and reflect on what God has done in Christ to assure us of His light of salvation.

The Holy Scripture gives us two views of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death which are essential in coming to understand man’s need of Christ.

Let me start with the negative aspect of this first, and for that, you may want to turn to Psalm 44:19-21. 

Psalm 44:19-21 reads: ‘...though thou hast sore broken us...and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of the Lord our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.’

And then Psalm 107:10-12 ‘...such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the word of God, and contemned the council of the Most High: therefore, He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.’

When Israel was under the Babylonian captivity, the people sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.

It was as though they were in a dark, deep dungeon, all wrapped up in gloom and despair, unable to free themselves from their own predicament.

And what was it that brought on this situation of misery, sorrow, and woe?

The reason they were in such prison-like circumstances are plainly given: because, first, they had ‘forgotten the name of the Lord their God’, then, they had ‘stretched out their hands to a strange god’, third, they ‘rebelled against the Word of God’, and lastly, they spurned His counsel altogether.

They forgot Him! 

They reached out to other gods - thought nothing of it!

They rebelled against what He was saying to them through the prophets!

And - to put all that in a nutshell - they disregarded, spurned, and disbelieved the Word of God altogether!

And - of course - that root sin was what led them directly to the condition they were suffering.

They did not heed the word of the prophets that the Lord sent them, as Zechariah 1:4, pronounced.

Zechariah 1:4 Jehovah warned His people, saying, ‘Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, ‘Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, ‘Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil actions.’ But they hearkened not, and paid no attention to Me, is the saying of Jehovah.’

‘What is the Word of the Lord to us - why, nothing at all!’ they thought, so they cast His Word to the wind!

And, if you follow through to verses 5 and 6 of that same chapter, you will see what happened to their carelessness.  

Given there is the fate of their rejection that they brought upon themselves.

And what was that fate? - they died in the shadow of death - death forever!

And let me remind you, ‘forever’ is a very, very long, long time!

All along, God was trying to give them ‘light to their path of life’ and they were rejecting the ‘light’.

It was His goodness - His goodness in waiting, and calling, and warning, and waiting some more - His goodness that was trying to lead them on - on to repentance and restoration!

But - ‘Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil.’ (Eccl.8:11)

‘It is because those who do evil are not speedily called to account, that men do evil so boldly.’

Yes - God had to bring sin into judgment but His kindness and His forbearance with them was not a sign of weakness on God’s part nor a sign of vindication of Himself. 

He was longsuffering to give them plenty of time, supply them with plenty of circumstances, and grant much opportunity for final, revolutionary repentance. 

And to ‘...look upon our Lord’s longsuffering - His patience and His forbearance (as the) means (toward) salvation...’. 
(2 Peter 3:15) 

This is one of the things we need to know concerning the ‘knowledge of God’.

Many people who do not know Him and do not embrace His Son’s atoning work for themselves, have the notion that God is some kind of an self-serving brute who holds a big stick in his hand, ready to slap down all those who disregard Him.

They see Him as some sort of angry Being, ready to let the sword drop, to destroy the innocent and the poor. 

And, of course, the ridicule and the lampooning of Him always follow in any number of ways.

It is all nonsense, of course, for those Who know Him, know of His goodness and His mercy that is always so tenderly extended to them.

We know this, because, once unbelief of God’s Word is  put away - I repeat, once unbelief of God’s Word is put away - we know we have been accepted in His Beloved and are always under His protective hand.

This is exactly what we see in the second way of Scripture’s view of ‘sitting in death and in the shadow of death’.

And for this, we look at Job 16:16: ‘My face is exceeding red with weeping, and on mine eyelids is the shadow of death...’.

Job is absolutely miserable in his state and in his appearance.

His hands are clean from wrongdoing, he is free from having done any violence to and oppressing others, his prayers come from a pure, circumcised heart.

He is not a hypocrite who needs to do penance in ashes and shed tears of penitence without any comforting word from God.

So, in Job, we see a contrast: rather than living in unbelief of God’s Word to his heart, he is holding on to the conviction that Someone in the heavens is on his side.

And this was even though his friends tried to convince him that he was guilty - terribly guilty before God so God was duly punishing him.

What a revolting, disgusting, damning predicament that is when, in Christian circles, we find those who are so quick and foolish to judge a fellow believer who is suffering and in distress in this way!

God was not alienated from him because Job had committed any sin - nor was God unconcerned about him - nor was God oblivious to his sufferings.

Neither was He asleep nor was He dead!

Oh no - Job’s situation in which he felt he was under the ‘shadow of death’ was for that majestic testimony of his steadfast and unquestionable conviction of God’s faithfulness to His Word. 

‘...I know - I know - that my Redeemer lives...!’

God was giving him the hope of a future, spiritual beholding of God, a future in which Job could say: ‘...in my flesh, I shall see God...Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold...’.

The shadow of death in his eyelids was lifted!

When a man’s eyes are opened, as Job’s were, he increasingly marvels at the tender mercies of God in Christ.

He increasingly finds that everything about life changes, for - you see - his path in life is being illuminated in the light of Christ.

No longer is he indifferent to God’s Word in Christ!

I said - no longer is he indifferent to God’s Word in Christ!!

The fact of the matter is that he no longer cares to step foot into darkness ever again, for his sound of alarm is ‘...for me to live - is Christ!’

And, now, we return to Zacharias’ prophecy.  

There, again, we see the agreement given in the knowledge of Jehovah coming in the light of Jesus Christ. 

And, the message to the world was - ‘...it is now high time to walk in that light, to turn the knowledge of God in Christ into life. 

John wrote: ‘...the ‘life was the Light of men’ when he spoke of the coming of Jesus.

As he went on, he wrote of John the Baptist, in 1:6-9, of being witness of that Light, ‘...that all men through Him [Christ] might believe...[He is] the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’

Jesus confirmed Who that Light was in John 8:12, when He said: ‘...I am the Light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, (shall not walk in ‘death, in the shadow of death’) but shall have the light of life.’

Those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, either because of unbelief and disregard of God’s Word, or through blinding distress and suffering, have been promised the hope of the knowledge of God in Christ.

The Word - The Word of God - cannot be taken lightly: Christ cannot be ignored nor set aside nor taken as an option.

With the greatest care and certainty, God had spoken concerning His Son and we dare not take His Word about Him indifferently and carelessly.

The darkness of this world in spiritual life is so dark that even the presence of the Son of God as the Light of the world cannot penetrate the world’s spiritual darkness!

Have you noticed, of late, that even the definition of ‘spiritual’ is becoming a ‘household word’ even as ‘born again’ became a ‘household word’ not too many years back?

Its meaning is being equally diluted and it is certainly void of the knowledge of God in Christ.

This ought not to be too surprising to we who are Christians - for look at what John wrote once again when he speaks of Christ.

‘...all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.’

‘Light’ - the Light of Who Christ is - shines into the darkness - yet the darkness does not understand it!

Why? - because man is lost, absolutely lost, sitting in death and in the shadow of death.

And, if Christ is not his light to lighten his path of life, he has no hope of the knowledge of God.

Yes - the ‘...Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace.’

The admonition to usward is ‘...Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon thee.’

‘Awake to righteousness and sin not: for some have not the knowledge of God...’.

Amen!   So be it!