To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
Zacharias lived in the hill country of Judea but had gone up to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple, a service required twice a year from the priests of each course, and his lot according to the custom of the priest's office was to burn incense when he went into the temple. The verse belongs to the prophecy he spoke after John's birth, when he was filled with the Holy Spirit and praised God. Before that prophecy he had prayed for pardon for the people's sins and for the coming of the long-expected Saviour who would redeem His people, and the verse connects that prayed-for mercy with the promised coming of the Redeemer whose arrival was announced through an angel.
The verse means that God acts in mercy to fulfill the promise made to the ancestors and to remember His holy covenant, which includes the oath sworn to Abraham to deliver His people from their enemies so they can serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness throughout their lives. God remembers His holy covenant and shows the promised mercy to Israel's ancestors by bringing about the promised deliverance in the coming of the Messiah and His forerunner John. In the prophecy surrounding the verse, God visits and redeems His people and appoints John, Zacharias's child, as the Messiah's herald to prepare the way for the Lord.
God's remembering of His covenant means sending the Messiah as a King in righteousness to deliver Israel out of the hand of her national enemies and to establish Israel as a holy nation. The verse speaks of Christ's advent into the world in the gracious character of the Instructor of those lying in gross darkness, calling forth the highest exaltation of Christ as the Dayspring. The prophecy given at John's birth was the great object of hope, though it was understood as literal deliverance from national foes without fully understanding the spiritual nature of the Messiah's kingdom. Rejection of John's message leaves the people unprepared to receive Christ.
Zacharias lived in the hill country of Judea but had gone up to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple, a service required twice a year from the priests of each course, and his lot according to the custom of the priest's office was to burn incense when he went into the temple. The verse belongs to the prophecy he spoke after John's birth, when he was filled with the Holy Spirit and praised God. Before that prophecy he had prayed for pardon for the people's sins and for the coming of the long-expected Saviour who would redeem His people, and the verse connects that prayed-for mercy with the promised coming of the Redeemer whose arrival was announced through an angel.
The verse means that God acts in mercy to fulfill the promise made to the ancestors and to remember His holy covenant, which includes the oath sworn to Abraham to deliver His people from their enemies so they can serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness throughout their lives. God remembers His holy covenant and shows the promised mercy to Israel's ancestors by bringing about the promised deliverance in the coming of the Messiah and His forerunner John. In the prophecy surrounding the verse, God visits and redeems His people and appoints John, Zacharias's child, as the Messiah's herald to prepare the way for the Lord.
God's remembering of His covenant means sending the Messiah as a King in righteousness to deliver Israel out of the hand of her national enemies and to establish Israel as a holy nation. The verse speaks of Christ's advent into the world in the gracious character of the Instructor of those lying in gross darkness, calling forth the highest exaltation of Christ as the Dayspring. The prophecy given at John's birth was the great object of hope, though it was understood as literal deliverance from national foes without fully understanding the spiritual nature of the Messiah's kingdom. Rejection of John's message leaves the people unprepared to receive Christ.