Through his prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
In his prophetic song, Zechariah sang of the fact God had raised up a mighty Savior, and that, in doing so, he himself had come to his people to set them free. This was the fulfillment of the promise made by Nathan to David, about the heir, sprung from his loins, who was the true Son of God the Father, and who received from him an everlasting kingdom that would never be destroyed. Those who read that prophecy in previous generations could not have guessed the degree of truth in the words describing the relationship between God and this descendant of David. They were expecting something that was more of a pious metaphor. But what they actually received was God himself, in the person of the Son, coming to the world the bring salvation. This salvation was also predicted by Nathan:
Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,
since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel.
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
As with Nathan's prophecy, Zechariah's song also focused on the fact that the savior sent by God would deliver us from the hands of our enemies. But who were these enemies? They were not Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, or any other persecutors of the people, at least, not primarily. The enemies from whom Jesus came to save us were the true principalities and powers of darkness (see Ephesians 6:12). The reason the savior came was not to temporarily address a symptom of the problem but rather to treat the root cause. Our human enemies were no comparison. These spiritual foes really were the ones who truly hated us, since they sought not only our ruin in this world, but also our eternal damnation, and this is an expression of their hatred of God himself, the source of all goodness.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
In setting us free from our enemies God was setting us free from slavery to sin, from compulsion and addiction, from our inability to consistently shun evil and choose the good. He did not save us in order to set us in some value neutral state from which we could safely amuse and entertain ourselves. He saved us for worship. But this worship was meant to be without fear. That meant not only without the fear of our enemies, but also without the fear of futility. In other words, we would be able to worship with a firm hope of actually becoming "holy and righteous in his sight", and an unshakable belief that there was nothing better, nothing that could possibly fulfill us more than that.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Today is our last chance before Christmas to ready our hearts to meet the light who came into our world, the light who will do so once more during our liturgical celebration. We have some few hours before we will be attending those celebrations. Let us spend some of that time consciously agreeing with the prophetic assessment of Zechariah, expressing our desire to worship the coming king without fear. When we have Jesus, there is nothing else that can truly hurt us, nothing else truly worthy of fear. So may we attend to this feast with all of our hearts, knowing that nothing matters more, that there is no greater peace or fulfillment anywhere to be found.
The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
Clamavi De Profundis - O Come Divine Messiah
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