Zechariah's Praise: Expecting Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant

New King James Version:
Luke 1:72-75 NKJV To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, (73) The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: (74) To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, (75) In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. (2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Ang Bag-ong Testamento (Gihubad sa pinulongang Cebuano gikan sa Griego, by Dr. Gadiel T. Isidro):
Lukas 1:72-75 Sa pagtuman sa kalooy nga alang sa atong mga ginikanan ug sa paghinumdum sa iyang balaang saad; (73) Ug ang panumpa nga iyang gisaad ngadto kang Abraham nga atong amahan (74) Ug sa naluwas kita gikan sa kamot sa atong mga kaaway, mag-alagad kaniya nga walay kahadlok, (75) Diha sa pagkabala-an ug sa pagkamatarung sa iyang atubangan sa tanan natong mga adlaw.

Cebuano Bible
Genesis 12:1-3 CEB Ug si Jehova miingon kang Abram: Pahawa ka gikan sa imong yuta, ug gikan sa imong kaubanan, ug sa balay sa imong amahan, ngadto sa yuta nga akong igapakita kanimo. (2) Ug akong pagabuhaton kanimo ang usa ka daku nga nasud, ug ikaw pagapanalanginan ko ug pagapadakuon ko ang imong ngalan, ug mahimo ikaw nga usa ka panalangin. (3) Ug pagapanalanginan ko ang mga magapanalangin kanimo, ug ang mga magapanghimaraut kanimo, pagapanghimarauton ko; ug diha kanimo pagapanalanginan ang tanang mga kabanayan sa yuta.

Introduction

This is our third installment study of this passage. Two Sundays ago, we discussed the general summary of this text, a sort of introduction. We learned that Zechariah here, filled with the Holy Spirit, was prophesying and praising God for His visitation and redemption. And he was linking the coming of the Messiah, who is Jesus the son of Mary, to the fulfillment of God’s covenants to their forefathers, particularly the Davidic, Abrahamic and the new covenant.

Last Sunday, we talked about the Davidic Covenant. We learned that Zechariah said of the baby in Mary’s womb as the horn of salvation for the Jews who is from the line of David. Zechariah was saying Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David of a king from his loins, who will rescue Israel and build a kingdom for God, which God will establish His kingdom and His throne forever. The King was already introduced but the kingdom has not arrived yet. Unless Israel will accept Jesus as their Messiah, the kingdom will not yet come. But it will come. The event of its coming is described in Revelations 19. It will come because God has promised it. He is faithful to His word. That’s why Zechariah is using past tenses of the verbs here because it will surely come to pass.

Today, we’ll move on to the next covenant that Zechariah was thinking or expecting to be fulfilled upon the coming of the Messiah. We will focus on verses 72-75.

I. Intent of the Coming of the Messiah

Zacharias knew that the Abrahamic Covenant was also connected to the Messiah. The Abrahamic Covenant is one of those rock-bed elements to biblical interpretation. This is really foundational. If you understand this, you can get the big picture of God’s plan of redemption.[i]

A. To Perform Mercy to Our Fathers – v.72a

The intent of the Abrahamic Covenant was to show mercy, verse 72, toward our fathers, to show mercy toward our fathers. The fathers to the Jews were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now it was about mercy, it was a covenant to show mercy. The idea is that God was compassionate, God was merciful toward undeserving people and He made a covenant.

Now this mercy was, first of all, to Abraham and then repeated to Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and then extended to the nation of Israel and then extended through Israel to the world. So when it says in verse 72 to show mercy toward our fathers, that's just where the stream of mercy starts. And it broadens through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the people of Israel, and the mercy of God toward sinners spreads to the world, and that's why we're here today because we have received that mercy once given to Abraham. And it all began with a covenant, a promise made to the father of the Jews, the father of the nation Israel, a man by the name of Abram, who later had his name changed to Abraham once he received the covenant of God.[ii]

This coming salvation is mercy to our fathers in that it fulfills God’s commitment made to them.[iii] There are many instances in Israel’s history that when the people of Israel are suffering God will take notice of them and will remember His covenant to their forefathers. Two examples are in Exo 2:24 NKJV So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Also, Psa 106:44-45 MKJV And He looked on their affliction when He heard their cry; (45) and He remembered His covenant for them, and was moved to pity, according to the multitude of His mercies.

B. To Remember His Covenant to Abraham - v.72b - 73

Now let's go back to the Abrahamic Covenant for just a moment. To understand the essence of the Abrahamic Covenant let's go back to Genesis chapter 12:1-3. This is the root and the heart of God’s purpose for the Jewish people. Here we borrow heavily from Mitch Glaser of The Chosen People Ministries.[iv]

The existence of the Jewish people is founded upon an ancient promise. Let’s try to understand this promise. Gen 12:1-2 NKJV Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. (2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. The promise that God made to Abraham and the Jewish people is that 1) I will make you a great nation 2) I will bless you 3) I will make your name great 4) You will be a blessing. You will be a blessing, and this certainly has been the purpose of God for the Jewish people.

(3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Blessings and curses. 1) I will bless those who bless 2) I will curse those who curse 3) All the nations of the earth will be blessed.

When you bless the Jewish people you are participating in God’s plan for the ages. When you curse the Jewish people, you’re getting in God’s way, and the implementation of His purposes and plans for the ages. And what is that purpose and plan is to bless the nations of the world. So by blessing the Jewish people, particularly if you’re not Jewish, you’re investing in your blessing. And if you curse the Jewish people then God has to take you out of the way because nothing can thwart the purposes of God. And the purpose is that through you, through Abraham, his descendants, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.

There are four parts of the covenant promise. 1) The people 2) The land 3) the King 4) the Mission.

1. God created a people
2. God gave the people a land (chap. 15)
3. God wanted to be the King of the people
4. God gave them a mission

These are the four essential ingredients of the Abrahamic covenant. And in fact, it is the four essential ingredients in understanding God’s purposes and plans for the Jewish people. They involved 4 key relationships, 1) a relationship to one another – we are a people 2) a relationship to the land – there is a land involved 3) a relationship to God and 4) a relationship to the nations.

Israel, the Jewish people will never be all what God wants them to be until all four elements, these four relationships are worked out. They need to have a good relationship with one another. They need to be a nation of people. They need to have the land. They need to have a relationship with God. Israel without a relationship with God cannot be Israel the way Israel needs to be. And finally, they need to fulfill their mission, their purpose, or destiny in the world. They must do what God created them to do.

The mission of the Jewish people is what’s critical here. (3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Here Mitch Glaser said, “The Jewish people were created for the sake of the gentiles.” It may not be popular especially to the Jews but it is God’s purpose for them. God created the Jewish people to be a blessing to the world. He created them to be a kingdom of priests. They are to be a kingdom of intercessors mediating the truth of God to the nations of the world.

So, Genesis then lays out this covenant. Now let me just kind of sum it up for you. The covenant God made with Abraham and repeated to Isaac and repeated to Jacob and it's referred to eight times in Genesis, was unilateral. That is it was God who made it. It was irrevocable, it will come to pass. And that's why there are still Israelites and aren't Perizites and Hivites and Jebusites and Amorites and Girgashites. And eternal, its components are eternal and he repeated that several times and that involves the forgiveness of sin. You can't have an eternal relationship with God, you can't have eternal blessing from God unless you have forgiveness and salvation.

Now Zacharias expected the Messiah, Davidic Kingdom, Messiah, Abrahamic fulfillment. It didn't happen because they wouldn't come to Him. They wouldn't acknowledge Him as king. They wouldn't believe. They wouldn't accept Him. So the promises of Abraham were postponed. As to the nation Israel, the promises of David were postponed. Both will come together in the Millennial Kingdom.

II. The Expected Result

While essentially the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant is universal — He will literally rule the world someday and it will be a world of believers and unbelievers during the Millennial Kingdom — the Abrahamic Covenant is national. The intent of the Davidic Covenant was to deliver everybody in Israel from their enemies and set up the rule of Messiah. But once Davidic promise is fulfilled and the Messiah reigns, v.74 that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, fear is gone and we will serve Him, verse 75 says, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

So you can see that the Davidic Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant were connected. The Davidic Covenant brought the rule of Messiah in Israel. And the rule of Messiah brought the blessing that the Abrahamic Covenant promised.

A. Serve without Fear - v.74

Even until today they live in fear. There is always the fear of their enemies near and far even while they are living in the land right now, though that is not the complete territory that God promised them to have. Even the believing Jews today, commonly called messianic Jews, are not totally free in serving God. Their own race is persecuting and will persecute them if they believe in Jesus or Yeshua as the Messiah. But better days are coming. There will come a day when this will be realized. Zechariah the prophet in the Old Testament says this seeing its fulfillment Zec. 8:23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

B. Serve Him in holiness and righteousness - v.75

This time they will be a holy people, living in the holy land, serving the holy King doing their holy mission. One writer says this serving in holiness refers to their relation to God, they are serving God in holiness and the serving in righteousness refers to their relation to other people.

III. Our Purpose (as Gentiles) with Regards to the Jewish People

We have a role with regards to the Abrahamic covenant or with the Jewish people.

A. Bless them – Gen. 12:3

We are to bless the Jewish people if we want to be blessed by God. God said, “I will bless those who bless you”. We are to support them in whatever way we can. We can pray that may our government leaders and the foreign policy of our country be supportive and protective to the Jewish nation.

B. Pray – Psalm 122:6 (peace of Jerusalem, also peace with God)

Most of us can only pray and it is important for us, Christian people, to support in prayer the Jewish nation. Israel is still surrounded by nations that would like to terminate them. There is trouble there every day because of the hatred of their neighbors. We should pray for the peace in Israel. We should also pray for the Jews to realize and know that Jesus was the Messiah they’ve been waiting for. May they realize that Jesus is their Prince of Peace who can offer them peace with God and can cause their land to have the peace they longed for.

C. Witness – Romans 11:11

Just because they are God’s chosen people does not mean they will be automatically saved even without accepting Jesus as their Messiah or Savior. No. It would be a great disservice to the Jews if we are not to include them in our evangelistic or missionary efforts, even just in prayers. Paul said in Romans 1: 16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” To the Jews first. Adam Clarke says something about this: “Not only the Jews have the first offer of this Gospel, but they have the greatest need of it; being so deeply fallen, and having sinned against such glorious privileges, they are much more culpable than the Gentiles, who never had the light of a Divine revelation.”[v] Paul was also clear that this is what Jesus commanded them when Paul said in Acts 13:46 NKJV “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’” Luke quoted Jesus Christ after His resurrection when He appeared in the midst of the disciples in Luke 24:47 NKJV “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” The Jews need to hear the gospel, they need to realize and accept Jesus as their Savior so the Messiah will come again to bring and establish God’s kingdom here on earth. And it will be a wonderful day for all believers, Jew or Gentile, in that coming day of the Lord.

Conclusion

The Davidic and Abrahamic Covenant are both connected to the Messiah. Though they are not completely fulfilled yet, it will surely come to pass. Luke 1:37: “Tungod kay walay dili mahimo sa pulong nga gikan sa Dios.” Nothing is too hard for God. He said it, it will be done. Romans 11:25 NKJV For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come, Zechariah 12:10 will happen, then God will save Israel, and He will come.

Are you ready for His coming? The Scripture is clear, Acts 4:12 NIV “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Only in Him whose name means God is salvation, Jesus, the only one who can ever save. Believe in Him and you will have life in His name. Amen.

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[i] John MacArthur, MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Nolland, J. (2002). Vol. 35A: Word Biblical Commentary : Luke 1:1-9:20. Word Biblical Commentary (82). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

[iv] Mitch Glaser, www.chosenpeople.com

[v] Adam Clarke (1715-1832). Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible: Romans 1:16.