God Remembers his Covenant in Jesus

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Luke 1:68-75

68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
69He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Our reading today comes from the “Benedictus” in Luke’s gospel. That’s the Latin word of praise – meaning “blessed” – which is the first word of Zechariah’s song in Luke 1. The occasion of Zechariah’s song of praise was his the birth of his son, John the Baptist. But the reason for his jubilation – the reason God was to be praised – was that he had fulfilled his promise to save his people. Praise be to the Lord indeed!

We can learn several things about Jesus from this song. First, we learn that God has come to redeem his people. That’s great news for people like you and me who need saving! We also learn that Jesus has come from the royal line of David, from which the messiah was promised centuries before. And we learn that he has saved us from evil and evildoers.

But we also learn why Jesus has come. First, God has remembered his covenant with Israel out of mercy, and has come to fulfill his promise to save his people. Second, he has saved us so that we can serve him rightly, and without fear.

Zechariah was overjoyed that Jesus had come, and we should be too! Because God remembered his covenant with Abraham, he fulfilled it once and for all in Jesus, allowing us to know God and enabling us to serve him. All this week we have been looking at God remembering his covenants: with the whole earth; with Abraham; with the people of Israel; and with anyone who will trust in him. If you trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, you can join with Zechariah today in praise of Jesus, because he is the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation for us. And we can respond as Zechariah did – as God intends – in joyous service and holy and right living.

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Ali grew up in London, but is currently at university in the North East of England. He helped to re-launch Crossring in 2009, and has acted as Managing Editor of the website since then. He occasionally dabbles in photography and web development - he also designed and maintains the Crossring website.

About Daily Readings

As part of our active lifestyle of prayer and Bible reading, we are currently reading a small section of the Bible together each day and sharing our responses to it with each other. We also publish a short devotional thought on a key verse or two from each day's passage to prompt prayer or reflection.

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