HORN OF SALVATION

Zacharias the Priest is excited. He has just started to talk again after spending the best part of a year in silence. This was as a result of his refusal to believe the message of God regarding the birth of his son John. Gabriel had told him that he would not speak again until the baby was born.

What he had learned in those months of silence I do not know. I assume patience. Perhaps he had pondered the cause of the silence - his unbelief and the visit of Gabriel. What we do know is that the first thing he did when his tongue was loosed was to praise God, Luke 1. 64. It is a salutary lesson for us to learn from our mistakes.

This priest was a man of God. Not all priests were. God was about to speak through him. He was filled with the Holy Ghost and then prophesied, Luke 1. 67. Zacharias sees what God is doing as a work that has already been completed; that is how God views it. Why, he says, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people’.

His next statement uses the title we are considering in today’s reading, ‘he … hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David’. Firstly, he confirms this child is of the line of David. Credential number one for the Messiah is declared. Secondly, he states ‘he hath raised up an horn of salvation for us’.

The horn is often used in scripture to denote governmental power; cf. Deut. 33.17, in relation to Joseph. Revelation chapter 17 verse 12 specifically explains that ‘the ten horns … are ten kings … but receive power as kings one hour’. So, the ‘horn of salvation’ in our verse is raised up by God. It is a man who is a King of the line of David and He will have the power to bring salvation to Israel. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The following verses, Luke 1. 71-75, highlight what the Lord Jesus will do for the nation of Israel in a future day.

The ‘horn of salvation’ is a title of the Lord Jesus that has special significance to Israel. However, the church will be there to share His glory when our Lord takes the reins of authority in this world and rules ‘from the river unto the ends of the earth’.