The dominant theme of Zacharias’ prophecy is God’s God’s salvation. Even though man is a sinner in a hopeless pit, by God’s mercy, there is hope of forgiveness.

The role and purpose of Jesus Christ to rescue and guide sinners to salvation. In this world of chaos and turmoil, men seek harmful and wicked methods to try to escape, such as drugs or alcohol, but Jesus guides the lost to peace. True peace can only be found in Jesus.

To correctly enjoy our salvation, we must know the basis of our salvation. First, we are not saved by our works. Man is unable to save himself and instead must repent. We repent and are saved because of the tender mercy of God. It is God’s mercy that brings Christ to the sinner. Without the mercy of God, men cannot be saved. It is mercy which brings joy, thankfulness, faith, humility and hope. By God’s mercy, we surrender to Christ and live.

Examine yourself. By the Holy Spirit, you will realize that you are a traitor and murderer of Christ (Acts 2:46). This is an important step which many skip and eventually apostate. You must realize your hopelessness as a sinner to know God’s mercy.

Tender mercy
This mercy is shown by bearing our sins on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). He died in our place so that we might also die to sin. We are given grace instead of the just punishment we deserve. Not just on the cross, but God is showing His great kindness and compassion continually (Jer 25:22).

Why don’t we experience His mercy abundantly? Why does Christ seem inactive in our lives? Wherever God’s mercy is, Christ is so we should be different. Jeremiah helps us understand that even through difficult times and unfruitful ministry surrounded by wicked people, God’s mercy never fails (Lam 3:22-23). To experience God’s mercy we must fear Him (Luke 1:50). Like Mary who was in danger as a woman with a child out of wedlock, or the tax collector beating his breast and bowing his head, we must fear God and be humble, to be forgiven and exalted (Mt 21:31-32).

Here it says, not just mercy, but tender mercy. The word tender has to do with the bowels, from the inside. It’s like saying, ‘from the bottom of my heart’, which emphasizes the genuineness and affection of God’s mercy (Phil 1:8). God’s mercy is tender because sin is harsh and brutal. To overcome the astounding power of sin, God’s mercy must be deeper and greater, it must be tender. Our sin is extremely wicked, we are not better than rapists or sex traffickers. Apostle Paul understood his sin (1 Cor 15:9-10). Not only is our sin great, but continuous. Until we die, we sin. God’s mercy even outworks our sin. In addition to our forgiveness, God’s mercy also disciplines and helps our sanctification (Phil 1:6). His mercy is truly tender, complete in it’s reconciling us to Him.

The sunrise from on high will visit us
Jesus is the sunrise who visited. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus (John 1:27). Jeremiah told of Jesus’ coming. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah (Lk 4:18-21).

He is the sunrise from on high, from heaven. Jesus is the preexistent, second person of the Trinity, who was with the Father, and Creator. There is no one else like Jesus who came from on high. He came to solve our greatest problem of sin. If Christ had not come, then the angel of death would have come, bringing judgement and hell. Instead, Jesus came to save and to bestow God’s amazing mercy.

To visit means to examine with your eye. Visiting means God came in person to save the world. (Jn 3:17). It is a close and personal visitation, not carried out from a distance, but directly. This is our only chance to be saved. The next time Jesus comes it will be in judgement. But right now, by the mercy of God, Jesus has visited you. Have you born fruit? Are you like the church in Antioch, where they were first called Christians? They are an example of how people change when God visits them (Acts 11:24-26). Today, we must bear the fruit of God’s mercy. This is an urgent charge. To not change is dangerous. Steve Lawson puts it, ‘If Jesus has not changed your life, the Jesus you met was another Jesus’. It is a matter of genuine salvation

How to change
Jesus says in Matthew 18:1-4, that to enter the kingdom of heaven, one must become like a child. You must depend on God’s mercy like a child. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep (John 10:27-28). He visits His sheep, shows mercy to them. The sheep hear his voice and follow Him. By God’s mercy, we hear God’s message of salvation, and we follow Him.

Not all knowledge is equal. During the “Dark Ages”, which was not actually a time of ignorance, theology was the highest study and the study of theology led to the advancements in society such as grammar and writing. The Bible was the source of all truth and influenced every aspect of life. Then history moved away from God’s word. The point is that not all knowledge is equal, and there is a certain knowledge that is most necessary and most significant, the knowledge of salvation. Without the knowledge of salvation a man is doomed. (Mt 16:26)

The knowledge of found is found in Jesus Christ and has three attributes.

1. Personal meaning it is a relational knowledge of Jesus Christ, intimate and specific.

2. Experiential which means salvation is experienced and practical, leading to the sharing with others (Jn 15:21,24; 1 Peter 1:8)

3. Privileged because Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords, the Most High, the Righteous One dwells in every single Christian. (Jn 17:23, Gal 2:20) We carry treasure in clay jars. What a privilege!

The necessity of the knowledge of salvation
In Hebrews 9:27 it says that the fate of every person is to die and face judgement. One day, you and I will face judgement and so we must know the gospel of Jesus Christ, the free gift of God (Rom 6:23). We mistakenly associate free with cheap. Salvation is not cheap, it is priceless and unattainable outside the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way one to escape judgement and most necessary.

If you don’t have the realization of your need of Christ and have not yet truly experienced the grace of salvation, then you must pray! This is your most urgent and dire need! Do not casually pass by the words of God in these verses without being convicted. Jesus must be Lord in your life, which is the receiving and evidence of salvation. (Col 2:6-7)

How can you obtain the knowledge of salvation? We learn this from John the Baptist, who is the herald of Jesus the Messiah. This was John’s purpose in life, to prepare the way and give the knowledge of salvation. (Lk 1:76-77, Mt 3:11) The knowledge of salvation is in John’s message. First, you are a sinner in need of saving (Lk 3:4-9), therefore repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mt 3:2)

Repentance
There is no salvation without repentance. However, the act of repentance itself is not important. Many people repent, that is to say they do the actions of repentance, but repentance itself is not salvation. What turns repentance into salvation is the recognition and receiving by God. Many people claim to repent but their lives have not changed. True repentance is God’s gift.

Our filthiness (Is 64:6) is the reason we should fervently repent. Yet we see no change of life, no transformation, no newness because we fail to repent as God intended. The king of Nineveh forsook his royal robes and repented in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:5-6). He gave up his lofty title to become as nothing. True repentance is ready to be humiliated, to be despised, to rid yourself of self (Is 1:16). The wicked king of Israel, Manasseh, humbled himself and repented and his prayers reached the Lord. The Lord received Manasseh’s repentance and Manasseh was changed (2 Chr 33:12-16).

Repentance is complete change of mind, a conversion in understanding. Sin that was once desired is now hated. Pride becomes humility. There might be happiness or victory everyday, but repentance means we know how to turn back to Jesus our salvation. This is what repentance looks like, receiving the Lord’s correction and being humbled.

Conclusion
By God’s supernatural power repentance results in saving faith. A person is changed when God shows pours His loving grace upon a repenting sinner. In Acts 2, the apostle Peter accuses the people of intentionally murdering Jesus the Son of God. God’s word pierced their hearts and they responded, “What shall we do?” The people asked this question, because they were hopeless. They realized everything that they had put their faith had led them to their doom. Their religion had failed, they were doomed. “Repent and be baptized” is the solution given by Peter. In other words, turn away from your sin, humble yourself before the Lord and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior for eternal life.  Agreeing with the Bible does not mean salvation! To repent and believe is not mere words, but to trust and depend on God.

Luke wrote his account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in order to strengthen Theophilus’s- and by extension all believers’- faith in Jesus Christ. Within the framework of Luke’s overarching purpose for his inspired writings, Zacharias’ prophecy of his son John the Baptist shows us what it means to have the knowledge of salvation.

…to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins…”

Salvation is the most important thing to know. The knowledge of God and salvation keeps believers steadfast through persecution and suffering, and it causes them to proclaim the gospel to the world. The book of Hosea is God’s warning to His people of the consequences of rejecting the knowledge of God. Due to their lack of knowledge, Israel was destroyed as they incurred God’s curse after abandoning God and pursuing idol. (Hos 4:6,12)

The knowledge of salvation is to know Christ. John the Baptist had one purpose from God- to tell the world that the Messiah is coming. Between Malachi and the coming of Jesus, there was 400 years of no prophecy. God broke His silence through John the Baptist, as he came to be a herald for the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Jesus commended John to be the greatest of men because John fully understood what Jesus came to do, and his ministry was to prepare the way for Jesus to be received. John knew Jesus was God, and that He came as the Lamb of God. John’s mission was to prepare men with repentance in order to receive the coming Savior and Lord.

Whoever knows Christ with a saving knowledge sees His surpassing worth beyond all things. In their repentance, they know Jesus is supreme in their lives, and the knowledge of their salvation becomes their anchor and source of joy through all circumstances. (Phil 3:7-8) They see Jesus as Yahweh, the Creator of all things, the One who hold eternal salvation in His hands. Salvation is through faith in Christ alone. No amount of improvement and changing your ways can remove your guilt before God- you must become a new creature in Christ. (2Cor 5:17) The knowledge of salvation is about the New Covenant. In the Old Testament, God’s people were required to continually provide sacrifices. In the New Covenant, Jesus died for sin once for all. It doesn’t take expansive knowledge, because at conversion, every believer knows that Jesus is Lord by God’s work in his regeneration.

The knowledge of salvation has three dimensions- personal, experiential, and possessive.

Personal
Man is controlled by what he loves most. Salvation is having a personal relationship with Christ. Christian life is not dully, but it is full of passion and excitement for Jesus. When saving knowledge is personal, there is satisfaction and love for Christ. The believer’s walk with Christ makes him welcome suffering, because if the Lord suffered, he will also. Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus are not ignorant, because they are no longer in darkness, but in truth and light. They consider themselves as foreigners in the world, and has their sights set on their heavenly home where Christ is.

Experiential
The knowledge of salvation is experiential through the forgiveness of sin. Sin is not an idea or perception- it is real, and it brings death and every problem in our lives. Therefore, forgiveness must be experienced. To be forgiven is to have your eternal debt cancelled out because of Jesus’s crucifixion on our behalf. There is no more guilt for those who are in Christ.

A believer is not just reformed or changed, but a new creature by the power of God’s salvation. (2 Cor 5: 17) Before God, the Christian has nothing to fear because out of nothing, God has made them perfect. So far we have learned, God’s mercy is behind our salvation, He is faithful to keep His promise of salvation, He is powerful to accomplish salvation and His grace grants the believer their salvation. The salvation of sinners is His grand project and primary focus in all creation.

What’s the purpose? (Luke 1:74)
The reason God so wondrously saves is so that we may serve Him. He is our new good and loving Master. Previously we served only ourselves, but now we serve the living God, not begrudgingly or unfairly, but with love and thanks. To serve God does not just mean a ministry or a position at church. Serving is worship to God and to live in obedience to His word. In Exodus, God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to serve him, to worship Him and to celebrate His salvation. (Exodus 5:1, Exodus 9:1)

How do you know you are serving God properly?
Examine your heart for division. A divided heart is dangerous while serving the Lord because it deceives and blinds the person from their true condition. This blindness will lead to unfaithfulness God’s word, like the Israelites who failed to serve the Lord wholeheartedly in the wilderness (Deut 1:34-36, 40). Naturally our hearts will falter and fail, but that’s the process of sanctification. We must not remain stuck at justification, but progress on to wholehearted obedience (Heb 5:11-13, 1 Cor 3:1-3). In Jesus, we have to reason to fear God even if we do fail at times. He is our High priest who advocates for us and intercedes on our behalf (Heb 4:14-16). This confidence should launch us into prayer at all times as we serve Him.

How to serve God?
To serve God properly, we need the righteousness of Christ which is given as took on our sin and bore the punishment on our behalf. This exchange at the center of the gospel is the foundation for acceptable service unto God.

We must serve God in holiness and righteousness. These are two sides of the same coin, holiness is internal while righteousness is acts externally. To act righteously without holiness is hypocrisy, like the Pharisees which were condemned. Your act of service is an attempt to deceive the Lord.

Holiness is a righteous character at all times. It is your character conforming to the character of God. Jesus is our example, who showed true service through word and deed (Lk 24:19). A zealous heart is not enough, but like Christ, we desire a holiness driven by God’s truth and love. The Pharisees are our warning, they failed to be holy and God judged their deeds as lawlessness (Mt 7:23, Rom 10:1-4). However, a holy heart produces righteousness. A holy heart acts on the Word of God, places its trust in the word of God and goes through life in the Word of God.

Salvation is the actualization of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Through salvation, God equips us with holiness and righteousness. We serve in the presence of God, `before Him all our days`.  A Chistian is saved to be the light of God in the world, to serve in holiness and righteousness, so that others may also be saved.

Before knowing the ultimate purpose of salvation, it is necessary to understand the nature of salvation. Salvation is planned and accomplished by God. In the previous weeks, we have learned about God’s mercy and faithfulness behind every believer’s salvation. Every one of us was dead in sin, with no desire or ability to know God, but because of God’s mercy and grace, He pulled us out from the pit and gave us life in Christ. God promised this salvation, and by His faithfulness, He has never betrayed us in His covenant to be our redeeming God.

Salvation is motivated by God’s mercy, promised by God’s faithfulness, and accomplished by God’s power. Nothing is impossible with God. He granted (v.74) us this salvation because it pleased Him to do so and it was in His power to do it. Just as God created all of creation out of nothing, God made believers new creatures in Christ, removing our permanent stain of sin by Jesus’ blood. What peace is there to know that all things are under God’s sovereign power, and even more so, that God’s power always works according to His good nature!

How is God’s power delivered to us? God’s power comes through His decreed Will and His descriptive Will. God’s decree speaks of what He has planned and will accomplish. For example, every believer’s salvation is accomplished and kept not because of his effort, but because God has decreed it. God’s descriptive Will refers to His preferences and favor- if we violate God’s descriptive Will, we are sinning. For instance, God commands believers to not be unequally yoked to unbelievers. If a Christian marries an unbeliever, he is violating God’s descriptive Will. Under both types of Will, God’s power is seen in His providence.

Although God’s power is working in all the ordinary and extraordinary things in our lives every day, many Christians are not aware of it. Though we are in reality co-heirs with Christ, we have no experiences to tell of God’s amazing works in our lives. In order to experience God’s power, we must practice faith. We have the truth of God in His Word. We must trust it, depend on it, and live by it to experience its power in our lives. We can not expect to experience God’s power without faith. Faith invites the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and it works with love towards God and fellow believers.

Believers must understand biblical salvation. Our salvation is by God’s mercy, faithfulness, and power. It is steadfast and more amazing than anything else in our lives. The Kingdom of God in us, so we must continually seek His Kingdom and His righteousness by following the way of Jesus. As we do this, we will have much to share in the work of God in our lives.

When God saves, He provided numerous graces, so that the saved may move towards the life that He designates. When the saved live according to salvation, then God is satisfied (Mt. 25:22-23). This is why salvation is amazing. It is the believers greatest boast. It is a Christian’s strength which only grows stronger over time (2 Pt 1:4). Salvation is God’s wonderful gift.

What is salvation?
The context starts with man. Man is a sinner with no hope and unable to self regenerate. We wrongly think salvation begins with our effort and results in God’s donation. Salvation only belongs to God. We have no part. In addition, we don’t know the specific reason why a certain person is saved. How can we, when we are saved from beginning, when nothing existed but God alone. Yet God in his foreknowledge, decided to save. Our lives were surely head towards destruction before God showed mercy and intervened. What we know is that God is love and instead of pouring out His wrath, God shows mercy (1 Jn 4:8, Jn 3:16, Mi 7:18-19).

God is faithful
If God fails to keep His promises, then our salvation is not possible. On the contrary, God is the most trustworthy and always keeps his promises. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you can trust in God and depend on Him.

`and to remember his holy covenant`
God remembers. In fact, God doesn’t have to remember since He knows everything at all times. He is omniscient. When God remembers, He is emphasizing and adding surety for our sake. Man forgets, but God remembers. He never forgets His promises. From Genesis 3:15, we find God’s promise of Eve’s descendant crushing the serpent and written in Luke, Jesus is the son of Enosh. God even remembers all our sin (Rev 20:12-13). God will undoubtedly remember His holy covenant.

A covenant is the historical method used by God to bring us into a relationship with Him. God entered into a covenant with Abraham. This covenant in the Old Testament parallels the new covenant in Jesus in the New Testament. The promise to Abraham was many descendants dwelling in the land and being protected. Abraham wants to know for sure God will do what He says. (Gen 15:8). God then commands Abraham to divide various animals and lay them opposite each other. God then passes (cuts) through them, establishing His covenant with Abraham. The word covenant means ‘to cut’. We see God’s faithfulness in the establishing of the covenant with Abraham, as He passed through the animals.

Application
Jesus is the guarantee and fulfillment of the new covenant (Heb 7:22, Ac 4:12). Through Jesus, God has made a covenant with those He saved. If you believe in Jesus and trust His faithfulness, then even though your situation gets darker, your hope gets brighter (2 Th 1:5,9-10). We must remember God’s faithfulness through the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s covenant are not just words, but power to convict and save. Depend on God like a child, simply and fully. He is the same God, same covenant, same faith. God is faithful, must also be faithful to Christ.

In the long-awaited moment of John the Baptist’s birth, the first words out of Zacharias’ mouth were not about his precious newborn son, but they were a benediction of God’s salvation. He blessed the Lord because he believed God was truly praiseworthy. He understood the power of God’s salvation and expressed his thankfulness and praise.

God is the God of our salvation. Salvation is simply this: Christ is in me, and I am in Christ. In a world that holds so many different views of salvation, it is important to have a biblical view of salvation because each one will live by his own belief of how to be saved. What does the Bible say about salvation? Zacharias’ benediction tells us the ultimate purpose of why God saved us. In these verses, we can see three hallmarks of true salvation, the first of which we will consider today.

Biblical salvation is possible because God is merciful. God does everything based on His goodness, kindness, and love. His mercy is not merely an abstract idea, but He shows us His mercy through Jesus Christ. We see God’s mercy in Jesus’s miracles, and ultimately, His death on the cross for our sins. It is symbolized in many ways in the Old Testament, such as the mercy seat in the tabernacle covering the sins of Israel. We receive God’s mercy through Christ alone. (Jn 1:4-5, 11-12; Rom 3:25)

God’s mercy is rich. The prodigal son asked for nothing more but for his hunger to be satiated, but his merciful father not only gave him a feast, but lavished him with all his goods. This is a picture of God’s mercy, and only those who truly know the richness of God’s mercy find satisfaction in Christ alone. Where there is mercy, there is the grace of God, and where there is grace, there is faith.

Many Christians debase God’s mercy and don’t value it much in their lives. They don’t understand the evilness of their own heart, but they believe they are good and have something to offer to God. Let God’s mercy into your heart, and let it remain. God’s mercy is towards His elect, and He invites us to come to Him through Christ Jesus. (Lk 15:17, 22-3)

How do you know you have God’s mercy? This is important to consider, because without God’s mercy there is no salvation. In Luke 7:37-39, we find a perfect picture of what someone who has experienced God’s mercy is like. There was a woman who was known publicly as a sinner, but God showed her mercy and forgave her sin. She therefore gave everything up for Jesus, including her sin, by God’s mercy. Those who truly understand God’s mercy want to commit to Christ fully, submitting to Jesus’ lordship in their lives. Moreover, those who experience God’s rich mercy is merciful. Just as how Stephen imitated Jesus on the cross when he himself was martyred, believers are able to forgive and show mercy to others because Christ, who is the fountain of all mercy, abides in them. (Lk 23:34; Acts 7:60)

Salvation is by God’s mercy. Let His mercy abide in you, and show His compassion and love towards others.