Luke 1:69-72-75: "[Zechariah prophesied] He (God) has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of His servant David. He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering His sacred covenant to Abraham. We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness forever."
As we celebrate Easter this week, we cannot help but reflect upon the significance of the holiday. Easter is the day in which we remember the blessed resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ from the dead.
When we (i.e. all of humanity) rebelled against the Rightful, Sovereign Rule of the One True God through our sin, we died spiritually. And in our spiritually dead condition, we were unable to satisfy God's requirements for righteousness to obtain His Divine Mercy and Grace. Our hearts were found to be consumed with our own selfish pursuits (Romans 8:5-7; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 3:10-12,18) and thus we lived a life of waywardness against the Lord (Psalm 58:3).
God could have left us to the consequences of our rebellion, namely to experience His righteous, eternal wrath. Instead, He took the initiatory step of entering the world as Jesus the Christ, in order that He might provide the perfect, unblemished, sacrifice for the sins of the world (Hebrews 9:14). Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose triumphantly in the resurrection, we now have the blessed hope of forgiveness of our sins and the opportunity for eternal righteousness if we will respond to His offering of Grace. We simply need to repent of our sins and submit to His Lordship to receive this Great God Gift!
The prophet Zechariah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophesied that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant that was presented by God to Abraham several thousand years before Christ's advent. This covenant stipulated that Abraham's descendants would be blessed by the Lord, protected by the Lord, and given a Promised Land already secured by the Lord (Genesis 12:2-3, 17:8). The Apostle Paul clarifies for us that these descendants referenced in Genesis are those who like Abraham have submitted to the Lord by faith (Romans 9:8; Galatians 3:6-9). Thus, those of us who have surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord are the true descendants of Abraham; we are the ones guaranteed the blessings promised in the covenant.
God declares to His followers that they will be blessed by Him, protected by Him, and given the hope of life in His eternal blessedness (i.e. Heaven). All of these blessings have been secured for us solely through the efficacious work of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and His triumph over sin and death through His resurrection (see Colossians 1:21f; Hebrews 12:2; Psalm 49:7-9,11-15).
In this blessed Divine protection, we are able to serve the Lord without fear. We do not have to be concerned with those persons or things that would attempt to destroy us, for God is our Ultimate Vindicator. He has assured to us eternal protection (John 10:28; Romans 8:38-39), so we are able to accomplish His Will without reservation. He has set us apart as holy and righteous forever; this Divine blessing should free us to be all that we can be for Him. May we be people with a heart of celebration, knowing that we are heirs of God's eternal kingdom.
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