Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. Luke 1:68,69
Whoa! Isn’t Zacharias getting a little ahead of himself? His baby boy is only eight days old, and here the old priest is proclaiming redemption for Israel. We know that Zacharias was rejoicing in the birth of a son after he and Elisabeth had grown too old to be parents, naturally speaking. And he had also received a great promise from Gabriel about his son’s future. But the angel had said nothing about a redeemer or a horn of salvation. So where did Zacharias get those ideas, and was he in fact speaking about his own son? Actually, Zacharias was not only appreciating what God would do with his son, but was also looking forward to Another Son, One with greater credentials than John and with a greater mission. And Zacharias is so convinced of his prophecy that he speaks of it as already being accomplished.
At this time, Israel was under the domination of Rome; there was no redemption at hand. Also, although Zacharias and Elisabeth were godly and faithful people, they could easily see that most in their nation were not so. So Zacharias was looking into the future, and he was as certain of what he foretold as if it was already accomplished. We can see from the vantage point of two thousand years later that Zacharias was right. The Lord Jesus has come as the Saviour and Messiah and has redeemed untold millions of Jews and Gentiles. We recognize Him as our Horn of Salvation, and rejoice in the redemption that He has brought. The prophecy takes us beyond the time of the Gentiles into a day when the Lord Jesus will redeem the very nation of Israel.
The term ‘horn of salvation’ was not a foreign term to the Israelites. A horn in the Old Testament Scriptures was a symbol of strength and power, perhaps drawing on the imagery of the rhinocerous with its single powerful horn. Associating the horn with the house of David was a theme of those Scriptures, such as in both Psalm 132:17 and Ezekiel 29:21: There will I make the Horn of David to bud. Zacharias was undoubtedly thinking of this reference when he uttered his prediction. He could not have been referring to John as the fulfilment of this prophecy, because both Zacharias and Elisabeth were of the house of Levi, not of the line of David. No, Zacharias was speaking of none other than Jesus Christ as the Horn of Salvation. As such, He is the fulfilment of all of God’s great programs, both for the Jew and Gentile, both in our day and in the great kingdom that is yet to come.
Zacharias was confident in his declaration of all that Jesus Christ is and ever will be. His words give us confidence in the same. – Jim MacIntosh