Knowledge of Salvation (Luke 1:67-80)

Knowledge of Salvation

 

Luke 1:67-80

 

There was a condemned criminal in Korea. On his last day, he whispered in the ear of a prison guard, “If I knew there is love in the world, I wouldn’t have committed such a horrible crime.” Tasting love in the prison, he regretted his past life but too late. Because of his lack of “knowledge,” he made a wrong choice, and had to face this sad ending. There is the saying, “Knowledge is power,” which was said first by English philosopher Francis Bacon. This is also true in the Bible. Proverbs 24:5 says, “The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength.” How can knowledge be power? You may have watched the movie “Force 10 from Navarone” casting Harrison Ford.

 

In this movie, a group of elite soldiers planned to destroy a gigantic dam in order to stop the advance of the German Army.  The group had Miller who was an explosive specialist, and he prepared three bags of explosives for the plan. Then two other soldiers sneaked into the deep base of the dam, planted the explosives, and detonated them. They knew that if the dam was blasted they wouldn’t have enough time to escape, but they did it, giving up their lives. When the explosives exploded, however, the dam was not damaged at all. Another soldier, who was looking down the dam from the top of the mountain and waiting for its collapse, was greatly disappointed and complained to Miller. “It didn’t do a thing! Nothing!” But Miller was calm. Lighting a cigarette, he said with composure, “You can’t expect an enormous volcano with three tiny bags of explosives. You have to let nature take her course. Give it time. It’ll work.” Exactly as Miller said, after the lapse of a few minutes, the concrete walls of the dam began to crack and water gushed down through the cracks. And the water trapped in the dam pushed the dam down and collapsed it completely. Miller knew everything. He knew the exact amount of explosive required to destroy the huge dam while giving enough time for his fellow soldiers to escape after planting the explosives. What he used for destroying the dam was not “explosive.” He used his “knowledge.” He knew the “power of nature.” He relied on the power of water blocked by the dam. As he knew how powerful it is, he was calm and peaceful. And with a few tiny bags of explosives, he did a great job and saved many lives.

 

From today’s text as well, we are going to think about “knowledge.” Today’s text is a prophetic song sung by Zecharia on having his child John through his wife Elizabeth. In this song, Zechariah said about the future work to be done by the child. Verses 76-78a say, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God.” The work of John the Baptist was “giving the people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.” And this knowledge is the power that enables us to overcome our sins and reach salvation. John the Baptist received the mission to spread this “knowledge of salvation.” Zechariah said that the child would be called “a prophet of the Most High.” Jesus also commended him as “one greatest among all those born of women” (Luke 7:28). We may choose Moses and Elijah as the most powerful among the prophets we find in the Old Testament. They have no equal in power, performing many miracles. But John the Baptist didn’t perform any powerful signs. Nevertheless, Jesus raised him as the greatest prophet. Why? It is because he had the knowledge of salvation. And this salvation is salvation through the forgiveness of sins. One who has this knowledge is the most powerful, the wisest, and the greatest.

 

“Sin” is like a huge dam that stops the flowing of water. Under their sins, people are like slaves laboring in a waterless desert. In today’s text, we can find a word contrasting to people’s sins. It is “God’s mercy.” Verse 72 says, “(God) showed mercy to our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant,” and Verse 78 says, “...... because of the tender mercy of our God.” Verse 68 also says, “He (God) has come to his people and redeemed them.” God’s mercy is like a huge unstoppable flow of water. Still, Satan, “our enemies who hate us” (71), trap people in their sins and separate them from God’s merciful love. Therefore, people trapped in their sins are like the Israelites enslaved in Egypt. In order to save them, God sent Moses. In the eye of Pharaoh the Egyptian King, Moses was nothing but a poor old shepherd dragging a dry staff. But Moses had “knowledge” to give to the people and also to Pharaoh. It was about God the Lord. In Exodus 6:5-8, God said to Moses, “I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’” This was what the Israelites must know. It was that the Lord, their merciful God, would redeem them, save them from the yoke of the enemies, and bring them to the promised land. This work of salvation cannot be done by Moses, and even less possible by the Israelites. It can be done only through the Lord their merciful God. God’s love, namely, God’s faithfulness and mercifulness is the power and wisdom that saves the Israelites and leads them to the Promised Land. For this knowledge, Moses was sent to the Israelites and Pharaoh. So, there is a phrase appeared repeatedly in Exodus. It is God’s saying, “They (He, You) will know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 6:7, 7:5, 7:17, 9:29, 10:2, 11:7, 14:4, 14:18, 16:12, 29:46).

 

 There is another key phrase in Exodus. It is God’s command to Egyptian King Pharaoh. “Let my people go, so that they may worship me” (Exodus 4:23, 5:1, 6:5-7, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, 10:3). This command shows us what “true salvation” is. Salvation has two parts. One is “freedom from the hand of enemies.” And the other is “commitment to God the Lord.” In Zechariah’s song as well, we can find the same idea. Verses 74-75 say, “...... rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” First of all, salvation is being rescued from the hand of enemies. This is easily understandable and likeable. But this is only half of salvation, and this is “itself” not salvation at all. True salvation is “serving God in holiness and righteousness.” To us, however, this doesn’t sound so likeable. Especially, for us sinners, the phrase “holiness and righteousness” feels like a burden, even, another form of “slavery.” Among us human beings, holiness and righteousness mean “separation.” And this separation causes confrontation, contention, and many concerns. In human ways, people try to avoid “unclean things” in order to keep themselves clean. In human ways, people believe that justice is done by condemning and imprisoning injustice. Acts 21:28 mentions why the Jews condemned and arrested St. Paul, “He has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” In order to keep the “holiness” of the temple, the Jews prohibited the unclean Gentiles’ access to the holy place, and caught Paul for violating the law. Even Jesus’ disciple Peter had the same mind. In his dream, Peter saw a vision that all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles and birds contained in a large sheet were coming down, and a voice told him, “Get up, Peter, Kill and eat.” But Peter replied, “Surely not, Lord. I have never eaten anything impure or unclean” (Acts 10:11-13). The Jews and Peter thought they were just and clean, and they tried to keep themselves just and clean by avoiding unclean things and condemning “unjust” people. This is human way of being holy and righteous. But the Lord said to Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This is the difference between God and man. Man avoids unclean things for his own holiness, and condemns sinners for his own righteousness. But God’s holiness and righteousness are not so. God’s holiness is holiness that cleans the unclean. And God’s righteousness is righteousness that justifies sinners. In John 17:17, Jesus prays to God for his disciples, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” Moreover, Romans 3:25-26 say that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement so that he demonstrates his righteousness and also “justifies” those who have faith in Jesus. Sin is like a huge dam. Sin separates people from God. Moreover, sin separates the Gentiles from the Jews, the unclean from the clean, and sinners from the righteous. Even sin separates a man from another, and sin separates every individual and confines him within a solitary cell surrounded by high concrete walls. And in the cell, he doesn’t know that there is love in the world. He doesn’t know that there is a huge river of love flowing on the other side of the wall. And becasue he doesn’t know there is love in the world, he is dying there of his ignorance.

 

Having mercy on the poor people, God sent John to give us the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. In the movie Navarone, in order to destroy the dam, the two soldiers sneaked into the deep base of the dam. In the same way, God’s salvation can be initiated when Jesus reaches the base of our sins. To the Samaritan woman, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” To Peter, Jesus said, “You will disown me three times before the rooster crows today.” These words of Jesus were like the explosives packed in a tiny bag that blasted and made a crack in the dam. Jesus didn’t do this to destroy them. Jesus did this so that the hidden stronghold of their sins be collapsed and the love of God may flow again into their souls. In Zecharia’s song as well, people were in the hand of their enemies, and they were living in darkness and in the shadow of death. The power of sin was so strong that they hated their God and loved their own enemies. For them, Jesus became a horn of salvation (v. 69) and the rising sun (v. 78).

 

Our enemies hate us. Why? It is because God loves us so much. But when we don’t have the knowledge of God’s love, we listen to our enemies and they deceive us to fear God as if God hates us and there is no love in the world. But God gave us the knowledge of his salvation through John the Baptist and through our Lord Jesus. This salvation is God’s love, saving us through the forgiveness of sins. This is true salvation that destroys the stronghold of Satan in us, and floods us with God’s love. Now with this salvation, we know that the world is covered with God’s love. In this love, we serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness in the presence of God all our days. This doesn’t mean that we serve God with our own holiness and righteousness. In fact, holiness and righteousness belong to God. Our holiness and righteousness are merely our knowledge of God’s holiness and righteousness. Our holiness and righteousness are merely our praise for God’s holiness and righteousness. Serving God in holiness and righteousness means that we are so pleased with God’s holiness and righteousness, and we are so pleased to imitate the holiness and righteousness. God’s holiness and righteousness are not for scaring, burdening, and condemning us. It’s pure love of God to us sinners. It gives us freedom and power. It gives us true fellowship with God. God’s holiness and righteousness are God’s merciful love, even making us sinners holy and righteous. We don’t have to struggle to be holy and righteous. When we are washed by the flowing water of God’s love, the holy water cleanses us and presents us as God’s holy children. What we should do is knowing the love and salvation. Foreseeing God’s kingdom coming down through the Branch of Jesse, which is Jesus the Lord, prophet Isaiah sings, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Miller said, “Let nature take her course.” And we say, “Let the love of God, let the power of God take its course in us and in the world.” I would like to finish this sermon with watching a YouTube video of gospel song “Let the River Flow.”

Let the river Flow (youtube.com)