The greatest miracle was not a baby born to a couple in their old age. It wasn't even one born to a virgin. The greatest miracle was a man who stepped onto the scene fulfilling 1,500 years of prophecy, was crucified according to that prophecy, put into a grave, and walked out of that grave by his own power three days later. That was the miracle. Welcome to the Summit Life podcast.
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Now, today on Summit Life, Pastor JD takes us to the song of Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, sung after the miracle of his son's birth. and he points out something really interesting. Zechariah anchors his praise around three very ordinary objects, simple things that God uses to help us grasp the real meaning of Christmas. Let's take a look at the rich symbolism behind one of these objects right now. Luke chapter one.
If you got your Bibles this morning, Luke chapter one, this officially begins our Christmas. Series, so I guess I can say to you officially, Merry Christmas. Every year, thank you. Every year around this time, there is a debate about whether or not we should be allowed to play Christmas music before Thanksgiving. And clearly, the answer is no.
It should be against the law, punishable by fines and imprisonment and the plagues of the apocalypse. If you elect me czar of the world, that will be one of my first acts. But let me just say, I get it. I get it. I get it.
Some music is great, and you can't wait to listen to it. And you're like, I shouldn't only get to listen to it four weeks out of the year. And so I get that. I get that. But could we at least...
At least just acknowledge together that some Christmas music is just really, really bad. Right, I mean, not all of it, not all of it, of course. I mean, some of the old hymns are great, but some Christmas music is just appalling. I mean, I agree with my friend Kevin de Young that 80% of the songs they play over the speakers at the mall are just dreadful. And the industrial music complex seems committed to cranking out at least a dozen or so new disasters each Christmas season from their dismal assembly line of woe.
I asked my kids this week what the best and worst Christmas songs were. And for the worst, here is the list that we came up with. It might, maybe you would have a similar list. I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus, first one on our list. It just seems confusing for children.
Could we acknowledge that? It's just weird. Then there's Santa Baby. I mean, when I hear that song, I question whether or not there is a future for the human race. You say, oh, but I like it.
Well, I don't know what to say. You have bad judgment. You probably like unfrosted Pop-Tarts too. I don't know what else to tell you, okay? Baby, it's cold outside, which honestly sounds like social services might need to be called.
And then there's Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I should note that this one went on our best and our worst list. It made both lists. And then you got The Christmas Song by Alvin and the Chipmunks. I will admit here also that I enjoy the first 20 seconds of this song the first time I hear it each Christmas season, but then it quickly starts to give me that feeling like I have when I see somebody try to open a bottle of Coke with their teeth.
And I'm like, Lord, make it stop. Make it stop.
Now, I say all this tongue-in-cheek, of course. And if you disagree with me, I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. But I just mostly I want to make the point that Christmas has always been associated with songs. And that's really for good reason. There are a lot of songs in the original Christmas story.
At least two biblical characters composed songs in response to the first Christmas. One was Mary. Traditionally, her song is called the Magnificat. The other is Zachariah, and his song is traditionally called the Benedictus.
Well, this weekend, we are going to look at Zachariah's song. Not the whole thing, but one image that Zachariah uses at the beginning of that song to shape the rest of it. You may have read this song a dozen times. But I'm gonna bet. That you read right over this word and did not stop to think about its significance.
And let me just acknowledge a source here as I begin. Earlier this year, I read a book by a new favorite author. His name is Andrew Wilson. The book is called God of All Things. It's a marvelous little book, but it takes 30 ordinary everyday objects that the Bible uses to teach us about God and his work in the world.
We are going to use three of those objects to talk about Christmas. Three objects that the Bible associates with Christmas that will help you grasp its meaning. The first one, the first one is in the first verse of Zachariah's song.
Now, real quick, before you look down, in case you don't know, Zachariah wrote this song upon the miraculous birth of his son, John the Baptist, who was given to him and to his wife Elizabeth in their extreme old age. Zachariah and his wife had always wanted to have a baby. They'd always wanted to have a baby, but they'd never been able to. And when God surprised them suddenly with one in their extreme old age, Zachariah exclaims, Luke 1, verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and he has raised up.
Hey, everybody, say it together. horn of salvation for us. in the house of his servant. David.
Now, lots of couples throughout history have prayed for a baby. And often, when God granted their request, many of them expressed thanksgiving to God, and some even did that through a song. But I dare say, None of them did so by comparing the birth of their baby to a horn. Why is that the first image that Zachariah goes to? That is a great question.
And those are the kinds of questions that you ought to be asking when you read the Bible. And to answer that question, we have to delve a little bit more into the backstory of this story. Because whenever the Bible presents something odd, usually it's going to answer that question in another part of the Bible.
So when you see something that looks difficult or like a contradiction or it's odd, that's your like flag waving like, hey, there's something amazing here. Why don't you do a little work? Zachariah was one of the high priests of Israel. Zachariah had been selected to go in and to offer incense in the Holy of Holies, that innermost sanctuary where the presence of God dwelt in Israel.
Now, this is a big deal for Zachariah, y'all. You see, you could only be selected once in your entire lifetime to do this, only once. And there were thousands of priests in Israel.
So most of the priests never got a chance to go into the Holy of Holies at all. It was Zachariah's turn. It was a big deal, and it required days of preparation. For the week leading up to this, you had to go into a kind of seclusion from your family just to make sure you didn't interact with anybody or anything that would make you unclean. Kind of like when the doctor is getting ready to walk in and do the surgery and they got their hands like this, and somebody else opens a door for them because they don't want to touch anything, make them unclean.
And that's where the priests were for a week. The night before entering the temple, you would stay up all night praying, preparing your soul. Other priests would stay up with you to make sure you didn't accidentally go to sleep. Then the next morning, you would put on a special outfit. It was a robe of spotless, bright white linen, and you would go into the Holy of Holies.
While you were inside, people in the congregation would stand outside praying for you. You see, the law said that if impurity was found in you in the Holy of Holies, you could be struck down dead immediately. In fact, legend says that they would tie a rope around the foot of the priest as he went in in case he got struck down dead.
So they can drag your corpse out. Because, how else could they get you out? They didn't want to go into the Holy of Holies and risk getting struck down.
So that was the legend. That might be just a legend, but it at least illustrates the seriousness of what Zachariah was doing here. Jump down to verse 10 back in the chapter because it's giving you the setup for this. While Zachariah is in there, the whole multitude of the people are praying outside at the hour of incense. And.
While Zachariah is in there, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, by the way. We have this false image of angels as dainty, wispy, fairy-looking beings, or even worse, chubby babies with wings and pampers and nerf bows and arrows. Y'all, whenever somebody sees an angel in the Bible, they are flat terrified.
We know that because every time an angel appears, the angel's first words are always: don't die, don't die, don't die. You don't need to die. Don't be afraid, Zachariah, the angel says. Don't be afraid, for your prayer has been. Heard.
Now that's an odd statement. I'll show you in a minute why it's odd. Your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. And you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
For he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before the Messiah in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. and to make ready for the Lord a people who are prepared.
Y'all, this is a prophecy about the birth of. John the Baptist, who's going to prepare the way for the Messiah by preaching repentance and faith toward God. The problem with this prophecy for Zachariah is that he and his wife are old. Like octogenarian old, like his social security number was twelve old. In fact, when the angel says, Zachariah, your prayer has been heard.
I just got to wonder, when was the last time Zachariah had actually prayed that prayer? It'd probably been 40 years since Zachariah prayed that prayer. He'd long forgotten that prayer. And the angel's like, God has heard your prayer. And Zachariah's like, I don't even know what prayer you're talking about.
This sounds like crazy talk. And he says to the angel, verse 13, how shall I know this? Verse 18, sorry, because I'm an old man. And my wife is advanced in years. She ain't exactly a spring chicken either.
I mean that ship has sailed, God. I don't think I'm up to the task and she is definitely not. I wouldn't even be sure how to broach this conversation with her. You think at dinner tonight, I'm just going to say, I'm just going to say, honey, you ain't going to believe what happened today in the holy holies. then we're just going to skip back to the bedroom and make a baby?
You think that's how this is going to go down? And the angel answered him, I am. Gabriel, and I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to you to speak to you and bring you this good news. News and behold, you will be silent. And unable to speak unto the day that these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.
And so for the next nine months, Zachariah is mute. unable to say a single word anytime he wants to say something. He's got to get their version of a little chalkboard or a parchment and write out what he wants to say. By the way, there are a handful of details in the Bible that lead us to believe that Zachariah was not only rendered mute, he was rendered deaf also. John chapter 1 says: when they wanted to speak to Zachariah, they had to make hand motions to get his attention.
Now, maybe Zachariah's punishment strikes you as a little harsh. After all, his question sounds like a like a reasonable one, doesn't it? How should I know this? Because I'm an old man. Plus, right after this story, when they the same angel Gabriel appears on his next little stop, goes down to where Mary is, and he tells her that she's going to have a miraculous birth.
Also, she asked a nearly identical question to Zacharias. You ever notice that? Look at verse 34. You'll see it. Mary says to the angel, after the angel tells her, Hey, I know you're a virgin, but you're going to have a baby.
Mary says, how can this be? Since I am a virgin. But the angel doesn't rebuke or punish her. He patiently explains how it's all going to work.
So, why be so hard on old Zach? This is one of those times where the written word just doesn't communicate tone. Mary's how can this be was expressed as a kind of wonder. Whereas Zachariah's, how can I know this? was the howl of incredulity and unbelief.
Mary immediately follows up her question with, Be it unto me according to your word. In other words, this is amazing. And I receive it. I don't know how it's going to work, but I receive it. Zachariah's response was, how can this be?
I don't believe it.
So Zachariah was rendered mute for nine months, nine months and eight days to be exact, up to the days, the day of the baby's circumcision, which happens eight days after birth. Zachariah is in a place of total quiet. Quiet and silence for nine months. That's a long time to get put in the corner and play the quiet game. And it had to be brutal.
Have you ever heard of the an echoic chamber? Have you ever heard of this? It is a small Unlit chamber at a place called Orefilled Laboratories in Minneapolis that holds the Guinness World Record for the world's quietest place. It's underground, of course. It has double walls of insulated steel, one foot thick concrete outside of that steel, and inside it's got three and a half foot thick fiberglass acoustic wedges.
Believe it or not. Nobody has ever been able to sit conscious in that chamber for longer than 45 minutes. It is so quiet, they say your ears adjust. And you start to hear things like your heart beating, your lungs working, your stomach gurgling. In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound.
People start to hallucinate. That's why people can't make it longer than 45 minutes. Zachariah is in virtual silence for nine months. And the baby's born? And they come to the circumcision ceremony.
The circumcision ceremony is also where they would formally name the baby. And Zachariah is asked what they want to name the baby, which is basically just a formality because you would always name your firstborn son after the father in those days. Or if not him for whatever reason, you would at least do it for the father's father.
So when they ask Zachariah what he wants to name the baby, He takes out his little chalkboard and he writes out John. Which is of course what the angel had commanded him.
So they're all confused because nobody in Zachariah's family was named John. And they're like, Zachariah, you can't do that. Your name's not John. Nobody in your family is named John. Zachariah's like...
And he just points to the chawboard. And like, all right, man, that's weird, but whatever you want. And God considers this act of Zachariah's as his now having passed the test. And immediately, Zachariah's tongue is loosed, and he begins to bless God with this song: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, which I guess he's been composing this song in his head for nine months now because he just belts it out.
This is like a musical, right? He just bursts into song and starts dancing around. The dancers come out and the streamers and the lights, and it's an amazing moment. But again, I ask you. Why would horn be the first image he goes to?
It literally is the first thing that comes out of his mouth. Why a horn? Horns in the Bible indicate Four things. Number one, horns were a sign. of strength.
I have here an authentic. Maybe or maybe not from Israel. Who knows? Amazon said maybe. Of an animal.
Like a ram, this is a ram's horn. And they were used for fighting and protection. They were a sign of strength. Battles between horned animals were often very fierce. We still use this imagery today, don't we?
Several professional teams use horns in their logos: Rams. Buffaloes. The bowls. Though I should hasten to add. That teams represented by horns or horned animals have a dismal Super Bowl record, one in 10 by my count.
So I'm not sure you should see it as a divine good luck charm. For us here locally, both the Tar Hills and the Blue Devils feature horns on their mascots. The Psalms often talk about God raising up a horn for his people and. And what that meant was that they trusted God to fight for them and protect them. Number two, horns were a symbol of abundance.
In the ancient world, horns represented fertility and prosperity, the cornucopia. Was fashioned after a horn. You see it up there, and it looks like a horn, and then you've got all the fruit, and what looks like wine, but it's actually just non-fermented grape juice because this is a Baptist church. And just fruit and bread flowing out of it to symbolize prosperity. Number three, horns were a ceremonial instrument of anointing.
In ancient Israel, when it was time to choose a new king, a prophet would take the horn of one of these. Mighty animals, usually a ram's horn. It will look just like this. They would fill it with oil. They would pour that oil over the new king's head to symbolize this is the chosen one.
Number four, horns were the siren for announcement. Horns in Israel were used as trumpets, and I know you really want me to demonstrate that right now. And listen, I tried to practice. I really did, but they must have some secret method that has not been passed down to us because the sound I make sounds pathetic and stupid. And so I am not doing it.
The trumpet version of this horn was called the Sho Far. And it was used to summon Israel to arms or to initiate battle. They would also use it to announce the beginning of special holidays like Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Or Raj Hashanah. which was the Jewish New Year.
A hornblast was also how you signaled the start to every Sabbath.
So horns represented strength. Abundance, anointing. an announcement.
So now Now you're better prepared to see why Zachariah's first words of praise. About this new pair of babies to be born. And by pair, I mean both his and Elizabeth's. as well as the Virgin Mary's. Why his first words about those babies are.
in reference to a horn. You see, the baby they were pointing to was. If you take a note, just write this right beside what you just wrote down. Number one, Jesus was. The horn of God's strength.
The little baby Born to marry. Was God's strength incarnated? And that was hard for them. to grasp. I mean, how could a little baby, a little helpless baby born to an unwed mother in poverty?
How could that be the epitome of God's strength? All of Israel was waiting for a Messiah to come, but they all assumed that that Messiah would come riding on a horse with splendor and riches, and most of all, followed by an army that he signaled with a horn. In fact, just a few generations before Jesus. It was a man named Judas Maccabeus who had led a revolt to free Israel from foreign oppressors. People thought he might be the Messiah.
He was a mighty warrior. In fact, Maccabeus literally means hammer. That's his nickname. He led a band of warriors from town to town fighting foreign oppressors and liberating Jewish towns. And guess what?
Maccabeus blew every time he wanted to start the attack. He would blow the shofar, and that signaled that it was time for war. That is the kind of Messiah the people of Israel were expecting. Not a little helpless baby born into poverty lying in a manger. And yet this little helpless baby would indeed have power.
He'd have power to open blind eyes. He'd have the power to multiply bread and fish, the power to command demons to flee, the power to walk on water, the power to heal all manner of sickness. The power to speak to raging hurricanes and immediately have them dissipate. The power to raise the dead to do something that humans since the dawn of time have wanted to do. And that is after going into the grave to walk out of it by their own power.
Jesus had power, and yet, and yet, one of the great mysteries of his life. was why he so often hid his power. His disciples couldn't understand it. He was selective about where he used his power, and he often told people that he healed: don't publicize this. Please don't talk about this.
His followers are like, listen, Jesus, if you got the power, use it. Use it. Jesus, if God really loves us like you say He does, why not use your power at all times and all places to fix everything? People in Jesus' day were just as confused. As to why he didn't do more.
As we are to why he doesn't answer seemingly legitimate prayers today. But see y'all listen to this. Jesus knew human nature. And Jesus knew the moment that He dangled in front of us, healing from all sickness. The moment he dangled power over nature or the power to create food out of nothing.
He knew we'd focus on that and miss his most important message, and that is that we needed to be restored to God. Um We receive lots of letters here at Summit Life, and one of my favorite ones recently is from someone in one of our local prisons who listens to Summit Life regularly. He said. I don't miss an episode. I've read all of your books, not to mention the rate in which you quote Tim Keller in your sermons is the same rate I quote you in my weekly sermons in the prison chapel.
He describes how he found God in his isolation cell. He said, There on the floor of my solitary confinement cell, I confessed hours worth of sins to God, crying out, begging him to change me. And change me, he did. Everything about me changed. I began calling and writing those I'd wronged to apologize for my past and to share Jesus with them.
I've been reconciled with my father, my children, and my ex-wife, and I began to have peace, love, patience, and compassion instead of hate and lust and rage.
Now he's a leader there in that prison. Praise God. I invite you to join us right now in what God is doing through Summit Life with J.D. Greer Ministries. These stories are made by God's faithfulness and your generosity.
Give right now at jdgreer.com/slash donate.
Now let's get back to the message. Yeah. People in Jesus' day were just as confused. That's why he didn't do more. As we are to why he doesn't answer seemingly legitimate prayers today.
But see y'all listen to this. Jesus knew human nature. And Jesus knew the moment that he dangled in front of us, healing from all sickness. The moment he dangled power over nature or the power to create food out of nothing. He knew we'd focus on that and miss his most important message, and that is that we needed to be restored to God.
You see, our main problem was not sickness or poverty or oppression or even death. Our main problem was that our sin had separated us from God, and a Messiah that could restore to us all those other things, who could heal our bodies and deliver us from all our enemies, or a Messiah who could make us wealthy. If that Messiah didn't fix our sin problem, we would still be lost. This is, believe it or not, one of the themes. of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
I know Disney doesn't get a lot right. But they got this one right. The pirates live on eternally, but as dead men. And it's a curse to them, not a blessing.
Now, I'm not saying Pirates of the Caribbean is a Christian movie. But the point they're making is a Christian point. To have all our needs taken care of and not be restored to God means we would live on as dead men. And that would ultimately be a curse, not a blessing.
So, Jesus, who was the horn of God's power, often hid that power so that he could save us at the point of our brokenness. And then, having done that, to resurrect from the dead and then offer that to all who would receive him by faith. Number two, Jesus was the horn of God's abundance. Jesus was the bread of life. Jesus said that those who feasted on him would never hunger.
He was the fountain of living water. He said that those who drank from him would never thirst. That was illustrated most powerfully. through his feeding of the 5,000. He took five loaves and two fish.
We pulled that horn of power out. And he multiplied it so that not only was there enough for the 5,000 that were present, they took up 12 baskets of leftovers. They all hear me. We've preached this message different ways. But that miracle in John 6 was not primarily about God's promises to multiply what we give to Him and give it back to us.
It has applications for that, but that miracle was primarily about the all-satisfying, abundant provision of Jesus' presence for our deepest soul needs. You come to Jesus, even when you're hungry, you're going to have 12 baskets of soul joy flowing out of you. That's what the point was. Jesus is the horn of God's abundance. Number three, Jesus was God's anointed one.
The Hebrew word for anointing was mashach. Which from which we get the word Messiah Messiah means the one anointed by God with the oil from his horn of power and abundance. The Greek translation of Mashach is, you know it? Christus from which we get our word Christ. Jesus Christ.
Christ you know is not Jesus' last name. It was his title. When we say Jesus Christ, we're saying Jesus the Anointed One. The one that, though it's often confusing and though he often hid it, it is the one in whom all the riches of God's fullness are found, the one on whom God poured out his Spirit. Number four, Jesus was God's announcement of salvation.
These babies were an announcement. God was sounding the horn. The battle was beginning. The day of atonement was here. The new year of God's restoration had begun.
The Sabbath rest that he was bringing had been commenced. Maybe the most important thing to know about the gospel, I have told you. is that it is first and foremost an announcement. The gospel, we say, is not primarily instructions. about how you're supposed to live.
Some of you think that's what it is. You think that when I explain you the gospel, I'm basically saying be a better person. Tell the truth, be nice, don't be naughty. All the Christmas messages. The gospel has implications for how you live, yes.
But that is not primarily what it is. The gospel is primarily an announcement. A hornblast. about what God has done. The gospel is not good advice, we say, it's good news.
That's literally what the word means. Gospel means good news. Today, we associate the word gospel with exclusively religious things. But in those days, the word was not religious at all. The word was used, for example, when an emperor or a general won a great battle.
The emperor would send heralds throughout the country. with a gospel of his victory. And the herald, the evangelist, they would call them, would come into the town, they would open up their little scroll and they would say, I have gospel. Our emperor has won a great battle for us. You no longer need to live in fear.
He has defeated the barbarians. He has won the victory. Bible writers commandeered that word to encapsulate what Jesus had done. God won a victory for us. You no longer need to live in fear.
He has won the victory. The horn was sounding. The day of atonement, Yom Kippur was here. The new year of God's new creation, Rosh Hashanah, had begun. His Sabbath rest had been instituted.
This is what Zachariah was saying when he. calls up the image of the horn, which brings me back to Zachariah. I want you to think for a minute of the irony of what Zachariah says. God has raised up a horn. Horns make a sound.
And making sounds is exactly what Zachariah has not been able to do for nine months and eight days now. Be honest. If you ever Read this story of Zachariah and thought, I love this story. I mean, it's just so awesome, but Zachariah's punishment seems kind of bizarre. I mean, why not?
Why not make him walk with a limp? Or give him boils. Or write a big scarlet D on his forehead for doubter. Why bind him up in silence so that he cannot speak? It almost seems kind of random, but.
You'll see there is rich symbolism at work. Think about it. Who was this miraculous child that would be born to Zachariah and Elizabeth? John the Baptist. And what role did John the Baptist play?
He would be The voice Crying in the wilderness. the herald announcing that God's Savior had come into the world. And so we see that Zachariah's punishment was not random at all. In fact, it was poetically and prophetically Perfect. Zachariah's voice had been taken away until the voice crying in the wilderness had arrived, who would announce the coming of God's ultimate voice, God's word made flesh, Jesus.
And now. Zachariah has a second chance to heed that voice. It's been a rough year for Zachariah. You see, the law said that death or mute people couldn't even go into the temple. And Zachariah was a priest.
So not only has he been unable to speak. And probably unable to hear. He's also not been able to go into the temple for nearly a year, and he's a priest. Zachariah's speechlessness and his banishment. was also supposed to represent God's silence in Israel.
You see, for 400 years, there had been no word from God in Israel. The Old Testament closes with Malachi, the only Italian prophet, ending. And then there's 400 years of silence. He's not really Italian, in case you're still thinking about that. This silence of 400 years was in part because of Israel's unbelief and exile.
Which was just like Zachariah's mutinous and his banishment. But now with the birth of this baby, God was speaking again. And Zachariah was being given a second chance.
Okay. And Israel is being given a second chance. And hear me. You and I are being given a second chance too. He said maybe for years.
You have lived in unbelief like Zacharias. And you said, some version of God, how could these things be? And you thought God had given up on you, and you've given up on God. And you've asked God, how could you really love me and allow this or that to happen to me? And you have lived distant from him, maybe you felt cut off from God.
Jesus is God's horn of announcement to you. Jesus. And maybe he hadn't answered all your questions. Oh, Zachariah's questions weren't answered either. But God sent a baby, a miraculous baby, and God said, Because of this baby, I want you to believe.
Believe because of this baby. You say, well, maybe if God made my grandparents get pregnant with a baby in their 80s, I'd believe too. But see, God has given us a miracle even greater than that: the resurrection. The greatest miracle was not a baby born to a couple in their old age, it wasn't even one born to a virgin. The greatest miracle was a man who stepped onto the scene fulfilling 1,500 years of prophecy, was crucified according to that prophecy, put into a grave, and walked out of that grave by his own power three days later.
That was the miracle. God's answer to all of our questions of doubt is the birth of Jesus. The late Tim Keller used to say, You guys pride yourselves. I'm being a skeptical person. You just pride yourselves on doubting everything.
Great, he says. Have you ever considered doubting your doubts? Why your doubts the one thing you won't doubt? Maybe your doubts are not the definitive refutation of belief that you think they are. Because if the resurrection is true, it means your doubts and your questions have answers, even if you don't know what they are yet.
Your problem is not that you're skeptical. Your problem is that you're not skeptical about the right things. The miraculous birth and resurrection of Jesus is a reason to doubt your doubts. Jesus is God's answer to your questions right now. And he invites you in light of who he is and how he came.
And what he did, he invites you to doubt your doubts. Which leads me to the last couple of things that I want to point out. Jesus was not the horn they were expecting. He was not the horn they were expecting. Let's be honest.
This horn of power and abundance was not what they were expecting. Like I said, they were looking for a military deliverer, and instead what they got was a baby born in weakness whose life was spent in poverty. I mean, the whole situation was just confusing. Of all the parents God could have chosen to send his Messiah through, why choose the poorest of the poor? And by the way, I'm not, this is not hyperbole.
We know that Mary and Joseph were the poorest of the poor. We know that because when it came time for them to make an offering of thanksgiving at the temple, instead of offering a lamb as the law required, they offered a couple of doves. Which was a special provision in the law for the exceptionally poor. That's the parents Jesus was born to. Of all the people in Israel, God chose those.
God sent his horn of salvation, his anointed messiah, to poor parents. And not only that, he sent his messiah to morally scandalize parents. Have you ever thought about the situation that God put Mary and Joseph into? Poor Mary. Is an unmarried teenage girl, probably 13 or 14, scholars say, who shows up unexplainably pregnant one day.
In those days, that was grounds for ostracism from the community.
Sometimes even death. And everybody was whispering, can you believe this stuff about Mary? I mean, where are her parents? How could they let this happen? And poor Joseph, I mean, here's his dilemma.
If he doesn't publicly renounce her. And he stays with her. And everybody's going to assume that he did it. And that'll ruin his reputation. It will ruin his business.
Really, it'd ruin his whole life. But on the other hand If he tells everybody the truth, that the baby has been miraculously conceived by God. Everybody's going to assume that, what, he is lying? Like, all right, Joseph, sure, God did it. I mean, what would we say to a teenager today who got pregnant or got his girlfriend pregnant and then claimed God had done it?
Yo, why would God do it that way? God deliberately Set up the holy birth. as a moral scandal. That wasn't like an accident. God created the problem.
One of the reasons he did it, by the way. It's because he was saying to all of you who have been falsely accused. I see. I identify with you. I'm coming for you.
But you all suffice it to say Jesus was not the horn of salvation they were expecting, but. He was the horn that they and we meet. Not the horn they were expecting, but the horn that they And we Need. Though he was not what they were expecting, he is what they needed. You see, what we.
Most needed in a Savior was somebody who could resource to God, somebody who could take away our sins. And so God's horn of salvation did not come exercising his power against sin as judgment because, y'all, that would have destroyed us. Rather, he surrendered that power. He surrendered his horns so that he could die the death. We'd been condemned to die and release us from sin's curse.
And he couldn't do that in power, he had to do it in weakness. Which leads me to another place we see horns in the Bible. Genesis 22. Abraham is on his way up Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac, his son. At the last minute, God shows him a ram.
Caught in a thicket. that he wants Abraham to use in place of his son. Do you remember what that ram was caught by, it says? His horns. The ram was caught by his horns, which meant the ram could not use them.
And because of that, Abraham took that ram. in weakness And offered him on the altar in the place of his son. The ram died. And Isaac walked free. Because Jesus came as A hornless lamb.
not as a mighty ram. Because he did not use his horns, he could die in our place so that we, like Isaac, could also go free. Jesus, the horn of God's salvation, surrendered his power so that he could die in our place in weakness because the savior we most needed was one who could bear our sin and restore us to God. Yes, you might have a list of all the things that you need God to do or want God to do, and I want to tell you, God is not insensitive to those. He is a God who answers prayer and he invites you to bring those things to him.
But I'm telling you, what you and I most need is restoration to God. That's where the abundance is. It's in knowing him. This is eternal life, that they would know you, God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. I told you at the beginning that lots of couples over the years have prayed to God for a baby.
And when God answered, many of them expressed their joy with thanksgiving and sometimes even songs. But I told you, None of them compared the birth of their baby to the raising up of a horn.
Well That's not entirely true. You see, Zachezriah's song is actually modeled. After the song that Hannah wrote in 1 Samuel 2, after the miraculous birth of her child. Hannah also had been a childless woman who felt unwanted and unloved by her husband. It is hard enough to be not able to be have a child today.
But in those days it was considered a sign of being forsaken by God. Barrenness was one of the worst things that a woman could go through in those days. And so Hannah prayed to God for a child. Baron Hannah prayed to God for a child, and God answered. And in response, she too writes a song.
And watch this, just like Zachariah. Her first line in that song is: My heart exalts in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord. In Zachariah's song, Zachariah deliberately quotes Hannah, and in several more things in his song are going to follow hers. And what was the horn that they were celebrating? Are they talking about their specific babies?
Yeah. Both Zachariah's baby. And Hannah's baby. Had a special connection to Jesus. Samuel, who was born to Hannah.
Would be the profit. Who would anoint David as king? with the sacred horn of oil. David, whose throne the Messiah would sit on. Hey, by the way, Samuel would also be born in a time.
When there had been silence from God, 1 Samuel 3:1 says that the word of God was rare in those days, and Samuel was the horn of God speaking again. John the Baptist. Who was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth would come after 400 years of silence, and he would. announce the Messiah's coming. Jesus was the horn.
that they both pointed to. And that is good news for all of us. who feel like we are barren too. Jesus is God's answer to your barrenness. Listen, lots of people throughout Christian history have prayed for a child, and God did not grant them one.
Some of you have prayed to get pregnant and God has not granted it yet. Or you prayed to get married. Are you praying to get a job? Or to get a raise. Or to be healed.
And so far, God has not done as you have requested, and you feel. Baron. And I'm not trying to make light of any of those things. They can be very difficult. I'm just telling you that God gives you something.
even greater than health or a child or marriage, he gives you Jesus. The horn of his power. The horn of his abundant provision, who not only restores you to God but promises to one day make all the sad things in your life come untrue. He who spared not his own son for us but gave him up for us, how will he not also freely give us all things? This short life, Paul says, which is full of barrenness and disappointments and tears, will one day be swallowed up in eternity, where every prayer is going to be answered, every tear wiped away, and every hope is going to be fulfilled.
All God's promises, Paul says, are yes to us in Christ Jesus. That means your life might feel broken and incomplete here on earth, but it will be fully restored to abundance in eternity with the horn of God's power. And in the meantime, you get the anointed one, Jesus. whose presence is better. Then fathers?
or mothers or houses or lands or husbands. Her kids, I love that old man. Remember this sung in my little Independent Baptist church when I was six, seven years old. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather be his than have riches untold.
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hands than to be the king of a vast domain and be held in sin's red sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. this world affords today. Jesus, maybe not the horn you were expecting, but for sure, the horn.
That you need. And that horn is offered to you. Today. Let me close with one final place we see horns in the Bible, one that I find. Breathtaking.
The four corners of the altar At the center of the temple, You ever notice what they're called? Horns. Leviticus gives us two purpose for those horns. The blood of sacrifice was sprinkled on the horns of the altar. And most interestingly, It says, listen to this, people running for their lives.
looking for refuge. Because they'd done something worthy of death, they could run into the temple. And they could grasp these horns and find forgiveness. And safety from the Avenger. If you came to the temple and you grabbed a hold of these horns, the person pursuing you could not kill you, you could find mercy.
The thing you most need in a Savior is mercy. Which is why Zachariah says the purpose of this horn was to show the mercy promised to our fathers. Maybe you've made a mess of your life. Maybe you're sitting here right now thinking if these people knew the truth about me. They wouldn't even want me in here.
Maybe you're right. But you know what? These horns of mercy at the altar of Jesus' death. They're there for you too. For you to come and grasp them right now to receive mercy to as many as received him.
To them, he gave the power to become the children of God, to those who believe on his name. You can grab a hold of them and experience salvation. You can take hold of Jesus. The horde of salvation is offered to you. They offer forgiveness.
There is healing at this altar, y'all. There is forgiveness. There is restoration. There is hope. There is God.
Because Jesus, God's mighty horn, laid down his might and died for you if you'll just come grasp them. Y'all realize at the end of the day, my job is not to stand up here and dispense wisdom to you. It's not to give you practical steps to change your life. I don't stand up here as a professor. I don't stand up here as a life coach.
I don't stand up here as a counselor. I stand up each week just to proclaim I'm a herald. To the foolishness of preaching. A trumpet blast that tells you the horns of the altar are open for you. You can grasp right now.
to find refuge. to find refuge for whatever. You are oppressed by it. As we close today, let's just sit with that invitation because the horn of God's mercy is extended to you right now. You know, there's something beautiful about giving a gift that you'll never see the impact of.
At least not yet. And that's what we're asking you to do this month. When you support Summit Life in December, you help send Bibles into prisons. Real places with real people who are eager to know if grace still applies to them. And thankfully, it does.
Your gift helps them find it. This year, instead of a typical thank you resource, we are putting God's Word directly into the hands of inmates across 11 correctional facilities. Your generosity helps change lives and sets our ministry up for a strong start in 2026, reaching even more people with the gospel. Make a donation today at jdgreer.com. We'll see you next time for Summit Life with Pastor JD.
Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.
