redeemed. covenant. peace.
Luke 1:67-80
And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Redeemed. It’s not a word used in daily conversation as much as it used to be. But the act of redeeming something- more than that, someone- has such deep meaning. When you break down the word, redeem means “to buy back.” It’s like in Ruth: when she and her mother-in-law were left without their status or inheritance, they looked toward their redeemer. And when another wouldn’t take up the responsibility, Boaz fulfilled the need and bought back their land and inheritance(*1). God has always been known for being a redeemer: when he brought his people back after Egyptian slavery (*2), when he was reassuring his people at the time of the Babylonians (*3), and now when he redeems us in everyday life (mentioned over 20 times in the Psalms!). It’s who he is. So it’s no surprise that that’s what Jesus did for us in the slavery of sin- he is our Redeemer(*4). And when we choose him, we are no longer hopeless and disinherited. We are redeemed. We are brought back to God.
Covenant. This is another rarely-used word nowadays but another fulfilled word from the Old Testament. It’s a vow, a promise, a commitment. Unlike us, God keeps his covenant; he cannot lie(*5). So when he made his covenant to Abraham, that his people would be delivered from the enemy, he didn’t just stop at the enemy that surrounded them then. He went after the enemy of their souls, the one who would always war against them— Satan. So when the Messiah came, God fulfilled all his promises in him (*6). When Jesus came, he made the promise, the covenant, with us. But it wasn’t without pain. It could only come through blood-- his blood (*7). Because of him, we have a new covenant in God that lasts forever.
Peace. And because we are redeemed, because of that covenant, we have peace. We were those that were sitting in darkness. Death was so close that its shadow was looming over us. That’s where Jesus found us. But he didn’t leave us there, our souls in the hands of the enemy. Where we had no hope of finding a way out, Jesus made the way out through himself (*8). He guided our steps to come out of the heavy darkness and instead into the way of peace. Our souls aren’t waging war against the passions of the flesh anymore (*9). Inside, we can be in perfect peace because we trust in the one who keeps his covenants and redeems his people (*10)-- even when we didn’t know we needed it nor deserved it.
We are redeemed, bought back from hopelessness to being with God. We are receivers of the fulfilled covenant God made for ages past and fulfilled anew in Christ. And because of that, we are at peace, walking out of the dungeon of darkness and instead being guided into God’s perfect peace.
*1 - Ruth 4:1-6, 14
*2 - Exodus 6:6, 15:13
*3 - Isaiah 43:14-15
*4 - Titus 2:14
*5 - Hebrews 6:18
*6 - 2 Corinthians 1:20
*7 - Luke 22:20
*8 - John 14:6
*9 - 1 Peter 2:11
*10 - Isaiah 26:3
