His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

This passage is a fascinating mix of prophecy.

On the one hand, there is excitement at salvation, redemption and mercy. God has come to save his people. His servant will prosper and have the victory as was written long ago.

On the other hand, things don’t seem to bode well in this passage. There are two mentions of enemies and ‘the hand of all who hate us’.

Anyone who wants to live a righteous life will be persecuted. Anyone who aims to do God’s will, shall meet opposition.

In the Old Testament, it was an invading army from the north. In the New Testament, the battles seem more spiritual but manifest themselves in physical reality.

But God has remembered his holy covenant. He will enable us to serve him without fear all our days. Yet we would be naïve to think that everything will always be totally fine.

God has raised up a horn, but sometimes it’s best if we bunker down and leave God to fight the battles for us. He made an oath and will come good.

We can trust him without fear.

Yours wanting to live a righteous life,

Alison