(God)
has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Luke 1:69
This verse is taken from Zechariah’s song in
Luke 1. In this song, Zechariah is
explaining how God is going to redeem us.
He uses an Old Testament phrase taken from David in Psalm 18. In this psalm, David says,
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2
This psalm was a psalm written by David when
he was being chased by King Saul and is rescued by God, and the imagery used
here of a horn is a picture or a symbol of strength like the horn of a ram. So David is essentially saying, “God is my
mighty savior.”
That’s why Zechariah reuses this phrase in Luke
1:69. He’s making the point that God is
going to do a mighty work in and through His Son. He’s making known to his audience that God
has sent us a mighty Savior—He has given us His conquering King—He has raised
up for us a horn of salvation in the house of David in the person of Jesus.
The story of Christmas is a story of
power—it’s a story of strength. This story is not about “a little lord Jesus laying down his sweet head,”
but it’s about a mighty savior—a conquering King. This story is about Jesus—the horn of our salvation. The child born in Bethlehem is the king who
is going to conquer death. He is the
promised one who is going to undo the consequences of the fall—reverse the
curse and accomplish our salvation.
There are many who like to overemphasize the
sweetness of this event and over sentimentalize Jesus’ birth. The problem with this approach to the story
is that you don’t find that emphasis in the Scriptures. What you find more often than not are verses
like this here in Luke 1:69 that emphasize the power and strength of the
Christmas story. Why? Because Christmas is about salvation. It’s about God raising up a horn of salvation
for us—it’s about Him sending us a mighty savior to conquer sin and death and
make us right with him..
