We are taught that we must become upright people who, in God’s sight, are blameless and fully keep His commandments. “In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” [(Modern Translation: “When Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and his wife Elizabeth also came from the family of Aaron. They were righteous before God and faithfully kept all the Lord’s commandments and regulations without fault”)] (Luke 1:5–6). While meditating on this passage, I would like to draw out the lessons given to us: (1) The author of Luke’s Gospel, Luke, first wrote to Theophilus about John the Baptist’s parents. The father’s name was “Zechariah” (meaning, “The LORD remembers...
“If God is for us” (2) [Romans 8:31-34] Look at Romans 8:32 – “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Here, “His own son” refers to God the Son, the only begotten Son of God. The Father God sent His only begotten Son to this earth, and Jesus, the only begotten Son, came to this earth in obedience to the will of the Father God. Among the eight visions that the prophet Zechariah saw, the first was the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the human world (Zech. 1:8). The vision he saw was of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, standing [the word that the only begotten was standing three times (vv. 8, 10, 11)]. The Bible mainly depicts Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God (Mk. 16:19; Lk. 22:69; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 10:12; 12:2). But Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God before he...