Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, Light to the World
Release Date: 12/26/2025
Characters at the Cradle: The Birth of Jesus, The Main Character
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick This week, we are going to look specifically at the birth of Jesus and the important role that the shepherds and angels played as characters at the cradle. However, before we look at some more of these secondary characters, we must first STOP and look at the main character. Jesus is the main event. He IS the ultimate character at the cradle, around whom God’s entire story is written. He is the pinnacle of all creation, the peak of all prophecies, and the climax of the story! Join me today as we look at Luke 2:1-4. Did you know that everything in human history is under...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, Light to the World
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Zechariah concluded his prophecy in verse 79 by proclaiming that John the Baptist would “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” John the Baptist would proclaim a message that would give light to the shadow of death, which is often people’s greatest fear. But this light would also guide our feet to the way of peace. So we don’t misstep, trip, or fall! As we discussed yesterday, God gives us the sunrise every morning, simply because of his grace. The sun gives us light for the day. In the same way,...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, A Message of Repentance
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Zechariah’s prophecy gives strong gospel implications to the importance and need for repentance. Luke 1:77-78 says that John, in preparing the way for the Lord, would “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…” Zechariah knew that John’s life’s mission would be to point to Jesus. John the Baptist would bring a message of repentance before people even heard Jesus’s message. His words would prime the hearts of people to receive the Word (John...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, God Sent John
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick The Godhead - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are present throughout the biblical narrative. Much like in Genesis 1, where the Trinity is present during creation, the same holds true with these characters at the cradle. The Bible tells us that many of these characters at the cradle were specifically marked with the Holy Spirit during their encounters with the Christ child. The Spirit “came upon” Mary (Luke 1:35). Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit as she first met Jesus in the womb of her cousin, Mary (Luke 1:41). And then in verse 67, Zechariah is filled with the...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, About What?
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick We are looking at the characters at the cradle, the people who found their lives intersecting with the life of Jesus, with divine precision. Each person carried a unique role and responsibility and stewarded his or her place in history with great purpose. Zechariah was one of those characters. In spite of his initial unbelief, which left him deaf and mute for a season, he allowed his time in silence to shape him and refine him for what was to come with the birth of John. Once Zechariah’s speech was restored, he was filled with the Spirit and began to prophesy. About what,...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah’s Prophecy, Speech Restored
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick This week, we cover Zechariah’s prophecy found in Luke 1:67-79. This passage is powerful and full of revelation and insight. If you remember where we have been, Zechariah’s words come on the heels of Elizabeth’s prophetic exclamation in verse 42, Mary’s song of praise in verses 46-56, and the birth of John in verses 57-66. Zechariah is coming off his nine months of silence. Because he expressed words of doubt and unbelief when the angel Gabriel had told him that he would finally have a son named John, Zechariah was rendered mute and deaf. By the time John arrived,...
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Characters at the Cradle: John the Baptist, Awe and Wonder
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick “And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him.” Luke 1:65-66. When Zechariah’s voice returned, he started blessing God for all that had happened to him and Elizabeth. He was incredibly grateful for the birth of his child. The text goes on to tell us that all the neighbors were filled with fear. The “fear” talked about here is not dread or being afraid. On the...
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Characters at the Cradle: John the Baptist, Words of Worship
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick When Zechariah wrote down, “His name is John,” for all to see and read, he obeyed in specificity all the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. At that moment, something significant happened. Let’s take a look. “And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” (Luke 1:64). Immediately. What a powerful word! Not gradual, not slowly… immediately! Zechariah’s act of obedience led to his immediate breakthrough. At that moment, he was able to speak again. And the words that poured forth blessed the one true God. This might...
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Characters at the Cradle: John The Baptist, His Name is John
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick The ultimate name of the Christmas story is born into a cradle. His name is Jesus. But there are many characters at the cradle who play significant roles in highlighting the Savior of the world. One, in particular, is the forerunner to the message of Jesus. His name is John. Luke 1:61-63 continues the story of John’s circumcision. Even though everyone thought this special baby would be named after his father, Gabriel instructed Zechariah to name him John. Because Zechariah was still mute, Elizabeth had just spoken up to tell everyone the name. No one who gathered for this...
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Characters at the Cradle: John The Baptist, What’s His Name?
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick What’s in a name? There is power in a name. Meaning in a name. Purpose in a name. In Scripture, names often point to someone’s God-ordained purpose. Today, you will learn why John’s name was significant. After John was born, Zechariah and Elizabeth took him to be circumcised on the eighth day, as was the Jewish custom. This was also the time when the father would pronounce the name of the child. Often in biblical times, the child would be named after the father. This actually still happens a lot in today’s culture as well. So for John’s circumcision, everyone...
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Zechariah concluded his prophecy in verse 79 by proclaiming that John the Baptist would “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” John the Baptist would proclaim a message that would give light to the shadow of death, which is often people’s greatest fear. But this light would also guide our feet to the way of peace. So we don’t misstep, trip, or fall!
As we discussed yesterday, God gives us the sunrise every morning, simply because of his grace. The sun gives us light for the day. In the same way, the SON of God shines light on the darkness of our sin. What a wonderful insight for Jesus’s advent, his coming to us!
Jesus aimed to give us light in the midst of our darkness. In fact, in John 8:12, Jesus called himself the light of the world. Why is this significant? Because when sin cursed the world, darkness overtook the light. We became a world without hope. A story without promise. A life with no future. But God!
Jesus saved us from all darkness and all sin. Peter said that we were delivered out of the kingdom of darkness into Jesus’s marvelous kingdom of light (1 Peter 2:9).
If we follow Jesus and his light, we, too, are called to be lights in this dark world! Once Jesus invades our hearts and his light dwells in us, we are salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16). We bring light to the darkness of the world and salt to that which has no flavor.
Sometimes that light will cause unbelievers to squint in pain as our light exposes their sin. But it’s needed to reveal the purity of the Gospel! The light of Christ helps us see each step clearly that ultimately guides us home to our Father in heaven.
Luke 1 concludes in verse 80 by saying, “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.” Every day that John got older in body, he became older in the Lord.
We see in Scripture that God’s greatest saints often spent long hours in solitude and contemplation before their ministries became public. This was certainly true of Jesus! Think about him between the ages of 12 and 30. He spent that time in tremendous preparation for his public ministry.
As for John the Baptist, God eventually called him into the wilderness until he was to go public. How long was that? We don’t know. But by the time God finally made John public, he was preaching a message of repentance that drew thousands to baptism. He spent his life continually preparing the way of the Lord, Jesus, the Savior of the world!