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Selected Verse: Luke 1:76 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Lu 1:76 |
King James |
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Here are the dying echoes of this song; and very beautiful are these closing notes--like the setting sun, shorn indeed of its noontide radiance, but skirting the horizon with a wavy and quivering light--as of molten gold--on which the eye delights to gaze, till it disappears from the view. The song passes not here from Christ to John, but only from Christ direct to Christ as heralded by His forerunner.
thou child--not "my son"--this child's relation to himself being lost in his relation to a Greater than either.
prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before him--that is, "the Highest." As "the Most High" is an epithet in Scripture only of the supreme God, it is inconceivable that inspiration should apply this term, as here undeniably, to Christ, unless He were "God over all blessed for ever" (Rom 9:5). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And thou, child ... - Zechariah predicts in this and the following verses the dignity, the employment, and the success of John. He declares what would be the subject of his preaching, and what his success.
Prophet of the Highest - Prophet of God; a prophet "appointed by God" to declare his will, and to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
The face of the Lord - The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that was about to appear. To go before "the face of one" is the same as to go immediately before one, or to be immediately followed by another.
To prepare his ways - This is taken from Isa 40:3. See the Mat 3:3 niote, and Isa 40:3 note. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| And thou, child - He now speaks to John; yet not as a parent, but as a prophet. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And thou, child, etc. - Zacharias proclaims the dignity, employment, doctrine, and success of his son; and the ruin and recovery of the Jews and the Gentiles.
1. His dignity. Thou shalt be called (constituted) a prophet of the Most High. Prophet has two acceptations: -
1st. A person who foretells future events; and;
2dly. A teacher of men in the things of God, Co1 14:3.
John was a prophet in both senses: he proclaimed the mercy which should be communicated; announced the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and taught men how to leave their sins, and how to find the salvation of God. See Luk 3:5-14. His very name, Jehochanan, the grace or mercy of Jehovah, (see Luk 1:60), was a constant prediction of the salvation of God. Our Lord terms him the greatest prophet which had ever appeared in the world. He had the honor of being the last and clearest prophet of the old covenant, and the first of the new.
2. His employment. Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. He should be the immediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, none being capable of succeeding him in his ministry but Christ himself. He was to prepare his ways, to be the honored instrument, in the hands of God, of disposing the hearts of multitudes of the Israelites to believe in and follow the Lord Jesus.
3. Zacharias points out the doctrine or teaching of John. It should be γνωσις σωτηριας, the science of salvation. Men are ignorant, and they must be instructed. Human sciences may be profitable in earthly matters, but cannot profit the soul. The science that teaches God must come from God. No science is of any avail to the soul that does not bring salvation with it: this is the excellence of heavenly science, and an excellence that is peculiar to itself. No science but that which comes from God can ever save a soul from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin.
4. Zacharias predicts the success of his son's ministry. Under his preaching, the people should be directed to that tender mercy of God, through which they might obtain the remission of their sins, Luk 1:77, Luk 1:78. Those who are sent by God, and preach his truth, and his only, shall always be successful in their work; for it is for this very purpose that God has sent them; and it would be a marvelous thing, indeed, should they labor in vain. But there never was such a case, since God made man, in which a preacher was Divinely commissioned to preach Jesus and his salvation, and yet had no fruit of his labor.
5. Zacharias points out the wretched state in which the inhabitants of Judea and the Gentile world were then found.
1. Their feet had wandered out of the way of peace, (Luk 1:79), of temporal and spiritual prosperity.
2. They had got into a state of darkness - they were blind concerning the things of God, and the things which belonged to their salvation.
3. They had become contented inhabitants of this land of intellectual darkness - they had sat down in it, and were not concerned to get out of it.
4. They were about to perish in it - death had his dominion there; and his swift approaches to them were now manifested to the prophet by seeing his shadow cast upon them.
Ignorance of God and salvation is the shadow of death; and the substance, eternal ruin, is essentially connected with the projected shadow. See these phrases explained at large on Mat 4:16 (note).
6. Zacharias proclaims the recovery of a lost world. As the removal of this darkness, and redemption from this death, were now at hand, John is represented as being a day-spring from on high, a morning star, that foretold the speedy approach of the day, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. That these words should be applied to John, and not to Christ, I am fully satisfied; and cannot give my reasons better for the arrangement I have made in the preceding notes, than in the words of an eminent critic, who, I find, has adopted nearly the same plan with myself. The passage, as I read it, is as follows: Through the tender mercy of our God, by which he hath visited us: a day-spring from on high, to give light to them that sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death, etc. "Let the reader judge, whether my arrangement of this passage, which much better suits the original, be not far more elegant, and in all respects superior to the old translation. Thou, child! wilt be a teacher - Thou Wilt Be a day-spring from the sky. And with what beauty and propriety is John, the forerunner of our Lord, styled the dawn of day, that ushers in the rising of the Sun of righteousness! And the concluding words - to guide our feet into the way of peace - is a comprehensive clause, after the manner of Hebrew poetry, belonging equally to the former sentence, beginning at - And thou, child! - and the latter, beginning at - A day-spring from the sky: for the people spoken of in the former are the Jews; and in the latter, the Gentiles." - Wakefield. |
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.