Daily Bible Reading 17th March 2026 // Luke 1:57-80
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, enquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbours. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 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.
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
The next thing that must be noticed is this: it is very significant that all the 'words' spoken in the Christmas story, by those whose words are recorded for us, are full of profound theology and doctrine. These folk were not theologians but humble, ordinary people. Yet for them, what was happening had a profound, doctrinal and theological significance. This is the pointer to a true understanding of what Christmas is all about. There is a 'doctrine' of Christmas, and until and unless we understand it, Christmas can be no more than an empty name. Zechariah's song, for all its beauty, is no mere empty utterance; it is a whole system of divinity within brief compass. Look at what it contains: first of all, there is the emphasis on visitation - something that is prominent throughout the entire Christmas story in all the songs. To say that God has visited His people in the coming of Christ does not mean a passing, or temporary visit, as we use the word. A royal visit is over in a day or two, but here, God has come to stay. He has come to be with us forever. In the Incarnation God has entered human life once for all, and the gulf between God and man has been bridged for good. Nothing will ever destroy that link again. That is why the Christmas message is such good news. Communications have been restored!
But more. The word 'visited' in the Greek has the force of 'turned His face upon' His people. The great thing about the Christmas message is that the God whose face had been turned from mankind because of sin has now once for all been turned towards man in love and pity, and that now His thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace and not of evil. Christmas speaks of a reconciled Face that has been turned towards the children of men. The Psalmist's prayer
Lord, bless and pity us
Shine on us with Thy face
is answered fully in the message of Christmas.