{"id":1899,"date":"2023-02-10T18:37:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T00:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2023-02-10T18:37:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-11T00:37:19","slug":"a-horn-of-salvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/?p=1899","title":{"rendered":"A Horn of Salvation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He has raised up for us a horn of salvation, in the house\nof his servant David<\/em> (Luke 1:69).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the words proclaimed by Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, after nine long months of silence. Nine months to ponder the promises of God given through the angel Gabriel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the very moment of proclaiming\nthat his newborn son will be named \u201cJohn,\u201d Zechariah was flooded with the Holy\nSpirit and burst into praise \u2013 in words that many of us proclaim each morning\nin the Liturgy of the Hours. Unfortunately, our English version loses something\nin translation, saying \u201cHe has raised up for us a mighty savior\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, the original text speaks of a \u201chorn of salvation.\u201d\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the name John<\/em> (\u201cGod is\ngracious\u201d) was significant and willed by God, so much more the holy name of Jesus<\/em>,\nat which every creature must bow \u2013 those in heaven, those on earth, and even\nthose in the infernal regions (Philippians 2:10-11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name \u201cJesus\u201d in Hebrew is Yeshua<\/em> \u2013 the very same name as \u201cJoshua\u201d in the Old Testament. The name means “savior.” Joshua was a figure of salvation \u2013 giving us a foretaste of Jesus, the true savior of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua led the Israelites in the battle of Jericho (see Joshua 5 and 6). But more truthfully, it was God himself, through his mighty messenger, who won the battle. As Joshua approaches Jericho, he sees a fierce warrior, drawn sword in hand, and asks him, \u201cAre you one of us, or one of our enemies?\u201d And the warrior replies, \u201cNeither. I am the commander of the army of the Lord: now I have come\u201d (Joshua 5:13-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could debate whether this messenger was Michael the Archangel, or the Word of God himself (not yet in the flesh, not yet named \u201cJesus\u201d). Either way, the instructions come directly from the Lord: Joshua and his soldiers are to circle the city for six consecutive days. Then on the seventh day they are to circle the city seven times. Seven priests are then to blow their seven horns, followed by a jubilant shout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of that story, the seventeenth-century\ntheologian Jacques-B\u00e9nigne Bossuet interpreted Zechariah\u2019s choice of words: \u201cThe\nword horn<\/em> is one of magnificence and terror that in Scripture signified\nat once glory and an incomparable power for defeating our enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But who are these enemies from\nwhich we need to be delivered? Bossuet reminds us, \u201cThey are, in the first\nplace, the invisible enemies who hold us captive by our sins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apostle Paul says the same: \u201cOur\nstruggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the\npowers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits\nin the heavens\u201d (Ephesians 6:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What important reminders for us today! If we spend mere minutes on social media, we will encounter animosity and enmity \u2013 one group of humans pitted against another group of humans, their accusations dripping with contempt. The devil is a master strategist, and \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d is one of his choice strategies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u2013 you might object \u2013 some human beings are perpetrating atrocities against other human beings, or threatening to force us to change our beliefs, or else. Doesn\u2019t that make them \u201cenemies\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes and no. Human beings are only\never \u201cenemies\u201d in a secondary sense. They are, first and foremost, created in\nGod\u2019s image and likeness. He wills their and our salvation (1 Timothy 2:4).\nJesus commands us, \u201cLove your enemies and pray for those who persecute you\u201d\n(Matthew 5:44). Paul gets even more specific: \u201cIf your enemy is hungry, feed\nhim; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will\nheap burning coals upon his head. Overcome evil by doing good\u201d (Romans\n12:19-20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a command to become objects for others to use or oppress. Rather, it is a command to be on fire with the love of Jesus and to trust God the Father. Jesus was never a powerless victim to others\u2019 manipulations and schemes; yet he truly loved his enemies. Bossuet suggests that this manner of heaping coals upon their head is \u201cto warm up and melt their icy and hardened hearts.\u201d Not all with hardened hearts will welcome this melting. God desires that all be saved, but fully honors our freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus came among us as a true savior from our real enemies. He allowed God\u2019s own breath, the Holy Spirit, to blow through him according to the Father\u2019s will. He knocked down the wall of hostility that had divided us, opening up true reconciliation with the Father and with each other (Ephesians 2:14-16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us on earth, the battle is still playing itself out. We are still in the middle of the story. It is so normal for us to feel terrified. It is so tempting for us to look for scapegoats \u2013 to depict one human or group of humans as \u201cthe enemy.\u201d We need not let the evil spirits play upon our fear and our shame. We need not allow them to seduce us into hatred, division, or contempt. We need not succumb to the lie that secular human efforts will save and deliver us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine how hard it must have\nbeen for Joshua and his soldiers to surrender with trust to God and his\npromises! Were they really to believe that seven priests blowing on their horns\nwould win the battle, rather than military might or human cunning? But at God\u2019s\ncommand, so it happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what a powerful reminder that\nGod does not belong to any sides in our human factions! For him, there is never\nan \u201cus versus them.\u201d He is fully in charge, and all human beings are called to\nbe restored as his beloved children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than seeing other human\nbeings as enemies to be fought, rather than looking to secular means of\ndeliverance, will we trust the living God? Will we give our fears over to him,\nand seek the deliverance that only Jesus can bring?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He has raised up for us a horn of salvation, in the house of his servant David (Luke 1:69). These are the words proclaimed by Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, after nine long months of silence. Nine months to ponder the promises of God given through the angel Gabriel. At the very moment … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Horn of Salvation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[58,64,55,54,63],"tags":[534,537,536,535,533,532,139,531,157,118,304],"class_list":["post-1899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-renewal","category-goodness","category-scripture","category-spirituality","category-truth","tag-angels","tag-benedictus","tag-bossuet","tag-demons","tag-horn-of-salvation","tag-jericho","tag-jesus","tag-joshua","tag-paul","tag-spiritual-warfare","tag-zechariah"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Horn-of-Salvation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1901,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/1901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.abideinlove.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}