Luke 1:80

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.

From a contemplation of the wonderful gifts of the redemption Zacharias turns to a prophecy concerning the future of the son that had been born to him according to the promise of the Lord. John would be a prophet in the highest and fullest sense of the word, Matthew 11:9. His life's work would consist in going before the face of the Lord as a true herald to prepare His ways before Him, as the prophets had said, Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1. And when the proclamation of the Law would have prepared the hearts in removing all self-righteousness and supposed piety, then John would be able to dispense the knowledge of salvation which consists in forgiveness of sins; redemption is transmitted through the remission of sins. "John is to come and give the people of God a knowledge, which is not to be a knowledge of sin, of wrath, of death, but a knowledge of salvation, that is, such preaching from which one learns how to be saved and delivered from death and sin. That is an art of which the world knows not one word. " And this preaching is made possible through the bowels, the heart of mercy, of our God. His whole heart yearns toward us with inexpressible love and tender mercy, and for the sake of that the Daystar from on high has visited us, the light, star, or sun is risen upon us in Jesus the Savior. This true morning star with the rays of God's divine love illumined the darkness which had been caused by sin and enmity toward Him. And the result is that those that sat in such darkness and shadow of death have felt the light and the warmth of His glow, Isaiah 60:1. Those unable to find their way in the darkness of spiritual death, He will awaken to true life, illumine them with the light of the Gospel, and guide them to the way of peace, Romans 5:1. It is a beautiful and effective, as well as complete description of the work which God performs in us through the Gospel. "This certainly means, as I think, cutting off all merit and good works from the forgiveness of sins, in order that no one may say: I have earned it. Remission of sins has only one reason, namely, because God is merciful, and out of such mercy has sent and given us His Son that He might pay for us and we should be saved through Him. Therefore it reads thus: Forgiveness of sins is not the result of our merit, nor of our good works, but of the sincere mercy of God, that He has loved us of His own free will. We had with our sins earned the fire of hell, but God looked upon His boundless mercy. That is the reason why He sent His Son and for the sake of His Son forgives us our sins. " Of the entire hymn, Augustine writes: "O blessed hymn of joy and praise! Divinely inspired by the Holy Ghost, and divinely pronounced by the venerable priest, and daily sung in the Church of God! Oh, may thy words be often in my mouth, and the sweetness of them always in my heart! The expressions thou usest are the comfort of my life; and the subject thou treatest of the hope of all the world!"

The evangelist concludes with a note concerning the youth of John the Baptist, saying that lie grew in body and mind and spent his time out in the deserts until the Lord gave him ail indication that the period of seclusion must be followed by that of public ministry.

Summary. After a short preface, Luke relates the stories of the announcement of John the Baptist's birth, of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus, of the visit of Mary to Elisabeth, with the hymn of Mary, and of the birth, childhood, and youth of the Baptist, with the hymn of his father Zacharias.