The Benedictus

Renewing Your Mind

Ligonier Ministries

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When John the Baptist was born, his father Zacharias praised God in song. From his sermon series in the gospel of Luke, today R.C. Sproul examines this song, the Benedictus, to consider what the birth of the forerunner to Jesus means for God's unfolding plan of redemption.

Request R.C. Sproul's commentary on the gospel of Luke with your donation of any amount: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/4484/offer

Live outside the U.S. and Canada? Request the Luke commentary ebook with your donation: https://www.renewingyourmind.org/global

Meet Today's Teacher:

R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel, first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.

Meet the Host:

Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of media for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, and host of the Ask Ligonier podcast.

Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

Transcript

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0:00.0	The song begins.
0:02.0	Blessed is the Lord God of Israel.
0:06.6	The reason why he is blessing God is because God has visited and redeemed his people
0:14.5	and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David.
0:27.1	As Christians, we sing.
0:29.7	We sing to praise God, celebrating and declaring who he is and what he has done.
0:35.6	And surrounding the birth of Jesus, there were several songs,
0:40.0	often called the infancy hymns. And today, we're going back before Christmas Day to a hymn
0:46.3	declared at the birth of John the Baptist. Welcome to the Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind,
0:52.7	where each week we feature the preaching
0:54.7	ministry of R. C. Sprawl.
0:57.7	We have been in Luke's Gospel for several weeks, considering some of these infancy hymns,
1:03.0	and today is the last sermon in this short series.
1:06.0	But you can continue studying Luke when you request Dr. Sproll's hardcover commentary on Luke when you give a year-end
1:12.5	donation at renewingermind.org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. And if you live
1:18.7	outside of the U.S. and Canada, you can still show your support during this critical time of the
1:23.6	year when you donate at renewingyourmind.org slash global. To thank you, you'll gain
1:30.3	access to the e-book edition of this commentary so you can take it with you on the go.
1:35.3	Well, here's Dr. Sprawl on the Benedictus, the hymn of Zechariah.
1:41.3	Now his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying,
1:50.0	Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
2:05.8	David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been since the world began,
	...

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