S – And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷ to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.

Luke 1:76–77 CSB

O – Commentary:

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” (Ro 9:5).

77. to give knowledge of salvation—To sound the note of a needed and provided “salvation” was the noble office of John, above all that preceded him; as it is that of all subsequent ministers of Christ; but infinitely loftier was it to be the “Salvation” itself (Lu 1:69 and Lu 2:30).

by the remission of … sins—This stamps at once the spiritual nature of the salvation here intended,

 Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 98.

A – Zecharia’s song lays out the plan directly – John would be the forerunner for the Messiah bringing salvation to the world.  What a revelation of a baby well before any of it happened.  God knows our story as well.  He is leading us through it to accomplish his plans for us too.

R – Heavenly Father, you are our God and Jesus is our Savior.  Thank you for knowing us and having a plan for each of us.  We want to bring glory to your name by obeying your plans for us.