John Calvin Commentary Luke 1:72

"To show mercy towards, our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant;" — Luke 1:72 (ASV)

To perform the mercy: Zacharias again points out the fountain from which redemption flowed, the mercy and gracious covenant of God. He assigns the reason why God was pleased to save His people. It was because, being mindful of His promise, He displayed His mercy.

God is said to have remembrance of His covenant because there might have seemed to be some forgetfulness during that long delay, in which He allowed His people to languish under the weight of very heavy calamities.

We must carefully attend to this order:

1. God was moved by pure mercy to make a covenant with the Fathers.
2. He has linked the salvation of humanity with His own word.⁷⁶
3. He has exhibited in Christ every blessing, so as to ratify all His promises: indeed, their truth is only confirmed to us when we see their fulfillment in Christ.

Forgiveness of sins is promised in the covenant, but it is in the blood of Christ. Righteousness is promised, but it is offered through the atonement of Christ. Life is promised, but it must be sought only in the death and resurrection of Christ.

This too is the reason why God commanded long ago that the book of the law should be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifice (Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:19–20).

It is also worthy of notice that Zacharias speaks of the mercy performed in his own age as extending to the Fathers who were dead, and who equally shared in its results.

Hence it follows that the grace and power of Christ are not confined by the narrow limits of this fading life but are everlasting. They are not terminated by the death of the flesh, for the soul survives the death of the body, and the destruction of the flesh is followed by the resurrection.

Just as neither Abraham nor any of the saints could procure salvation for himself by his own power or merits, so to all believers, whether living or dead, the same salvation has been exhibited in Christ.

⁷⁶ “Il a lie le salut des hommes avec sa parole, comme dependant d'icelle.” — “He has bound the salvation of men with his word, as depending on it.”.” — “He has bound the salvation of men with his word, as depending on it.”