Blessed be 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 David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Thus sang Zacharias!

I’ve put highlights on five lines.  The first three aren’t really the point of my post, but I have to point out how well they go with the teaching of Paul and Peter.

My real point is found in the last two lines: “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…”

The word “lord” here pretty plainly means YHWH and the two lines are an invocation of the prophecy given by Malachi:

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

So YHWH, the Lord, will come to his Temple and a messenger will be sent to prepare His way.  Yet the same song plainly celebrates the birth of Jesus, “a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”  Zacharias believes his son will be a forerunner of Jesus and in that office a forerunner of the god of Israel.

Because Jesus is the God of Israel.