Introduction: The Gospel of Luke is the first part of a two-part work written by Luke, a medical doctor who not only accompanied the Apostle Paul on his second and third missionary journeys, but was affectionately referred to by Paul as “the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). In the second part, of his two-part work, The Acts of the Apostles, Luke writes about the birth of the church and its launching of a worldwide evangelistic movement in obedience to Christ's Great Commission. Here, however, in the first part of his two-part work, his Gospel, Luke gives us the most historically detailed account of the life of Christ. Since it contains many details of the life of Christ not found in the other Gospels, such as details about Christ’s birth and childhood, Luke’s Gospel is the longest book in the New Testament.
Our Lord’s favorite form of teaching was the parable. These earthly stories illustrating heavenly truths were masterfully used by the Master Teacher to communicate cardinal doctrines of our Christian Faith. Many of our Lord’s parables, even some of His most famous, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan and of the Prodigal Son, are unique to Luke’s Gospel. It is, I suspect, no coincidence, that some of these parables, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, are found in the only Gospel penned by a Gentile author, whose divinely inspired design was to declare Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, to be the Savior of the whole world, not just of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
PARABLES UNIQUE TO THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
1.The Two Debtors (Luke 7:41-43)
2. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
3. The Friend at Midnight (Luke 11:5-8)
4. The Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21)
5. The Wedding Feast (Luke 12:35-40)
6. The Wise Servant (Luke 12:41-48)
7. The Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9)
8. The Chief Seats (Luke 14:7-11)
9. The Great Supper (Luke 14:16-24)
10. The Tower (Luke 14:28-30)
11. The King (Luke 14:31-33)
12. The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10)
13. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
14. The Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1-9)
15. The Unprofitable Servant (Luke 17:7-10)
16. The Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8)
17. The Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:10-14)
18. The Pounds (Luke 19:12-27)
Luke 1:1 — There are “things which are most surely believed among us”; that is, there are fundamental truths of the Christian Faith that are certainly believed by all true Christians.
To profess the Christian Faith and to deny its cardinal doctrines and fundamental beliefs is to belie one’s own Christian profession. Make no mistake about it; all true Christians are Bible believing and anyone who does not believe the Bible is no Christian.
Although the word “fundamentalist” has fallen into ill-repute in our day, the dictionary defines the word “fundamentals” as “foundational” or “essential” things. Therefore, a Christian fundamentalist is simply someone who adheres to the foundational and essential truths of the Christian Faith. It is the fundamentals of the Christian Faith that defines and distinguishes Christians. Therefore, all real Christians are really fundamentalists, for it is our beliefs, not our boasts, that make us Christians. In other words, you are not a Christian simply because you say so, but only if the Bible says so.
Luke 1:2-3a — Although many narratives of the life of Christ were written, which were products of careful investigation into the oral traditions passed down by eyewitnesses, Luke was also compelled to write, because of his “perfect understanding of all things from the first.”
Luke’s claim of “perfect understanding” was not the hallucination of an inflated ego, but a declaration of divine inspiration. The Gospel of Luke is not the mere product of careful investigation, but of the Spirit’s inspiration. It is not just based on oral tradition, but on divine revelation. It is more than the word of eyewitnesses; it is the Word of God!
Luke 1:3b— The name of the recipient of Luke’s Gospel is “Theophilous,” which means “Lover of God."
Although many believe Luke’s Gospel was written to an individual named “Theophilous,” I believe it was written, as well as all of the Bible, to all “Lovers of God” throughout all the ages.
Luke 1:4 — Luke wrote his Gospel so that we might know that the Christian Faith is founded on firm certainties—historical fact and God’s objective truth—not flimsy conjecture—human feelings and man’s subjective opinions.
There is no question about the certainty of who Jesus was or about what He has done, for the Christian Faith is not a matter of opinion, but of record, and that record is the divinely inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. The Christian Faith is not as wishy-washy as our opinions, but as sure and certain as the oracles of God.
“In these days men have left off faith. The spirit of the martyrs is not in them. Opinions have taken the place of convictions. Opinions are our own, and should not be too firmly held. Truth is Divine, and is worth living for and dying for…Today men are content to give heed only to the points on which the greater number appear to be agreed…The man who would force his opinions on others is a boor. He who would die for his opinions is a fool. But Christianity has not to do with opinions. It is founded on fact and Divine truth; and faith based thereon is the heritage of the Church. We can have no toleration for the veiled skepticism which is passing for Christianity today. We do not think this or that: we know!” (Sir Robert Anderson)
Luke 1:5a — Herod the Great was an Edomite, not an Israelite, a descendant of Esau, not Jacob, and therefore a usurper, not a legitimate heir to the throne of David.
Herod the Great, who inhumanely sacrificed infants for the sake of political expediency (Matthew 2:16-18), was an ancient forerunner of today’s inhumane politicians, who have, for the sake of political expediency, sacrificed millions of unborn babies to abortion on demand.
Luke 1:5b-6 — Both Zacharias and Elisabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, were of priestly descent, as well as pious and devout, being devoted practitioners of every divine precept.
It is certainly the rule and not the exception that God often uses the hands of godly parents to mold His most chosen vessels.
“I have a high view of the position of Christian parents. I believe it to be the grandest of all earthly spheres. To bring up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is to build a temple for the Holy Ghost.” (Charles Spurgeon)
Luke 1:7 — Elisabeth was not only barren, but believed to be past childbearing age. Yet, with God, who loves to do extraordinary things through those from whom nothing is expected (1 Corinthians 1:28), even the barren can be used by God to miraculously birth the magnificent.
As physical barrenness—the failure to bear children to carry on Zacharias’ name upon the earth—was seen as the ultimate disgrace to Elisabeth, spiritual barrenness—the failure to win converts to Christ, in order to carry on His name upon the earth—should be seen as the ultimate disgrace to any incorporated church or individual Christian.
Luke 1:8-9 — In the Levitical priesthood, each individual priest had his lot or particular service to perform in God’s temple. Likewise, in today’s priesthood of the believers, each individual Christian has his or her lot or particular service to perform in Christ’s church.
As Zacharias’ particular service to God in the temple, the burning of incense on the golden altar, was allotted to him by Divine Providence (Proverbs 16:33), so also is your particular service to Christ in the church allotted to you by Divine Providence (1 Corinthians 12:18).
THE GOLDEN ALTAR OF INCENSE: LESSONS ON PRAYER
Luke 1:10 — When the priest offered up incense to God inside the temple, which symbolized the prayers of the people, the people offered up prayers to God outside the temple.
The golden altar of incense not only symbolized the prayers of the people, but also Jesus Christ as our High Priest, who is the one Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), our Advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1), and He who ever lives at the right hand of God to make intercession for the saints (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34).
THE GOLDEN ALTAR OF INCENSE: LESSONS ON PRAYER
Luke 1:11-12 — An angel appeared to Zacharias as he performed his priestly duty, by offering up incense on the golden altar and a prayer of personal intercession. Still, in spite of his priestly service and prayerful supplication, Zacharias was scared by his heavenly visitor.
It is certainly telling that terror is the common reaction of earthlings to Heavenly visitations. It tells us that humans, when awestruck by the appearance of an angel, are simultaneously struck with such a sense of their own sinfulness that they assume the angel’s appearance is foreboding rather than friendly.
THE GOLDEN ALTAR OF INCENSE: LESSONS ON PRAYER
Luke 1:13 — The angel told Zacharias not to be afraid, that his prayer was answered, that Elisabeth would bear him a son, and that he was to name his son “John,” which means, “Jehovah is gracious” or “the grace of God.”
We do not know whether the angel was referring to a prayer Zacharias was praying right then and there at the golden altar or to a prayer he had repeatedly prayed throughout the years. What we do know, however, is that Zacharias had prayed to God for a son and that God, in His own appointed time and in perfect accordance with His own will, had answered Zacharias’ prayer.
Luke 1:14 — The angel assures Zacharias that his son shall not only prove to be a joy to him, but to many others as well. If only all children proved to be a joy to their own parents and to other people as well.
Many children today make their godly parents sad rather than glad, by growing up to be anything but a godsend to others.
Luke 1:15 — Greatness in the sight of the Lord is determined by whether or not we are faithfully consecrated to the Lord and filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
As Samson’s parents were told, prior to Samson’s birth, that their son was to be a Nazarite all the days of his life, so also Zacharias was told, prior to the birth of John the Baptist, that his son was also to be a Nazarite all the days of his life. Of course, the Nazarite was one who had vowed extraordinary consecration to God in hopes of knowing uncommon communion with God. (Judges 13:1-13; Numbers 6:1-21)
Luke 1:16-17 — Zacharias is told that his son would be the fulfillment of the final prophecy of the Old Testament, in that he would be the “Elijah” Malachi predicted would come to ready and prepare the people of Israel for the coming of their promised Messiah. (Malachi 4:5-6)
Notice, John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ to come by preaching repentance, by turning men, brokenhearted over their sin, wholeheartedly to Christ. Make no mistake about it; Christ will never come into any heart that has not turned brokenheartedly from sin and wholeheartedly to Him!
Luke 1:18-20 — If we doubt or disbelieve God’s glad tidings, then, we will be struck dumb over our disbelief and unable to either share them with others or declare them to others.
In verse 19, the angel identifies himself to Zacharias as “Gabriel,” the great messenger angel of the Bible. Every time Gabriel appears by name in Scripture he is always doing the same thing, bringing a message from God in Heaven to men upon earth. (Daniel 8:15-16; 9:20-27; Luke 1:11-20, 26-38)
Luke 1:21-22 — Although Zacharias was expected to bestow the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 upon the people after emerging from the temple, he was unable to do so, due to his dumbness over his disbelief of God’s promise.
No man who doubts the promises of God can ever be a blessing to the people of God.
Luke 1:23-25 — To his credit, Zacharias did his part to bring God’s promise to pass, by going straight home to his wife, Elisabeth, who soon conceived and concealed herself for five months, until see was showing and God’s miracle could be clearly seen in her.
Like Zacharias and Elisabeth, you and I must participate with God in the fulfilling of His promises and make sure that their fulfillment can be plainly seen in us!
Luke 1:26 — In the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel, God’s celestial courier, was again dispatched, but this time not to a religious and celebrated place, the temple of God in Jerusalem, but to a remote and common place, Nazareth.
It has been said that the only remarkable thing about Nazareth was it was remarkably unremarkable. It is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament, in the Apocrypha, or in the writings of the famous Jewish historian Josephus. Still, our Lord is indelibly identified with the place, since He was called “Jesus of Nazareth,” and His disciples were called “Nazarenes.” (Mark 1:24; John 18:7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 24:5)
Luke 1:27 — Gabriel was sent with a message from Heaven to a young virgin in Nazareth named Mary, who was betrothed; that is, engaged, to a man named Joseph, who was, as Mary was herself and the promised Messiah was predicted to be, of the house of David.
There is, as this verse makes abundantly clear, no scriptural ambiguity about the virginity of Mary. To deny Mary’s virginity is to deny Christ’s deity and to reduce Him to illegitimacy.
Luke 1:28 — Gabriel informed Mary that she was both highly favored and blessed among all women, because the Lord was especially and extraordinarily with her, having chosen her as the vehicle within which Christ would be conceived and through which He would come into the world.
The Greek for “highly favored” means “graciously accepted” or “much graced.” It appears only one other time in the Bible, in Ephesians 1:6, where Paul teaches that Christians, who were chosen by God to be His adopted children before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5), are graciously accepted by God in His beloved Son. Whereas Mary was “graciously accepted” and “much graced,” because God chose to form Christ in her, Christians are “graciously accepted” and “much graced,” because God chose us to be found in Christ. Therefore, Roman Catholic’s heretical prayer, “Hail Mary, full of grace,” which is based upon this verse, is a gross misinterpretation of it, in that Mary is not the dispenser of God’s grace, to whom we pray for it, but a mere donee or recipient of God’s grace, chosen by God, as we are, to bring Christ to the world.
Luke 1:29 — Mary was disturbed and dumbfounded, not only at the sight of Gabriel, but also by what he had to say; after all, in her lowly estate, it was hard for her to perceive not only how God had highly honored and blessed her, but also how He was uncommonly with her.
Unfortunately, God’s favoring and blessing of us, as well as His presence with us, is often unperceived by us.
Luke 1:30 — Mary is told that there is nothing for her to fear under the favor she has found with God.
Although there is plenty to fear under the frown of God, there is nothing to fear under the favor of God.
Luke 1:31 — Mary is told that she will conceive and bring forth a Son who is to be named “Jesus,” which means “THE SALVATION OF JEHOVAH.”
Other than the name of Jesus, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). This is why we must believe on His name; that is, believe that the salvation of God is found in Jesus alone, if we are to be saved by God from our sin. (John 1:12; 3:18; 20:31; 1 John 3:23; 5:13).
Luke 1:32a — Although Mary is told that her Son shall be great, she could not have possibly imagined how great He would be.
MARY DID YOU KNOW?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you.
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby
You've kissed the face of God.
Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb.
Mary did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am!
Luke 1:32b — Mary is told that her Son shall be called “the Son of the Highest”; that is, “the Son of God.” He would be both fully man, as her Son, and fully God, as God’s Son—the one and only God-Man.
It is interesting that Jesus is not only called “the Son of the Highest” by Gabriel, but also by the demoniac of Gadara, which leads us to conclude that this is a common cognomen given to Christ by angels, both the unfallen heavenly host and the fallen hoards of Hell. (Mark 5:7)
Luke 1:32c-33 — Mary is told that her Son shall be given the throne of David and shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. What an auspicious angelic announcement of the coming illustrious offspring of so lowly a Jewish handmaiden.
Christ’s Kingdom is without bounds in both its dimensions and its duration. No river, mountain, nor sea shall bound it, for it reaches the whole world over; neither shall it ever end, for it is eternal and shall last forever.
Luke 1:34 — Mary’s initial consternation over Gabriel’s appearance turned into incongruity over Gabriel’s announcement; after all, how could she, a virgin, conceive and give birth to any child, let alone a Son who would be our exclusive Savior and eternal Sovereign.
Surely, Mary thought the angel had gotten the wrong address and wrong addressee. Yet, Heavenly couriers, unlike earthly postal employees, never deliver messages to wrong recipients. Lowly Nazareth was the right address and the Virgin Mary the right recipient. Heaven was looking for purity clad in humility, and being the epitome of both, Mary was the perfect receptacle for the divine seed.
Luke 1:35 — Though impossible with men, the miracle of the Incarnation, which was conceived of the Spirit in the womb of a virgin, was possible with God, with whom all things are possible.
The Incarnation is to me the most astonishing truth in all of Scripture. The Creator we read about at the beginning of the Old Testament is the baby that we read about at the beginning of the New Testament. At the heart of the Gospel is this astounding truth: God became a man in the man Christ Jesus. Although I readily admit the difficulty of getting one’s head around this incredible doctrine, I spurn the world’s reproach of Christians for embracing it. After all, what right does this world have to poke fun at my belief in the Incarnation—that God became a man—when it has bought into the cockamamie theory of evolution—that a monkey became a man. What we Christians believe is truly amazing, but what the world believes is certainly absurd.
Today, It is still possible with God for His Son to be miraculously formed in others (Galatians 4:19). Like Mary, we too may be receptacles of the divine Seed (1 John 3:9). Now, this is not to say that we too can be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and impregnated with the divine Seed so that Christ can be born into the world. It is to say, however, that through faith in Christ we can be born of the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit and empowered by the Spirit to take Christ to the world.
READ THE FLIP SIDE OF THE INCARNATION
Luke 1:36-37 — Mary is pointed to another miraculous pregnancy, the six-month pregnancy of her barren and past child bearing age cousin Elisabeth, as proof positive of her promised, upcoming, and miraculous impregnation with the divine seed and Son of God.
All of God’s miracles are provable and confirmable, none of them are presumptive or conjectural.
Luke 1:38 — Mary’s submission to the divine plan and her words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,” serve as an excellent example of the complete consecration required of all who wish to be instrumental to God in bringing His Son to the world.
Not only was Mary aware that her divine assignment could cost her Joseph, her betrothed, but it could also cost her her good reputation, as well as her life, since unfaithfulness during the betrothal period was punishable by stoning. Yet, she was willing to pay any price to bring Christ to a lost and dying world. What price are you willing to pay?
Jim Elliot, a missionary killed in his attempt to take the Gospel to the violent Aucas Indians of Ecuador, once wrote in his journal, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Luke 1:39-40 — Mary visited Elisabeth to see her previously barren cousin six-months pregnant, since her cousin’s miraculous pregnancy was the sign given to Mary by the angel Gabriel as confirmation of Mary’s faith and as proof of her own miraculous pregnancy.
Notice, the confirmation of Mary’s faith and of God’s promised miracle was given after Mary believed, not before. Unlike Missouri, where folks have to see it to believe it, in the Kingdom of God, we have to believe it to see it.
Luke 1:41a — This verse is Scriptural proof of the personhood of unborn children, dispelling the preposterous myth of pre-birth fetuses magically becoming post-birth babies by transformatively passing through their mother’s birth canal.
Instead of leaping in his mother’s womb at six months, John the Baptist could be aborted and thrown into an abortion clinic dumpster in today’s America.
Abortion is not the termination of a potential life, but the termination of a life with potential!
Luke 1:41b-44 — Elisabeth, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, was Mary’s elder and the wife of a priest, but she was humbled by the visit of Mary, the young and lowly handmaiden, for all the Spirit-filled have low thoughts of their merits and high thoughts of God’s mercies.
The Lord fills us with His Spirit so that we, like Elisabeth, will loudly speak out for Him. Notice, all the Spirit had shown to Elisabeth—that Mary was blessed among women as the chosen mother of our Lord, that the fruit of Mary’s womb was the blessed Son of God, and that Elisabeth’s own baby, who leaped in her womb, would someday leap into action in the wilderness, as the promised forerunner of Christ—was shared by Elisabeth with Mary.
Luke 1:45 — Only those like Mary, who believe what God has told them, will see God’s promises proven and performed in their lives. Truly, believing souls are blessed souls, for Christ is formed in them and the promises of God are fulfilled for them!
The only way to know if the Bible is bona fide is to believe it. As Jesus Himself taught in John 7:17, the only way to prove His Word is true is to truly practice it.
Luke 1:46 — Like Mary, Christians should also magnify the Lord for having divinely chosen us as choice vessels through whom Christ can be brought to the world.
Those within whom Christ is both found and formed have but one purpose in life, to magnify the Lord.
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:47 — Those within whom Christ is both found and formed should rejoice in God their Savior.
Far from claiming her own immaculate conception, Mary celebrated her Son’s incredible conception, knowing that she, as much as any other sinner, needed the Savior she had miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit.
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:48 — The lowly and belittled are lifted up and blessed by God through the indwelling Christ, who makes them rememberable rather than forgettable.
It is truly tragic that Mary’s divinely-given celebrity has been turned into heresy by Catholicism’s elevation of her to divinity.
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:49 — Mary magnifies God, who is mighty and whose name is holy, for doing great things for her, in spite of her being meritless and a nobody.
The God-given honor that accompanies God doing great things for us should always result in us magnifying God’s holy name, never in us haughtily trying to make a name for ourselves.
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:50 — From generation to generation, God is always mercifully to those who fear Him.
Those who feel no need to fear God, will never find the mercy of God.
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:51-53 — Mary knew that God would strong-arm the arm of the flesh through the child she carried, for He would not only scatter the proud, topple kings from thrones, and empty the tightfisted hands of the greedy, but also exalt the humble and fill the hungry soul.
As Jesus taught Himself, His kingdom is an upside down kingdom, for the greatest within it are not the sovereigns, but the servants, not the monarchs, but the ministers, not the first, but the last, and not the high-and-mighty, but the humble. (Matthew 20:25-28; 23:11-12)
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:54-55 — Mary knew that her child was coming in remembrance of God’s mercy toward Israel and in performance of God’s promise to Israel.
Truly, there has never been a greater mercy shown to the world or a greater promise fulfilled in the world and for the world than the coming of Jesus Christ into the world!
READ THE MAGNIFICAT
Luke 1:56 — Mary remained with Elisabeth three months, until she knew that her cousin was about to give birth and that she herself was with child. This prolonged visit not only confirmed Mary’s faith, but also provided these two cousins with a time of most precious communion.
It is our communion over our common experiences in Christ, which confirms our faith in Christ to one another, that makes Christian fellowship critical to each and every Christian. (Hebrews 10:25)
Luke 1:57-58 — God’s promise to Zacharias was perfectly fulfilled, the previously barren Elisabeth gave birth to a boy, and, just as the angel Gabriel had said, there was great rejoicing at his birth. (Luke 1:13-14)
There are no ifs, ands, or buts in the promises of God. If God has said it, He’ll see to it, and we can be sure of it and stand on it.
Luke 1:59-64 — Whereas doubt had left him dumb, faith and obedience opened Zacharias’ mouth and loosened his tongue so that he could once again praise God. It is only those who truly believe God who can truly praise God. (Luke 1:18-20)
Notice, it was saying what God said; namely, that his son’s name was John, that enabled Zacharias to speak. Likewise, it is only when we say what God says, through the Holy Scriptures or the Holy Spirit, that we are enabled to speak for God. (Peter 4:11)
Luke 1:65-66a — Not only did the news of the curious circumstances surrounding the birth of John the Baptist swiftly spread, but all who heard it pondered in their hearts what this unusually born babe would ultimately prove to be.
What a tragedy it is that in this day of abortion on demand there is no curiosity in our calloused hearts about what aborted unborn babies may have proved to be. How many great statesmen, who may have solved international problems, great scientists, who may have cured incurable diseases, or great philanthropists, who may have provided for the unmet needs of the impoverished, have we apathetically aborted.
A professor in a college ethics class presented the following scenario to his students. “A man has syphilis and his wife tuberculosis. They have had four children: one has died, the other three have terminal illnesses. The mother is pregnant. What do you recommend?" After much spirited discussion, the majority of the class voted that the woman should abort her baby. “Congratulations,” the professor said, “You've just killed Beethoven!"
Luke 1:66b — The invisible hand of God was with the Baptist, just as it is with every baby, not only in his birth, but also in his upbringing. From the womb to the tomb, we are all in God’s hands, whether we realize it or not.
All our lives are lived within the diameters and parameters of Divine Providence. In other words, the invisible hand of God not only forms us in the womb and fashions us at birth and beyond, but does so for the purpose of effectually wielding each of us individually in the fulfillment of God’s eternal plans and purposes in this world.
Luke 1:67 — To prophecy for the Lord you must be filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
Although it would be the voice of his son crying out in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand,” that would officially break the 400 years of prophetic silence between the Testaments, as the Prophet Malachi had predicted (Malachi 4:5-6), here, Zacharias, at least in some sense of the word, initially breaks the prophetic silence himself.
Luke 1:68 — Zacharias blessed God, because he knew that God, in Christ, was about to visit and redeem His people; that is, to buy back for Himself forever all who would put their faith in His Son as their Redeemer.
Zacharias’ song of praise to God in verses 68-79 is called the “Benedictus,” which is taken from its first word—“Blessed”—in the Latin Vulgate.
Luke 1:69-71 — As the horn of an animal was the sign of its strength, giving it victory over its enemies, Zacharias saw Christ, the predicted and promised Horn of the House of David, as the sign of God’s salvation, giving God’s people victory over all of their enemies.
Notice, although there were many holy prophets, they all spoke in harmony with one mouth, concerning God’s coming salvation of the world through Christ, God’s promised Son and our only Savior.
Luke 1:72-75 — In the coming of Christ, Zacharias saw God’s promised mercy performed, His covenant remembered, His oath kept, and His people not only delivered from their enemies, but also freely, not fearfully, serving God all the days of their lives.
In Christ, the Christian is saved to serve. We are not just right with God, but also able to live righteously for God; and to do so, not because we have to, out of our fear of God, but because we want to, out of our love for God.
Luke 1:76-79 — Zacharias now turns the focus of his prophecy from Jesus, God’s Son, to John, his own son, who he not only predicts to be “the prophet of the Highest,” but also foretells to be the forerunner of Christ.
According to Zacharias, his son would prepare the way for the Lord to come by going before Him and preaching repentance for the remission of sins, so that the repentant would be ready for the coming salvation, since they would have already learned something about it, begun to come out of the shadow of darkness into the dawning light, and taken the necessary initial step on the way to peace with God.
Luke 1:80 — John the Baptist not only grew up physically, but also spiritually, becoming spiritually strong in the solitude of the wilderness, until the day God told him to show himself to Israel.
As the Prophet Malachi predicted and our Lord Himself pointed out, John the Baptist was the foretold Elijah who was to come as the forerunner of the promised Messiah. As Elijah was hidden by God, at the brook Cherith and in the home of the widow of Zarephath, until God told him to show himself, so that he could call the people back to God by calling down the fire on Mount Carmel, so also was John the Baptist hidden by God, in the solitude of the wilderness, until God told him to show himself, so that he could call the people back to God by not only calling them to repentance, but also to be baptized by Christ with the fire of the Holy Spirit. (1 Kings 17:1-18:39; Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 3:11; 11:14; 17:10-13)
Luke 2:1 — God used the ruler of the civilized world, Caesar Augustus, to bring about the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, proving that our world is not in the hands of its rulers, but that our world’s rulers are all in the hands of God! (Proverbs 21:1)
“I have lived a long time, sir, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that Gods governs in the affairs of men.” (Benjamin Franklin)
READ THE HUMAN PAWNS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Luke 2:2 — Like Caesar Augustus and Cyrenius, the governor of ancient Syria, all human emperors and governors are mere pawns in the hands of Divine Providence, used by God to bring to pass His divine plans and purposes. (Exodus 9:16: Isaiah 44:28)
The Psalmist speaks of men’s pomp as mere pretense, calling “men of high degree” nothing more than “a lie” (Psalm 62:9). The power they seemingly possess is illusionary, since they are propped up but for a short time by the hand of Divine Providence to serve the purposes of God’s preordained and unalterable plans and purposes. Once they’ve served their purpose, God blows on them and they wither up and disappear like stubble. (Isaiah 40:23-24)
READ THE HUMAN PAWNS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Luke 2:3 — Although the Bible teaches that heavy taxation can destroy a nation (Proverbs 29:4 ESV), in this incident, it was used by God to fulfill the prophecy of the ancient Prophet Micah, who predicted that the coming Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)
It truly speaks volumes to us of Divine Providence that even something as mundane as taxes can be employed by God to execute His preordained and Biblically predicted plans and purposes.
READ THE HUMAN PAWNS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Luke 2:4-5 — It was neither accident nor coincidence, but Divine Providence, that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, who was not only of the house and linage of David, but also forced to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be taxed at the exact time Mary was due to give birth to Christ.
Bethlehem was a small country town of about 300 people. It was located six miles from Jerusalem. It was the birthplace of King David and the home of Ruth and Boaz. Its only other claim to fame was an ancient prophecy made by the ancient Prophet Micah, who predicted that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2)
Bethlehem is not the beginning of the greatest story ever told, for as Micah prophesied, the “goings forth” of Him who would “come forth” from there “have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, was already alive before Abraham was born (John 8:57-58). In fact, Jesus was already alive in the beginning (John 1:1), as well as before the world began (John 17:5) and before the beginning of all things (Colossians 1:17). He is eternal; that is, He always has been and always will be. Therefore, as Micah predicted, the babe born in Bethlehem actually came forth from both antiquity and eternity.
READ THE HUMAN PAWNS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Luke 2:6-7 — How shocking; the promised Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, was born in a stable, wrapped in strips of cloth, and laid to sleep in a feeding trough, because there was no room for Him in the inn, which was too crowded with other things and other people.
Nothing much has changed from that eventful night long ago, for the world today still has no room for its Redeemer. Most places, as well as the hearts and lives of most people, are still too crowded to make room for Christ.
Christ could have been born in the best room in Bethlehem, but He was’t, because He isn’t pushy. He only goes where He is invited and stays where He is welcome. He only enters through doors that are opened to Him. (Revelation 3:20)
Upon completing his famous painting of Christ knocking on the door, Holman Hunt invited a friend over for his opinion. The friend immediately pointed out what he perceived as a glaring mistake. Hunt had failed to paint a latch or handle on the door. There was no way for Christ to open it. The artist explained, however, that the door was to the human heart and could only be opened from the inside. Christ never opens the door, we have to! Have you opened the door of your heart to Christ?
Luke 2:8-9 — It is only fitting that the birth of the Good Shepherd was announced to shepherds; after all, Israel’s Patriarchs were shepherds, Moses was a shepherd, king David was a shepherd, and the Prophet Amos was a shepherd.
Good tidings were brought to Moses concerning God’s deliverance of His people from slavery while Moses was keeping sheep. How appropriate, then, that “good tidings” of a far greater deliverance, God’s deliverance of His people from sin, were brought to “shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”
Luke 2:10a — The angels were not sent to the shepherds with good advice, but with “good tidings” or good news. They were not sent to tell the shepherds what they ought to do, but sent to announce to the shepherds what God had done for them.
We hear a great deal of good advice from modern-day pulpits. We hear a lot about what we ought to do and how we ought to live. Unfortunately, many modern-day pulpits are all but silent when it comes to “good tidings” or good news. Few are proclaiming what God has done for us in Christ.
Luke 2:10b — The good news that the angels brought to the shepherds was for “all people.”
The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all people everywhere. It is for red and yellow, black and white. It is for the famous and obscure. It is for the learned and uneducated. It is for the millionaire and the pauper. It is for those in the White House and for those in your house. It is truly for everyone, regardless of the paucity or plentifulness of their possessions, prominence and power.
Luke 2:11 — Notice, the angel said, “For unto YOU is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." What really makes the Gospel such good news is not just that Jesus came for everybody, but that He also came just for you.”
If you had been the only person upon the earth, Christ would have still come just for you! No wonder Philip Bliss was so enraptured by this thought that he penned these beloved and exhilarating lyrics, which enthralled Christians have now exuberantly sung over Christ’s love for them for more than a century.
I am so glad that my Father in heaven
Tells of His love in the Book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see—
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me;
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves even me.
Luke 2:12– Undoubtedly, the shepherds expected to find the babe in the best house in town, dressed in the best robe, and with an ample train of attendants, but they were told that they would find Him in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
We are so busy looking for God in the spectacular and extraordinary that we often miss Him in the common and ordinary. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Luke 2:13-14 — The heavenly host’s announcement of Christ’s birth to the shepherds—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”— is more accurately translated—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rest” (NIV).
Contrary to popular opinion, Christ did not come the first time to bring peace on earth, but to bring peace with God and the peace of God to all recipients of God's grace, by which God is greatly glorified. Christ is coming a second time, however, to bring peace on earth. (Romans 5:1; Philippians 4:7; Ephesians 2:1-10; Matthew 10:34-36; Isaiah 2:4)
READ THE PRINCE OF PEACE
Luke 2:15-18 — The shepherds, upon hearing the Good News, went to see Christ for themselves. Afterward, they went out and shared Christ with others, who were amazed at the shepherd’s testimony for Christ.
All who hear the Good News must come to see Christ for themselves. Afterward, they should share Christ with others, so that their testimony for Christ might result in others coming to Christ as well.
Luke 2:19 — Whereas others wondered over what was heralded to them, Mary pondered in her heart what had happened to her, for the heart is the only safe depository for our experiential knowledge of Christ.
All saints should store up their experiential knowledge of Christ in their hearts for safekeeping, so that they may daily draw upon it for their spiritual edification, exhortation, and enrichment.
Luke 2:20 — The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God, as everyone does who comes to Christ to check out for themselves all that God has told them.
If coming to the crib of Christ had the shepherds glorifying and praising God, how much more should we, who have come to the cross and empty tomb of Christ, be glorifying and praising God?
Luke 2:21-24 — Here we have our Lord’s initial suffering for our sin—His circumcision—and His initial identification with us as sinners—His purification.
As other translations, such as the Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version, make clear, the original Greek text translated, “her purification,” in verse 22 of the King James Version, should be correctly translated, “their purification.”
Although Jesus was born sinless to live a sinless life, so that He could suffer and pay the penalty for our sins, securing for us our pardon by His suffering, He also had to identify with us, initially in His purification, later at His baptism, and finally on the cross, where He became what we are—the sin of mankind—so that we can identify with Him and become what He is—the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Luke 2:25a — Simeon “was just” toward men and “devout” toward God. He knew, as few seem to understand today, that a right relationship with God demands right treatment of our fellowman.
A sure sign that you and God are alright is that you always treat others right, for there is no way for you to be cruel or even unfair to others and be close to God or in fellowship with God.
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:25b — Simeon was an anointed anticipator of the promised Anointed One; that is, he was anointed by God’s Spirit and anticipating the coming of God’s promised salvation.
Like Simeon, all saints should live their lives under the Spirit’s anointing and in anticipation of the coming Savior, so that we too will be found watching and praying at Christ’s Second Coming, just as Simeon was at Christ’s first coming. (Mark 13:32-33)
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:26 — Simeon was promised that he would “not see death” until he “had seen the Lord’s Christ.”
No one is prepared for death until they have personally seen for themselves through the eyes of their faith the Lord Jesus Christ.
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:27a — Simeon “came by the Spirit into the temple,” which is the only way the people of God should ever come into the house of God.
Simeon also came into the house of God to see the Son of God, which is the only reason the people of God should ever come into the house of God.
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:27b — Even in His infancy, our Lord was fulfilling the law, which He came into the world to do. (Matthew 5:17-18)
Is it not an irony of all ironies that the God of the house of God, to whom God’s House was dedicated, was presented at the House of God for His own dedication?
Luke 2:28a — Seeing the Child, Simeon instantly scooped Him up into his arms, knowing that his lifetime desire, to hold the baby and to wholeheartedly embrace God’s promised Son as his personal Savior, had, at long last, been realized.
Like Simeon and the Apostle Paul, we too should empty our arms of all other things, counting the loss of it all as refuse, so that we might gain Christ and fully embrace Him as our all in all. (Philippians 3:7-8)
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:28b-30 — With Christ in his arms and his heart in his throat, Simeon “blessed God,” declaring to one and all: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”
Only those like Simeon, who have seen the salvation of the Lord, can “depart” from this life “in peace.” Furthermore, it is only those like Simeon, who live to embrace Christ all their lives long, who truly know what life is all about. (John 14:6; Colossians 3:4; 1 John 5:11-12)
READ SIMEON
Luke 2:31-32 — That Jesus had come for the salvation of all people, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles, was announced by Simeon to Joseph and Mary in the temple, just as it had been by the angels to the shepherds in the field.
In Isaiah 49, God promises that His promised Son would come not just for "the tribes of Jacob" or the "preserved of Israel," but as "a light to the Gentiles," in order to bring "salvation unto the ends of the earth." According to Isaiah, for God to send His Son into the world to "raise" a single race of people would be too "light [a] thing." Therefore, God would, as the angels declared He had to the shepherds and Simeon declared He had to Joseph and Mary, send His Son into the world for all people in all places.
READ CHRIST IS THE COVENANT
Luke 2:33 — It was not in unbelief of all Simeon said of Mary’s baby that Mary and Joseph marveled, but in certain belief of it all, for no one marvels over what they doubt to be true.
Only a true believer marvels over the mystifying and marvelous Christ, for to the unbeliever Christ is but a mere made-up myth.
Luke 2:34 — The coming of Christ not only resulted in the rise of some and fall of many in Israel, who for the most part rejected their own promised Messiah, but also in the condemnation or salvation of all men, depending upon whether they receive Christ or reject Him.
The coming of Christ was also the sure sign that God’s promised salvation had come. However, to all who spurn God’s salvation, Christ is spoken against, as either not the only way to salvation or as no Savior at all.
Luke 2:35 — Simeon, this old seer of God, saw into the future, seeing Mary standing at the foot of the cross of Calvary, where the sight of her crucified Son would pierce her soul like a sword.
Nothing ever revealed the degenerate hearts of depraved humanity more than the sight of the bloody, bruised, and brutalized figure of Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary.
Luke 2:36-37a — Anna was a prophetess, who was probably a centenarian, since she had been a widow for eighty four years, after seven years of marriage. She also appears to have lived in a chamber at the temple, like the Old Testament prophetess Huldah. (2 Chronicles 34:22)
The frail, fragile, and bent over figure of Anna was a fixture at the house of God, but one little fixated on by all who frequented it. Tragically, the house of God today is still greatly and spiritually impoverished over its overlooking of its elderly saints.
Luke 2:37b — Anna, who had devoted herself to fasting and prayer, never departed from the house of God, but remained there day and night to pray in God’s presence.
What a sad testimony it is that there is little fasting and prayer in the contemporary church, where prayer meetings are fast becoming a thing of the past, since they are so poorly attended and appreciated.
I suspect that the greatest question we will ask ourselves in Heaven is why we prayed so little on earth.
Luke 2:38a — Anna, coming into the temple just in time to witness Simeon holding the answer to her prayers in his arms, instantly broke out in thanksgiving to God.
While we should be grateful to take Christ into our own arms, as the answer to all of our prayers, we should also be grateful to witness others taking Christ into their arms, as the answer to all of their prayers.
Luke 2:38b — Anna was, as we all should be, willing and ready to speak about Christ to all people looking for redemption.
While we’re not to cast the Pearl of Great Price to swine, we are to offer it to all sons of peace, who are in search of it. (Matthew 7:6; 13:45; Luke 10:5-12)
Luke 2:39 — Again, as in verse 27, Scripture shows us that even in His infancy, our Lord was fulfilling the law, which He came into the world to do. (Matthew 5:17-18)
We, like Joseph and Mary, should perform “all things according to the law of the Lord,” for no part of God’s law is optional, but all is obligatory.
Luke 2:40 — This is all we know about the childhood of Christ from the time of His infancy until He was twelve years old. Still, we can rest assured that Scripture, though it may not satisfy our curiosity, by telling us all we want to know, always tells us all we need to know
Though many heretical works were written, telling fanciful stories of Christ’s childhood, such as the Gnostic Gospels, we must steer clear of these specious scripts, heeding instead these cautionary words of John Trapp, “Where the Scripture hath no tongue, we must have no ears.”
Luke 2:41– Christ was raised, as all children should be, in a home that honored God and heeded God’s Word, as is shown by Joseph and Mary’s annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to observe the Passover in compliance with God’s command.
Three times a year God commanded the Israelites to travel to Jerusalem to observe the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. (Exodus 23:17; Deuteronomy 16:16)
Luke 2:42 — Jesus was with Mary and Joseph, just as He will be with us, when we are honoring God and heeding His Word.
We do not serve a dead Savior, but a risen Lord. Whereas the tombs of Mohammed, Confucius, and Buddha are occupied, the tomb of Jesus is empty. Consequently, He is still walking and talking with people in the world today.
Luke 2:43 — Many leave a tarrying Jesus to rush elsewhere without even knowing it, because they prefer to be someplace else rather than in His presence.
Many a professed Christian soon leaves Christ after their Christian profession, not only proving their profession to be synthetic rather than authentic, but also their old nature to be still intact rather than supernaturally transformed. (2 Peter 2:22)
Luke 2:44 — Mary and Joseph, thanks to their mistaken assumption that Christ was with them, went a day and some considerable distance totally unaware that they were unaccompanied by Christ.
While one may understand how this could have happened to Mary and Joseph in a throng of travelers traveling together, which included many kinsfolk and acquaintances, it is both inexplicable and inexcusable how it could happen to so many modern-day Christians, who, under the mistaken assumption that Christ is with them, go for days and great distances in wrong directions totally unaware that they too are unaccompanied by Christ.
Luke 2:45 — If Christ is lost to us, we must turn back to look for Him where we left Him; otherwise, we’ll never find Him.
If we are a sinner, we must turn back to the cross, where we have left Christ by never kneeling to confess Him as our Savior. If we are a saint, we must turn back to where we left Christ by committing sin against Him and refusing to confess our sin to Him.
Luke 2:46-48 — We, like Joseph and Mary, should look for Christ in God’s House, where He may be found elaborately and eloquently expounding upon God’s Word, much to our astonishment and amazement.
This Scriptural scene of the twelve-year-old Christ asking questions to the doctors of the law and astonishing them and others, as well as amazing Joseph and Mary, with His extraordinary understanding at so young an age has been compared to a middle-schooler holding his own in a discussion on physics with a group of rocket scientists.
Luke 2:49 — Christ assures His parents that He had not been lost at all, but had been right at home in His Father's house and attending all along to His Father's business.
We Christians, like Christ, should always be about the business of our Heavenly Father. As Oswald Chambers wrote in his Christian classic, My Utmost for His Highest, “We have to be about our Father’s business, whether it is in the home, in the shop, or in the wider sphere of the world.”
Luke 2:50 — Since Jewish boys were expected to take up the trade of their fathers at age twelve, Jesus’ claim to be about His Father’s business in the temple rather than in Joseph’s carpentry shop may have been the cause of Mary and Joseph’s consternation. (Matthew 13:55)
Being a good and understanding parent is, in my opinion, as difficult a job as there is in all the world, but how much more difficult was it for Joseph and Mary, who knew the child they were parenting was God’s promised Christ, as well as their own Redeemer?
Luke 2:51 — By going down with them and submitting to them, Christ obeyed the Fifth Commandment; so once again, see verses 27 and 39, we see Christ, even in His infancy and childhood, perfectly fulfilling the law, which He came into the world to do. (Matthew 5:17-18)
The Greek for “kept all these sayings in her heart” can be translated “treasured up all these things in her heart,” as it is in the English Standard Version. Truly, great treasures are stored up in the hearts of mothers and no mother’s heart was ever a greater treasure trove than Mary’s.
Luke 2:52 — Every Christian should pray for their children to have Christlike childhoods; that is, to increase in wisdom and stature, as well as in favor with God and man.
Though our Lord, in His incarnation, passed through the stages of natural and spiritual development, like any other mortal child, He, unlike all other mortal children, was a perfect child at each stage of His development.
Luke 3:1-2 — After more than 400 years of prophetic silence between the Testaments, the Word of God came to John in the wilderness.
That the Word of God did not come to Tiberius Caesar in Rome, the ruler of the whole civilized world; to the powerful Roman procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate; to territorial tetrarchs such as Herod in Galilee, his brother Philip in Iturea, or Lysanias in Abilene; nor to the religious leaders of Israel, the high priests Annas and Caiaphas in Jerusalem, but to John, a man living in the wilderness clothed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6), proves that God’s Word can come personally to us as well, anywhere at anytime, regardless of our obscurity and lack of nobility or notoriety.
Luke 3:3 — John came preaching the message of repentance, which is not remorse, regret, reform, or religion, but the turning from sin with a broken heart and the turning to the Savior with all of your heart.
The message has never changed. It was repentance that was preached by the Old Testament prophets, by John the Baptist, by Jesus Himself (Matthew 4:17), by His apostles, and by the New Testament church. Furthermore, it is still the same message of repentance that Christ has commissioned His church to preach today to all nations in all the world (Luke 24:47).
Luke 3:4-6 — As the predicted forerunner of Christ (Isaiah 40:3-5), John prepared the way for Jesus to come by preaching repentance, because Christ only comes where there is repentance. For instance, Christ only comes to reside in a repentant heart, never in an unrepentant one.
In ancient times, kings had forerunners, who were assigned three tremendous tasks. First, they were to prepare a way for the king to travel to a desired destination. Remember, roads and even paths were often scarce. Second, the forerunner was to announce the king’s coming to everyone along the way. Third, and finally, the forerunner was to prepare an appropriate welcome for the king at his desired destination. As the forerunner of the King of Kings, John the Baptist not only announced Christ’s coming, but also prepared the way for Him to come, as well as an appropriate welcome for His coming, by preaching repentance. Make no mistake about it; repentance is what raises the valleys, lowers the mountains, makes crooked paths straight, and rough paths smooth, so that the Savior can come and bring to us the salvation of God.
Luke 3:7 — Unlike the humble, who came in repentance of sin, the haughty, who came in their self-righteousness, bragging about being the children of Abraham (v. 8), were not baptized by John, but berated by him, as a brood of vipers oblivious to God’s coming wrath.
Although unbeknownst to them, the self-righteous are just as much the seed of the serpent as the unrighteous, for they too turn their noses up at God’s offer of saving grace, trample under their feet the shed blood of God’s Son, as an unholy and unnecessary thing, and are therefore facing fearful judgment and fiery indignation before a furious God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)
Luke 3:8 — Salvation is neither inherited from religious parentage nor acquired by the practice of religion. Instead, it requires real repentance, which is always proven by its fruits or proofs in one’s life. All fruitless repentance is proven to be false repentance.
The Jews had a false security, believing they had no need to repent of their sin, since they were the children of Abraham. Likewise, many today have a false security, believing they have no need to repent of their sin, since they are a good person or a churchgoer. However, everyone must repent of their sin to be saved from their sin by Christ, regardless of whether they attend church or are a child of Abraham.
Luke 3:9 — The coming of Christ laid the axe to the root of every tree, so that every fruitless tree—unrepentant sinner—will be inevitably cut down and cast into the fire.
The coming of Jesus Christ divided the whole world into saints and “ain’ts”! In other words, it forced upon us all the question posed by Pontius Pilate, “What shall I do with Jesus?” (Matthew 27:22). This inescapable and most important question of life must be answered by each and everyone of us. Furthermore, our answer will determine what is to eternally become of us; that is, whether or not we are to be cut down and cast into the fire.
Luke 3:10-14 — Knowing that professed repentance is proven by practical reformation, the people, even corrupt tax collectors and combat troops, asked what they could individually do to prove that their personal repentance was for real.
Unlike the church today, John didn’t just dunk them and drop them, but discipled them, by teaching people how to practice the repentance he preached. After all, a repentance unpracticed is a repentance unproven.
Luke 3:15-16 — Although many mused in their minds and mistook John for Christ, John made it plain to the people that he, who merely baptized with water, was not even worthy to unstrap the sandals of Christ, who would miraculously and mightily baptize them with the Holy Spirit!
It is bad for congregants to confuse clergymen for Christ, but what is far worse is for clergymen to do nothing to clear up the confusion.
A picture of Christ on the cross hung on the wall directly behind the pulpit of a small church chapel. One Sunday morning, when the pastor rose to speak in the pulpit, a small boy asked his father, “Who is this man who keeps us from seeing Jesus.”
Luke 3:16-17 — You are either wheat that Christ has baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit, as a guarantee that you will be gathered into His heavenly garner, or chaff to be baptized by Christ in the fire of judgment and burned up in the unquenchable fire of Hell.
John, who willingly and readily fessed up to being unfit to untie the straps of Christ’s sandals, warned that Christ was coming with His winnowing fork or fan in His hand, in order to toss up the whole world and purge His threshing floor, by winnowing out the chaff—the unrepentant—from the wheat—the repentant.
Luke 3:18 — Although there is not much to most preaching today, there was much to the preaching of John the Baptist.
It is safe to say that John, like the Apostle Paul, not only preached the whole counsel of God, but also, as Paul charged Timothy, made full proof of his ministry. (Acts 20:27; 2 Timothy 4:5)
Luke 3:19-20 — John’s reproof of sinners was no less severe to potentates than to peons, and of all the evils Herod did, above them all was his imprisoning of John over John’s reproving of him for his sins, especially his sin of adultery with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
The true prophet speaks truth to power, regardless of the very real possibility of personal peril from the powers that be, who are always more prone to rid themselves of the messenger than to receive the message.
Luke 3:21-22a — When the Son was baptized and prayed, the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and the Father declared Him to be His beloved Son.
It is no coincidence that Christ commissioned His church to baptize all believers in Him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for the believer’s baptism, just like Christ’s baptism, is a Trinitarian affair. (Matthew 28:19)
Luke 3:22b — Since it is only Christ with whom God has ever been "well pleased," our only hope of ever being pleasing or acceptable to God is in God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:6)
Imperfect sinners don’t have to try to earn God’s acceptance, but to simply trust that they can and will be accepted by God in His sinless and perfect Son, with whom God is always perfectly pleased!
Luke 3:23a — It was after being anointed by the Holy Spirit at the Jordan that Jesus “began to be” all He had come into the world to be. Likewise, it is only after being anointed by the Holy Spirit that you and I can begin to be what we are in this world to be.
The word Jordan in Hebrew means “the Descender,” making the Jordan River a scriptural symbol of the Spirit’s anointing; that is, of His descending upon us in power, as He did upon Jesus at His baptism. God’s man is always proven at the Jordan. For instance, Joshua was proven at the Jordan to be Moses’ successor (Joshua 3:7-8, 14-17; 4:14), Elisha was proven at the Jordan to be Elijah’s successor (2 Kings 2:6-15), and Jesus was proven at the Jordan to be God’s beloved Son. Make no mistake about it; only the anointing of the Holy Spirit, His descending upon us in power, proves us to be the people of God!
Luke 3:23-38 — Although we are tempted to skip over Scripture’s genealogies, we should never do so, because everything in the Bible is important. If it wasn’t important it wouldn’t be in the Bible. Therefore, we can ill afford to skip over anything the Scripture has to say.
A Sunday School teacher once asked a class of small children what was their favorite part of the Bible. A little girl quickly answered, “The begats!” The two genealogies of Jesus Christ, found in Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38, are of tremendous importance. In fact, if you will take the time to seriously study them, they just may become your favorite part of the Bible.
READ THE BEGATS: THE GENEALOGIES OF JESUS CHRIST
Luke 4:1a —After being anointed by the Holy Spirit at the Jordan, Jesus returned from the Jordan filled with the Holy Spirit, living not only in the power of the Spirit, but also under the control of the Spirit.
Although He was God, Jesus didn’t live His life upon this earth as God, but as a man; otherwise, He could not have been our perfect example nor lit and illuminated the way for all men to live. (1 Peter 2:21; John 1:9)
READ HOW TO BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Luke 4:1b-2a — Jesus, in order to be our High Priest, who sympathizes with us in all of our temptations, had to be led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in every way the devil tempts us. (Hebrews 4:15)
Have you ever thought that no one knows or understands what you’re going through? Well, Jesus does, because He has been through everything you’re going through and so much more. Yet, He did it without falling to temptation and sinning, so that He could not only save you from your sin, but also intercede for you when you sin (Hebrews 7:24-25).
Luke 4:2b — The temptations of Christ recorded by Luke, as well as by Matthew, are not all the temptations Christ faced during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness, but three that occurred “afterward.”
The number forty is significant in Scripture. Its significance is found not only in the frequency of its occurrence, but also in its association with periods of testing or temptation in the wilderness; such as, Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years and the devil’s temptation of Christ in the wilderness for forty days and nights.
READ THE BIBLE BY THE NUMBERS
Luke 4:3-4 — The devil tempted the famished Christ to try to save Himself, by turning stones into bread, but Christ trusted His Father to save Him, because of everything His Father had ever said and promised.
We should learn, as Israel did in the wilderness, by living daily off of God’s promised manna for forty years, that there are no “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” in the promises of God. Therefore, we should live our lives in the wilderness of this fallen world in total reliance upon God and everything His Word says, not in self-reliance and trying to work everything out for ourselves. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
READ THE BIBLE BY THE NUMBERS
Luke 4:5-8 — The devil tempted Christ to worship and serve him rather than God, who alone should be worshipped and served, by offering Christ the things of this world. Sadly, unlike our Savior, who found such a temptation repugnant, many a sinner has found it irresistible.
Interestingly, Jesus did not dispute the devil’s seemingly outlandish claim to be able to give to Him all the kingdoms and glory of this fallen world, for as the devil claims in verse 6, it had all been “delivered” or “betrayed” into his hands. When man fell in the Garden of Eden and committed high treason against God, he betrayed this world, over which God had given him dominion, into the hands of his tempter. Although the devil may have acquired his dominion over this fallen world through treachery, he acquired it nonetheless. This explains why Jesus called the devil “the prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30), why the Apostle Paul called the devil “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and why the Apostle John wrote that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).
READ PLEADING THE BLOOD
READ THE DEVIL: SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION
Luke 4:9-12 — The devil tempted Christ to act on presumption, the devil’s twisting of the Scripture, rather than on faith, the truth of the Scripture, which the Holy Spirit confirms to us by speaking to our hearts. Notice, Jesus responded, "It is said," not "It is written."
While God welcomes us to test Him, He warns us not to tempt Him (Malachi 3:10; Deuteronomy 6:16). In other words, God calls us to obediently step out on the truth and promises of His Word, but cautions us to never ostentatiously nor obstinately step out on our own thinking or presumptions.
Luke 4:13 — Christ triumphed over the tempter with the Word of God. He not only held off the tempter with the tip of the Sword of the Spirit, but He eventually drove the devil away with His repeated refrain, “It is written.” (Ephesians 6:17)
In Paul’s description of the Christian’s armor in Ephesians 6:13-17, there is only one offensive weapon, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” If you are not armed with the two-edged sword of God’s Word, as Jesus was, you are easily assailable by your adversary, who “walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 5:8)
Luke 4:27 — Naaman's cleansing from leprosy, like the sinner's cleansing from sin, could not be bought, but only obtained by complying with God’s offensive and most improbable prescription. For Naaman, it was 7 ducks in a muddy river, for the sinner, it's a cross. (Galatians 5:11)
God cures and cleanses those who will receive His Word, like Naaman the Syrian, but not those who reject His Word, like Israel in the time of Elisha.
Luke 4:28-30 — You can't do away with Christ, but must do something with Him. And what you do with him now will determine what He will do with you later.
Luke 4:28-30 — The indestructible Christ cannot be thrown off a cliff, He'll just walk through the crowd. He cannot be drowned, He'll just walk on the water. And he cannot be burned, He'll just walk around in the fire.
Luke 5:1-11 — To successfully fish for men’s souls, we must let down our nets at the Master’s word; otherwise, no matter how long and hard we work, no convert will be caught by us for Christ.
Luke 5:1-11 — To become successful fishers of men we must leave the spiritual shallows, forsake other things, and faithfully follow Christ.
Luke 5:12-14 — The question of divine healing is not whether or not it is possible, but whether or not it is providential. If it is, its performance will be both confessable and confirmable, leaving no question about it.
Luke 6:45 — From the storeroom of our hearts stem the words of our mouth. Therefore, our talk tells the truth about our hearts, whether they treasure good or evil.
Whatever your mouth speaks is from the store of your heart. Therefore, what you say shows what's in your heart.
Luke 6:46 — Here's two words no one can ever say, “No Lord!" The reason is, the moment you say, “No,” Jesus is no longer your Lord.
Luke 7:1-10 — Christ honors great faith, because great faith greatly honors Him, by believing that under the authority of His Father He has all authority over all things.
The centurion understood that just as he had authority over those under him, as long as he was under the authority of those over him, Christ had authority over all things, even sickness, as long as He was under the authority of the One over Him, God the Father.
Luke 7:34 — Jesus was accused by His adversaries of being a friend of sinners. It is the only accusation ever leveled against our Lord of which He was guilty. Indeed, Jesus Christ is the best friend any sinner ever had!
Luke 8:4 — People naturally come together when they come to Christ, but all attempts at togetherness around other things will prove shortsighted and short-lived.
Luke 8:6, 13 — In Jesus' parable of the sower, the soil among the rocks represents a spurious faith, a faith that falls far short of salvation. It is a faith that proves fleeting, failing the test and falling away in a time of temptation.
Luke 8:6, 13 — The soil among the rocks represents the shallow convert, he or she who professes Christ, without ever professing Christ.
Luke 8:10 — The common contemporary Christian cannot understand the uncommon truths Christ privately speaks to His intimate inner circle.
“I seldom preach on what my own soul delights, for the common people can bear it not” (Charles Finney)
Luke 8:22-25 — All it takes to calm our soul on the stormy seas of life is for Christ, who commands the storms and the seas, to stand up in our hearts and say, “Peace be still.”
It was not the raging sea, the howling wind, the crashing thunder, or the flashing lightening that awakened and aroused Christ, but the distressed cries of His frightened disciples, who, because of their fearfulness and faithlessness, were rebuked by Christ along with the wind.
Luke 8:35-37 — Christ is unwelcomed where the natives are unnerved by His works.
Luke 8:43-48 — Tremendous power comes out of Jesus whenever true faith reaches out to touch Him. Unlike the press of the crowd, the true touch of faith brings the peace of Christ.
Luke 9:13 — When Jesus said to His disciples, “Give ye them to eat,” He wasn’t calling them to come up with a plan, but to expect a miracle. He wasn’t asking them to fill around in their pockets, but to have absolute faith in His power.
Luke 9:25 — To win this fleeting world at the forfeiture of yourself is to be forever shortchanged.
Luke 9:26 — To be ashamed of allegiance to Christ or adherence to His Word is a personal attestation of one’s alienation from God.
Although Christ has numerous reasons to be ashamed of us, we have no reason to be ashamed of Him.
Luke 9:43-45 — Ignorance of God's Word is often the result of our reluctance to inquire about it, because we are so ill at ease over it. Still, it's better to be troubled by the truth than to be imperturbably ignorant about it.
Luke 9:49-50 — Those who fight against the cause of Christ are not the friends, but the foes, of all Christians.
Others don't have to be your clone or a member of your church to work miracles in Christ's name.
Luke 10:13 — The blindness of unrepentance is hardest to heal, for the unrepentant are blind to the works of Christ and have a blurry image of man, seeing him as innately good rather than sinful and therefore in need of neither repentance nor redemption. (Mark 8:22-26; Matthew 11:21)
Luke 10:16 — To reject and despise Jesus Christ—God the Son—is to reject and despise God the Father.
Luke 10:25-37 — It’s not just a true neighbor, like the Good Samaritan, but true religion, unlike that of the priest and the Levite, that mercifully ministers to the indigent and injured.
If a religion is unneighborly, as well as unloving and unmerciful, it is unarguably unauthentic.
Luke 10:38-42 — The only school a Christian needs to attend is "Mary's College," which is located at the feet of Jesus. For the only thing we need to do to live our lives as Christ intends is to live our lives listening intently to Him.
Luke 10:38-42 — The only thing we need to do to live our lives as Christ intends is to live our lives sitting at His feet listening intently to Him!
Contrary to popular opinion, relationship is not the result of service, but service is the result of relationship. We do not have a right relationship with Christ because we faithfully serve Him, but we faithfully serve Him because we have a right relationship with Him!
Luke 10:38-42 — It is a misspent life that's spent in the frantic service of Christ rather than sitting at the feet of Christ.
Christ never asks of us such busy labor
As leaves no time for resting at His feet:
The waiting attitude of expectation
He often counts a service most complete.
And yet He does love service, where it’s given
By grateful love that clothes itself in deed,
But work that’s done beneath the scourge of duty,
Be sure, He gives to such but little heed.
Then seek to please Him, whatsoever He bids thee,
Whether to do, to suffer, or lie still;
Twill matter little by what path He led us,
If in it all we sought to do His will.
Luke 11:1 — Prayer is the only thing the disciples ever asked Christ to teach them how to do, which should speak volumes to us about the importance of prayer.
Luke 11:1 — The first step in learning how to pray—how to wield the most powerful force in the world—is to ask Christ, the Master of the fine art of prayer, to teach us to pray.
Luke 11:1 — Believing Christ's prayer life was the secret of His miraculous life, the disciples asked Christ to teach them how to pray, in hopes that by learning how to pray as he prayed they would be enabled to live as He lived.
Luke 11:1 — Prayer is an art that must be learned. It cannot be mastered without much study and practice. It is not the mere pronouncement of thoughtless verbiage, but something performed by a masterfully trained virtuoso.
Luke 11:5-10 — True prayer is an attitude of the heart. It is living with a midnight mentality, a constant consciousness that our cupboards are bare, Christ's are full, and we're totally reliant upon Him to meet our needs, as well as the needs of those to whom we minister.
Luke 11:27-28 — It is not Catholic adherence to Mariology, but Christian adherence to Bibliology that is blessed by God.
Luke 12:15 — Although our world assesses our worth by the value of our possessions, our Lord taught us that our life does not consist of the things which we possess. To measure a man by his material wealth is to measure a man with a crooked yardstick.
Luke 12:16-21 A fool is obsessed with his earthly financial security, but totally oblivious to his eternal security and immortal soul. While he may have a brilliant portfolio in the here and now, he'll be a bankrupt pauper in the hereafter.
Luke 12:25 — Worry is life's greatest exercise in futility, since it changes nothing and cannot accomplish a thing.
Luke 12:39 — No one is more vulnerable to the thieving Tempter than one who opposes his existence or is oblivious to his presence.
Luke 12:42-46 — According to Jesus, a pastor—a steward over God's household—is to feed those in God's house "meat in due season"; that is, to address the issues of the day with the truths of God's Word. A pastor failing to do so is unfaithful to Christ and his congregation. (Matthew 24:45-51)
Luke 13:10-17 — It takes the uplifting Word and loving hands of the Great Physician to heal, free, and lift up those who are bound by the devil with a "spirit of infirmity" and thereby rendered unable to lift up themselves.
Not all sickness is purely physical, produced by disease, some is spiritual, induced by the devil.
Luke 13:17 —Christ’s foes are humiliated by His glaring words, but His followers are made happy by His glorious works.
Luke 14:25-33 — Contrary to popular opinion, there is no such thing as a crossless Christian or a costless Christianity. To follow Christ requires forsaking all.
Luke 15:25-32 — Only a child of God who is ignorant of God’s perpetual presence with him and of God’s plentiful provisions for him can possibly accuse God of some injustice towards him.
Luke 16:1-13 — When it comes to getting ahead in this world, the crooked and shrewd non-Christian, who lives for money, has an advantage over the charitable and honest Christian, who lives for God. However, it is the Christian who has all the advantage in the world to come.
Luke 16:13 — The only thing Jesus directly cited as a competitor with God in our lives was money. Money is also the subject the Master most talked about during His earthly sojourn. So how important is it to keep money in proper perspective and from ever rivaling God for our affection? (Matthew 6:24)
Luke 16:29-31 — Neither miraculous signs nor merciless plagues can persuade the hard hearts of the unregenerate to repent of their sin. Only the Scripture and the Spirit can convince sinners to come to Christ, God's Son, for their salvation. (Revelation 9:20; 16:9)
Luke 16:31 — It is by the Word of God and the Spirit of God alone that sinners are convicted of their sins and convinced of their need of a Savior, not by some supernatural phenomenon, spellbinding sermon, or stupendous Gospel sales pitch.
It is by the power of God alone that men are saved, not by the power of human persuasion. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
Luke 17:3-4 — Christ’s forgiveness, unlike His love, is not unconditional. It is contingent upon our repentance. Likewise, the Christian's forgiveness is contingent upon others' repentance. If they repent, we must forgive! However, we are not obligated to forgive the unrepentant.
Luke 17:5-6 — The strength of our faith is not found in its amount, but in its object, as Christ’s taught His disciples when they prayed for increased faith. According to Jesus, placing your meager mustard seed faith in Him is enough for it to prove miraculous. On the other hand, abundant faith in anything else is completely incapable of miraculously moving a thing.
Luke 17:7-10 — Servants of Christ should not expect extraordinary blessings for faithfully bearing the daily burden of ordinary service.
Luke 17:7-10 — To the sincere servant of Christ, service to Christ is sufficient reward. He or she does not seek gratitude or gratuity from God, but is grateful to be used by God for His glory!
Luke 17:7-10 — God has no obligation to thank us for our obedience, since our obedience to Him is obligatory for us!
Luke 17:20-21 — If the kingdom of God is not within us it is neither possessed by us nor are we a part of it!
Luke 17:28-30 — The last days shall be like Lot’s days, men will impulsively persist in the practice of their depravity until certain doom suddenly and surprisingly descends upon them.
Luke 17:32 — Jesus cautioned us to remember Lot's wife, the epitome of hypocrisy and apostasy. By turning away from God's salvation to turn back toward sinful Sodom, she was turned into a pillar of salt.
Luke 18:1-8 — Although a just God is pleased rather than pestered by persevering prayer, it is the praying “pest” who persistently peppers Heaven with his pleas whose prayers prove to be prevailing.
Luke 18:1-8 — If persistent appeals can pester an unjust judge to administer justice on behalf of a wronged widow, how positive should the saints be that their persistent prayers will persuade their just God to administer justice on their behalf when they are wronged?
Luke 18:9-14 — The self-righteous pray to themselves, being ignored by God, but the repentant sinner not only prays to God, but is heard by Him and justified. No more important prayer will we ever pray than the prayer of the publican.
Luke 18:11 — All religious hypocrites pray to themselves, because God pays no attention to them.
Luke 19:10 — Jesus Christ did not come into the world seeking a new social order nor to save sinful society, but to seek and to save sinners, for He knew that the only hope of transforming society was the transformation of sinners.
The world won't change until men change; men won't change until Christ changes them; and for Christ to change them the church must tell men about Him.
Luke 19:45-46 — Christ cleansed the temple twice, once at the beginning of His ministry and again at the end, proving that the purity of His house means more to Him than its popularity! (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-17)
Luke 19:46 — Christ did not say that His house would be a house of sermons, singing, and socializing, but a house of prayer. Unfortunately, the contemporary church has no shortage of sermons, songs, and socials, but a serious scarcity of prayer. (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17)
"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere." (Leonard Ravenhill)
Luke 21:1-4 — God does not assess the true value of our gifts to Him by the amount we give, but by the amount we have leftover afterward.
Luke 22:28-29 — While Jesus Christ faithfully continues to be with us in our trials and temptations, the real question is: "Do we faithfully continue on with Him, in spite of them?"
Christ appoints His kingdom to those who always stand alongside Him and suffer along with Him!
Luke 22:31-32 — When Satan sifts the saints, the saints must remember that God has given Satan permission to do it, Christ will pray us through it, and we'll be prepared by it to strengthen others after it.
Luke 22:31-32 — A saint cannot be sifted by Satan without Satan securing the permission of the Savior and the Savior praying for the saint. Also, any sifting Christ consents to is intended by Him to strengthen the faith of the saint so that he can strengthen the faith of others.
Luke 22:31-32 — Whenever you find yourself in Satan’s sifting hand, remember your Savior is praying for you at Sovereignty's right hand.
Luke 22:35-36 — Contrary to popular opinion, Jesus Christ was no pacifist, but actually taught His disciples to purchase a sword. Far from being averse to it, Christ actually advocated the bearing of arms.
Luke 22:44 — Anguish is the call of the Almighty to more earnest prayer. Our supplications never rise higher to God then when our sweat drops like blood to the ground.
Luke 22:53 — You must believe in the desperate wickedness of the human heart in the hour of darkness; lest you end up mistakenly believing in the nobility of human nature, squeezed into the world’s mode, and under the mastery of the malignant powers of darkness. (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 2:2)
Luke 23:11-12 — Regular adversaries form irregular alliances out of their mutual antagonism toward Christ.
Luke 23:33 — In His own world, God often appears to play a losing game. Therefore, never mistake the seeming successes of sinners for divine defeats, for a Calvary is never what it seems.
Luke 24:2 — The stone was not rolled away from Jesus’ tomb so that He could get out, but so that others could see in.
If you look into the tombs of the founders of all other world religions, you’ll find them occupied, but if you look into the tomb of Jesus Christ, you’ll find it empty.
Luke 24:7 — There are three great pillars of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—His incarnation, His crucifixion, and His resurrection. Without His swaddling clothes in the manger, He would have had no crown of thorns on the cross nor folded grave clothes in the empty tomb!
Both the cross of Calvary and the empty garden tomb are traceable back to Bethlehem’s manger.
Luke 24:44 — All Scripture is fulfilled in Christ!
Luke 24:46-47 — Christ commissioned us to preach the three Rs of the Gospel—resurrection, repentance, and remission. Because of His death and resurrection, the sins of repentant sinners can be remitted by God.
What hope is there of revival in a country that renounces repentance as intolerance, the preaching of it as hate speech, and all who preach it as hate mongers, inciting hate crimes?
Luke 24:47 — Christ commissioned us to preach repentance to the world. Tragically, today’s world condemns the preaching of repentance as intolerance and all who preach it as intolerant. What hope of remission of sins is there in a world so immune and inimical to repentance?
Luke 24:49 — Many a task is taken up in human strength by those who should have tarried for the divine power of the Holy Spirit!
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