Luke, Part 2: The angel visits Zacharias

Text: Luke 1: 5-25

The first incident that Luke relates is the angel’s visitation of Zacharias and the subsequent birth of John the Baptist.  This section demonstrates Luke’s inclination to describe events in careful detail and the emphasis he places on people as individuals.

Zacharias, we see, was a priest who was married to the daughter of a priest.  From this, he would expect to be the recipient of a double blessing, according to the Jewish tradition.  Zacharias and his wife were both faithful and righteous before God.  Although they had no children, they continued on faithfully worshipping and loving God.  They had no idea what blessings He had in store for them, but they pressed on regardless.

Judea had fallen into a state of deep decline, as had been detailed in the book of Malachi, written 400 years before Christ.  In the silent years after Malachi, the decline surely became deeper.  Judea was being ruled by a horrible, evil king, Herod.  Things couldn’t seem to get any darker for those who followed God truly.  Yet it was in this dark time that God sent His Redeemer.  Likewise, we today should not be discouraged by the state of the world around us – God is able to break through in any situation!

Zacharias had been chosen, by lot, to enter the temple and burn incense.  This was the highest position of service that a regular priest could perform.  He stood next to the Holy of Holies and offered incense that flowed over the whole temple – and into the Holy of Holies as well.  The position of presenting the incense was so highly regarded that each priest was allowed to perform it only once in his life.  It was during this service that the angel came to Zacharias.

The angel came to Zacharias and spoke ten different things to him:

1. Their prayer had been answered!  What prayer?  Both their prayer for a Redeemer, who was to come, and…
2. They would have a son.
3. His name would be “John” (a gift from God), meaning he was to be the gift of God and filled with the grace of God.
4. He would be greatly used by God.
5. He would drink no strong drink.
6. He would be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
7. He would turn many to God.
8. This son was the one prophesied who would be coming in the spirit of Elijah.
9. He would reconcile families.
10. He would prepare a people for the Lord.

John’s ministry would be like ours – we cannot save anyone, but we can lead men to  Him who can.  We can cry out against sin in the world and point to the Redeemer.

Sadly, Zacharias’s response was one of unbelief.  He was hearing a word directly from an angel, but it was not sufficient for him.  He was staggered by the thought that God would use him and his wife to bring this great prophet.  But God, then as today, does use ordinary people to do his work.  Why do we doubt that God will use us to work out His promises?

Because Zacharias spoke his unbelief, he was struck dumb for a time.  Yet God was merciful and later restored his ability to speak.  May God forgive us for doubting His ability to use us to accomplish all He has for us to do!

Luke, Part 1: Introduction

Text: Luke 1:1-4

Some controversy exists about when the book of Luke was originally written, but it was probably written around AD 60-63 or so.

Who was Luke?  Interestingly, Luke was not one of the twelve disciples, and was in fact not an eyewitness of Jesus’ ministry at all.  Luke was a Gentile.  Luke was a doctor, a physician.  He was familiar with Greek, as is evidenced by his writing style, a style of Greek written by the educated for the educated.

Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.  They may be seen as a set, and this text serves as an introduction to them both.

One key point Luke makes in his introduction is that he was not an eyewitness.  He identifies his sources as eyewitnesses and “servants of the word”, probably corresponding to the Gospel of Luke and Acts, respectively.  Luke had contact with the original sources.  His detailed account of Christ’s birth would indicate that He had contact with Mary.  We know that he was one of Paul’s traveling companions.

Luke states that he has carefully investigated everything in this book and identifies what he has written as “the exact truth”. The word translated “exact truth” might be rendered “infallible truth.”   He is reminding the reader that the things written herein are truthful and that they are the Word of God.  This is a story that really happened and it changes lives because it is the story of Christ.

The things in this book are things “accomplished” (v.1) or fulfilled.  Luke contains many examples of fulfilled prophecies: that the Messiah would be from Judah, from the seed of Isaac, and born in Bethlehem.   He details the time of Christ’s birth, as foretold in Daniel.

This book was written to “Theophilus”.  These things were written to give him knowledge and certainty.  Luke’s objective was that Theophilus would have both factual understanding (“head knowledge”)  and real relational, experiential knowledge of  the things of God.

Who is Theophilus?  To whom did Luke write?  It’s generally accepted that he was writing to a real person.  Luke uses the title, “most excellent” in referring to him, the same title was was used for Roman governors Felix and Festus.  So Theophilus is thought by many to have had some relation to the government.  The word “Theophilus” means “lover of God” or “one loved by God”.  Luke is writing to someone who has been instructed in the Word of God and want to know more of Him.  We can put ourselves, then, in the place of “Theophilus” because this describes all the children of God, and we have also been made to be “most excellent” members of a royal priesthood through Christ’s death and resurrection!

Thoughts from Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes, as mentioned previously, can be a tricky book to read.  The key to understanding it lies in the phrase “under the sun..”  When Solomon writes of the world “under the sun”, he is referring to the world from a humanist view; the world without sight of God.

Ecclesiastes is full of a number of pictures and proverbs.  These are written to show us where our attention and focus in life should be.  A few of these pictures and proverbs are discussed below:

1) The Oppressed and the Oppressors – Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

In this section, oppression is discussed.  There are oppressors all around us: wicked governments, greedy businessmen, corrupt bosses, and so on.  Oppression is universal in the world, and severe and harsh oppression is not uncommon.  The unique thing Solomon points out in this passage is that not only the oppressed need a comforter, but the oppressors do too.  The brutal prison guard, for example, is oppressed by his brutal commander.  All men suffer, and all are without a comforter from the “under the sun” perspective.  It is such a grim existence that Solomon declares that the living should envy the dead, or those who have not existed.  Yet this all from the worldly view – there is a Comforter for those who know Christ!

2)  The Benefit of Adversity – Ecclesiastes 7:1-6

There is a benefit to adversity.  Difficulties can make us sober and rescue us from a life of frivolity.  The general attitude of men today is that of children who have never grown up – everything is frivolity, joking, and silliness.  But life is serious; the deep questions of life demand our full thought and grave attention.

3) Value in Contentment – Ecclesiastes 8:14-17

Sometimes, the wicked prosper and the good suffer (v14).  It can be pointless to struggle against this, or against a great oppressive regime.   Also, we cannot know the working of God – we cannot know the future and how all things will turn out.  We should live today in God’s providence and be content in it, enjoying the basic happiness that can be found in living life.  (It is only by being right spiritually with our Creator that we can life a full and joyous life here on earth.)

4) All Shall Die – Ecclesiastes 9:1-4

As mentioned in the previous chapter, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  You cannot tell the standing of a person before God by looking at their circumstances (men have incorrectly tried to equate prosperity and rightness with God for centuries.)  And there is one thing that happens to both good and bad men – all men die.  Verse four reminds us that there is hope while a person is living; after you die your destiny is fixed.

5) Remember Your Creator in the Days of Your Youth – Ecclesiastes 12

This chapter begins with a vivid description of the decay of one’s faculties as he is overcome by age, with a reminder: don’t waste your life!  Don’t waste your short time of health and fitness in selfish pursuits, use your life for God’s glory!

To sum up the message of Ecclesiastes, we are all heading to our “long home” – our eternal home.  This will be either a place of eternal glory or eternal damnation.  Let us keep this future in our minds as we walk this world “under the sun”.  Let us be focused on our eternal purpose, rather than consumed by the vanities of a life spend seeking the things of this earth.  Let us see (v.11) the strength of the framework laid out by God’s Word and let us seek to live lives based on the principles of His Word, in loving service to Him for His glory!

Ecclesiastes 2

Text:  Ecclesiastes 1:17 – 2:26

Ecclesiastes can be a difficult book of the Bible to read and understand.  The key to Ecclesiastes lies in the phrase “under the sun.”  Throughout the book, Solomon is writing from a worldy perspective, discussing things as they are for the man without God.  This is the humanist perspective.  It is incredibly common in life today, as men continue to set up their thoughts and lives in a way that is separate from God.

Throughout the book, Solomon describes a search for meaning and purpose in life.  Without God, however, he finds no meaning – all is vanity.  In  the previous section of Ecclesiastes, Solomon discussed the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge for its own sake, surmising in v. 18 of Chapter 1 that the acquisition of much wisdom ends only in grief and pain.

So Solomon takes another approach.  First, he seeks to find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure.  He decides to “live it up”, enjoying laughter and much wine, yet with his mind engaged.  He’s still trying to find a meaning to life within the pleasure.  This might be compared to the philosophy of the 60’s, when people were taking drugs and attempting to find enlightenment.  But in the end, Solomon declares that this too is vanity, futility, madness.

Then, he seeks to find meaning in life through building great works.  He builds houses, gardens, and orchards.  He acquires flocks and servants to tend them.  He obtains gold and silver and many singers and concubines.  In the end, however, this pursuit is also vanity, and is striving after the wind.

The next section (v. 12 through 23) contains a brief reflection on what Solomon has learned up to this point.  He declares that the pursuit of wisdom for its own sake, though bitter, is still better than the mere pursuit of pleasure.  Yet everything is futile for the humanist, because all men die, whether wise or foolish, rich or poor.  For the rich man, what is the profit of his riches when he dies?  He cannot take it with him; they will pass on to another whom he does not know.  For the man who pursued pleasure, what does that profit him when he dies?

The end of this passage contains some final thoughts on where meaning can be found in life.  Verse 24 is difficult to translate, but may be translated, “There is no good in a man on his own to find joy...”  Verse 25 continues that man cannot find true joy on his own.  It is only through a relationship with God that man can be fulfilled and find real joy and happiness in this life.  Verse 26 concludes, noting that God gives happiness, wisdom and joy to His children.

Let us not be like the humanistic world around us, running from our Maker and seeking vainly to find joy in this life.  We must seek Him first, and it is only when we are in a right relationship with God that we can enjoy his gifts in this world fully.

The Love of God

God’s love is primarily towards His children.  However, He also sees fit to show His love towards the unsaved.  (Psalm 145:9 -- “The Lord is good to all.”)  In Luke 6:35, God calls us to love our enemies and do good to all.  In this way, we can be like Him, because He is kind on ungrateful and evil men.

Primarily, though, God’s love is towards His children.  Here are seven aspects of God’s love, as known by the Christian:

1. God is love.  The description of God and the description of God’s love (1 Cor. 13) are the same.  God is sovereign; His love is sovereign.  God is unchangeable; His love is unchangeable.  God is perfect; His love is perfect, and so on…
2. God’s love flows through Jesus Christ to His people.  Read through Ephesians 1, and see how many times the blessings we enjoy are described as being “in Christ”.  All that we enjoy of God as Christians is through His Son.  How do we experience this love?  By believing in Christ.  It is all that is required of us, but it is required of us.
3. The love of God does not begin with us.  God’s love begins with Himself.  We love Him because He first loved us.
   Because of the three first points, the following aspects of God’s love are true:
4. The love of God in Christ Jesus is attracted by nothing in its object.  We do not earn His love or do anything to make Him love us.
5. The love of God cannot be repelled by anything that is in us.  God loved us long before we knew Him.  He loved us when we were still sinners.  Now, as His children, when we stumble, He is not repelled by our sin; He will not leave us or forsake us.
6. The love of God is not apportioned to His children by their fruitfulness.  God loves all His children the same: He has a superabundance of love for us.  He loves us all the same, all the time.
7. God heals our backslidings.  He pours His love out upon us, in the form of chastening, when we sin.  In His love, He forgives us when we return to Him.

God’s love for us does not grow, but we can grow to know that love more.  So we should come to God knowing that He loves us.  We should make our prayers and requests known with His love for us in mind, and we should meditate much on the love that is ours in Christ.

The Passover

Texts: Leviticus 23:4-8 (opens in new window)
Exodus 12:1-14 (opens in new window)

The passage listed in Leviticus above describes the institution of the remembrance of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that directly follows it.  In order to understand this remembrance,  we must look back to the first Passover, in Exodus 12.

The first verse of that passage says that this is to be their first month.  God was telling the Israelites that what He was doing here was of paramount importance.  This would be the event they set their calendars to.  And this would be a great and new thing, a new beginning at the beginning of a new year.

Next, the Israelites were told to take a lamb on the 10th day.  This lamb was to be selected – chosen with a purpose – and to be without any blemish, looking forward to Christ who was the spotless Sacrifice.  Many years later, when Christ came, this would be the day He entered Jerusalem.

They were to keep the lamb until the 14th day (the day Christ would die).  This gave them time to ensure that it really was a perfect sacrifice.  Then they were to kill the lamb at evening (about the time Christ died).

They were to roast the lamb whole, signifying Christ’s wholeness and perfection, and were to eat it in haste, remembering their deliverance from Egypt.

The lamb was to be eaten with unleavened bread.  Leaven frequently is a symbol for sin; the Israelites were leaving sin behind in Egypt.  They ate with bitter herbs, to remind them of the hardness and bitterness of sin.

The blood of the lamb was to be placed over and beside the door posts.  They had to be “under the blood”, as we have to be covered by the blood-sacrifice of Christ today.

In verse 14 of Exodus 12, God told the Israelites that He was instituting a memorial that would be celebrated yearly until it was fulfilled in Christ.  Furthermore, God told them to be sure to keep this as a reminder to their children (v 26, 27) and be ready to explain the significance of the ritual to them.  In the same way, we should be constantly teaching our children the glorious gospel of Christ.

Philippians 4:8 -- Characteristics of the glory of God seen in Jesus Christ

Texts : John 1:14 (opens in new window)
Philippians 4:8 (opens in new window)

The first chapter of John is well-known as an explanation and description of how The Word (Jesus Christ) became a man and came to live upon this world.  John 1:14 describes how Christ “dwelt among” the disciples and how His glory was evident and “full of grace and truth”.

What is this glory?  We often say that our objective is to “bring glory to God”.  What does that mean?

John is saying that Jesus Christ is the glory of God.  And that Jesus was making known God in all His glory.  Some aspects of the glory of God – or of glory in general—are:

1. Glory must be revealed.  It does not exist until it is seen and made known.
2. Glory is excellent.  Things that are glorious are not humdrum, not ordinary.
3. Glory is victorious.  In Jesus, we see the victory of Life over death, of mercy over misery, and of grace over sin.

This brings us to the well-known passage in Philippians 4:8.  In this verse, Paul defines a number of wonderful things to think upon.  Although one can think upon what is true, honorable, just, etc., without thinking directly of Christ, these characteristics are most perfectly embodied in the Lord Jesus.  As John put it in John 1:14, Jesus is the glory of God.  The glory of God in Jesus Christ is displayed in each of these attributes.  Let’s consider them:

1. Whatever things are true – this word means “not hidden”, “unconcealed”, “manifested”.  Something that is true is an actual occurrence, an event that can be trusted.
2. Whatever things are honorable – synonyms: “venerable:”, “revered”.  This indicates something that is deep, substantial, weighty, grave.  This is in contrast to the shallow, even flippant, examples of Christianity we see around today.
3. Whatever things are just – This word means “is as it should be, always.”  Christ is what he should be, always, as He ever lives to make intercession for us.
4. Whatever things are pure – The idea of this word is things that excite reverence, things that are free from carnality, modest, immaculate, and unmixed with error.  Christ exemplified purity, in that He was “holy, harmless, and undefiled”.
5. Whatever things are lovely or loveable – This word is not found elsewhere in the Bible.  It is a completely subjective idea – what is lovely to one may not be to another.  But Paul was certain the Christians in Philippi would know what is truly lovely, and would know that true loveliness starts with the loveliness of Christ.
6. Whatever is of good repute – These are things that sound well, that are words of a good omen, or words of good will toward others.  The “good news” of the gospel of Christ is the ultimate word of good repute.
7. If there be and virtue – Moral goodness, excellence in thought, feelings, and actions.  Again, Jesus is our Example of virtuous life.
8. If anything is worthy of praise – or commendable.  Who is more worthy of our praise than our Lord and Savior?

As we consider these things, let us strive to consider Christ and to think upon Him – the glory of God – in the days ahead.