1/05/2011 Luke 1 --- Matthew 1:18-25
Yesterday Tomorrow
Dedication to Theophilus
Luke 1:1 Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, Note verse 1, there were many orderly written accounts of Jesus available to the author of Luke. 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, Verse 2 does not sound like the author of Luke was an eye witness. 3 I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years. I have heard so many talk about Elizabeth being barren because of sin. Is it necessary to think about Abraham and Sarah or the mothers of Samson and Samuel? The point here is it was a miracle. The issue is not whether or not barrenness is the fate of the unrighteous.8 Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” 19 The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”
21 Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. 22 When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, 25 “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”Mary’s Song of Praise
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
78 By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah (Lk 2.1—7)
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
A few years ago a child was lost in a tragic car accident. Our friend was praying and asking God why God was not with the child. She said God told her that God was never away from the child. The Lord was always with the child and still is now. I find that very comforting. I think our presence, a touch, maybe a hug, communicate more than words, but if anything would have touched me in my own sorrow it would have been realizing that my Lord was always with them, up to death, during death, and after death.
24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Devotionals, notes, poetry and more
by Bill Federer
Raised by an elderly white couple after his mother was kidnapped following the Civil War, he began school in Neosho, Missouri, and graduated from Iowa State College of Agriculture. Booker T. Washington recruited him to teach at Tuskegee Institute, where he introduced hundred of uses for the peanut, soybean and sweet potato, revolutionizing the South’s economy. His name was George Washington Carver, and he died this day, January 5, 1943. Turning down offers to work for Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver said: “My purpose alone must be God’s purpose - to increase the welfare and happiness of His people.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by whoever
"In Israel, in order to be a realist
you must believe in miracles."
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, In a CBS-TV interview
True godliness does not turn men out of the world,
but enables them to live better in it
and excites their endeavors to mend it.
--- William Penn
... from here, there and everywhere
by D.H. Stern
1 My son, if you will receive my words
and store my commands inside you,
2 paying attention to wisdom
inclining your mind toward understanding—
3 yes, if you will call for insight
and raise your voice for discernment,
4 if you seek it as you would silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure—
5 then you will understand the fear of ADONAI
and find knowledge of God.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
A Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers
The afterwards of the life of power
Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards. --- John 13:36.
“And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.” Three years before, Jesus had said—“Follow Me,” and Peter had followed easily, the fascination of Jesus was upon him, he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him to do it. Then he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit, and now Jesus says again—“Follow Me.” There is no figure in front now saving the Lord Jesus Christ. The first “Follow Me” had nothing mystical in it, it was an external following; now it is a following in internal martyrdom (cf. John 21:18).
Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency; there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord. “He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” No matter what changes God has wrought in you, never rely upon them, build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.
All our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out. When we have come to the end of ourselves, not in imagination but really, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit. “Receive ye the Holy Ghost”—the idea is that of invasion. There is only one lodestar in the life now, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
The old men ask
for more time, while the young
waste it. And the philosopher
smiles, knowing there is none
there. But the hero stands
sword drawn at the looking-glass
of his mind, aiming at that
anonymous face over his shoulder.
The Poems of R.S. Thomas
What about the name?
The name Theophilus occurs frequently from the third century B.C. on for both Jews and Greeks. It is clear that the etymology of the name was not forgotten when the name was given.
“a friend of God”; Cadbury, “Preface of Luke,” 507
The many attempts at identifying Theophilus, either under that name, or assuming it is a pseudonym, are pure speculation. A symbolic significance for the name cannot be entirely ruled out. Much about Luke-Acts would well suit Cornelius-like readers.
Nolland, J. (2002). Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 35a
twenty-four courses
The priests were divided into twenty-four courses, each of which provided in turn priestly service in the temple for one week, twice in the year. The earlier preexilic divisions (1 Chr 24:7–18) were apparently reconstituted out of the four divisions that returned from exile (Ezra 2:36–39; 10:18–22). The word Luke uses for these courses is found in the LXX (The Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT) of 1 Chr 23:6 and is also found in a first-century-b.c.
inscription BAGD. BAGD W. Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, ET, ed. W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich; 2d ed. rev. F. W. Gingrich and F. W. Danker (University of Chicago, 1979).
The division of Abijah is the eighth of the courses (special dignities were attached to the first of the courses [Zahn, 63 n 52], but there is no reason to think beyond that of a ranking of the courses). Goulder and Sanderson [1957] 17) note that the following course in 1 Chr 24:10 is that of Jeshua (=Jesus).
Nolland, J. (2002). Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 35a
The Greeting
Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you! --- Luke 1:28.
My mail carrier, driving his stubby white
Truck, trimmed in blue and red, wingless
But wheeled,
commissioned by the civil service
Daily delivers the Gospel every Advent.
This Gabriel, uniformed in gabardine,
Unsmiling descendant
of his dazzling original,
Under the burden of greetings is stoical
But prompt: annunciations
at ten each morning.
One or two or three a day at first;
By the second week momentum’s up,
My mail box is stuffed, each card stamped
With the glory at a cost
of only twenty-five cents,
(Bringing the news that God is here with us)
First class, personally hand addressed.
Peterson, E. H. (1989). The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction
Day 5 Winter
Some time later the brook dried up. --- 1 Kings 17:7.
The failure of the waters was meant, first, to deepen the prophet [Elijah’s] sense of kinship. (The Weaving of Glory (Morrison Classic Sermon Series, The)
That is still the secret of the failing brook—not because God is angry; it is because our Father wants us to be a family. One touch of nature makes us all akin, even if it is only a touch of common thirst, and there is many a brook that the Almighty dries so that we may cease from our pride and realize our kinship. There is no sympathy so deep and strong as the sympathy that springs out of a common suffering. Exclude a person from what others have to bear and you exclude him or her from the family heritage.
There are things, then, that it is hard to lose, but in God’s sight it may be good to lose them. We grow more loving, more sympathetic, and more kind; life is fuller and richer and warmer than it once was. We were very superior and exclusive once, and the common people were odiously common—but some time later the brook dried up.
--- George H. Morrison
Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
On Bible Gateway