DBG - October 25 - Luke 1

Luke approaches the life of Christ as history, and as a historian he is without equal.  Even the most minute of details in his accounts has proven true.  His Gospel is aimed at the Greek mind in its structure and presentation of facts.  He presents Christ as the Son of Man, and in many ways highlights His humanity.  He did not write from experience but interviewed others and gathered his information carefully.  

A few quick facts about Luke:

In this chapter is the birth of John the Baptist.

vs. 1-4 – The prologue gives Luke’s purpose in writing his Gospel: to lay out the facts of Christ’s earthly ministry.  It is addressed to Theophilus (“friend of God”), who is thought to have been a high-ranking individual in Rome.

vs. 5-25 – Zacharias (“Jehovah remembers”) is a priest from the course Abia (see I Chronicles 24:10).  His wife is Elisabeth (“the oath of God”).  They have no children and are now seemingly too old to have any.  But like Abraham and Sarah, God is about to do something miraculous in their lives.  I calculate Zacharias’s week of service in the Temple to be after Pentecost in early June.  Lots were cast by the priests serving in the Temple to assign responsibilities for the day.  Zacharias is chosen to offer incense in the Temple, perhaps the most prestigious of all the tasks each day.  This was likely a once-in-a-lifetime event.   It is unclear if this is the morning or evening sacrifice.  He is in the Temple alone, or so he believes when the angel Gabriel (“man of God”) appears.  God had heard their prayers, and they would have a very special son.  He was to be consecrated to God’s service from birth.  The prohibition of strong drink indicates either a Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:3) or priestly service (Leviticus 10:9), of which I prefer the latter.  His ministry would be the fulfillment of the promise of Elijah in Malachi 4:5-6.  Zacharias doubts the message and is struck dumb as a further sign of its surety.  He causes a stir when he emerges and cannot speak.  This type of event would be noteworthy among the Jews.  Shortly after this, Elizbeth conceives and hid her pregnancy for five months.  This is either hopeful caution that she would have the child (verse 25) or to ensure the child’s separation from the womb (see Judges 13:14). 

vs. 26-38 – It is the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, and not the calendar, when Gabriel appears to Mary (“a tear”) in Nazareth (“shoot or sprout”) in Galilee (“circuit”).  She is the espoused wife, meaning contracted to be married, to Joseph (“increase”).  The angel’s message is that she would be the one bear the Messiah, whose name would be Jesus (“savior”).  This would not be a natural birth.  She would have the Son of God, not the son of a man. 

vs. 39-45 – Mary leaves her home and visits her cousin Elisabeth in Judah, both of whom were expecting very special babies.  John leaps in Elisabeth’s womb as Mary approaches, the first time he acts in his role of announcing the coming Messiah.  Elisabeth speaks prophetically about the Christ-child without any prior knowledge of Him. 

vs. 46-55 – Mary’s song is often called The Magnificat, a name derived from its opening words in Latin.  I do not think this is something spontaneous that Mary blurts out but was an outpouring of the thoughts from her heart that she had been meditating upon.  It has at least a thematic connection to Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel 2:1-10.

vs. 56 – Mary’s visit to Elisabeth last three months.  She returns to Nazareth as Elisabeth is soon to give birth.

vs. 57-79 – It was customary to not name a Jewish boy until they were circumcised eight days after their birth.  Zacharias has not spoken a single word since that day in the Temple.  He intervenes when they try to name the baby after him.  Using a tablet (wood with a reusable wax writing surface), he does as the angel said and writes that baby should be named John.  His tongue is then loosed, and he speaks words that he had been building in his heart.  This is sometimes called The Benedictus after its opening words in Latin.   

vs. 80 – The early of life John the Baptist is covered in this single verse.  He was raised in obscurity in the Judean wilderness until his ministry shakes the nation.

The Virgin Birth is one of the most vital of doctrines related to Christ.  It is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 and Isaiah 7:14.  It means that He did not have the curse of sin from Adam (Romans 5:12, I Peter 1:18-19).  Without the Virgin Birth, Christ would not be sinless and would thus not be able to die in our place upon Calvary.  If Christ could not be the propitiation for our sins, then we have no escape from sin’s penalty.  In short, without the Virgin Birth we have no hope of salvation.

Today’s hymn, “Jesus! The Name High Over All,” was written by Charles Wesley in 1749.

Jesus! the name high over all,
In hell or earth or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.

Jesus! the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners giv’n;
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It turns their hell to Heav’n.

Jesus! the prisoner’s fetters breaks,
And bruises Satan’s head;
Power into strengthless souls it speaks,
And life into the dead.

O that mankind might taste and see
The riches of His grace!
The arms of love that compass me
Would all the world embrace.

O that my Jesu’s heavenly charms
Might every bosom move!
Fly, sinners, fly into those arms
Of everlasting love.

Thee I shall constantly proclaim,
Though earth and hell oppose;
Bold to confess Thy glorious name
Before a world of foes.

His only righteousness I show,
His saving grace proclaim;
’Tis all my business here below
To cry Behold the Lamb!

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp His name,
Preach Him to all and cry in death,
Behold, behold the Lamb!