Teaching (no posting) Contrasts in Luke

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Lukes introduction to Christ is beautiful because as an artist representative of the church that God calls His Masterpiece Luke has wonderfully reflected that back upon Him to Whom all glory is due. He shows forth Jesus as the model, One filled with the Spirit and obedient to the Father, One who loved sinners, the weak, the poor and the suffering.
Luke made Jesus very attractive to anyone willing to change their lives so as to allow God into their lives. Luke goes out of his way to show Jesus treating women with the same respect and acceptance as men. And he shows social needs of Christians that demanded radical commitment to Christ and the gospel, poor servants of God, fully at the service of their neighbour. They (Christians) are on a spiritual pilgrimage following after the One Who went before, good stewards of God's gifts. But also Luke ties it in with what went before so as even in that he followied close to Christ.

Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

A thread for comments can be found at

http://www.christianforums.com/t7865653/

Have a great day ya'll

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

As most of us know Luke was believed to be written by a Greek doctor, who also wrote the book of Acts and who was also a companion of Paul. It appears to have been written about AD 64, before the book of Acts ( Acts 1:1 ) about 30 years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Savior. Luke's emphasis is focused mostly on Jesus' human nature ... moreso than the other 3 gospels ... yet it witnesses undoubtably of His Diety. (10:21-22, 24:26,49) Luke spoke not just to the Jew but to Samaritans and Gentile alike and included the despised and outcast. The free offer of salvation and the impossibility of acquiring merit is a frequent theme ( 15:11-32, 17:7-10, 18:9-14, 23:39-43)
The book was written to Theophilus, which in Greek means beloved by God, ( and therefore could have been addressed 'Dear Christian' ) who was probably a Gentile believer that held official position in the Roman Empire. It was also probably written in Caesarea when Paul was imprisoned there (Acts 23:33, 24:27, 27:1)

Behold the Man

Zechariah 6:12
And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the Man whose Name is the Branch: for He shall branch out from His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord.

Luke very much wants to accustom believers to 'the events that have taken place among us' and for us to know how well founded the faith is that he has so diligently researched. He had all the material, both written and oral, available to him, of which he wrote 'an orderly account'. Logical order rather than chronological order that was based on the promises and fulfillments of the bible. It begins with the infancy narrative and progresses from there. His concern is to set out Jesus' personal identity, heavenly origins and at the same time presenting John the Baptist's role in bringing in the new inaugeration.

Hopefully I'll be able to present a bit of each part of the text as an overview and then break it down from there as it progresses.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Coming to grips with the Son of God and the Son of Mary as a person relateding to His biblical past, one who enjoyed human relationships and was socially concerned; then on to the further revelation of His physical absence and discovering His risen Presence, is what Christians do. Knowing Him as the boy in the temple to the One who spoke of His departure is what is worked into us in all His human attributes and divine accomplishments.

Luke's interpretaion of the Old Testament in the narrative of the birth implies no break in the salvic work of God, that everything written about Him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Because the centre of Christianity had moved from Jerusalem to Rome at that time his references to Pharisees etc became a 'type' of Christian.

John the baptist's appearance in the narrative is a testament of the old system of sacred precincts, unheard of to bring Gentiles into, yet also introduces the presence of angelic heavenly messengers as into the Presence of God. It seems to be an introduction for Gentiles into the world of the miraculous where human beings allow God to have His way with them and how it results in hope and joy in the world.

God sought out the persons in this book where they were, the priest performing duties at the temple, another doing her duties at home, a fisherman mending the nets, taxcollectors, farmers, children at play in the markets. In every instant God was and is calling us to a new life. The responce is left to us. How all responded in the infant narratives is an example to us, from Mary to the shepards to the wise men.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

The angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that the son she was about to concieve will be great because He is the Son of the Most High, Elyon, the Supreme God. The "holy thing” was called the Son of God because He was to be conceived of the Holy Spirit, so what was born of this conception was something intrinsically holy.

Gabriel continued to tell her that the Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father. Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a human virgin, will be the Son of the Most High God, and at the same time He will be the Son of a king. (Matt. 1:1; 22:45). His position is both divine and human. This is the outline of Jesus Christ's family.

Then Gabriel unviels His Kingdom by saying "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall not be an end." The house of Jacob, the nation of Israel, as the center of His reign (Acts 1:6; 15:16), thru which He will rule over the entire world as His kingdom (Rev. 11:15) and on into eternity.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when she blessed Mary at the moment she saw her. (vv. 39-45) "blessed is the fruit of your womb" she said. The word that she used 'fruit' is Greek ~ karpos ~ and is found only here and in

Acts 2:29
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31 he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,

which belongs to His humanity, and here for the fruit of the tree of life

Revelation 22:2
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

signifying His divinity.
Christ is the branch of the Lord (Isa. 4:2) and also of David (Jer. 23:5), and He is the fruit of Mary and also of David that we may taste of Him as the tree of life (Rev. 2:7). As the fruit given to the world He is our manna, our life supply.
Elizabeth continues to give forth a blessing

“Luke 1:45
blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a fulfilment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord.

Contrast that to the unbelieving Zachariah (v. 20), Mary believed what Gabriel said to her. Elizabeth prophesied to Mary, from the Holy Spirit, as a confirmation that there would be a fulfilment of the things spoken to her.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Mary's worship of God was so insightful of scripture and really speaks of the saturation
of the teachings the Israelites had.
A quick comparison of the mother of Samuel, the Nazarite, shows some of the detail

Luke 1:46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
1Sa 2:1
¶ And Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exulteth in Jehovah;
My horn is exalted in Jehovah; My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies;
Because I rejoice in thy salvation


Lu 1:51
He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart.
1Sa 2:9
He will keep the feet of his holy ones; But the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness;
For by strength shall no man prevail.


Lu 1:53
The hungry he hath filled with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away.
1Sa 2:5
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread;
And they that were hungry have ceased to hunger:
Yea, the barren hath borne seven;
And she that hath many children languisheth.


These people knew who they worshipped as Jesus attested later on to the woman at the well
saying that the Samaritans knew not whom they worshipped, but soon the real followers
would worship in spirit and in truth. But it is my opinion that the saturation of scripture
is needed to conceptualise and bring forth Christ in the new creation. Samuel (the son of Hannah)
was born at a time when God would say ``ìt is not you they are turning their backs on, it is Me`
And Jesus the king that God would bring in.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Luke 1:68-80

Thanks to God for the coming of the Messiah

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

The purpose of the Messiah's coming

71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

The mission of John

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,

The further picture of the Messiah's coming

78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”


80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

According to this song of Zechariah what is the purpose of salvation and is it your experience? Peanut Gallery- http://www.christianforums.com/t7865653/

 

[FreeinChrist]

MOD HAT

From the
Spirit-Filled / Charismatic Community Statement of Purpose

Teaching (no posting)
Please use this thread tag for uninterrupted posting in a thread. These threads can be used for teaching, preaching, Bible studies, and blogging (but note that we do have a blog area available on this site for your enjoyment). No other members should post in threads with this tag, and if they do, just report the post as it was probably an innocent mistake and we will have it removed for you.

• Maximum of two teaching threads per poster are allowed.
• Ask one of the Congregation Category Supervisors, DarylFawcett or twob4me, to have your thread stickied.
• If no new true teaching posts are made in two weeks, thread will be unstickied and closed.
• You may teach if you have a minimum of 500 posts.

This thread is being closed and unstickied.​