Here we are on this first day of the LUKE CHALLENGE and what a great way it is to start a new month and go through the whole month reading and studying the book of Luke! It's a daunting challenge too to put up a blog post every day on the thoughts and revelations from each of the chapters in this great book. Today reading through chapter 1 has revealed one thing about the book of Luke. Luke being a doctor by profession is a man of details and attention, and this reflects in his compilation of this great book!
In Luke 1:1-4 Luke himself introduced the purpose of this 'new gospel' of his. We will read from the message translation.
So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail Starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught
The purpose of the book of Luke is not to teach us that which we don't know but to confirm what we already know. In Luke's introduction to this great book, he set forth in his words what to expect from looking through the book of Luke, a certainty or confirmation of the other gospels. In reality, Luke is a book of details.
Reading through this book you get that fill of a learned and organized mind who set out in detail the gospel he was writing about. For instance where others mention in brief the birth of John the Baptist the forerunner of Jesus, Luke set out in detail all that happened before and during his birth. Luke brought out in finer details the relationship between Jesus' mother and John's mother even before they were born. Whereas Mark and Matthew went straight into the adult life of Jesus and his ministry, look took time to explain to us Christ's childhood. His dedication at the temple and then his adventure as a young chap of twelve years old learning among the doctors of the law! And there was Christ's first 'message' in the temple that almost led to his death! Like we observed in yesterday's installment, 50% of the materials you will find in Luke are original to Luke!
These amidst many others are the finer details that separate the gospel of Luke from all others!
The gospel of Luke, therefore, offers us a total insight into the life of the master. A full understanding of his words and his works and this is where the challenger is, 24 days isn't enough to digest the treasure of wisdom and power loaded in the book of Luke. And this is where the challenge is for me putting up a post on each chapter. In writing this I will try to adopt this rule, I will pick on two major themes in every chapter and then on a striking verse in that chapter that struck a chord of revelation in my heart, this is how I would go through the whole chapter. So quickly what can we glean from looking through the book of Luke today?
A TALE OF A PRIEST AND OF A VIRGIN!
Luke 1 is essentially a tale of two's. It is the tale of two people, a priest, and a virgin. A tale of two cousins, a tale of two women lost in worship, a tale of two women drunken in the Holy Ghost. It is the tale of two supernatural visitations, a tale of two conceptions, a tale of two responses, a tale of weak faith and great faith, a tale of two boys interwoven in destiny, a tale of two prophecies been fulfilled.
Luke 1 is all about the announcement of the birth of two boys, both of them related by family and by destiny. The mother of John Elizabeth is the cousin of Mary, so there is a family tie there. John the baptist by destiny was the forerunner of Jesus, in practical prophetic terms he was the messenger Malachi prophesied about in Malachi 3. Here in Luke the Angel of the Lord appear to both the priests and the virgin to announce the birth of these two great 'boys'! And how contrasting the response of the priest and the virgin. One was the response of faith while the other was the response of doubt! Here in this chapter, we see the graphical illustration of what James wrote about in James 1:5-7
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let, not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways"
The doubt of Zechariah could have gotten in the way of John's birth, so in other not to cause further impediment to the plan of God, he was struck dumb. There was a work God needed to do and even the priest cannot stand in the way of God, Zecharias was muted for his unbelief Zechariah was muted for God's work to be exalted!
Let's compare Zecahrias and Mary a little further. Zacharias was a man; Mary was a woman. Zacharias and his wife were elderly; Mary was young. Zacharias and Elizabeth were married; Mary was a virgin, only engaged to be married; Zacharias doubted the angel’s message; Mary believed.
What God wanted to do in the life of Zechariah already had precedence. His wife would not be the first old woman to get pregnant, Sarah already set a precedent when he gave birth to Isaac when she was well past her time. What God wanted to do with Zechariah was common, what He wanted to do with Mary was uncommon! Mary's miracle was in the order of 1 Corinthians.2:9-10, things that are unthinkable, things that only the mind of God could dream up! Funny how Zechariah, a priest, failed in the common and Mary, just a virgin, excel in the uncommon! Faith is available to all irrespective of our spiritual status in God, the one who believes is the one who becomes. Let's trace their story again.
In Elizabeth’s sixth month, Gabriel appeared to Mary, announcing to her that she would miraculously bear a child who would be Israel’s Messiah. Her child would be great in the sight of God and called the “son of the Highest” (v. 32). He would reign forever on the throne of his father David (vv. 32-33).
Mary had a request of the angel Gabriel, too, but her request was not for a sign, but for clarification. Zacharias wanted some kind of proof that he and his wife would have a child in their old age. Mary wanted clarification as to what she was to do, in order to cooperate with the purposes of God, as the angel announced them to her. She wished to learn how her conception would be achieved since she was a virgin. She was asking for clarification, not confirmation. There is a world of difference between her request and that of Zacharias. Hers stemmed from her faith; the question of Zacharias stemmed from his lack of faith.
Gabriel explained to Mary that she would not need to do anything, that the conception in her womb would be the result of God’s miraculous intervention It was to be a miraculous virgin conception. Therefore, the child will be called the “Son of God” (v. 35). As a further word of encouragement to Mary, Gabriel informed her that her elderly relative, Elizabeth, was in her sixth month of pregnancy, which bore testimony to the fact that nothing is impossible with God (vv. 36-37).
Mary’s response is a marvelous testimony to her faith in God and her submission to His will:
“Behold the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (v. 38kjv)
The affirmation of God's words in our heart is what brings about it's a manifestation on the earth! We affirm God's word in our hearts in other to confirm it's a reality on the earth.
Zecharias didn't ask for what to do to see God's word to come to pass, Zecharias asked for a sign and instead of getting a sign he became the sign. When the people saw him dumbstruck they knew he had seen a vision and that something great was in the offing!
Asking for a sign from God is a sign of unbelief in itself. The greatest sign of what God will do is the sign from the word, God's word is enough a sign because on the word of God rides the integrity of God and His faithfulness! God never fails because his word never fails!
Read full blog here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book Of Luke - Luke 1
In Luke 1:1-4 Luke himself introduced the purpose of this 'new gospel' of his. We will read from the message translation.
So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail Starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught
The purpose of the book of Luke is not to teach us that which we don't know but to confirm what we already know. In Luke's introduction to this great book, he set forth in his words what to expect from looking through the book of Luke, a certainty or confirmation of the other gospels. In reality, Luke is a book of details.
Reading through this book you get that fill of a learned and organized mind who set out in detail the gospel he was writing about. For instance where others mention in brief the birth of John the Baptist the forerunner of Jesus, Luke set out in detail all that happened before and during his birth. Luke brought out in finer details the relationship between Jesus' mother and John's mother even before they were born. Whereas Mark and Matthew went straight into the adult life of Jesus and his ministry, look took time to explain to us Christ's childhood. His dedication at the temple and then his adventure as a young chap of twelve years old learning among the doctors of the law! And there was Christ's first 'message' in the temple that almost led to his death! Like we observed in yesterday's installment, 50% of the materials you will find in Luke are original to Luke!
These amidst many others are the finer details that separate the gospel of Luke from all others!
The gospel of Luke, therefore, offers us a total insight into the life of the master. A full understanding of his words and his works and this is where the challenger is, 24 days isn't enough to digest the treasure of wisdom and power loaded in the book of Luke. And this is where the challenge is for me putting up a post on each chapter. In writing this I will try to adopt this rule, I will pick on two major themes in every chapter and then on a striking verse in that chapter that struck a chord of revelation in my heart, this is how I would go through the whole chapter. So quickly what can we glean from looking through the book of Luke today?
A TALE OF A PRIEST AND OF A VIRGIN!
Luke 1 is essentially a tale of two's. It is the tale of two people, a priest, and a virgin. A tale of two cousins, a tale of two women lost in worship, a tale of two women drunken in the Holy Ghost. It is the tale of two supernatural visitations, a tale of two conceptions, a tale of two responses, a tale of weak faith and great faith, a tale of two boys interwoven in destiny, a tale of two prophecies been fulfilled.
Luke 1 is all about the announcement of the birth of two boys, both of them related by family and by destiny. The mother of John Elizabeth is the cousin of Mary, so there is a family tie there. John the baptist by destiny was the forerunner of Jesus, in practical prophetic terms he was the messenger Malachi prophesied about in Malachi 3. Here in Luke the Angel of the Lord appear to both the priests and the virgin to announce the birth of these two great 'boys'! And how contrasting the response of the priest and the virgin. One was the response of faith while the other was the response of doubt! Here in this chapter, we see the graphical illustration of what James wrote about in James 1:5-7
"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let, not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways"
The doubt of Zechariah could have gotten in the way of John's birth, so in other not to cause further impediment to the plan of God, he was struck dumb. There was a work God needed to do and even the priest cannot stand in the way of God, Zecharias was muted for his unbelief Zechariah was muted for God's work to be exalted!
Let's compare Zecahrias and Mary a little further. Zacharias was a man; Mary was a woman. Zacharias and his wife were elderly; Mary was young. Zacharias and Elizabeth were married; Mary was a virgin, only engaged to be married; Zacharias doubted the angel’s message; Mary believed.
What God wanted to do in the life of Zechariah already had precedence. His wife would not be the first old woman to get pregnant, Sarah already set a precedent when he gave birth to Isaac when she was well past her time. What God wanted to do with Zechariah was common, what He wanted to do with Mary was uncommon! Mary's miracle was in the order of 1 Corinthians.2:9-10, things that are unthinkable, things that only the mind of God could dream up! Funny how Zechariah, a priest, failed in the common and Mary, just a virgin, excel in the uncommon! Faith is available to all irrespective of our spiritual status in God, the one who believes is the one who becomes. Let's trace their story again.
In Elizabeth’s sixth month, Gabriel appeared to Mary, announcing to her that she would miraculously bear a child who would be Israel’s Messiah. Her child would be great in the sight of God and called the “son of the Highest” (v. 32). He would reign forever on the throne of his father David (vv. 32-33).
Mary had a request of the angel Gabriel, too, but her request was not for a sign, but for clarification. Zacharias wanted some kind of proof that he and his wife would have a child in their old age. Mary wanted clarification as to what she was to do, in order to cooperate with the purposes of God, as the angel announced them to her. She wished to learn how her conception would be achieved since she was a virgin. She was asking for clarification, not confirmation. There is a world of difference between her request and that of Zacharias. Hers stemmed from her faith; the question of Zacharias stemmed from his lack of faith.
Gabriel explained to Mary that she would not need to do anything, that the conception in her womb would be the result of God’s miraculous intervention It was to be a miraculous virgin conception. Therefore, the child will be called the “Son of God” (v. 35). As a further word of encouragement to Mary, Gabriel informed her that her elderly relative, Elizabeth, was in her sixth month of pregnancy, which bore testimony to the fact that nothing is impossible with God (vv. 36-37).
Mary’s response is a marvelous testimony to her faith in God and her submission to His will:
“Behold the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (v. 38kjv)
The affirmation of God's words in our heart is what brings about it's a manifestation on the earth! We affirm God's word in our hearts in other to confirm it's a reality on the earth.
Zecharias didn't ask for what to do to see God's word to come to pass, Zecharias asked for a sign and instead of getting a sign he became the sign. When the people saw him dumbstruck they knew he had seen a vision and that something great was in the offing!
Asking for a sign from God is a sign of unbelief in itself. The greatest sign of what God will do is the sign from the word, God's word is enough a sign because on the word of God rides the integrity of God and His faithfulness! God never fails because his word never fails!
Read full blog here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book Of Luke - Luke 1
