Luke 6:17-26 - Plain speaking

This is sometimes called the "Sermon on the Plain", contrasting it with the sermon on the mount. Many people had come to Jesus, both to hear Him teach and to be healed of their diseases. Evil spirits were also cast out, and everyone wanted to touch Jesus. Power was flowing from Christ, and this was power to heal. People knew who was the source of the power.

Jesus then gives a list of beatitudes, which are very similar to those in Matthew, but with a less explicitly spiritual emphasis than in Matthew. For instance, instead of saying "poor in spirit", it simply says "poor". The key point is that there is an overturning of the natural order of things. The kingdom of God is at hand and this makes things different, it makes us different. Our natural circumstances may leave a lot to be desired, may even be very dire, but when the Kingdom comes everything changes.

There is also blessing for those who are hated or persecuted. We live in a time when our society is increasingly anti-Christian. We do not yet suffer the violence that Christians in some parts of the world suffer, but our society is ever more anti-Christian. So we need to remember these verses.

Those who seem to do well by societies measures should watch out. Now this is not a message saying riches are bad, they are not. But we need to judge our lives by kingdom standards and to seek God's riches, not worldly riches.

Luke 6:12-16 - Appointing apostles

We have read earlier of Jesus calling some of His first disciples, now we read of Him appointing apostles. When we are called to follow Jesus there is no guarantee of any "position" in the kingdom except that of a son and a servant, and it does not matter. My identity is in who Christ is, is His love for me, in His forgiveness of my sins, in my adoption as a son. 

Jesus went up a mountainside to pray before making the final decision. Prayer is one of the many recurring themes in Luke's gospel. 

The twelve are then listed. Now let us note something about this twelve. One of them would betray Jesus, one was repeatedly doubting, one would deny Jesus, and all of them would fail in Jesus' hour of need, along with various other failings and wrong attitudes showing themselves along the way. Was God's choice wrong? Absolutely not. In adverts for jobs of any significance there are usually a long list of qualities and qualifications needed, and essentially they are looking for superman, a perfect employee. Of course they never actually get this perfect employee. God knows who we are and what we are like, and His plans are built around dealing with our sinfulness and imperfections (of which there are many). We also need to bear this in mind when we work and live with people. Your wife is not perfect, your children are not perfect, your pastor is not perfect, anyone who works for you is not perfect. Most of all you and I are not perfect. This will cause many frustrations, and at times acute heartache, but the kingdom of God is designed to work with imperfect and sinful people.

Luke 6:6-11 - Sabbath Confrontations : Part 2

Luke now continues the tale of the Sabbath confrontations. Jesus was teaching in a synagogue and there was a man there with a shrivelled hand. Before we look at the Sabbath aspect of all this, it is worth noting that teaching and healing went together with Jesus, and indeed in the apostolic ministry. We so easily separate them. We have churches who focus on teaching, others that focus on healing. We have teaching meetings and healing meetings. In God's eyes the two go together.

The Pharisees were looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus. Notice that they have no real concern for the man with the shrivelled hand. This is a classic symptom of legalism, we forget that people are people.

Jesus knew exactly what the Pharisees were thinking so He faced the issue head on by calling the man forward to stand up in front of everyone. 

Then He asked the crucial question that went to the heart of the matter, "Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath, to save life or destroy it?". You see, as far as the Pharisees were concerned the Sabbath was a burden, as far as God was concerned it was a day of healing and restoration. I do not personally favour a legalistic approach to the Sabbath, but the Sabbath principle is important. We need Sabbath times when we rest from our labours, knowing that we are utterly dependent upon God for everything. Then those times can be times when God restores and heals us as only He knows how.

Jesus then told the man to stretch out his hand. The man did so and was immediately healed. Instead of delighting in the good that was done, the Pharisees were furious and looked for what they might do to Jesus.

Luke 6:1-5 - Sabbath Confrontations : Part 1

We now get the first of the Sabbath confrontations. The Sabbath was a central part of the Jewish religion, and we are wrong if we think it no longer has any significance. It appears in one of the Ten Commandments, appears in many parts of the Law and is referred to by numerous prophets. Yet the Pharisees had it all wrong. Today we tend to fall into one of two extreme camps. There are a few who adopt a very religious attitude towards the Sabbath (though of course it is actually they apply it all to Sunday now). The majority think it has no real importance, except perhaps being the day we go to church. Both of these views are mistaken. So let's see how Jesus viewed the Sabbath.

First there is the argument over the disciples eating grain. There was nothing wrong with this in itself. The Law allowed people to take the wheat from the edges of fields. The problem was that they were doing this on the Sabbath.  Jesus pointed them to an incident from David's life (1 Sam 21:6) where the Law had been broken. Jesus seems to be pointing against an over legalistic interpretation of the Law. Moreover, the Old Testament itself pointed towards the truth that would be revealed in Christ. 

Jesus then declares Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. This is quite an amazing claim, and makes Him equal to God. So the attention is placed firmly on Christ Himself. When we have an excessive focus on a particular ritual or aspect of religion it is often a sign that we are avoiding God Himself. The Pharisees needed to realise who Jesus was, there concern about the Sabbath was all part of their ploy to avoid confronting their own sin and who God really is. We need to beware of the same tendency in ourselves, for it is a very human tendency.

Luke 5:33-39 - Something new

This follows on immediately after the previous words by Jesus about the need for repentance. The Pharisees asked about fasting. This is a common human tactic of trying to avoid the real issue. The real issue that the Pharisees, like everyone else, needed to face up to was the need for them to repent. Instead they tried to shift the focus by raising the issue of Jesus' disciples not fasting. Both the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees often fasted, Jesus' disciples apparently did not.

Jesus' reply is that the Pharisees failed to understand the times. The Son of God was here, this was no time for fasting. Something different and far greater was happening. Now Jesus is not saying that fasting is wrong, indeed His disciples would fast after He had gone, but not this day. We need to understand the times, and we need to have all our habits and rituals in perspective. They may be perfectly good and helpful, but sometimes they need to be set aside for something greater.

Something new was happening and the old ways could not contain it. If new wine was put into old wineskins they will burst. A new way of living was required. But people find it difficult to abandon the old ways. It is a fact of life that people are always holding on to the past. We need to know when to let go.

Luke 5:27-31 - A gospel of repentance

There is a progression in the incidents that Luke is relating.  He has shown the centrality of forgiveness, and the healings illustrate the reality of the forgiveness that Jesus brings. Now we see how this forgiveness spreads to people. Tax collectors collected money for the hated Roman rulers, they also usually took a cut for themselves as well. So tax collectors were a despised group of people. Yet Jesus goes and calls Matthew to follow Him. Matthew then invited lots of his tax collector friends. We are meant to take the good news to the environment within which we live. 

Not surprisingly the Pharisees were scandalised. They questioned Jesus' disciples on why Jesus ate with such people. Although it was the disciples that the Pharisees questioned, it was Jesus who answered. His answer is that it is the sick who need a doctor, and it is "not the righteous, but sinners" who He has come to call to repentance. This can be taken on two levels. First, because the tax collectors were such sinners, they were precisely the sort of people who Jesus should be meeting with. Secondly, it can be taken as meaning that the Pharisees needed to realise that they themselves were not righteous and they too needed to repent.

Quite probably Jesus intended it to be taken in both ways. Note that Jesus has come to call people to repentance.

Luke 5:12-26 - Healing and forgiveness

Leprosy as well as being a terrible disease, rendered a man unclean. The man knew that Jesus could heal him, but was not sure that He would be willing to do so. This mirrors to some extent how we can often feel. We know that God can do stuff, but we do not believe He is willing to do so. Jesus not only declared that He was willing , but touched him as well, showing that He was willing as well. Touching a leper was something that simply was not done. The man was immediately healed. Jesus told him to go to the  priest.  This was not simply to confirm his healing, but also to allow him to be reintegrated into society. He also had to follow the law of Moses. Luke is showing that Jesius wwas not against the Law.

This resulted in even more crowds following Jesus. However, Jesus made sure that He had times of solitude with God.

"On one of those days"  shows that Luke is explaining more of what was happening and what it all meant, it's significance. This is why the presence of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law is noted here. This was about much more than just healings. Moreover, as Jesus would say later, physical illness is not the biggest problem.

People had come from all around, even from Jerusalem. Luke makes it clear that it is the power of the Lord that enabled Jesus to heal. One

group of friends were very enterprising and made a hole in the roof so that they could get their friend to Jesus. Jesus saw their faith and declared the man's sins forgiven. Now why did He do this? Their faith was for the man to be healed. Maybe it was because of the connection between sickness and sin, so Jesus is assuring the man that He is accepted by God.

This created a great problem, for only God can forgive sin. Jesus knew the scribes were thinking this, so to demonstrate His authority Jesus heals the man physically as well. Not surprisingly everyone was amazed by all this.

Luke 5:1-11 - Disciples

The Lake of Gennesaret is the Sea of Galilee. Once again the people were crowding round Him listening to the word of God. So what attracted so many people to listen to the word of God? Several things:

• The authority of His teaching
• The healings and miracles
• The quality of His life

In churches today we tend to focus on at most two of these things, we need all three to be truly Biblical. While the crowds were gathering Jesus was focused on the mission, and part of that was to gather disciples. That is people who would follow Him, who would truly learn from His life, and be transformed by Him. We too need to do the same.

So after preaching Jesus gives Simon a practical revelation. Jesus used Simon's lack of success at fishing as a way in to reveal something of who He was. Jesus told Peter to put out into the deep water. Simon was very dubious about the point of this, but obeyed Jesus anyway. Then he had a miracle catch. Clearly it is better if we obey with full faith, full commitment and with joy. However, there will be times (many times?) when the best we can do is obey despite all our misgivings. Even when we do this there can still be miracles.

The miracle convicted Simon Peter of his sin and wanted Jesus to go away from Him. Jesus commanded him not to be afraid and announced that his life was about to take a radical new direction. So Peter, James and John left everything to follow Jesus. Note that the call did not come out of the blue, but there had been prior involvement of Jesus in their lives, this was the culmination of that involvement.

Luke 4:31-44 - Preaching with Power

Jesus continued His ministry and taught the people of Capernaum on the Sabbath. His teaching amazed people. There are some who say that preaching is no longer relevant today, this is absolute nonsense. But there is enormous difference between "preaching" that is just the product of human minds, and real preaching which is based on the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the product of a life that knows God.

In the synagogue there was a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. Preaching is part of spiritual warfare and will stir things ups. Now look what happened here. The word of God was being preached (and in this case the word of God was preached by the Word of God). This stirred up trouble from a demonic force. The demon was dealt with, and the man was set free. The word will stir things up, it will lead to strongholds being broken, but people will be set free.

The preaching of Jesus had power, and Jesus had power. The authority of Jesus amazed the people for the evil spirits had to obey Him.

After this Jesus went to Simon's house. This was Simon-Peter, and his mother-in-law was ill. They asked for Jesus' help, He rebuked the illness and she was healed. Then she began to serve Jesus. When we invite Jesus into our lives He makes a difference to all sorts of events in life.

The people had heard and see of the things Jesus was doing and so brought all the sick people to Him. Jesus laid hands on all of them and they were healed.

Many demons were also cast out. The demons knew who He was, but Jesus rebuked them. Why did He do this? Because simply knowing the "fact" that Jesus was the Messiah would not help the people at this point. There conception of Messiah was deeply flawed, they saw freedom from the Romans as their greatest need and did not understand what the Messiah really needed to do. They did not understand that they needed to be set free from sin and to receive forgiveness.

Jesus tried to get away from the crowds. Note that the focus of His mission at this point was preaching the good news.

Luke 4:14-30 - Jesus announces His mission

Following His temptation Jesus returned to Galilee "in the power of the Holy Spirit". Remember that Luke had seen the power of the Holy Spirit at work through his involvement in the events in Acts. He knew the importance of the Holy Spirit. News about Jesus spread. This was at least partly due to the work of John the Baptist in preparing the way and getting people to expect Jesus. Jesus devoted Himself to teaching in the synagogues.

Jesus then went to His home town of Nazareth where He announced who He really was and what He had come to do. He took the scroll and read from Isaiah 61, declaring that He was anointed by the Holy Spirit and had come to proclaim good news and set people free. This seemed to get a favourable reaction, but then some remarked that He was just Joseph's son. Matthew 4:23 records that Jesus had been doing many healings as well as teaching. The people apparently were not seeing many miracles here, but this was a consequence of their lack of faith. Jesus points out that this pattern has been observed before. Elijah and Elisha were both sent to other people to heal them. God never fits into any neat pattern that we try to put on Him. This angered the people (see how quickly there attitude has changed) and they want to kill Jesus but cannot.

Luke 3:21-4:13 - Baptism and Testing

Luke gives far less information on the baptism of Jesus than Matthew did. He simply records that Jesus was baptised too without any comment on the reluctance that John had in baptising Jesus. The key point for Luke is that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, and a voice came from heaven declaring that Jesus was the Son of God and God was pleased with Him.

Jesus was about thirty years old at this point. Luke then gives a genealogy of Jesus, working backwards from Joseph. There are a number of key figures in this genealogy, including David, Isaac, Noah and Adam. 

Immediately following this Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There He was tempted for forty days.

Jesus ate nothing, and so was hungry at the end of the forty days. Then the devil came to temp Him. First the devil tries to get Him to prove He is the Son of God by turning stone into bread, playing on the fact that Jesus was hungry. Jesus replies using Scripture (Deut 8:3), saying that man cannot live by bread alone. The verse in Deuteronomy goes on to say that man cannot live by bread alone. 

The the devil took Him up to a high place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and promised to give Him all the splendour and authority of the world if Jesus would only worship Satan. Of course, Satan did not actually have the right to give this. Jesus answers by quoting the command to worship only God.  If we keep this maxim it will keep us safe from an awful lot of trouble.

Seeing Jesus' commitment to the Lord, Satan seeks to play on this by getting Him to throw Himself down and let God rescue Him. Jesus is having none of it, stating that we should not put God to the test.

Then the devil left Him.

Luke 3:7-20 - Repentance is Good News

We are often told of the need to be relevant and accessible in our preaching and teaching. Well, John the Baptist was neither. He lived as a bit of a weirdo, at least in our terms, though less so in his own times. He called the crowds a "brood of vipers", there are not many book on preaching that commend this as an opening gambit for a sermon. Now, this is not to say we should all aim to become the nuttiest preachers we can, nor should we ignore all the advice on making messages understandable and attractive. But we do need to always remember that it is the Holy Spirit who makes us effective, if indeed we are effective. 

Next we should note the centrality of repentance to the message. The root of the gospel is the need for us to repent. We talk a lot about it being the love of God, but how is that love shown? It is shown in His forgiving us for our sins, and sending the Holy Spirit to renew our lives, to start the work of making us evermore Christlike. For this to happen we need first to acknowledge our sin, then we need to turn from our sin and turn to Christ, ie we need to repent. And the "deal" on offer is that we will be forgiven and God will work in our lives to make us more and more like Christ, ie according to His agenda, not ours. 

In our own lives if we make progress over the next year then we can be sure that there will have be some repentance involved at some point (probably several). The attitude of much of the church to the world and its ways is all too often to say "there, there now, God loves you". This is not a Biblical message, it is not declaring God's love.

Note now that the people responded! The world will not respond to a "nice" wish-washy message. If we preach the truth some will persecute us and some will turn to Christ and be saved. 

John then gives direct practical advice on what repentance means. For each one of us there are actions that can take that demonstrate the reality of our repentance. Then in verse 15 we see that the people were expecting a messiah, the events surrounding the birth of John and Jesus were contributory factors in building that expectation. They wondered if John was the messiah. He knew that he was not, and he also knew that repentance was not the end of the matter, but only the beginning. Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire.

See that it says that John proclaimed the good news. Repentance is good news! John was also not afraid to declare the truth to the powerful, and this would later cost him his life.

Luke 3:1-7 - John the Baptist

We now jump even further ahead and get right into the heart of the story with John the Baptist preparing the way. Luke has outlined the birth stories of both John and Jesus, showing that the events that happened did not just happen to two random people, or people who ceased the moment, but for something that had been long in preparation. Indeed, the events had been in preparation since before the beginning of time. The events outlined here probably happened in around 25,26 AD. In 1961 archaeologists unearthed a stone step that bore the inscription "Pontius Pilate, Prefect". Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. Caiaphas was the official high priest. Annas had earlier been deposed by Rome, but was recognised by the Jews, hence Luke mentions both names.

Luke, like Mark, quotes from Isaiah 40:3-5. Before a king visited a place the roads were improved to make the journey of the king better. John would prepare the way be preaching a message of repentance. It is still true today that we make it easier to get to know God if we repent. We need to apply this message to ourselves. When we are struggling, or God seems miles away, it may be that we need to repent of something. We also need to apply it to the world. The world needs to repent. We should not be going along with the ways of the world, for the way of the world leads only to death.

Being Christians in a Hostile Society - Time to Toughen Up

You can find a sermon of mine on this topic here:
http://gatechurch.co.uk/media/ian-mackie-sunday-18th-august-2013/

Luke 2:41-52 - Jesus at the Temple

We now have a jump of about 12 years to the time when Jesus was taken to the temple. Notice that Luke follows a more systematic coverage of Jesus' life. Jewish males were required to attend three festivals and their families normally accompanied them. The three festivals were Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (Exodus 23:14-17; Deut 16:16). 

Unbeknown to His parents, Jesus stayed behind in the temple, and it was a day before His parents realised Jesus was not with them. This may seem strange to us, but they would travel much more as big groups, and were not so obsessed with the nuclear family as we are today. In the end it took them three days to find Jesus. When they did find Him He was sitting among the rabbis and teachers of the Law. Jesus was listening to them and asking questions, and they were amazed at the depth of His understanding. Don't you wish we knew what sorts of questions He had actually asked?

His family were understandably upset because of the pain Jesus' disappearance had caused them.

Jesus said it was perfectly normal for Him to be in His Father's house. Note that it is clear that Jesus knew exactly who He was. Some people talk about Jesus gradually becoming aware of who He was or what His mission was. There is precious little Biblical evidence for this. The Biblical evidence at every point is that Jesus knew exactly who He was and what He was here for.

Jesus went with His parents and lived in obedience, growing in favour with God and with man. Note that Jesus did not become proud.

Luke 2:22-40 - At the Temple

Forty days after childbirth a mother had to wait 40 days to be purified from the bleeding (Lev 12). Luke is being careful to show in this part and the preceding verse that all the requirements of the Jewish Law were fulfilled. Jesus came to fulfil the Law, not do away with it (Matt 5:17). If they could not afford a lamb, then a pigeon and two doves was an acceptable sacrifice, this indicates that Mary and Joseph were not wealthy.

A man called Simeon was at the temple. Luke notes that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Messiah. So we see the emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit. There is also the implicit idea that the Holy Spirit is divine. The Spirit urged Simeon to go to the temple courts when Jesus was there. He sees Jesus and praised God.

Simeon recognises Jesus as the Messiah. Remember that Jesus is just a baby at this point, so it is the Holy Spirit who reveals this to Simeon. Now that he has seen the salvation of God Simeon is happy to be dismissed by the Lord. Notice the global nature of God's salvation. Jesus is the glory of the people of Israel and the light of salvation to all nations. Simeon then prophecies to Mary how difficult things will be. So Simeon sees the suffering and the glory.

A prophetess, Anna, was also there., she was very old and had been a widow for seven years. So she devoted herself to prayer and fasting. She too spoke about the child and saw Him bringing redemption.

There is then a twelve year gap in the tale, except for us to know that Jesus became strong, was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. When we talk of the grace of God we often think of it in terms of a passive thing, our sins being forgiven. Clearly it includes this, but there is much more. Jesus had no sins that needed forgiving. The grace of God is also an equipping, enabling, empowering thing, as well as a forgiving thing.

Luke 2:1-21 - Birth of Jesus

Ceasar Augustus was the first Roman Emperor, and reigned from 31 BC to 14 AD) and under his reign the Roman Empire included the entire Mediterranean world. Quirinius has two periods of office, 6-4 BC and 6-9 AD. This is the first census. Their "own town" is probably the town of ancestral origin. So Joseph took Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, this would be about a three day journey. Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph and was pregnant. Luke does not mention the difficulty that Joseph had in dealing with the situation, which Matthew does refer to. While there the baby was born, and we get the famous words "no room at the inn".

While Matthew refers to kings coming to visit Jesus, Luke refers to the shepherds coming to visit. Luke is more interested in the fact the Jesus was reaching out to all sectors of society, and all parts of the world. A great host of angels appeared to the shepherd and the angel of the Lord spoke to them, announcing that the Messiah had come to them. 

After the angels had gone the shepherd resolved to go to Bethlehem. They found Jesus and then spread the word. So again, the sense of expectation was raised in the area. It would be almost thirty years before things really started to happen, and to us that seems like an age away, but we will see later that when John the Baptist and Jesus did appear there was indeed an expectation of a Messiah.

Mary pondered all that was happening. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, in accordance with Jewish Law.

Luke 1:57-80 - John is born

In the course of time the baby was born. Zechariah had obviously communicated to his wife that the child was to be called John. This surprised the people who expected the child to be named after his father. Elizabeth told them otherwise, and Zechariah confirmed the name. At that point Zechariah was enabled to speak again. Notice that he began by praising God. Zechariah was focused on God rather than himself.

All the events surrounding the birth of John were a sign to the people that he was going to be someone special. The hand of the Lord had been involved in John's life from before the moment of conception. God was also preparing the way for John to prepare the way.

Zechariah then bursts out in song himself. Zechariah knew that God was coming to redeem His people. How has God done this? By raising up a "horn of salvation". Horn is a symbol of strength and we do well to remember that Jesus is a God of strength. He will bring salvation from all who hate us. This is all in fulfilment of the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2,3.

Zechariah knew that John was to be a prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus. He would preach a gospel of repentance. Forgiveness of sins is central to the gospel. This means that first we must acknowledge our sins, only then can we receive forgiveness. We see in current debates a refusal to acknowledge sin, and some think they are being kind when they say that sexual immorality is not a sin, they are not being kind, rather they are denying people the chance of salvation.

John then grew up becoming strong in spirit. 

Luke 1:39-56 - Mary and Elizabeth

Mary went off to the hill country and visited Elizabeth and Zechariah. A notable feature of Luke is the prominence of women in his account. When Elizabeth heard Mary the baby in her womb leapt and was filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a fulfilment of the early promise to Zechariah in 1:15. It is also significant that the Holy Spirit is associated with Jesus. Jesus came so that we could receive the Holy Spirit. Luke places great emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth too was filled with the Spirit, and she declared a blessing over Mary.

Mary then bursts out in song. There are some similarities between this song and that of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10). This song is known as the magnificat. It declares the salvation of God. The fulfilment of God's plans is about to come into being. Mary is full of praise because the Lord has done great things for her, this blessing then spreads out to Israel and to many nations. God is going to overturn the power structures and set the oppressed free. His promises are going to be fulfilled.

Luke 1:26-38 - Virgin Birth

We now read of the birth of Jesus being foretold, and the same angel Gabriel is sent on the mission. Both here and in Matthew the birth of Jesus is clearly presented as a virgin birth. Now some people seem to have a problem with this, however I really cannot see what there problem is. Let's look at a few of the facts.

• Matthew and Luke are quite clear that the people knew that "virgin births" do not normally happen! Any notion that they were just stupid people who didn't really know how life works are totally without foundation.
• The Bible clearly presents the birth of Jesus as a virgin birth.
• If God created the whole universe and everything in it, then a virgin birth should not be beyond His capabilities.
• Most importantly, we need to consider what is happening here. God Himself is coming to earth as a man. Jesus is fully God and fully man. So it is not surprising if things are a bit unusual!

Mary is troubled when the angel appears, but the angel urges her not to be afraid. The angel then tells her that she is going to give birth to a son who will be Son of the Most High. He will reign over Israel for ever. Jesus is the king Israel was always meant to have.

Mary, not surprisingly, asks "how can this be?". She is not questioning that it will be, just wondering how on earth it will happen. Gabriel tells her that it will be by the Holy Spirit that she conceives. He tells her about Elizabeth and assures her that God's word will be fulfilled.

A contrast is often drawn between Zechariah's unbelief and Mary's faith. Actually the dividing line between the two is very slim indeed in my opinion. There is a relatively small step from doubt to belief.

Mary submits to the word of God. In all this we do well to remember that Mary was probably a very young woman, hardly much more than a girl.

Luke 1:5-25 - Dumbstruck

King Herod of Judea, or Herod the Great, reigned from 37-4 BC. The time here when John the Baptist was born was probably 6 or 7 BC. Zechariah and Elizabeth both came from priestly families, and Zechariah himself was a priest. They were righteous people who lived Godly lives, but they could not have children. This is a clear example that not being able to have children is not necessarily a sign of God's judgement. Moreover, they were both getting on. However, God loves to do the impossible, and a significant number of key people in the Bible were born to couples who, without God's intervention, could not have children. 

Zechariah was carrying out his priestly duties and was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord to present incense. Now the casting of lots was a random process, yet God was still in control. This has implications for our 

understanding of creation. Just because a process is, as far as we can tell, random, does not mean that God cannot use the process.

While in the temple an angel of the Lord appeared beside Zechariah. Not surprisingly Zechariah was afraid. Zechariah and Elizabeth had been praying to God. Maybe they had given up hope, but God had not forgotten them. We should not stop praying, we should not give up hope, and we should continue serving God. The angel announced that they would indeed have a child and were to name him John.  He was not to drink wine and he would be filled with the Spirit, even before he was born.  He would be a prophet in the line of Elijah and would cause many to turn back to God. Verse 17 is a clear reference to Malachi 4:5. 

Zechariah inquires as to how this can happen. The angel then announces that he is Gabriel, and that Zechariah will be struck dumb until John is born because of his unbelief. 

The people realised Zechariah had had an encounter with God when he came out struck dumb. Elizabeth became pregnant and rejoiced that her disgrace had been taken away. Childlessness was viewed as a curse in those days.

Luke 1:1-4 - Based on truth

The introduction to Luke follows the classical Greek pattern of a historical work. This gospel is a serious attempt to give an accurate account of the events that happened around Jesus' life. Many others had also undertaken to write accounts, Luke wants to give an authoritative one. Luke's account is based on eyewitness reports of the events that happened, ie they saw the events first hand. This is in stark contrast to the Gnostic gospels (eg gospel of Thomas etc). Periodically there are ill founded news reports about hidden or suppressed "gospels", these were usually written many many years after the events, and read completely differently from the four gospels that we have. The gospels, indeed the Bible as a whole, is very different from the Koran. There is no comparison between the Bible and the Koran. 

Luke carried out an exhaustive and meticulous investigation. The inspiration of the Bible and human effort are not in contradiction to each other, but go hand in hand. 

Theophilus apparently was a believer, Luke wanted him to have a reliable account of what had happened so that he would know his faith was based on truth. This brings out a number of vital points. Faith is not, contrary to popular misconceptions, believing something despite the evidence. Faith is believing the consequences of the evidence. We also see that Theophilus had faith, then he sought to deepen that faith through a better understanding and appreciation of what it all meant. Faith does not require full understanding, it is faith in the person of Jesus Christ, but that does not mean that we do not seek to deepen our understanding.

Luke - Introduction

This is the longest of the four gospels. Luke himself was not one of the twelve disciples, but he is mentioned in Acts. He carried out a detailed investigation of the events and clearly states that his purpose was to write an accurate account of the events surrounding Jesus' life. This does not mean that it is a history book in the sense that we have them today, but it does mean that we can assume that the events are accurate.

This gospel is written very much with the Greek world in mind, which is why Luke explains a number of Jewish characteristics. The style of the book is similar to Greek and Roman historical and literary works.

Luke places a great emphasis on Jesus' compassion for the poor and the weak. This is in stark contrast to the Roman emphasis on personal achievement and self-fulfilment. This is a message we need to take home today as well, for our own society so stresses self-fulfilment as the ultimate goal. 

There is also an emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit, right from the conception of Christ to the giving of the Holy Spirit at the end, and at various points in between as well. Prayer and the importance of women are also prominent themes in the book.

Nahum 3 - Nineveh's end

Nineveh was about to be destroyed not on a whim of God, but because of all her sin, because of all the blood guilt that she had built up over the years. Violence and oppression lived in Nineveh. All this was under the guise of a prostitute. In Revelation, Babylon is likened to a prostitute as well. What does all this mean? Assyria had sold herself to empire building. In the same way the West can be said to have bought the services of the prostitute of wealth, in doing so she has been willing to commit all sorts of atrocities. We are willing to exploit the poor in order to enhance our wealth. 

Now understand this very clearly. Wealth is not the problem. The Bible is clear that if mankind had followed God's ways then he would prosper. If Israel had followed God's ways she would have prospered. The problem is making wealth an idol, ie the love of money. This then leads us to do all sorts of wrong things. We must worship no one and nothing other than God Himself.

So Nineveh would be disgraced and left in ruins. Just as nations that she had conquered had been exiled, so Assyria would be exiled. All her strength would be of no avail at the onslaught. She would be cut down by fire and sword. Her merchants had multiplied, but like locusts they would fly away. In the West we have multiplied merchants, but now they have gone and many of them pay no taxes. 

Nineveh could do nothing to avert disaster, and when it came no one would show any sorrow. 

Nahum 2 - Assyria to be laid desolate

The prophet now describes the attack. Note that he does not just say "You will be attacked", but paints a vivid picture of the event, making it all the more real. In the end it was alliance of the Babylonians and Medes who attacked Assyria.

The destruction on Assyria was not the goal in itself, rather it was the restoration of Israel. She had been  laid waste, but God would restore her splendour. 

The picture of the attack is then made all the more vivid. Nineveh would try to save herself by gathering her troops, but all these efforts would prove futile. All her wealth would be plundered, and many of her people would be sent into exile. In short, she would suffer the same things that she had inflicted on many other nations.

Verses 11-13 contrast what Assyria would become with what she had been. All this would happen because the Lord was against her.

Nahum 1:7-15 - Caring Judgement

Now we read of the goodness of the Lord and that is a refuge in times of trouble. Some people find it hard to reconcile the gentleness of God and the wrathful side of God. However, the two go together. If God is to care for the downtrodden, for those who are oppressed, then it is necessary for Him to work against the oppressor, to bring judgement upon the wicked. Indeed we get this very feature in v7b, 8. God cares for those who trust in Him, but He will be an overwhelming flood for Nineveh. 

For evil people plot against the Lord and against His people. So should God sit back and do nothing? That would be truly evil. 

Verse ll portrays the evil of Assyria. This is possibly a reference to King Ashurbanipal, to whom Manasseh paid tribute. 

Assyria had a large army and numerous allies, but this would be of no use to her. No one can stand against the Lord. Judah had been subject to God's judgement. Indeed the only reason that Assyria had been able to have any success was because of Judah's sin. If Judah had repented sooner Assyria would have been defeated sooner. It is worth remembering that in a battle our strongest weapon is repentance (Isaiah 30:15).

Assyria and all her idols would be destroyed. This would happen because they are vile. False religions are not quaint curiosities.

Verse 15 speaks of a time of perfect and everlasting peace.

Nahum 1:1-6 - Introduction and the wrath of God

This prophecy is largely concerning the destruction of Nineveh, which happened at the hands of the Babylonians in 612 BC, and so was given at some stage before that date. Assyria had been the regional superpower and had caused much trouble to Israel. She had conquered the northern kingdom (Israel), and had reached the gates of Jerusalem (Judah), before Judah was miraculously saved, as recorded in Isaiah 36-39. These attacks on Israel and Judah had happened as a result of her sin.

Little is known about Nahum himself. There is no other mention of him in the OT, but his name does appear in Luke's genealogy (Luke 3:25). The name Nahum means "consolation".

The prophecy itself starts with the detailing of some of the attributes of God. Our modern ears often recoil at talk of God's wrath or jealousy, and we try to explain away these terms. We would do better to face up to them. First, we need to realise that our objection to the terms is partly coloured by the fact that we only see them in form they appear in sinful people, and jealousy and anger in a sinful man are almost always sinful attitudes. In God there is no sin, and these emotions take on a very different hue. This is why Paul says vengeance belongs to the Lord, it is not safe to leave it in human hands.

What is God jealous of and what is He avenging? He is jealous for Israel and is avenging the unrestrained violence that Assyria inflicted upon Israel and Judah.

We cannot sin against God and it have no consequence. Then we read that God is slow to anger.In human terms wrath and anger are usually associated with an uncontrolled rage. In God's case they are utterly rational and based on reason and justice. And God is a God of power, no nation, no individual, can withstand Him.

Psalm 150 - Praise Him in the sanctuary

This is the last of the psalms, and fittingly is another psalm of praise. Indeed it could be viewed as a picture of praise in the new heaven and new earth. We are called to praise God in His sanctuary and in His mighty heavens. After Christ's return we will see God as He really is, no longer will we see Him as through a glass darkly, but will see Him face to face.

Then we will see the truth of all His acts of power and His all surpassing greatness. There will be an outburst of praise, on all sorts of instruments and with dancing and a loud noise. Everything that has breath will praise the Lord.

So what about now? We should look forward with faith. Today we receive confused messages because sin is still in the world, and sin is still in us. But we should filter the messages, knowing that the end result is that we will see the faithfulness of the Lord.

Psalm 149 - A Psalm of Praise for God's People

This is another psalm of praise, but is directed at how God's people should praise Him.

The starting point is, as always, simple: Praise the Lord. Then His faithful people are called to sing a new song. The Lord makes our lives different, He brings salvation, restoration, regeneration. He makes our lives new.

We have a personal relationship with the Lord, so we should rejoice in Him. And this worship is to be exuberant. And why is it to be so? It is because the Lord takes delight in His people. Worship is actually a two way process. We worship Him, He delights in us.

Moreover He crowns the humble with victory. Remember Jesus said "the meek will inherit the earth". The world teaches us that it is the proud and boastful who will "inherit the earth". This is not true. We are to rejoice in this honour and sing for joy. 

The praise of God is to be on our mouths and a double-edged sword in our hands, the latter is the word of God. With this we are to execute judgement upon the world. Now this concept does not sit easy with us, but it is vital that we get a hold of it. It is definitely not a call for us to use violence of any sort, but we do bring judgement upon the world. We do so by the quality of our lives and by the words that we preach. As Paul says, for some we will be the aroma of life, that is for those who repent and turn to Christ, but to others we will be the stench of death. In the current debates on sexual morality we need to remember that we are here to bring God's word, to present His ways, not to acquiesce to the ways of the world.

Psalm 148 - Let all creation praise Him

Another Psalm of praise, this time starting with a call to all of the cosmos to praise the Lord. The angels too are to praise Him.

Verse 5 gives the fundamental reason why all of creation (and angels are part of creation) is to praise the Lord. It is that we were created by God.

Then the psalmist turns his attention to the earth. All aspects of creation are to praise Him. Natural phenomena, all creatures, all people, including the rulers.

The psalm closes with an allusion to Christ. Horn is a sign of strength, Jesus is the horn that God has raised up for His chosen people.

Psalm 147 - Praise the Lord

Praise again! It is good to praise the Lord, and it is fitting and pleasant to do so. 

In verses 3-7 we see both the universal power of the Lord in keeping the whole universe going, His concern for Israel, and for the humble. He binds up the broken-hearted. Atheists try to reduce the universe to mere physical/material phenomena, futilely seeking to explain everything in pure material terms. In doing so they seek to render our thoughts and emotions as worthless, but in the process they of course render their own thoughts as having no intrinsic value. But more seriously, they render the heart of our being as worthless. God, on the other hand, gives true value to our lives.

At the same time God judges the wicked.

The Lord has concern for all of creation. Extreme environmentalism is an unbiblical idea, but it is equally unbiblical not to have any concern for the environment. The environment is not there just to be exploited. We are to make use of it, but we are also to take care of it.

The world seeks to get us to put faith in human power, even in our own strength. At times we can feel intimidated by the seeming power or wisdom of others. We should not be so, for God does not delight in human strength. Rather He delights in those who fear Him and put their hope in His love.

So we should praise the Lord, and He will strengthen our gates. Ie He will bring blessing and security into our lives.

Then again we get the global power of God, this time in commanding the weather. Finally the Psalmist exults in the fact that God has revealed His law to Israel and to no other nation. Now Israel's failing was that she did not keep the law, and did not show others how to live as God intended. Today we should delight in the fact that God has revealed His ways to us. Sadly much of the church is currently in the process of abandoning God's ways and adopting the world's ways. What fools we are!

Psalm 146 - Praise the Lord

This is another Psalm of praise. Indeed the last few psalms are all predominantly psalms of praise. 
David contrasts praising the Lord to putting our trust in human princes. There are two ways to live life. One is to live it praising and trusting on God. The other is to seek machinations with men, but men cannot save us. When a man dies he is of no further use, and all his plans come to nothing. Better by far to trust in the Living God, the Everlasting Lord. 
Our God is the maker of heaven and earth, and everything in them. Who does it make more sense to praise? The Lord who is the creator of all things, or mere men who are here one minute gone the next?
Our God sets prisoners free, He provides, and He heals. 
He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked. We need to remember this latter aspect as well as the others. For we see the wicked prospering, but this will not go on forever.