The Word This Week
Luke 1:1…
The Gospel of Luke is where we find the most complete telling of the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world.
How fascinating we first learn the story of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the form of the introduction of Jesus’ birth follows the same form as His introduction into ministry life at 30 years of age.
We must remember there have been 400 years since God last spoke to His people through the prophet Malachi. Since our nation is presently 248 years old, we have some comprehension of just how long 400 years really is. Those two blank pages in your Bible between the Old Testament and the New Testament represent and serious slice of time God has chosen to remain silent.
We are introduced first to the man Luke is writing his Gospel to – a man by the name of Theophilus. Many people speculate Theophilus may have actually been the man who owned Luke, as it seems very likely Luke was a slave. He evidently had a fondness for Theophilus, who must have been a benevolent owner. It is known Luke was a physician, and again it is very likely Theophilus recognized Luke’s abilities and paid for Luke’s training to be a medical doctor. We also learn later in the Book of Acts, (also authored by Luke,) that Theophilus either set Luke free, or at least allowed Luke to travel with the Apostle Paul. Luke’s recordings of the events that took place during the early days of the Church have become foundational to the Church.
In the Old Testament we read of many supernatural births - children given to those either barren or well beyond child-bearing years. (Isaac, Jacob, and Samson to name a few,) and so this is a pattern of drawing attention to the supernatural work of God well-established by God.
The birth of John and the birth of Christ are both clearly supernatural – designed by God to bring great attention to their births in their day, and great wonder to us in ours.
So after 400 silent years, God chooses a faithful priest named Zacharias to announce His glorious intervention into the world – this time to bring about not just a covering of the sin of His people – but the end of it.
Pastor Bill
The Gospel of Luke is where we find the most complete telling of the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world.
How fascinating we first learn the story of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the form of the introduction of Jesus’ birth follows the same form as His introduction into ministry life at 30 years of age.
We must remember there have been 400 years since God last spoke to His people through the prophet Malachi. Since our nation is presently 248 years old, we have some comprehension of just how long 400 years really is. Those two blank pages in your Bible between the Old Testament and the New Testament represent and serious slice of time God has chosen to remain silent.
We are introduced first to the man Luke is writing his Gospel to – a man by the name of Theophilus. Many people speculate Theophilus may have actually been the man who owned Luke, as it seems very likely Luke was a slave. He evidently had a fondness for Theophilus, who must have been a benevolent owner. It is known Luke was a physician, and again it is very likely Theophilus recognized Luke’s abilities and paid for Luke’s training to be a medical doctor. We also learn later in the Book of Acts, (also authored by Luke,) that Theophilus either set Luke free, or at least allowed Luke to travel with the Apostle Paul. Luke’s recordings of the events that took place during the early days of the Church have become foundational to the Church.
In the Old Testament we read of many supernatural births - children given to those either barren or well beyond child-bearing years. (Isaac, Jacob, and Samson to name a few,) and so this is a pattern of drawing attention to the supernatural work of God well-established by God.
The birth of John and the birth of Christ are both clearly supernatural – designed by God to bring great attention to their births in their day, and great wonder to us in ours.
So after 400 silent years, God chooses a faithful priest named Zacharias to announce His glorious intervention into the world – this time to bring about not just a covering of the sin of His people – but the end of it.
Pastor Bill