John 3.10
John knows he is not the Christ. His time in the desert may have told him that, contemplating Isaiah 40.3, over and over. He may have thought, leveling the mountains, filling the valleys, making the land flat enables the whole world to see the glory of God when He comes. These images are pictures of a world seeing the glory of God at the same time, all over the world.
So John says to them all at once--I baptize you with water...He Himself with baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit and fire were both present at the creation of the universe, Genesis 1.2, 3. Truly, the Holy Spirit and fire can enable one to be born again, as with a new creation. But John also preaches the message of judgment of that same fire when he says--God will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire, 3.17. As in creation, with light comes fire.
This can cause us to contemplate this universe. It is not a flawless valley in which no one ages, no one sins, no one has emotions and ambitions. It is a world which deteriorates if the Lord does not uphold it. It is a universe in which those who believe in God must act in holiness and faith. After all, darkness came before light. Darkness surrounds but light illuminates the soul. This is the world in which we live.
But John's preaching of God's winnowing fork in His hand struck against the wicked acts of Herod and Herodias, his brother's wife. Luke does not narrate the account of Herod's brother Philip, married to Herodias, the daughter of Herodias asking for John's head at the birthday party of Herod, and the imprisonment of John. The situation was probably well known.
Luke wants to end chapter 3 with the family history of Jesus, how Jesus was the descendant of Adam, who was the first son of God. It's important to show that Jesus is in the line of Abraham and David. Therefore, Luke puts the baptism of Jesus last in the chapter, although it probably happened before. Putting the baptism of Jesus like this enables Luke to link the Holy Spirit and fire of John with Jesus' baptism of the Holy Spirit and the dove. That recalls the two doves which were sacrificed when Jesus was at the temple in 2.24.
The dove reveals to everyone there that the Holy Spirit has come to fill Jesus. This pronounces to everyone that the upbringing, the training of Jesus is over. He is now filled with the Spirit, meaning the Trinity is in Him. The voice of the Father comes out of heaven, saying--Thou art My beloved Son in Thee I am well-pleased, 3.22. Luke does not say anything about the voice of the Father heard by everyone there. He does not say how cataclysmic this is that those living standing at a river hear the voice of the Lord God Almighty.
We might remember the role of the dove when Noah sends the dove out after the flood to find dry land. When the dove does not return, Noah knows the dry land is supporting growth. As Noah was a savior for the world at the flood with the dove symbolizing the land is at peace, Jesus will be the savior of the world with the dove symbolizing God is at peace with the world.
Genealogies are significant in the Bible to establish the family and the time from one event to another. For Christians, it is interesting to see how many names we can identify and describe in the family tree of Jesus.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Luke 3
THIS chapter begins with the date, as we've seen Luke use before. Luke locates the rulers who surround Jerusalem and the Jordan River where John will preach and baptize. Tiberias Caesar is in Rome, Pilate is in Judea north of Jerusalem, Herod is in Galilee northeast of Jerusalem, with his brother Philip in Ituraea and Lysanias in Abilene. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests who ruled over the religious life of the city.
We notice the Word of God came to John. The angel had told Zacharias that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit, 1.15, and so he is. John comes to the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This in itself is significant because this means salvation comes to the Jews through repentance and forgiveness, not through just being born a Jew. John has thrown Israel out of a unique relationship to God, saying the Jews come to God as anyone else does, through forgiveness of sins.
John quotes Isaiah 40.3 as meaning that God is coming as a king comes, so that the people must make a way for Him. This will be fulfilled in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem years from now. Then John says it plainly--all flesh shall see the salvation of God, 3.6. Salvation is not just for Israel, but for all flesh. God is showing Himself through Israel to all men and women.
John's sermon extract which Luke has preserved makes all of this obvious. It is not being one of the offspring of Abraham which commends a man to God, it is bringing forth fruit in keeping with repentance. Sin has alienated Israeal from God; they are outside the tabernacle, outside of God. Then John warns the people that the other side of forgiveness is judgment--the axe is already laid to the root of the trees, 3.9. This might remind some of those there at the Jordan of Deuteronomy 28.13-15, where God offers blessings for obedience but curses for disobedience. The axe is already laid at the root.
When those there question John honestly, he tells them what fruit of repentance to bring. This is the application of the Law to the individual, in the spirit of the Law. Many proverbs could be listed to show that John is speaking what God has said before. For instance, when John tells the tax-collectors to take no more than what they have been ordered to, we might recall Proverbs 20.4--
The king gives stability to the land by justice,but a man who takes bribes overthrows it.
Evidently the people took this to heart as fulfilling God's covenant with Israel through repentance and the forgiveness of sins because they became excited over John. They whispered among themselves as to whether John might be the Christ, the Messiah. They recognized that what John was preaching was what the Messiah was expected to say. But John has to tell them all who he is.
THIS chapter begins with the date, as we've seen Luke use before. Luke locates the rulers who surround Jerusalem and the Jordan River where John will preach and baptize. Tiberias Caesar is in Rome, Pilate is in Judea north of Jerusalem, Herod is in Galilee northeast of Jerusalem, with his brother Philip in Ituraea and Lysanias in Abilene. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests who ruled over the religious life of the city.
We notice the Word of God came to John. The angel had told Zacharias that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit, 1.15, and so he is. John comes to the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This in itself is significant because this means salvation comes to the Jews through repentance and forgiveness, not through just being born a Jew. John has thrown Israel out of a unique relationship to God, saying the Jews come to God as anyone else does, through forgiveness of sins.
John quotes Isaiah 40.3 as meaning that God is coming as a king comes, so that the people must make a way for Him. This will be fulfilled in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem years from now. Then John says it plainly--all flesh shall see the salvation of God, 3.6. Salvation is not just for Israel, but for all flesh. God is showing Himself through Israel to all men and women.
John's sermon extract which Luke has preserved makes all of this obvious. It is not being one of the offspring of Abraham which commends a man to God, it is bringing forth fruit in keeping with repentance. Sin has alienated Israeal from God; they are outside the tabernacle, outside of God. Then John warns the people that the other side of forgiveness is judgment--the axe is already laid to the root of the trees, 3.9. This might remind some of those there at the Jordan of Deuteronomy 28.13-15, where God offers blessings for obedience but curses for disobedience. The axe is already laid at the root.
When those there question John honestly, he tells them what fruit of repentance to bring. This is the application of the Law to the individual, in the spirit of the Law. Many proverbs could be listed to show that John is speaking what God has said before. For instance, when John tells the tax-collectors to take no more than what they have been ordered to, we might recall Proverbs 20.4--
The king gives stability to the land by justice,but a man who takes bribes overthrows it.
Evidently the people took this to heart as fulfilling God's covenant with Israel through repentance and the forgiveness of sins because they became excited over John. They whispered among themselves as to whether John might be the Christ, the Messiah. They recognized that what John was preaching was what the Messiah was expected to say. But John has to tell them all who he is.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Luke 2.52
Finally Luke ends chapter 2 with an amazing statement. Jesus grew in stature with God and with man, 2.52. Many can grow in stature with God by being solely religious, such as John in the desert. Many can grow in stature with men as Alexander the Great did under the tutelage of Aristotle. But now, to do both is quite rare. It means Jesus was not a young man of compartments in which God is here and man is there. He was a young man who saw how much of God is in man and how much of man fufills our concept of God. He seemed to know what it meant to be the image and likeness of God.
Verse 52 could not be possible if Jesus were not God and man, both and yet without shearing the other's nature. This will not be understood until centuries later. It's no wonder Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus said; the Pharisees would not, and the priests would arrange his crucifixion when they realized what He had said of His heavenly Father.
THIS has been a long chapter in which Luke compiled everything known for sure about the upbringing of Jesus. Luke does not say if Jesus traveled or what scrolls He read or if He had close personal friends. Luke is focused on Jesus and the growing relationship to His heavenly Father. This relationship to God the Father may have been greatly aided by His relationship to Joseph. I would imagine God chose Joseph in order to teach the young Jesus that God in heaven is His Father. Joseph must have been a man of great maturity in the faith, as Mary was great in her trust of God.
But how does Luke describe a boy who is God? The very thought is bizarre. What was it like to be with Him? When John Milton wrote the poem Paradise Lost, he asked the Holy Spirit to help him:
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
before all Temples the' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou knowest...
And in another passage, Milton asks of God:
thou celestial light,
shine inward and the mind through all her powers
irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
of things invisible to mortal sight.
Luke has described in some details the people around Jesus--mother and father and cousin John and Simeon and Anna, the shepherds, Elizabeth and Zacharias, and those in the temple. He has written down the OT prophecies of Jesus, the talk of those around Joseph and Mary. He said very little of Jesus Himself except that He grew in wisdom and that the grace of God was upon Him.
Finally Luke ends chapter 2 with an amazing statement. Jesus grew in stature with God and with man, 2.52. Many can grow in stature with God by being solely religious, such as John in the desert. Many can grow in stature with men as Alexander the Great did under the tutelage of Aristotle. But now, to do both is quite rare. It means Jesus was not a young man of compartments in which God is here and man is there. He was a young man who saw how much of God is in man and how much of man fufills our concept of God. He seemed to know what it meant to be the image and likeness of God.
Verse 52 could not be possible if Jesus were not God and man, both and yet without shearing the other's nature. This will not be understood until centuries later. It's no wonder Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus said; the Pharisees would not, and the priests would arrange his crucifixion when they realized what He had said of His heavenly Father.
THIS has been a long chapter in which Luke compiled everything known for sure about the upbringing of Jesus. Luke does not say if Jesus traveled or what scrolls He read or if He had close personal friends. Luke is focused on Jesus and the growing relationship to His heavenly Father. This relationship to God the Father may have been greatly aided by His relationship to Joseph. I would imagine God chose Joseph in order to teach the young Jesus that God in heaven is His Father. Joseph must have been a man of great maturity in the faith, as Mary was great in her trust of God.
But how does Luke describe a boy who is God? The very thought is bizarre. What was it like to be with Him? When John Milton wrote the poem Paradise Lost, he asked the Holy Spirit to help him:
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
before all Temples the' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou knowest...
And in another passage, Milton asks of God:
thou celestial light,
shine inward and the mind through all her powers
irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence
purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
of things invisible to mortal sight.
Luke has described in some details the people around Jesus--mother and father and cousin John and Simeon and Anna, the shepherds, Elizabeth and Zacharias, and those in the temple. He has written down the OT prophecies of Jesus, the talk of those around Joseph and Mary. He said very little of Jesus Himself except that He grew in wisdom and that the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2.39
JOSEPH AND MARY then returned with Jesus to their own city. They must've passed through a long line of eyes and those who could have cared less. In the quietness of Nazareth, young Jesus grew up--increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him, 2.40. Like John in the desert, Jesus belonged to God. Undoubtedly, Joseph had much to teach him about His heavenly Father. Jesus learned to work with his hands as well as with the scrolls about Israel.
The grace of God was upon Him, v.40. Luke does not elaborate on the statement, indicating many stories and incidents might be behind the verse. Luke might be describing what everyone in the village had come to know and accept about Him...that He was not like his father as to being just a carpenter, but that He belonged to God.
The next verse begins with 'And,' but it is not a continuation of the previous verse. This is the narration of an incident in which family and God meet and tangle. When Jesus was 12 years old, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. The implication was that He did not go to the Passover in Jerusalem before this particular year. The family celebrated the Feast there in a crowded, dust-breathing city full of the smells of animals to be sacrificed, foreigners, high priests and scribes, swindlers, sellers and buyers and an army of children.
Families would gather in groups on the roads to Jerusalem, traveling together for their own protection and sharing food and water. Inside the city gates they might scatter to their own business and manner of worship. After the Feast, the families would leave in wide groups, adults walking together, kids playing all around, yelling, animals snorting and bleating with a humorous chaos of journeying. It would not be unusual for a family to expect their children to be among the other children, since there were so many. So, Mary and Joseph don't miss seeing Jesus for the first day.
Jesus, knowing who He is by now, stays behind in the city as if it were home.
Joseph and Mary go back to the city, now desperate to see his head among the crowd. After two days of frantic searching they find Him in the temple; He had probably been there all along. He might have been with Anna or Simeon or another priest. His parents then see Him among the teachers, listening and asking. As He had grown up in Nazareth under the grace of God, so now everyone is amazed at His understanding and answers.
Joseph and Mary were astonished at Him, evidently not realizing He was destined for the life of a teacher and rabbi.
His mother berates Him with her impatience. When Luke writes of this, he uses the word for 'child,' when he narrates that Mary said--Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you, 2.48. It is the same word Luke used in 2.27 and 2.40. This might imply that Joseph and Mary still thought of Him as a boy, to inherit His father's carpentry business. They thought He was one of them when He was not.
When Jesus says--Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house...this indicates He has already left Joseph's home for His Father's home, the temple at Jerusalem. Still, He was only 12; He must return to Joseph's home for a few years more. Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus said, but Mary kept His words in her memory.
JOSEPH AND MARY then returned with Jesus to their own city. They must've passed through a long line of eyes and those who could have cared less. In the quietness of Nazareth, young Jesus grew up--increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him, 2.40. Like John in the desert, Jesus belonged to God. Undoubtedly, Joseph had much to teach him about His heavenly Father. Jesus learned to work with his hands as well as with the scrolls about Israel.
The grace of God was upon Him, v.40. Luke does not elaborate on the statement, indicating many stories and incidents might be behind the verse. Luke might be describing what everyone in the village had come to know and accept about Him...that He was not like his father as to being just a carpenter, but that He belonged to God.
The next verse begins with 'And,' but it is not a continuation of the previous verse. This is the narration of an incident in which family and God meet and tangle. When Jesus was 12 years old, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. The implication was that He did not go to the Passover in Jerusalem before this particular year. The family celebrated the Feast there in a crowded, dust-breathing city full of the smells of animals to be sacrificed, foreigners, high priests and scribes, swindlers, sellers and buyers and an army of children.
Families would gather in groups on the roads to Jerusalem, traveling together for their own protection and sharing food and water. Inside the city gates they might scatter to their own business and manner of worship. After the Feast, the families would leave in wide groups, adults walking together, kids playing all around, yelling, animals snorting and bleating with a humorous chaos of journeying. It would not be unusual for a family to expect their children to be among the other children, since there were so many. So, Mary and Joseph don't miss seeing Jesus for the first day.
Jesus, knowing who He is by now, stays behind in the city as if it were home.
Joseph and Mary go back to the city, now desperate to see his head among the crowd. After two days of frantic searching they find Him in the temple; He had probably been there all along. He might have been with Anna or Simeon or another priest. His parents then see Him among the teachers, listening and asking. As He had grown up in Nazareth under the grace of God, so now everyone is amazed at His understanding and answers.
Joseph and Mary were astonished at Him, evidently not realizing He was destined for the life of a teacher and rabbi.
His mother berates Him with her impatience. When Luke writes of this, he uses the word for 'child,' when he narrates that Mary said--Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you, 2.48. It is the same word Luke used in 2.27 and 2.40. This might imply that Joseph and Mary still thought of Him as a boy, to inherit His father's carpentry business. They thought He was one of them when He was not.
When Jesus says--Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house...this indicates He has already left Joseph's home for His Father's home, the temple at Jerusalem. Still, He was only 12; He must return to Joseph's home for a few years more. Joseph and Mary did not understand what Jesus said, but Mary kept His words in her memory.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Luke 2.21
AFTER 8 DAYS, the child was circumcized. It was the first time the name of Jesus was spoken outside his mother and father. In the temple where he was circumcized, His name must've resounded from wall to wall, hallowing the room, the name above every name, the name out of Heaven, the name of Jesus Christ. According to Luke's text, His name of Jesus was not given to the shepherds, only that He was Christ the Lord. But Mary knew. She was told His name before she even conceived. No man's life was so predestined as that of Jesus of Nazareth.
When the day for purification according to the Law came, He was presented in Jerusalem. This rite comes from Exodus 13.2, 10. Two turtledoves were sacrificed for Jesus. This must've made a deep impression in His young eyes, in the city which would be His destiny. Did He hear the voice of the Spirit, explaining why a sacrifice must be made? When He will be baptized, the Spirit comes to Him in the form of the same dove which was brought by His father. He will cleanse the same temple in which He makes His purification.
Simeon was there. He was an old man, having waited long for the consolation of Israael. A strange old man, he was filled with the Holy Spirit as John will be and Jesus is. The Spirit of God told Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointed, the savior of Israel.
Simeon came into the temple--in the Spirit, 2.27. Did he know this would be the day, this would be the child? If he didn't know coming into the temple, he did know when he saw the Child. When Luke uses the phrase--he took Him into his arms and blessed God--this conveys to us the gentle care with which Simeon held the baby. Simeon looks at the Child, but speaks to God.
What we might notice is what the shepherds noticed: Simeon praises God for His Word coming true--Thou does let Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, 2.29. The shepherds recognized this new child, this new age, this peace with God on the basis that the angel told the truth, that Simeon had been told the truth. It is this Word which is truth that is different from any other age or time or epoch.
Simeon says--mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Quite a statement saying that a person is salvation. This would never be said of a general, senator, philosopher. To say that someone is salvation is to say the world isn't just the way it is, but that the world should not be like this. It is to say there is some gulf between the way the ancient world was--dicatators, starvation, wars for economics, old age diseases, birth defects--and that this world could or should be different. Anyone else would say, some future idealistic world is not possible, only a dream of the idle rich.
And then to say that this person Jesus is a revelation to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, that is rare. It implies the Gentiles will be shown something which they could never have known otherwise. Certainly, in the ancient world it is the Jews who were considered unlearned compared to the Greeks, lacking in political power compared to the Romans, with little or no history compared to the Egyptians or Chinese. And yet it is to the Jews that the light of this revelation has comee.
All of this is stated well by Isaiah 42.6-13 in prophetic language. Notice as you read Isaiah, the very beginning of v.6--I am the Lord. It is He the Lord who has come in Luke 2.
All of this and much more were being said about the Child. Priests and wise men and shepherds and those holding scrolls, those awaiting Israel's history and restoration to glory, those from other countries, those who sit in the street, they all were speaking of this Child. Mary and Joseph heard this, and they took it all in as much as they could.
Simeon then says gravely--this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed...and a sword will pierce even your own soul..to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed, 2.34, 35.
One wonders if Jesus was Joseph's first born. Other passages in the NT imply Jesus had brothers and sisters. If He is first-born, this scene with Simeon is a close, intense one, a private scene. If He is not Joseph's first child, His sisters and brothers could have been here, experiencing mixed emotions about who their brother Jesus really was.
The old lady Anna (or Hannah) came up to the family. She lived in the temple, serving day and night with fastings and prayers. Would she have approached Joseph and Mary if Jesus was their only child, or would she have deferred to Joseph as father? It may be that Anna was willing to approach the child if Joseph had other children there or it may not. Certainly the text we have from Luke says nothing either way.
Anna gave thanks to God for Jesus, seemingly to realize who He was. She seems to have turned round to speak to everyone about Him, everyone who was interested in the redemption of Jerusalem. Evidently there were many there in the temple who were looking for and expecting to see the redemption of Jerusalem or the consolation of Israel. Surrounded by those who were of this opinion and desire, word could easily have spread throughout the temple and the city and along the roads leading outward. When God is in your midst, it's hard to stay quiet.
The message of Simeon and Anna seems to be that while they and many with them believed by faith in God's covenant with Israel, they all saw Him.
AFTER 8 DAYS, the child was circumcized. It was the first time the name of Jesus was spoken outside his mother and father. In the temple where he was circumcized, His name must've resounded from wall to wall, hallowing the room, the name above every name, the name out of Heaven, the name of Jesus Christ. According to Luke's text, His name of Jesus was not given to the shepherds, only that He was Christ the Lord. But Mary knew. She was told His name before she even conceived. No man's life was so predestined as that of Jesus of Nazareth.
When the day for purification according to the Law came, He was presented in Jerusalem. This rite comes from Exodus 13.2, 10. Two turtledoves were sacrificed for Jesus. This must've made a deep impression in His young eyes, in the city which would be His destiny. Did He hear the voice of the Spirit, explaining why a sacrifice must be made? When He will be baptized, the Spirit comes to Him in the form of the same dove which was brought by His father. He will cleanse the same temple in which He makes His purification.
Simeon was there. He was an old man, having waited long for the consolation of Israael. A strange old man, he was filled with the Holy Spirit as John will be and Jesus is. The Spirit of God told Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointed, the savior of Israel.
Simeon came into the temple--in the Spirit, 2.27. Did he know this would be the day, this would be the child? If he didn't know coming into the temple, he did know when he saw the Child. When Luke uses the phrase--he took Him into his arms and blessed God--this conveys to us the gentle care with which Simeon held the baby. Simeon looks at the Child, but speaks to God.
What we might notice is what the shepherds noticed: Simeon praises God for His Word coming true--Thou does let Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, 2.29. The shepherds recognized this new child, this new age, this peace with God on the basis that the angel told the truth, that Simeon had been told the truth. It is this Word which is truth that is different from any other age or time or epoch.
Simeon says--mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Quite a statement saying that a person is salvation. This would never be said of a general, senator, philosopher. To say that someone is salvation is to say the world isn't just the way it is, but that the world should not be like this. It is to say there is some gulf between the way the ancient world was--dicatators, starvation, wars for economics, old age diseases, birth defects--and that this world could or should be different. Anyone else would say, some future idealistic world is not possible, only a dream of the idle rich.
And then to say that this person Jesus is a revelation to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, that is rare. It implies the Gentiles will be shown something which they could never have known otherwise. Certainly, in the ancient world it is the Jews who were considered unlearned compared to the Greeks, lacking in political power compared to the Romans, with little or no history compared to the Egyptians or Chinese. And yet it is to the Jews that the light of this revelation has comee.
All of this is stated well by Isaiah 42.6-13 in prophetic language. Notice as you read Isaiah, the very beginning of v.6--I am the Lord. It is He the Lord who has come in Luke 2.
All of this and much more were being said about the Child. Priests and wise men and shepherds and those holding scrolls, those awaiting Israel's history and restoration to glory, those from other countries, those who sit in the street, they all were speaking of this Child. Mary and Joseph heard this, and they took it all in as much as they could.
Simeon then says gravely--this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed...and a sword will pierce even your own soul..to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed, 2.34, 35.
One wonders if Jesus was Joseph's first born. Other passages in the NT imply Jesus had brothers and sisters. If He is first-born, this scene with Simeon is a close, intense one, a private scene. If He is not Joseph's first child, His sisters and brothers could have been here, experiencing mixed emotions about who their brother Jesus really was.
The old lady Anna (or Hannah) came up to the family. She lived in the temple, serving day and night with fastings and prayers. Would she have approached Joseph and Mary if Jesus was their only child, or would she have deferred to Joseph as father? It may be that Anna was willing to approach the child if Joseph had other children there or it may not. Certainly the text we have from Luke says nothing either way.
Anna gave thanks to God for Jesus, seemingly to realize who He was. She seems to have turned round to speak to everyone about Him, everyone who was interested in the redemption of Jerusalem. Evidently there were many there in the temple who were looking for and expecting to see the redemption of Jerusalem or the consolation of Israel. Surrounded by those who were of this opinion and desire, word could easily have spread throughout the temple and the city and along the roads leading outward. When God is in your midst, it's hard to stay quiet.
The message of Simeon and Anna seems to be that while they and many with them believed by faith in God's covenant with Israel, they all saw Him.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Luke 2.15
THE SHEPHERDS then come straight to the manger, as the angel told them. They hurried. And yet they knew it was the Lord who had made this known to them. Evidently they knew angels when they saw them. They found their way, possibly by watching the star, possibly by searching around the outskirts of Bethlehem before they saw the candlelight in the manger. Their own sheep might have known of the manger, as it was a place to which animals would be brought in bad weather.
When they saw the baby Jesus in the feeding trough, they knew the angel had told them the truth. They would not have been able to keep from telling Mary and Joseph what happened to them. Probably everyone knew angels were messangers of God. But now to be told a savior has been born, that is something else.
So in turn they leave immediately to tell others the same thing. This would be hard to keep to yourself. For shepherds, telling this good news would give them an acceptability in society they usually wouldn't have.
It is a sign of Christianity that one tells another. The child who was God came into the world, seen by anyone who might have come by, even shepherds and animals. The philosophers in the School at Miletus did not see this; the kings and caesars and pharaohs did not see this. Later on in this gospel Jesus will often thank God that the wisdom of the kingdom was kept from the wise and intelligent but given to the lowly. Certainly, that is the case, here. Wise men from the east, shepherds from the fields, stable animals and the angels from heaven saw this.
As word spread that night by the shepherds, everyone who heard of this birth wondered. Mary pondered over the events which came with her baby. But the shepherds glorified God for all they had heard. Twice Luke mentions the shepherds believed what had been told them, 2.17, 20. The outcasts believed the word of the angel; later in the life of Jesus many will not believe what they are told of Him, but some will.
THE SHEPHERDS then come straight to the manger, as the angel told them. They hurried. And yet they knew it was the Lord who had made this known to them. Evidently they knew angels when they saw them. They found their way, possibly by watching the star, possibly by searching around the outskirts of Bethlehem before they saw the candlelight in the manger. Their own sheep might have known of the manger, as it was a place to which animals would be brought in bad weather.
When they saw the baby Jesus in the feeding trough, they knew the angel had told them the truth. They would not have been able to keep from telling Mary and Joseph what happened to them. Probably everyone knew angels were messangers of God. But now to be told a savior has been born, that is something else.
So in turn they leave immediately to tell others the same thing. This would be hard to keep to yourself. For shepherds, telling this good news would give them an acceptability in society they usually wouldn't have.
It is a sign of Christianity that one tells another. The child who was God came into the world, seen by anyone who might have come by, even shepherds and animals. The philosophers in the School at Miletus did not see this; the kings and caesars and pharaohs did not see this. Later on in this gospel Jesus will often thank God that the wisdom of the kingdom was kept from the wise and intelligent but given to the lowly. Certainly, that is the case, here. Wise men from the east, shepherds from the fields, stable animals and the angels from heaven saw this.
As word spread that night by the shepherds, everyone who heard of this birth wondered. Mary pondered over the events which came with her baby. But the shepherds glorified God for all they had heard. Twice Luke mentions the shepherds believed what had been told them, 2.17, 20. The outcasts believed the word of the angel; later in the life of Jesus many will not believe what they are told of Him, but some will.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Luke 2
JOHN is born and so is Jesus. However, the Roman Empire will now cast its' net across Palestine in the form of a census. This census is for the entire Roman Empire, called--all the inhabited earth. It is from Caesar Augustus, presumably to subdue the people, to give Rome an idea of how much they can expect in taxes by knowing the population, and providing Rome the ages of the people in case young men have to be forced into the Roman army. An occupying nation needs to know its' enemy and their number.
What this meant for Joseph and Mary was that they must return to their own city. In Joseph's case this is Bethlehem, the city of David so named becasuse David's father was from Bethlehem, 1 Samuel 16.1, 17.15. Joseph was of the house of David. Isaiah had prophecied a virgin would bear a son from the house of David, Isaiah 6.13.
By now, Mary is showing her pregnancy, it is time for her to give birth. She gives birth in a manger, a shelter for animals against bad weather. Luke says Jesus was born in a feeding trough, implying Mary had Him in swaddling clothes laying down in the bottom of the trough, well out of the winter's cold night.
Around the manger, upon the hilltops some shepherds kept watch over their flock, which would have been laying down on the ground, huddled together for warmth in the night. As the sheep were huddled upon the hilltops, so the stars spread themselves across the spread of the sky.
A glorious angel stood over them, the glory of the Lord shone around them, so of course they were afraid. No one comes out to shepherds at night. Shepherds smell, as they save the pure water for the sheep and do not bathe very often. Shepherds are considered the lowest rank among the Jews, those not worthy of bother. They were nearly all illiterate, not coming to the synogogue very often in their life, so why would an angel come to them?
The angel says He brings good news for--all the people. This may be an indication of how the word of Christ's birth is to be spread: from the shepherds to the laborers to the meek and finally to the rulers. This Jesus will mention in Matthew 11.25, that God revealed the things of the kingdom to babes, not to the wise.
The angel calls Jesus--a savior who is Christ the Lord. That the shepherds were told Jesus was the Lord may be why lepers and the blind call Him the Lord later in His life, in Matthew 8.2. Then the angel tells the shepherds they will find Jesus wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. It is to be God's sign to them, that everything the angel said about Jesus is to be true.
Suddenly a heavenly host appears all around the shepherds, unapproachable light cascading upon them, a glimpse of heaven come down. Notice in 2.14 the words of praise go up to God first--Glory to God in the highest--and then down to earth and to men--And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. It is rare that the heavenly host would say God is at peace with men, but this peace is what Jesus brings.
Zecharias has mentioned this very peace when he gave his pronouncement in 1.77-79, ending with--to guide our feet in the way of peace. The only manner in which God could have peace with men is if Jesus were a meeting place of God and man, as He was. By the time of John 14.27, Jesus realizes this is why He came.
JOHN is born and so is Jesus. However, the Roman Empire will now cast its' net across Palestine in the form of a census. This census is for the entire Roman Empire, called--all the inhabited earth. It is from Caesar Augustus, presumably to subdue the people, to give Rome an idea of how much they can expect in taxes by knowing the population, and providing Rome the ages of the people in case young men have to be forced into the Roman army. An occupying nation needs to know its' enemy and their number.
What this meant for Joseph and Mary was that they must return to their own city. In Joseph's case this is Bethlehem, the city of David so named becasuse David's father was from Bethlehem, 1 Samuel 16.1, 17.15. Joseph was of the house of David. Isaiah had prophecied a virgin would bear a son from the house of David, Isaiah 6.13.
By now, Mary is showing her pregnancy, it is time for her to give birth. She gives birth in a manger, a shelter for animals against bad weather. Luke says Jesus was born in a feeding trough, implying Mary had Him in swaddling clothes laying down in the bottom of the trough, well out of the winter's cold night.
Around the manger, upon the hilltops some shepherds kept watch over their flock, which would have been laying down on the ground, huddled together for warmth in the night. As the sheep were huddled upon the hilltops, so the stars spread themselves across the spread of the sky.
A glorious angel stood over them, the glory of the Lord shone around them, so of course they were afraid. No one comes out to shepherds at night. Shepherds smell, as they save the pure water for the sheep and do not bathe very often. Shepherds are considered the lowest rank among the Jews, those not worthy of bother. They were nearly all illiterate, not coming to the synogogue very often in their life, so why would an angel come to them?
The angel says He brings good news for--all the people. This may be an indication of how the word of Christ's birth is to be spread: from the shepherds to the laborers to the meek and finally to the rulers. This Jesus will mention in Matthew 11.25, that God revealed the things of the kingdom to babes, not to the wise.
The angel calls Jesus--a savior who is Christ the Lord. That the shepherds were told Jesus was the Lord may be why lepers and the blind call Him the Lord later in His life, in Matthew 8.2. Then the angel tells the shepherds they will find Jesus wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. It is to be God's sign to them, that everything the angel said about Jesus is to be true.
Suddenly a heavenly host appears all around the shepherds, unapproachable light cascading upon them, a glimpse of heaven come down. Notice in 2.14 the words of praise go up to God first--Glory to God in the highest--and then down to earth and to men--And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. It is rare that the heavenly host would say God is at peace with men, but this peace is what Jesus brings.
Zecharias has mentioned this very peace when he gave his pronouncement in 1.77-79, ending with--to guide our feet in the way of peace. The only manner in which God could have peace with men is if Jesus were a meeting place of God and man, as He was. By the time of John 14.27, Jesus realizes this is why He came.
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