Luke 3:7-14  :

He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”

The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”

He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”

Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?”

He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”

Wow. How can a guy who calls his audience the "offspring of vipers" get so popular? God caused him to reach the moral conscience of his hearers so that they questioned their own readiness for the visitation of God. It was a good thing to do because they were being hypocritical and they were just about to be put to the test by the Messiah. It would be completely wrong for us to accuse the Jews, however. This kind of hypocrisy is still alive and well today and this message, is applicable to Christians in a very similar way as it was applicable to the Jews that John was speaking to. I like how John remarks about the cause for their behavior by saying that they weren't bringing "fourth fruits worthy of repentance." The way that the people were acting revealed that their hearts had not been changed, but they continued to act as if God wasn't going to come to them.

This is a major Biblical theme. God has already visited the earth in wrath and their are many who deny it. All around us we see evidence of a great flood that destroyed the ancient earth. There are water animal fossils on mountains and large water erosion formations the have severely cut into the landscape that speak of a terrible cataclysmic past. This was the last time that the wrath of God was made known to mankind as a whole.

Some recent articles posted on Amen Me! caused me to consider how much focus I had lost in recent years by simply forgetting about the return of Jesus to the earth. Jesus is coming for us soon, and even though that coming will not be "wrath" for us, it will bring a time of judgment in that our deeds here on earth will be judged as to how beneficial they really were to the kingdom of God.  Knowing and believing that Jesus really could return at any moment should have an affect on the way we live each moment of each day.

Wrath is not coming for us and that actually gives us a reason to look forward to Jesus return. Still, if we don't live in a way that is pleasing to Jesus today, Jesus' return won't be very desirable to us. If we are kind of wishing that Jesus doesn't return, we ought to question our repentance just like John says here.  We need to look at our behavior and make sure that we bring "fourth fruits worthy of repentance" too.

Luke 2:36-38  :

There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshipping with fastings and petitions night and day. Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

It is very interesting that Dr. Luke records two witnesses in the temple. As I mentioned when we went through John, the law required that two witnesses prove a matter and right here on this day in the temple, two prophets testified that Jesus was Israel's redeemer. Dr. Luke, being educated, was probably very aware of this fact and was careful to write it down for us.

I like to consider Anna because she had been a widow for a very long time having only been with her husband for seven years before he died. It would have been easy for her to complain or fall into despair but God gave her strength and through faith in Him she completely dedicated herself to temple worship both "night and day." This is a very real similarity to Christianity.

We have also died to our old way of life and our old way of life has died to us. We dedicate ourselves to God in worship both night and day and for ever because of God's grace to us and to mankind for the new life He has given us.

It is very understandable that Anna was ready to become a powerful witness for Jesus when He came. She spent all day praying and paying close attention to the things of heaven and when heaven came she recognized Him and "spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem." I believe that when our focus is on heavenly things, our witness for Jesus becomes very strong. May God help us to be prepared to make Jesus known to those around us, who are looking for redemption through faith in His word.

Luke 2:33-35  :

Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him, and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Simeon predicts a struggle because of Jesus as well as "a sign which is spoken against." I believe that this is talking about Jesus' resurrection and here's why. Listen to what Jesus was asked later as he went about teaching and doing miracles:

John 2:18-22  :

The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

If I am interpreting this correctly, Simeon was predicting the specific purpose of Jesus during Mary's lifetime here on earth. He was making it clear that Jesus was to be opposed and was to be a sign that would hurt even Mary, but would reveal what people had in their hearts. We read in John that the followers of Jesus believed the sign of Jesus resurrection, but we know that the Jewish leadership for the most part tried to cover up the resurrection.

In both cases, the sign of Jesus' resurrection revealed what was in the hearts of those who learned about it. To those who were willing to allow God to take his rightful place in government of the world and their lives, the resurrection was well accepted, but to those who had plans for their own power and ambitions, it was opposed. This is the same sign that causes the "falling and the rising of many" in the world today.

Did you know that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that we celebrate at this time of year is a well established historical fact? If you want your eyes opened to the truth, study the historical facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. There are few historical facts that have more evidence than this event. To deny the resurrection, you would have to deny many other historical facts just to be intellectually consistent. The reason people deny the resurrection is because they want to, not because it didn't happen. This reveals the hearts of people today just as it did 2000 years ago when the even occurred.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the fundamental historical underpinning of Christianity. To remove the resurrection, is to completely end Christianity, because without this sign there is no hope for mankind.

Luke 1:80  :

The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

I think that the leading complaint I hear today about homeschooling children is that they will become underdeveloped socially. I believe that we have a great example right here that becoming well developed socially involves your relationship to God more than it does your relationship with people.

Here we read that John the Baptist was raised in the desert until he became an adult. This is pretty interesting because John spent his adult life interfacing with many people who admired him dearly. I wouldn't be surprised if certain people, who didn't like what John was preaching, accused him of being socially out-of-place. It is true that he lived off of the land and didn't really care what people said but does that mean that he had a problem? Or, did he just challenge the exiting powers because he was so "strong in spirit?"

I think that arrogance and jealousy are deceptive to the rich and powerful. They seem to automatically use their positions of power to attack what appears to go against their pride or threatens their income. Perhaps those people who fight against homeschooling are doing it becuse it has been so much more successful than the methods that are employed by the public school system. The humanist would expect that a system that was made by humanity for the benefit of humanity should be more successfull than a system that depends upon God.

I've also noticed that some are using it as an excuse to indoctrinate youth in ways that their parents would not approve. Governments often strive for control over people against the will of God. Instead of humbly taking the power and using it to help bring justice to the poor, they defy God and use it as a way to bring glory to themselves at the expense of justice. We are about to read how the Roman government decided to take a census which forced people to travel at their own expense. I guess things have changed little in all of mankind's effort to save themselves. We cannot defy God and expect to live well, because He is our creator. We will be strongest in spirit when we take the time to concentrate on His word.

Luke 1:66-71  :

The hand of the Lord was with him. His father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has visited and worked redemption for his people;
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),
salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;

God is interested in the redemption of Israel. Some have tried to "spiritualize" this verse or say that somehow Christians are the ones that the Holy Spirit is talking about through Zacharias, but I see no indication of this here. The "God of Israel" is given in this context and "his people" at the time of the speaking of this prophesy had nothing to do with Christians as they didn't exit yet. Although Christians were later to become a people of God and to be saved by Jesus, it is clear that we had no promises of "salvation from our enemies" and "all who hate us" at the time of this prophesy.

Jesus did tell us that people would hate us because of Him, but that He would come to take us to be with Himself when He prepares a place for us but that was later. I think that, in order to have a strong understanding of the Bible, it is important to pay close attention to who God made His promises to and who He didn't make them to. It's very easy for us, since we have the whole Bible, to attempt to apply every statement that we read to ourselves. This is inappropriate because God's relationship with mankind has changed as His plan has unfolded. God hasn't changed but we have been changed by things that have happened during the course of God's plan. For instance, before there was the law of Moses, people didn't really know exactly what God expected. When the law of Moses was given, people learned about it and were then capable of being rebellious.

This is kind of like when you find out from your mother that there are cookies in the cookie jar and you are not to eat them before dinner. If no one ever told you that there were cookies in the jar, you would probably not have an problem with rebellion! God's law changed our relationship by exposing us. In another way, Jesus' death on the cross for our sins changed God's view of our sin from "to be paid" to "paid." It also allowed us to be capable of gaining the power of the Holy Spirit by faith in His word. Jesus also announced His program to save the entire world through his death and resurrection. This was not the case before Jesus came.

So you can see, it is important that we carefully read and study the Bible to understand the context so that we get a true message from God. In this case, we read that the Jews became aware that God was doing something for them by giving them John. The Holy Spirit was indicating that the Messiah was coming for the nation of Israel.

Luke 1:49  :

For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.

Mary continues this prophesy, demonstrating the greatness of God when compared to anyone else. She says that God is mighty, and it is implied that she is not because the mighty one was the one who did great things for her. She gives all of the glory for everything that is happening to her to God.

I am sure that if Mary knew that people were attempting to compare her to God in any way she would be horrified. Mary is just like us. We were also blessed by God because Jesus came as God and gave up His own life, taking the punishment for our sin. Jesus' name is Holy to us also for He has done great things for us. If we were to do any good at all for the rest of our lives here on earth, and we should, it would be a tragedy if someone started worship us because of that. All the good we do is because "He who is mighty has done great things" for us. All of us who have come to Christ have realized that we could not be good without the mighty one.

The world "Holy" means "set apart." One of the problems with raising up a man or a woman so that they appear to be like God is that it makes God less "set apart" from them. Mary was making it clear that God is Holy. He is set apart from all of us.

Mary was a person who needed things to be done for her. She was not in a position to bring things about for herself. God doesn't need anyone and brings all things into existence by His own will and word.  Mary points us to the "mighty" one which reveals that, as a needy person herself, she cannot help us.  So, we see that it doesn't make sense according to the Bible to pray to Mary, but it does make sense to pray to God who is able to do anything just because He wants to.

Luke 1:46-48  :

Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid.
For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

I want to make something very clear here. Mary was sinner and needed a Savior because she admitted it herself here. It is very inappropriate to treat any created thing as if it were just as important or more important than God. Mary didn't magnify her own name, instead she magnified the Lord because of what He had done for her. Notice that she was only a handmaid, but the one she was carrying is the one who deserves all of the glory.

Mary's attitude is an example for all of us as believers. She had enough faith to realize that even though she might be persecuted, it would be far more wonderful to serve the Lord by giving birth to the Son of God. Her focus was not on earthly things but on heavenly ones. It is true that all generations since that time have called Mary blessed, but, at the same time, there have been those in every generation who have dared to call her a sinner that was faking a virgin birth. This is the same situation we face as Christians today.

We can focus on the worldly perspective as people persecute us for our Biblical views, or we can believe in those views and realize that everyone will someday believe in the Biblical view. On that day, we will be blessed! That is what we need to focus on. In this world there will be many who mock and scoff the truth, but we who know the truth should be filled with joy because of the blessings we have.

Luke 1:5-7  :

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.

Zacharias and Elisabeth were getting pretty old and even though the Bible says here that they were "righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord," God had refused to give them any children. This is yet another example of how righteous people may have to endure hardship and reveals that some of the things said by preachers today are not correct at all. It wasn't because of anything that this couple had done that they were unable to have children. It was entirely God's purpose as we will soon see.

I'm not saying that Zacharias and Elisabeth had no sin. We will see that this is also not true in the story, but we do read here that they were "walking blamelessly." It is worth thinking about how a person under the Law could be considered "righteous before God" when they were clearly not saved by Jesus who hadn't come yet. Under the Law, the Jews were required do many outward things that set them apart. We can see here that God gave the Jews the ability to do what was right. He also gave them provision for when they accidently did something wrong through the offering of sacrifices that represented what Jesus would do someday to pay for sins. We read here that this couple was living by all of these "commandments and ordinances" and it made them righteous.

Paul talks about his "righteousness" under the law of Moses in this passage:

Luke 1:5-7  :

though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. However, what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

The problem with the law is that everyone who tried it failed in some way or another. Legal righteousness in the Jewish religion before Christ was not possible without sacrifice. Attempts today to be righteous by law are very dangerous in that there are no sacrifices available that God accepts other than the one that Jesus offered, and when you take this sacrifice, you must also leave your own righteousness behind as Paul explained here.  When Paul was "found blameless" it was only with men.  God found plenty of blame.  He had already opened the Holy Place by the blood of the lamb; Jesus who died for our sin.

We shouldn't be confused by the reality that God accepted Jewish righteousness. This was the a system for obtaining righteousness before Jesus came because it adequately pointed directly to His coming while also demonstrating the lack of human ability to create righteousness in the flesh. It created a vacuum that could only be filled by the coming of the Messiah. We stand with Paul at this point in history and our righteousness "is from God by faith."

Luke 1:1-4  :

Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

History is about those who have witnessed past events with their own eyes. Christianity makes some pretty amazing claims about history and it is important that we all know what really happened; what people really saw. If we pay attention to what really happened, we will gain certainty about our Christianity.

That's the purpose of this book. Dr. Luke was a friend of Paul's and evidently a friend of "most excellent Theophilus" who must have been a leader of the people at the time. Luke, himself, witnessed quite a bit of what happened during this period of time and made the effort to carefully document Jesus' life for us today. This work provides one of the most accurate historical ancient accounts that we have of that time. This isn't a surprise to those of us who believe in Jesus and in the accuracy of God's word, but it is interesting that this book is respected by many who don't believe as well.

Christianity is unusual in that it roots itself in history. Because of this, it sets itself up for scrutiny in that incorrect history could prove Christianity false. Truth is basic to Christianity and history woven together with it, so much so that without historical accounts like this we wouldn't "know the certainty concerning the things in which" we were instructed.

Some preachers today would like to disconnect the Bible from history, claiming that it is only a book of religion. That's one reason why I want to talk only about these first four verses of Luke today.

Doesn't it make sense that the true religion would be based in reality? This dedication to truth and history is one thing that makes Christianity so amazing. You'd think that after all these years the story would unravel like all the other stories of long ago. Instead, Christianity becomes more believable as time passes. We shouldn't be fooled by people who try to say that "the Bible shouldn't be taken literally." I find this amazingly unhelpful because if you can't read literature literally, then how can should you read it? It sounds like an excuse to ignore it to me rather than a way to help me understand.

Some of the Bible is symbolic and poetic, but some of it is clearly intended to be taken historically as we read here today. The point is not whether the whole Bible is to be taken literally, the point is: what did the writers intend to communicate when they wrote the message? That is what we will continue to concern ourselves with as we go through the Bible, and since so many people today are struggling with the historic aspect of Christianity, I think this book is especially important for us to look at carefully.

Where does science fit with all of this? Well, it should be easy but there much foolishness in this area today. You see, science is collected history. If you unpin science from history, you don't really have science anymore. Science carefully records history that can be repeated, such that you can actually do it yourself if you follow the record. Science requires history and as such cannot replace it but must always be subservient to it. I wish more people would realize the absurdity of placing "scientific knowledge" over what you are actually seeing. Scientists often think too highly of their own assumptions these days and there's nothing like a little reality to bring them down to earth! Believing in a scientist just because he is smart is not science, its Scientistism. Just because someone is smart, doesn't mean that anyone actually witnessed anything they are talking about. Dr. Luke was different. He was smart and he carefully documented eyewitness accounts as every responsible scientist should.

Galatians 6:15-18  :

For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel. From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Paul doesn't end this book calmly as we see here. He pulls out his microphone and shouts, if you don't believe in Christianity, then you don't believe anything at all because there isn't anything else.

We live in a day that isn't unlike Paul's day. When I talk like this, I notice that I lose some of my audience.  My goal is to please Christ as I mentioned earlier, so it doesn't matter to me. Christianity not only claims to be the only way to God, it claims that everything else is a complete waste of time. So what happened to Paul as a result of this kind of talk? Well, we read about it here too.

As I mentioned a few posts back, Paul was physically beaten many times. He had been given 39 Roman lashes three times and had been stoned and left for dead yet survived. This guy had marks. Paul calls them "marks of the Lord Jesus." I am told that the branding done then was a sign of belonging. Paul wore these scars as reminders of who he belonged to. If you have suffered for Jesus, you wear scars of belonging also. May mercy be on you. You have been grafted into God's Israel and the marks of your suffering can provide you comfort that your faith was proven to be genuine because you came through trial and believed!

This concludes the letter to Galatians. I hope to start the gospel of Luke tomorrow as we continue going through the Bible. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen."