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The return of the Prodigal Son - a story unique to Luke’s Gospel

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These are full studies, written in the Spring of 2010

Bible study for Luke 1:1-4

Luke 1:1-4 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

It is always exciting to begin the study of a Gospel.  Luke’s Gospel is said to be the most loved of Gospels, largely because Luke describes Jesus as a man who is deeply understanding of those around Him.  He also remarks insightfully on matters of health, he records many details about women, and he comments on Jesus’ feelings.  In addition, some of the great stories of Christian faith are only found in Luke, for example, the ‘Good Samaritan’ (10:30-37), and the ‘Prodigal Son’ (15:1-32).  As we will shortly find out, Luke begins his Gospel with a lengthy and detailed account of Jesus’ birth and early childhood (chapters 1 and 2), including stories such as the blessing of Jesus in the Temple (2:22f.) and Jesus’ first Passover in Jerusalem (2:40-52).  Without Luke’s meticulous efforts to track down the truth about Jesus, these stories would not have been passed down to us (see 1:1,2).

Remarkably, Luke was not a Jew and not a disciple of Christ.  Stories from the early church link him with the seventy disciples commissioned by Jesus (10:1f.), or perhaps one of the Gentiles introduced to Jesus by Philip (John 12:20), but none of this can be verified.  However, we will stick to what Luke himself says at the beginning of his Gospel, which is that he gained his information about Jesus from eye-witnesses and servants of Jesus; that is, he was not an original disciple himself (1:2).

Luke is mentioned in the New Testament three times (Col. 4:14, 2 Tim. 4:11 and Philem. 1:24), and Paul describes Luke as a ‘the beloved physician’ and ‘fellow worker’ who remained faithful to him even in Rome, where he was imprisoned (see Acts 28).  The early church historian, Eusebius, records that he was from Antioch, though he could have deduced this by assuming that the ‘Lucius’ mentioned as a member of the Antioch church (13:1) was indeed Luke.  So we know little about Luke, but he was certainly a Gentile, for a close look at Colossians 4 will show that in an extensive list of names, Paul lists him as a ‘non-Jew’.  The same Scripture also confirms that Luke was a doctor (Col 4:14), though in those days, the position was not held in the same regard as today.

It is very clear, however, that Luke was a highly intelligent man who had a good grasp of written Greek.  Indeed, the opening of Luke’s Gospel (1:1-4) is regarded by scholars as impressive writing.  As we read the beginning of the Gospel, we must also remember that Luke also wrote Acts, and the two must be regarded as one great body of work, unparalleled in the New Testament.  If we would be impoverished without his work in the Gospel, we would be blind without the great story of the early church recorded in Acts, let alone deprived of the story of coming of the Holy Spirit and His work in the church!

Although this subject is best discussed fully when studying the book of Acts, it is worth mentioning here one of the theories about why Luke and Acts came to be written.  You will notice that Acts concludes with Paul living in Rome, awaiting the opportunity to stand before the Emperor on charges of sedition (see Acts 25:11f.).  Luke alone stayed with Paul (see 2 Tim 4:11), and it has been suggested that the two books were written to be presented at court as evidence of the faith and practice of the church, at Paul’s trial.  For this reason, although Luke presents the life of Jesus and the early church as impressive and morally correct, his story presents no direct threat to Rome.  It is an intriguing theory, especially when you realise that the two books are written for ‘Theophilus’ (Luke 1:3, Acts 1:1), and this is not a name, but a title meaning ’lover of God’, usually afforded to the highest Roman officials.  So this mean that the Gospel was written for the Emperor?  It is certainly possible.

Luke 1:1-4 describe Luke’s motives for writing his Gospel, and what is said is entirely consistent with this picture of Luke.  It is an orderly account of the life of Christ, written so that we might ‘know the truth’ (1:4).

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

• Luke’s ‘orderly narrative’  (1:1)
• The ‘witnesses and servants of the Word’  (1:2)
• Writing ‘with care’ for Theophilus  (1:3)
• The ‘full truth about the things you have been told’  (1:4)

Luke 1:1-4 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Translation Notes

(consult Dictionaries)

Important words

V1 ‘has happened’

The Greek word ‘ekdieketai’ usually means ‘to bring to completeness’.  In this sentence, it refers to the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection that at the time of Luke’s writing, have been completed.  Because they are in the past, we would say today that they have ‘happened’, hence my translation.  Some Bible versions translate this ‘fulfilled’, but the sentence does not need this extra emphasis on completion.

V2 ‘servants’

The Greek word ‘huperetas’ means ‘helper, assistance, minister, or servant’; that is, someone who acts under orders, and in this case, the orders of the ‘Word’, meaning Christ.  You will find that the different Bible versions tend to translate this ‘servants’ or ‘ministers’, but I have chosen ‘servants’ because to some people ‘ministers’ suggests church leaders.

Significant phrases

V1 ‘write an orderly narrative’

Other translations:

‘draw up an account of’   (NIV)

‘set down an orderly account of’   (NRSV)

The two Greek words used here refer to writing down a story in a systematic manner, so it is unwise to translate this without reflecting the idea of something done in a methodical way.  You can see this in the NRSV, but the NIV does not help the reader understand the importance of this approach.  From the point of view of the times, the Gospels are systematic biography.

V4 ‘about the things you have been told’

Other translations:

‘the things you have been taught’   (NIV)

‘the things about which you have been instructed’   (NRSV)

You may be surprise that I have not included the idea of instruction here.  However, the Greek word used here (‘katecho’) means to ‘inform, tell, instruct or teach’ according to the setting.  Here, I think it doubtful that Luke would write to a high ranking Roman official (see study) by referring to something ‘taught’; to suggest they needed instruction would be demeaning.  For this reason, I prefer to use the least forceful interpretation of the word, which is to ‘tell’, hence my translation ‘what you have been told’.

Luke 1:1-4 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

Luke’s ‘orderly narrative’  (1:1)

Luke’s opening statement is quite revealing.  Certainly, we know that Luke was not the first to write a Gospel, because he says clearly that ‘many’ have attempted to write down a story of the life of Jesus before him.

The dating of the Gospels is a difficult problem, and despite the research of many scholars over many years, it has proved impossible to say which one was written when.  It is possible to examine the individual stories that are found in more than one Gospel, to compare them, and reach some conclusions about which was written first, but such study has yielded mixed results.  The most common scholarly consensus that can be found (if indeed it still exists) is that Mark was written first (perhaps 55-65 AD) and then Matthew, with John reckoned to be last (towards the end of first century) and Luke being written at some unknown point between Mark and John.  It is well known that many other ‘Gospels’ were written in the first century, and some of them still exist, having been copied by various communities during the first few centuries of the church.  However, the church as a whole realised as soon as the second century AD that the combination of ‘Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’ were a spiritually complete record of the life of Jesus.

It seems that Luke wrote his Gospel after careful research, and set out to write an ‘orderly’ narrative.  What does he mean by this?  If we read Luke’s Gospel through at one reading, we will be hard pushed to find within it the same degree of literary structure as we find, for example, in Matthew (with its five teaching blocks relating to the ‘Law’ of the Old Testament).  The best structure we can suggest is this;

• Jesus’ ministry begins in Galilee (chapters 3 to 9)
• Jesus goes to Jerusalem, teaching and healing on the way (chapters 10-19)
• Jesus teaches in Jerusalem (chapters 19-21
• Jesus is taken capture, is crucified and raised in Jerusalem (chapters 22 to the end).

• Most of this is not new to us if we have read Mark and Matthew, however.  For this reason, it may well be that Luke’s contribution to the overall story of Jesus is his addition of new material, gained by research, perhaps by speaking to ‘eye-witnesses and servants’.  As a consequence, he certainly adds new stories (as mentioned above), but we will also find that he adds to existing stories known by Mark or Matthew.

The ‘witnesses and servants of the Word’  (1:2)

It is remarkable that Luke’s Gospel was accepted by the early church, given that he was a Gentile, and not connected personally to the events of Jesus’ life. The other three Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John were written by people who knew Jesus either as disciples themselves (as with Matthew and John) or amongst those who followed him (as reckoned of Mark, who is believed to have told Peter’s stories about Jesus).  Because of this, Luke’s mention of ‘witnesses and servants’ is extremely important.  It was essential that Luke show that his stories were sourced from those who knew what happened.

The term ‘eye-witnesses’ is straightforward, and it refers to all those who would have seen Jesus at work, teaching and preaching.  Obviously, their testimony was crucial to Luke.  Added to this is the evidence of ‘servants’, and here, Luke used a Greek word different from the one frequently used in the New Testament for a servant (‘doulos’), a word that can also mean ‘slave’.  Instead, he used a word meaning ‘assistant’ or ‘helper’ in a general sense (for details, see translation notes above).  It is possible that this allowed him to include the testimony of people such as Paul, with whom he clearly spent much time.  There is no undisputed evidence of Paul’s influence on Luke’s Gospel, but the phrase itself is evidence that Luke had a broader understanding of the revelation of Jesus Christ and its application to the world than many of his day.  Perhaps this is one reason why it is so loved by later generations.

Writing ‘with care’, for Theophilus  (1:3)

In verse 3, Luke reinforces his credentials for writing the Gospel, citing his care in compiling his account over ‘a long time’.  This phrase suggests to us that Luke was a far more ‘modern’ person than we might think, being someone who was willing to use a methodology in order to produce an accurate report!  However, a number of studies have been done that suggest the first four verses of Luke are similar to formal documents presented to high Roman authorities on matters of great importance (see the preface of Howard Marshal’s commentary on Luke).  Luke may well have copied the formally correct way of presenting what we might call ‘a paper’, but certainly, his use of language pushes us a little further towards the idea that the Gospel was originally written for Paul’s defence at the Emperor’s court.  Even if this was the case, it is likely that Luke wrote knowing that his work would be seen and read by more than just the man for whom it was written.  This was a report that was to be copied and spread around, and not left in one place to gather dust on a shelf!

It is reasonably well known that the Gospel was apparently written for someone named ‘Theophilus’, moreover, that this is not a recognised Roman (or Greek) name, and also that translated, it means ‘Lover of God’.  It has often been assumed that the name ‘Lover of God’ could be a generalised name for anyone who wants to know more about God, but although this is fascinating, I doubt if this was the reason why Luke wrote the Gospel or used this name.  It has also been suggested that this was the name or title of an unknown patron, someone who asked for this work to be completed for his personal benefit.  However, the most likely explanation is that the ‘patron’ was indeed someone connected with the Emperor’s court, and the Gospel was written to defend both the church and Paul, its ambassador in Rome, at a time when the church was beginning to make inroads into Roman society.  We can never prove that it was written for Paul’s defence, but it is the best explanation available to us.

The ‘full truth about what you have been told’  (1:4)

The last verse of the introduction has always been a matter of debate.  If some anonymous patron commissioned the work, having first heard about Jesus Christ, why this person need to ‘know the full truth about the things you have been told’?  The pattern of the early church was to preach the Gospel, call for repentance and baptise converts.  The need described by Luke indicates someone who had not made up his mind.  It is hard to see how this justifies the effort.  Certainly, if Luke had said ‘so that you and others may know the truth ...’, then we would have a clear evangelistic motive for the work.

Yet again, these words suggest that the Gospel is to be presented to someone who does not necessarily believe the story, but is willing to hear it favourably as an inquirer after truth.  This would certainly apply to the Emperor, or those charged with presenting Paul’s case at court. We should recall that Paul was charged with disturbing the peace of the Empire by preaching Christ as resurrected from the dead (see Acts 25), and this accusation could account for Luke’s desire to tell ‘the full truth’, as if to set the record straight.

Luke 1:1-4 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Application

The beginning of Luke’s Gospel is a fascinating opening of a Gospel that has much to teach us.  As we study the rest of it, we will not touch on the issues raised by the introduction again, and we will only return to it at the beginning and end of a study of Acts.  Nevertheless, there is a great deal here that is attractive to a reader today.  The fact that Luke uses method and enquiry, and searches for the truth, suggests that in a way, he was a man before his time, using the elements of historical method long before people thought about it in this way.  Whatever the Gospel says later in, these words inspire us to be methodical and careful in our own study of the life of Jesus and its consequences.  Perhaps if we do this, we will come as close to the heart of Jesus as Luke appears to get in the body of his work; and perhaps we will discover the power of the Holy Spirit in the spectacular way that Luke records, uniquely in his later writing (Acts 2).

Whoever the Gospel was written for, it was indeed written to persuade someone of the truth of the story of Jesus and His life, death and resurrection.  We must therefore regard it as an evangelical tract, suitable for distribution to those who do not believe.  Personally, I find it remarkable that people often use Mark for this purpose today, but rarely (in my experience) Luke!  If this Gospel says that it has been written to help people believe (a distinction this Luke shares with John – see John 20:31), then surely we should use it in this way, both personally and evangelistically.  The more we read of Luke’s Gospel, the more we will realise the truth of this.

Luke 1:1-4 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does the beginning of Luke’s Gospel tell you about the Gospel itself and how it should be used?
2. Discuss in your group what you think about the theory that the Gospel was written to defend Paul at the court of the Emperor of Rome.
3. How important is it to be methodical in matters of faith and belief?

Topics covered by this text

• The nature of the Gospel and evangelism
• The importance of the witness of Christ’s life, death and resurrection

Personal comments by author

Luke’s Gospel is a remarkably distinct Gospel.  It shares a great deal with Matthew and Luke, but it is highly individual.  The fact that it was written by a Gentile is remarkable in itself, and it encourages me that God used people in pioneering ways right from the beginning of the life of the church.  I am looking forward to exploring the rest of this Gospel to discover its truths and to learn more about Jesus, each study we do tells us more about Jesus, however many times we have read or studied before.  This is the gift of the Gospels.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Check out whether the Gospel of Luke is used for evangelistic purposes either by your own church or others around you.  If you find it is not, point out to those involved that potential of this Gospel.
• Pray about your own coming study of Luke’s Gospel, and ask the Lord to show you how you can best benefit from this study using a ‘methodology’ such as writing down your thoughts.

Final Prayer

Glory be to You, O Lord, for You have sustained us throughout our lives and will continue to guide us into the future if we will stay walking in Your paths.  Save us from the distractions of this world which draw us away from You, and stay close to us.  We pray this in Jesus’ name: AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:5-17

Luke 1:5-17 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This is the wonderful story of God’s announcement of the birth of John the Baptist to Zachariah.  Luke 1 is unique in Scripture, telling us about two remarkable events, birth of John the Baptist, and the announcement of the birth of Jesus to Mary.  Luke recorded these stories and to fulfil his promise to give an ‘orderly narrative’ of the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry (1:1,4).  Yet there is so much more.  These are story demonstrate an amazing combination of two things; highly personal stories about the lives of ordinary Israelites, and the extraordinary supernatural intervention of God in their lives.  In this way, Luke announces that God has intervened in real human history to be made to real men and women.  The Gospel is neither myth, nor rumour, nor religious proposition.  It is the truth about real life and about the only real God.

The story of the announcement of John’s birth is lengthy (1:5-25), and it tell us a great deal about the life and times of Jesus.  We will therefore study verses 5 to 17 today, and verses 18 to 25 next time, with some overlap between the two.

There were probably around twenty thousand priests in Judea in the first century, and they were divided into twenty four divisions (1 Chron. 24:7-18).  Each division was allotted two weeks per year for Temple service, and with so many priests in each division, the individual duty of saying prayers in the sanctuary was allocated by lot.  This sacred duty could only be performed once, so many were never chosen; but the privilege was immense, the highlight of a priest’s life.  Zachariah would have undoubtedly felt the great honour of performing the task allotted to him (1:9).

Zechariah a godly man (1:6).  His marriage, though many years ago, would have been filled with hope because although priests were allowed to marry any ‘virgin daughter of Israel’, Zachariah had married the daughter of a priest, a pure ‘descendant of Aaron (1:5).  Yet Zachariah and his wife had lived through many years without the one blessing they desired most from the Lord; the gift of children.  So as Zachariah performed his great task of entering the Temple sanctuary, his duty was to pray for the people, but his personal prayer was about the agony of childlessness.

It is hard for us to imagine the awesome responsibility of offering prayer for all Israel in the presence of God in His Temple.  When priests went alone into the sanctuary, people listened outside (10) for the sound of the bells attached to the hem of the priest’s robe (Ex 28:34), to ensure that he was still alive.  It is possible that a rope was tied to the priest’s foot so that he could be dragged out in an emergency, though there is no record of this in Scripture!  With this level of awe and responsibility, Zachariah’s response to the sight of an angel in the sanctuary, standing ‘at the right hand side of the altar of incense’ (1:11), was of shock and terror (1:12)!  The angel was standing directly between him and the place where God was believed to dwell, in the ‘holy of holies’, just behind a curtain!  (I have described the details of the Temple, priestly service, and the position of the angel, later in the ‘going deeper’ section of the study).

The angel spoke to Zachariah in the same way that angels frequently speak to people throughout the Bible, saying ‘do not fear ...’ (see Gen 21:17, Matt 1:20, Acts 27:23,24), and the message was astonishing; God had heard his prayer (1:13).  Firstly, God had heard Zachariah’s prayer for a son; his wife would become pregnant and have a son to be called ‘John’.  Moreover, God would answer the priestly prayer and bless His people Israel, because this same child would herald the Messiah!  The gift of the Holy Spirit (1:15) and the quote from Malachi 4:5 (to ‘turn the hearts of the parents to the children’ – 1:17) were well known and specific promises associated with the coming of the Messiah.  It is hard for us to understand the awesome flood of emotions that must have filled the terrified Zachariah!

Going Deeper

The Bible study does not deal fully with the angel’s prayer, some issues will be dealt with in the next study.  Here, we go deeper to look at these issues:

• Background to priesthood and the purity of Zachariah  (1:5-7)
• Background to priestly service in the Temple   (1:8-10)
• The position of the angel in the Temple   (1:11,12)
• The angel’s speech and the calling of John   (1:13-15)
• John, the ‘forerunner’, Malachi and Elijah   (1:16-17)

Luke 1:5-17 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Translation Notes

(consult Dictionaries)

Important words

V6 ‘impeccably’

 Most translations have ‘blamelessly’ or ‘faultlessly’, but the words do not mean that Elizabeth and Zachariah had no sins, rather that they did everything in their power to live according to the law.  I have chosen the related English word ‘impeccably’ because it avoids the incorrect assumption that these two good people were used by God because they were ‘faultless’ before God, beyond what we might expect of normal people.

V8 ‘roster’

 You may not be familiar with this word within Scripture, but the Greek word ‘taxei’ here means ‘order, in sequence, or succession’, and the word roster seems to me to fit the meaning of the Greek very well.  A roster is defined as an ordered division of things, and this is exactly what is meant here.

V9 ‘inner sanctuary’

 Most Translations have ‘Temple’ here, but this causes confusion, because the word ‘Temple’ can mean anything from the entire Temple complex to the central building containing the sanctuaries.  However, it is clear that in this story, Zachariah entered the first room of the inner sanctuary (see study).

Significant phrases

V14 ‘He will be a joy and a delight to you, and to many people who will rejoice at his coming’

Other translations:

‘He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth’   (NIV)

‘You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth’   (NRSV)

The Greek could either mean ‘he will be a joy to you ...’ (hence the NIV and my translation) or ‘it will be a joy to you ...’ (hence the NRSV).  I prefer the first because the subject of the paragraph is John, but the difference between the two is minimal.  More important is the end of the sentence, and the meaning of the Greek word ‘genesis’ which can mean either ‘beginning’, ‘coming’, or in the case of a baby, ‘birth’.  Most Bible versions say ‘birth’, but I have kept things more open by translating this ‘coming’.  The phrase points forward to the crowds who would come to hear his preaching in future years (see also the commentary on Luke’s Gospel by Howard Marshall).

Luke 1:5-17 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

Background to the priesthood and the purity of Zachariah  (1:5-7)

In Jesus’ day, the people of Israel were proud of their inheritance, and its antiquity was of great interest to the Romans, their imperial masters.  The guardians of this heritage were the priesthood, the descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother, who served in the Jerusalem Temple.  At the time of this story (3/4 BC), the Temple in Jerusalem was new, having been built by Herod the Great, the powerful governor and ‘King’ of Judea, appointed by Rome.  The new Temple replaced one built in haste after the exile (see Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai), but although grand in scale, it copied the original Temple built by Solomon and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC; and the inner sanctuaries, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place were modelled on the ‘Law’ as in Exodus 35-40.

1 Chronicles 24:7-18 lists the original twenty four divisions of the priesthood under the chief priest Zadok, and the eighth of these is ‘Abijah’.  When the Judeans came back top Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, only four returned, and not Abijah.  However, over the years since, the priesthood was subdivided, making up the original twenty four and re-assigning the former divisional names.

Today, we sit lightly to lists of names and records, but we must not forget their importance; to the Israelites, they proved both the truth and antiquity of their relationship with God.  Zachariah himself was a man deeply aware of his privilege before God, and in the light of this history, his lack of a son would have been deeply distressing; why had God not blessed him?  Zachariah was even entitled to divorce his wife and marry again in order to produce heirs, but he remained faithful to his wife, perhaps inspired by Abraham, his forefather, whose wife was also barren.  This may be the reason why Luke calls Zachariah ‘righteous’ (1:6).  He and his wife bore their pain with dignity, but the Lord was about to reward them.

Background to priestly service in the Temple   (1:8-10)

Temple rituals are not always understood today, but a good idea is to gain a picture of the layout of the Temple.  The inner sanctuary contained two rooms.  The innermost room was the Most Holy Place (commonly called the ‘holy of holies’) was where God dwelt, seated on the ‘mercy seat’ above a box, the famous ‘Ark of the Covenant’.  Adjoining this and separated by a curtain was the Holy Place containing the incense altar, the candlestick with seven candles and the table of the ‘bread of the presence’.  This was where a solitary priest went, twice a day, to pray for Israel and offer incense, at the same time a sacrifice was made in the courtyard outside.  It was Zachariah’s task to offer the daily incense offering.

Outside the sanctuary was an open air courtyard reserved for priests, where animals were sacrificed according to the instructions in Leviticus.  In the morning and the evening of each day, this was done by priests of one of the twenty four divisions.  Beyond the courtyard of priests was a further courtyard used by male Jews for worship.  So twice a day, after the sacrifices and offering of incense, the priest who had offered the incense led the other priests in giving a blessing to the male worshippers.  Tomorrow, we will read about what happened when Zachariah came to do this and found out that he was unable to speak!

Records exist of the prayers said by those who went into the Holy Place to pray for Israel, as follows (see the commentary on Luke by Earle Ellis SCM):

Appoint peace, goodness and blessing

Grace, mercy and compassion

For us and for all Israel, Your people ...

Blessed are You, O Lord, who blesses Your people Israel with Your peace

The prayer used to bless the people after the sacrifices and incense offering was from Numbers 6:24-26):

The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord make His face to shine on you

And be gracious to you, and give you peace

The position of the angel in the Temple   (1:11,12)

The picture attached shows a replica of a priest standing in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, which was the fore-runner of the Temple.  The Tabernacle was undoubtedly smaller that the later Temple, but this picture still gives us an idea of Zachariah’s position in the Holy Place.  The table of the bread of presence is to the priest’s right (he is facing the curtain) and the candlestick to his left, with the altar of incense slightly on his left (though it is large in this picture).  Luke says that the angel appeared ‘at the right hand side’ of the altar of incense, being directly in front of Zachariah, between him and the great curtain woven with cherubim.  It would have felt very intimidating!

The angel’s speech and the calling of John   (1:13-15)

The angel’s first words to Zachariah were, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard’ (1:13).  The sentence is direct, and in the Greek, the angel is referring to the prayer said by Zachariah in the Holy Place, for the blessing of all Israel.  Without knowing this, people have understandably thought that the angel told Zachariah that his personal prayers for a son had been heard, for the rest of his speech talks about this.  So, which prayer does the angel say has been answered?

We can resolve this by looking at the words of Zachariah’s prayer for Israel (above).  Although the prayer applies to all Israel, it also reflect Zachariah’s heart; the words, ‘Appoint peace, goodness and blessing, grace, mercy and compassion for us and for all Israel’ tantalisingly make his personal appeal for him.  He would have used these words when praying for God’s blessing in the gift of a child.  Also, the words ‘for us and for all Israel’, imply  a personal request for blessing as well as the general prayer.

All this might seem presumptive if it were not for the fact that the rest of the angel’s speech is equally divided between the personal promise to Zachariah and his wife of a son (1:13,-15) and the prophecy that this child will be a blessing to ‘many’ in Israel (1:16), and be the herald of the Messiah.  The evidence is solid that the angel answered the one prayer in two ways.  One child would be born who would fulfil the hopes of Zachariah and his wife for a son, and also the fulfil the hope of Israel for a Saviour.

John, the ‘forerunner’, Malachi and Elijah   (1:16-17)

The prophecy of John’s life given by the angel suggests that he would become a Nazirite, a recognised order of godly people within Israel (Numbers 6:2f.).   However, only part of the great Nazirite vows are place upon John.  He is not required to leave his hair uncut (see Numbers 6:5 and Judges 13:5f.).  The angel says that he will be ‘great’ and that his guiding strength will not be worldly (‘strong drink’), but supernatural, ‘he will be filled with the holy Spirit from his mother’s womb’.  These words place John directly in the line of Old Testament prophets, the great men whose words of prophecy guided God’s people through the ages.

The angel then quotes the famous closing verses of the prophet Malachi, saying that in the ‘spirit of Elijah’, John will ‘turn the hearts of the parents to the children’.  In Jesus’ day, it was believed that Elijah would return to herald the coming of the Messiah, but what does the great prophecy about parents and children mean?  At one level, this is a straightforward call for repentance, something that would be characteristic of John’s later preaching.  However, the angel adds a further ‘couplet’ to this, saying, ‘and the disobedient by the wisdom of the righteous’ (1:17).  In Hebrew and Aramaic (the language of Jesus’ day), this couplet links the parents with the ‘disobedient’, and the children with the ‘wisdom of the righteous’ as if to explain Malachi’s prophecy.  This means that the angel’s message is remarkably similar to Jesus’ teaching, ‘unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom ...’ (Matthew 18:3).  The angel’s prophecy urges people to strip away the accumulated sins and prejudices of adult life and become like children before God, dependent upon Him, and thus ready for the message of the Messiah.

Luke 1:5-17 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Application

There is no dearth of meaning within this powerful story.  We are told about the fulfilment of Zachariah’s unanswered pray, and when the answer came, it was far more than could be expected.  Not only would he have a son, but he would be ‘great’, dedicated to God for a vital role in God’s great salvation plan!  I have heard people testify that when God has eventually answered a prayer maintained in righteous faith over many years, the blessing has been more than double.  Of course, there will never be another John the Baptist, but our age needs people of faith, commissioned and equipped ‘from the mother’s womb’ (1:15) for service.  I believe that God will raise up the men and women He needs to fulfil His own plans and answer the prayers of the faithful for revival, but also answer the prayers of individual faithful parents who earnestly seek God’s will, and who will raise His servants.  We sometimes forget that the Bible tells stories of people being born into God’s work, and we should not always assume that they are ‘converted’ and then ‘led’ into it; we must not ignore the importance of the home for the future of God’s plans.

This passage indicates the importance of faithful service to God over many years, both in Zachariah’s life and also in its description of the Temple worship that had taken place for more centuries.  In an age in which God’s people are seeking to be bold for the Lord and work in new ways to break down the many barriers to faith, we are reminded that history counts.  The truth of our faith in God is provable over history, and the reason why we may trust God is because His salvation has been consistently true and effective throughout the generations.  We should not behave as if the future of the church depends upon us; it depends on our being faithful to what God has been doing throughout history.

Lastly, this passage suggests that way is made ready for the Gospel by the preaching of repentance through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The message ‘turn to God’ may not sound fashionable or evangelistically exiting, but it is the ground in which the scattered seed grows.  True repentance is rather like becoming a child again for the Kingdom of God.

Luke 1:5-17 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What have you learned in this study about the religious life of God’s people in the early days of the first century?
2. How does this passage help us live a life of faith, and what does the story of Zechariah tell us about faith?
3. How do we recognise the Holy Spirit at work in the life of someone else, and how will we know when God’s hand is on someone for ‘great’ things?

Topics covered by this text

• The worship of God’s people Israel
• Answered prayer
• The eternal plan of God for salvation
• The work of the Holy Spirit, and repentance

Personal comments by author

This passage describes an awesome event.  It is as if God suddenly breaks through into the life of Israel after centuries of patience and observation.  Now is the time for the Messiah, so John, the announcer and preparer must come quickly.  It is so important that we realise that our own efforts to bring renewal and revival today may be laudable, but in this ‘global village’ of a world today, He will surely break through with a radical answer to all our problems, and work through those people He has prepared.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Write down a list of the prayers of your heart that remain unanswered.  Pray about them again, and ask the Lord to show you if He has other purposes for your prayers, perhaps consequences you have not thought about.
• Pray for God to establish new leaders of His people, who will be at the forefront of radical renewal and revival across the whole world.

Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, You were there at the beginning, present in the creative work of the Father and graciously awaiting the time of Your revelation as the Saviour of the World.  Keep us firm in our faith, strong in our hope, and constant in our love for others and for You, and in this way demonstrate our gratitude for everything You have done for us, Lord Jesus:  AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:18-25

Luke 1:18-25 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

In the previous study, we left Zachariah standing in the ‘Holy Place’ of the Temple.  He went into the Temple in awe of his exceptional task to present prayers for Israel to God, and he found himself facing an angel of the Lord, standing between him and the presence of God in the ‘Most Holy Place’ of the Temple!  The angel had just told him that God had answered his prayers, and he would have a son to be called John (1:13,14).  In addition, after indicating that his child would be ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ and live a life of holiness (1:15), he would be none other than the expected ‘fore-runner’ of the Messiah; the one who would ‘to prepare a people who are ready for the Lord’ (1:17)!

Few of us who would be bold enough to suggest that in such circumstances we might fare better than Zachariah, who blurting out to the angel an urgent request for clarification; ‘How can I know this?’  At this moment of high spiritual drama we can hardly criticise Zachariah for his apparent lack of faith; what was happening to him was extraordinary.  Though in a well known Old Testament story, we will find that when Abraham was told that his ageing wife would bear a son (Gen 17:17), he broke out into laughter, saying ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’  We might think it unfair that Zachariah was punished for his faithlessness but Abraham was not; but we should not be too hasty to judge God ourselves.  Scripture contains many stories of the Lord doing great things through the birth of children to barren women (see also Judges 13:2f. and 1 Sam 1:2f.), surely Zachariah would have known this?  Perhaps his sin was not lack of faith in God’s power to act, but lack of faith that God would act through him, Zachariah.  In this, his story is very different to that of Abraham.

In response to Zachariah’s incredulity, Gabriel confirmed his authority, proclaiming his name and the source of his message.  He said, ‘I am Gabriel ...’ (1:19), and declared that he had been faithful to the task God had given him to deliver ‘good news’ to Zachariah (1:19).  ‘Good news’ is one word in Greek, and it is the same word used throughout the New Testament for God’s work of salvation through Jesus Christ.  As we will quickly find out in the rest of Luke 1, the Lord had begun to do the good work of salvation He had been promising to do for centuries.  Despite Zachariah’s initial incredulity, those involved soon began to realise the enormity of what was happening in their midst.  Nevertheless, Zachariah’s disbelief would have consequences, and his punishment would prove to Zachariah that God was indeed at work in him; he was struck dumb (1:20).

This encounter delayed Zachariah in the sanctuary.  Stories from the early part of the first century indicate that a priest would stay in the Holy Place for the briefest possible time in fear of being consumed by the holiness of God.  It was assumed that if a man delayed there, then something dire had happened (1:21f.).  So when Zachariah came out, unable to speak, his fellow priests naturally realised that something extraordinary had happened, and assumed it was a vision (1:22).  The situation was exacerbated by the fact that Zachariah was unable to pronounce the expected blessing of the people (see Numbers 6:24-26, and the discussion of this in the previous study).  This must have cause something of a stir, but Zachariah’s fellow priests appear to have rallied around, and he remained serving in the Temple until his week was completed.

The last part of our text is a beautifully phrased description of the consequences of this dramatic event back in Zachariah’s home.  His wife became pregnant, and after Zachariah’s incredulous words to the angel (1:18), her words are a beautiful response to God’s work within her; ‘the Lord  ... has shown favour to me ...’ (1:25).  They express the great historic hope of all Israel (Psalm 106:4).

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

• The purpose of Gabriel and his reply to Zachariah
• Zachariah’s speechlessness, and the response of the priests
• Elizabeth and her praise of God

Luke 1:18-25 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Translation Notes

(consult Dictionaries)

Important words

V21 ‘anxiously waiting’

 The Greek word ‘prosdokaw’ is translated by most Bible versions as just ‘waiting’.  However, the verb does carry a sense of heightened expectancy, and most Greek dictionaries indicate that the word can be translated ‘living in suspense’.  I suggest ‘anxiously waiting’ best sums up the meaning of the word, whereas ‘waiting’ is a merely neutral activity in English.

V22 ‘making signs’

 The Greek word here (‘dianeuw’) usually means making signs by means of the head.  It is not a well known word and there is some uncertainty about the full range of its meaning.  I have kept the translation ‘making signs’, but in the study I suggest we should think firstly in terms of nodding.

V22 ‘unable to communicate’

 The Greek word here is ‘kophos’.  Earlier in verse 20, Zachariah is told he will be silent and unable to speak, but the use of this word here means something more; it refers to being both deaf and dumb.  The ancients perceived a clear connection between being unable to hear as well as speak, particularly in an age without the medical knowledge, and this is reflected in their use of the word.  Today we would be cautious to link the two.

Significant phrases

V25 ‘He has shown favour to me right now, and taken away my disgrace among the people.’

Other translations:

‘In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.’   (NIV)

‘when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’   (NRSV)

At the centre of this sentence there is a phrase in Greek, which is ‘en emerais ais’, and this means literally ‘in these days’.  However, when a time reference such as this appears in the New Testament it is generally translated freely according to the meaning of the story.  Notice that although the NIV translates ‘in those days’, the NRSV, usually a very correct translation, translates this more freely, as ‘when ...’.  I prefer to use the phrase ‘right now’ because this captures the awe of Elizabeth at what is happening to her.  It is a current expression and correctly conveys the meaning of the story at this point.

Luke 1:18-25 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

The purpose of Gabriel and his reply to Zachariah

The character of the angel Gabriel was well known in the first century.  He is described in a number of places within the various Jewish writings that make up the ‘Apocrypha’ (the books included within the canon of Old Testament Scripture in Jesus’ day, but now excluded – see dictionary of Biblical books), and the nature of his work was the subject of discussion amongst rabbis and scribes.  The name ‘Gabriel’ means ‘Man of God’, and the only other mention of him in our Old Testament is in Daniel (8:16 and 9:21).  Here, Gabriel is the angel who helps Daniel understand his dreams and visions, and he also has the function of announcing the coming salvation of God (Dan 9:21-27).  This text is important, because it led the people of Jesus’ day to anticipate that Gabriel would herald the coming of the Messiah, just as Elijah would prepare his way (see Malachi 4:5,6).  Luke tells us that God fulfilled these expectations completely, according to the traditional understanding of God’s Word; ‘... my words, which will come true at their proper time ...’ (1:20).

The whole scene here is set up by two brief phrases.  Zachariah says ‘I am an old man ...’ (1:18) and the angel says ‘I am Gabriel’ (1:19).  Zachariah identified himself as an old man, defined by his personal problem of not having an heir, and Gabriel identified himself as God’s messenger.  Gabriel’s announcement was not simply a word for Zachariah, but an announcement of something far more, the proclamation of the fulfilment of God’s plans to send His Messiah to save His people.  Zachariah’s response was of course a function of his own lack of self understanding and esteem, so he was unable to take on board what he had been told.  He did not believe the promise of a son, the fact that God was dealing with him personally, and or that having now received a word from God he had the duty to pass this on.  What he should have done was to leave the Sanctuary and then go and announce to the people what he had seen, by using his unique opportunity to declare the ‘priestly blessing’ (see above and in yesterday’s study).

Zachariah’s speechlessness, and the response of the priests

It was entirely appropriate for Zachariah to be given a sign of God’s power at work in these circumstances.  An analysis of the appearances of angels in the Old Testament will show us that angels frequently gave signs, for example to Abraham (Gen 15:18 – the Covenant and the gift of the Promised Land), to Moses (Ex 4:1 – the signs of the snake and the leprous hand), Gideon (Judges 6:17 – the fleece) and to king Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:8 – the famous movement of the shadow on the sun dial).  Zachariah had shown lack of faith by questioning Gabriel, so the sign was designed not to punish Zachariah but to draw attention to what was going on.  Zachariah’s inability to speak certainly caused a stir, and it heightens our anticipation for what will happen when Zachariah receives his speech again (Luke 1:67f.).

Lack of speech is a frequent consequence of seeing a vision or seeing an angel (e.g. see Dan 10:15, Ezekiel 3:26 and 24:27), but we need to be careful about this impairment is described in the Bible.  When the angel announced the sign, he told Zachariah that he would be ‘silent’ (1:20), but when he emerged from the Temple sanctuary he was unable to communicate, and in verse 22 there are two words that reveal more about what happened to Zachariah (see Translation notes above).

Firstly, Zachariah is described as ‘kophos’ (Greek), which in the New Testament means both deaf and dumb.  This is born out in Luke 1:57-66, where Zachariah appears to be deaf and unaware of what is said around him, otherwise the tale of his miraculous revelation of the name of his son John does not make sense (1:62).  Secondly, the Greek word used to describe his communication usually means ‘nodding’, and there is uncertainty about whether it can mean any other gestures.  The picture we must have in mind therefore is not of Zachariah gesticulating animatedly with his hands and body as if aware of what was said to him but unable to respond; rather, the man was confused after the vision and only able to nod in response to prompting.  This is exactly what we mean by someone being ‘struck dumb’.

In Jerusalem, the regular priests were members of the High priestly family and they regulated the Temple worship.  They looked down on the priests who came from the country to serve on the weekly roster as if they were amateurs.  Everything they saw reinforced this view.  Perhaps we can see even in this incident the beginnings of a separation between the powerful work of God in salvation through Jesus Christ, and the official religious work of Jewish priests.  God was at work amongst the people, not through the usual religious channels!

Elizabeth and her praise of God

Elizabeth’s response to her pregnancy was twofold, firstly to hide away for five months (1:24), and secondly, to give praise to God (1:25).  People have wondered why Elizabeth hid herself away, and various theories have been put forward.  Most people reckon that she was unwilling to reveal her pregnancy until she was obviously pregnant and not too far away from giving birth successfully.  A miscarriage in the early days of pregnancy would have been all the more intolerable if her condition had been made public.

It is more likely however, the Luke had his eye on a different issue, and this has to do with God’s timescale.  Luke drew attention to Elizabeth’s seclusion because this highlights the birth of Jesus, which comes next.  In tomorrow’s passage, we read these famous words, ‘In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God ... to a young woman whose name was Mary ...’ (1:26), some of the most exciting words in Scripture!  So although John was conceived before Jesus, Luke tells us that Mary’s conception by the Holy Spirit was of prior importance.  As we read through Luke 1, we will increasingly notice that Luke compares Mary and Elizabeth.  The older woman conceived in the Old Testament tradition of prophetic awe, as indicated by Zachariah’s doubt, the sign of his inability to communicate, and Elizabeth’s praise of God’s favour after five months.  The younger woman conceived in a new utterly miraculous way, anticipated by Isaiah in his famous prophecy, ’a young woman will conceive ...’ (Isaiah 7:14), without a husband, without a doubt and with instant praise.

There is nothing wrong with Elizabeth’s praise; her words reflect those of Rachel, the wife of Jacob who conceived after years of being barren (see Genesis 30:23, and also Psalm 113:9), and they are sincere.  However, they are the last echoes of praise to God from the Old Testament, praising the Almighty for what He has done and looking forward to a future of hope.  They also contain the words ‘right now’ (see Translation notes above for verse 25), indicating that God was beginning his new work of salvation at the very time she spoke.  As we will find out tomorrow, after five months of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the Holy Spirit began the remarkable events that led to the birth of the Messiah; God’s servant, Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:18-25 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Application

When God does a great work in the world, this is not just a matter of the events we see here on earth and their consequences for the individuals concerned.  What we see is like the tip of an iceberg, and in the case of this story, what happened to Zechariah is a small but powerful and observable event resting on the top of an enormous amount of work already done by God in the lives of people throughout centuries.  We can easily see the connections between this incident and the life of Abraham, but the hope of all Israel for a Saviour lies behind the announcement of ‘good news’ by the angel Gabriel.  Of course his words were good news for a man who desperately wanted to have a son, but they were also good news for all Israel, and ultimately for all people everywhere.  God was ‘on the move’, active in the life of the world to do His will and put into action His plan for the salvation of the world.

I say this carefully because in Luke’s day, as in ours, people can be tempted to think that a story such as this is no more than a great story, at best illustrating the way God works in the world.  However, the Christian needs to stand up and declare something more.  With Luke, we must say that this is what happened; it is real, it is history, and like all history, it comes not just through the stories people tell, but the subsequent effects of what happened.  There is no doubt that John the Baptist was indeed born according to prophecy and according to the prepared plan of God, and what happened through him and through Jesus has changed the world.  This is what Luke set out to record in his Gospel.

People love to debate the existence of angels today, and within the church, I have found that when pushed, a significant number of Christians will say that they do not believe angels exist, and by saying this, they imply that stories such as this are ‘fairy tale’, perhaps illustrating God’s work, but not reflecting history.  It is sad when those who claim faith prefer to remain stuck in disbelief.  One of the truly interesting features of this story is Zechariah’s difficulty in accepting that God was actually working through him, and it seems that some of God’s people today have the same difficulty.  They are happy for their faith to remain at arm’s length, like a proposed truth that can be accepted or set to one side according to the pressures of life.  As we will discover, Zachariah’s disbelief was temporary.  Let us hope that this is true for those who do not yet find it possible to accept that the Bible reports real stories of real people, real angels, a real God, and a very real salvation through Jesus Christ.

Luke 1:18-25 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What similarities do you find between the faith of Zechariah and the faith of God’s people today?
2. What effect might Zechariah’s punishment have on him, as far as we can tell from the Gospel record?
3. Discuss the difference between the faith of Zechariah and the faith of Elizabeth as represented by their words in this story.

Topics covered by this text

• The communication of God’s Word through visions
• Faith and disbelief

Personal comments by author

I can recall a number of times when I have been reluctant to believe that God has wanted to do a work through me.  Perhaps you have been in this place too, and it is uncomfortable.  Sometimes the Lord calls a person to do something but they refuse to do it, and I know that I have been concerned lest I have done this, perhaps inadvertently.  The story of Zechariah however is a help to us not a hindrance, for here, the Lord’s punishment is proportionate and designed to bring Zachariah back on board for what must be done.  In my experience, this is indeed how the Lord works to bring us back into His will.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Examine yourself by asking whether there are any areas of disbelief in your own life, and whether you need to be more open to what the Lord can do through you.  Pray about this, and discuss it with someone else who is spiritually close to you.
• Ask the Lord in prayer to bless your own church or fellowship with a vision of what He would like to do through them.  Pray that belief will replace disbelief amongst God’s people.

Final Prayer

Let me hear Your voice tonight, faithful God and Lord of all.  Speak to me so that I may know Your will, whether it be hard or easy, comforting or challenging, exciting or mundane; and let me value each and every word of the instruction You give for Your servant’s life.  Thank You Lord; AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This is a beautiful and remarkable story, introducing Mary and describing the momentous events surrounding the conception of her son Jesus, the Son of God.  At the heart of this story is a divine paradox of humanity and divinity created in human flesh, for the Messiah is to be born of a woman by means of a miracle beyond our comprehension.  Throughout the centuries, people have argued about the ‘virgin birth’ as described here in this passage, yet for all our searching we have found nothing to add to what Luke has written.  On the one hand it is a powerfully simple story told with the minimum of fuss, and on the other hand it breaks through all our preconceptions about the difference between God and humanity.

In the previous story, Gabriel appeared to the priest Zachariah in the Temple to announce the birth of John, the man who would announce the Messiah (1:5-25).  Zachariah was troubled by what he heard and questioned Gabriel, and as a reward for his doubt he was struck dumb!  Here, Gabriel appears to Mary, a young woman expecting to be married shortly to Joseph, to tell her the mind-boggling news that she will have a child, though a virgin!  She is understandably perturbed and asks the same question as Zachariah, ‘How can this be ...’ (1:18,34), but something amazing happens.  Mary has already found favour with God, so Gabriel offers this young woman blessing upon blessing (1:28, 30,35), answering her questions by promising her the presence of Almighty God (1:35)!  Finally, after being given reassuring news about the pregnancy of her older relative Elizabeth, Mary ceases her questioning and submits to God’s will and divine purpose; ‘Here am I, the Lord’s servant, let it happen according to Your word’ (1:38).  These are possibly the most exquisite expressive words of pure faith to be found within the Bible, and in them, God’s favour and Mary’s pure trust combine to enable Jesus the Saviour to be born into our world.

Some of the details of the story are intriguing.  Why is it that after centuries of performing miracles through the children born of barren women (see yesterday’s study), God should now chose an unmarried virgin?  Why does God chose a woman from Nazareth?  What qualities might attract Mary to God even before she has expressed her trust and faith (1:30)?  Why does Gabriel emphasise the earthly lineage of the child to be born, but state that her betrothed will not father the child?  How indeed will the child be conceived within Mary’s womb?

It is impossible for us to answer all these questions satisfactorily, but asking them may lead us into a deeper understanding of the nature of Jesus, of His humanity and His divinity.  We will always be left with more questions, because what happened was a miracle.  If we cannot live with this, then we will only search the text in frustration.  What we can say for certain is that God’s favour was given to Mary and she was to be blessed with the gift of a son even though she was betrothed and not yet married.  The description given by Luke of the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb does not dishonour Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, and it does not describe impregnation by the Holy Spirit.  He says that she will conceive because God will come close to her and His ‘shadow’ will fall on her (1:35), and we limit our understanding of the divine miracle if we trivialise these words or exaggerate them.  Finally, Mary abandons her reticence and natural feminine caution and gives her wholehearted ascent to the angel; with the faith of innocence, she trusts the goodness of God.

People have argued over the details of this story for centuries.  However, this does not change the fact that the Messiah was born of Mary, the woman who was the first to respond to God with faith in the New Testament.  Isaiah’s prophecies were fulfilled, and God’s work of redemption had begun.

Luke 1:26-38 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

• Notes on the translation of the passage
• Why does this story have similarities to the announcement to Zachariah?
• What do we mean by the terms ‘virgin birth’ and ‘incarnation’?
• What does this passage say about who Jesus is?

Notes on the translation of the passage

V27 ‘pledged’

 This word is translated ‘engaged’ in many Bible versions, but this could be confusing, because the rituals of marriage were different to those of today.  The Greek word ‘mnesteuomai’ refers to the betrothal of a woman and a man in marriage, and this formal promise of marriage was regarded as holy and unbreakable in itself.  I have used the word ‘pledged’ in order to convey this sense of binding promise.

V27 ‘virgin’

 The Greek word ‘parthenos’ means a young woman who is not yet married.  In Jesus’ day this meant that the woman was presumed to be a virgin, which is obviously true of this passage.  It is worth noting that the Hebrew word used by Isaiah for his prophecy ‘a young woman shall conceive and bear a son ...’ (Isaiah 7:14) also means a young woman with the same presumption of virginity.

V28 ‘The Lord is with you.’

Other translations:

‘The Lord is with you’   (NIV)

‘The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’   (Authorised Version)

The Authorised Version has an additional phrase here that is not found in the most ancient manuscripts.  If you look further on to verse 42, you will see that at this point, Elizabeth cries out to Mary ‘blessed are you amongst women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’  It seems that at some point in history, someone has inadvertently added a portion of verse 42 back into verse 28.  In the context, it is an understandable mistake, but it has been unfortunately continued through its use in the Authorised Version alone.

V34 ‘since I have not had sex with a man’

Other translations:

‘since I am a virgin’   (NIV)

‘since I do not know a man’  (Authorised Version)

In this instance, the Authorised Version is close to the Greek, but this can be misunderstood today and does not help us understand the meaning of Mary’s question.  Mary simply asks the obvious question about how she can become pregnant when she has not had sex, and it is best not to beat about the bush and say this straight, which I have done.  Most modern translations say ‘since I am a virgin’, which is neither what the text says or current good English.

V35 ‘overshadow’

 The Greek word here means ‘to cast a shadow’.  See also Acts 5:15, where sick people attempt to stand in Peter’s shadow, and Matthew 17:5, where the shadow of God covers the mountain of transfiguration like a cloud.  Clearly, the presence of God in a cast shadow was an important concept to people in the first century, but it is important not to deviate too far from the meaning of this word.  We must not read too much into its meaning (see study).

Why does this story have similarities to the announcement to Zachariah?

Scholars as well as ordinary readers have long since noticed the strong literary links between the stories of the announcement of the birth of John, the forerunner, and the announcement of the birth of Jesus, the Messaih (see above).  In each, Gabriel speaks firstly to make the announcement (1:13-17 and 1:28-33).  Then Zachariah asks ‘How will I know ...?’ (1:18), and in parallel to this Mary asks ‘How can this be ...?’ (1:34). Gabriel then replies to the inner heart of each individual.  Zachariah’s doubt yields a punishment (1:19,20), whilst Mary’s inner faith is rewarded by a further promise of blessing and the support of her relative Elizabeth (:35-37).  Though his wife becomes pregnant, Zachariah is left confused; whereas the angel leaves Mary in peace and full of faith.

Is this too stylised to be the story of real events?  In asking this, we ignore the integrity and art of Luke, who researched the story and then wrote it down not to deceive us with literary devices but to highlight truth.  The conception of the Son of God is nothing other than a most profound mystery, and it was real, touching the lives of real people.  Luke has succeeded in conveying this not just by telling the story, but by comparing it with the more earthy story of Zachariah.  Most of us can identify with Zachariah because he comes across as an ordinary man caught up in spectacularly unusual events.  When we read the story of Mary, however, we find ourselves caught up in so much more; we touch events of spiritual power and significance far greater than anything in the entire Old Testament.  Even the words themselves are astonishingly clear and precise.  Apart from a few amendments to the story made by later copyists (see notes above), the Greek is so straightforward that most Bible versions are identical!  The profound mystery of the creation of the Son of God, divinity and humanity created as one in the womb of a woman, has been conveyed to us in an unforgettable story of utmost beauty and majesty.

This is how God chose to come into the world, and the Holy Spirit has surely been at work in the writing of this story so that we know we are touching the mystery of God Himself.  Luke is quite clear; God chose Mary as the mother of His Son, and all he required of her was the simple and absolute faith of a willing servant.  Mary was not special because she possessed qualities that endeared her to God; she was made just like everyone else, as someone with the gifts necessary for her role and work in God’s Kingdom.  She stands with all the greats of the Bible (see, Judges 6:12 and Ruth 2:14) as someone who used the gifts she was given and is now a superb and Biblcal example of faith.

What do we mean by the terms ‘virgin birth’ and ‘incarnation’?

Mary was a young woman, promised in marriage to Joseph and therefore in Jewish culture, a virgin (see notes).  Her initial response to Gabriel’s message is of incredulity, for how could she conceive without sex (see notes)?  Her pregnancy would place her forthcoming marriage at great risk, but Luke strangely does not comment on this (we find it in Matthew 1:18-25).  Luke’s Gospel focuses on the great joy amongst ordinary God-fearing people because of the evidence of God’s work amongst them.  Although these people were country folk living a long distance from the Temple, the centre of Jewish religious life, Luke tells us that they understood the work of God.  Only later, after Jesus’ birth, does Luke tell us about how people in the Temple responded to the coming of the Messiah (2:21-52).

In probably the most enigmatic expression in the entire story, Luke says of Mary  ‘the power of the Most High will overshadow you’ (1:35).  This sentence addresses the heart of our question, ‘how can a child be conceived within Mary’s womb without her having sex?’  Fancifully, there have always been those who believed that the Holy Spirit in some way ‘impregnated’ the virgin Mary.  However, Luke, together with all Jewish people and early Christians would have been appalled at the suggestion.  The Roman world was full of stories of the gods having sex with people in order to create superheroes, emperors and other minor ‘gods’.  This was the speculative world of religion they despised and regarded as ungodly.  It is ignorant of us to suggest that the Holy Spirit had sex with Mary because in so saying we show that we have not understood what Luke says in his story.  He says only that Mary was ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit (1:35).

The word ‘overshadow’ is used in Scripture to refer to something on which a shadow falls.  This is true of Isaiah’s prophesy, where he says to King Hezekiah that the shadow on a sundial would move back as a sign to him of God’s command of history (2 Kings 20:1-11), and also the story of people placed in Peter’s shadow in order to be healed (Acts 5:15).  This last example tells us that the shadow was not regarded as the mere absence of light, but an indication of a real but incomplete spiritual presence, for example, ‘the festivals ... are only a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ’ (Colossians 2:17 and also Hebrews 8:5 etc.).  Luke says therefore that God came to Mary not completely, but in part, to do a special work in her womb.  So, we who have scientifically enquiring minds may suggest that God did a special work of grace to enable the fertilisation of an egg in Mary’s womb, thus making the embryo of our Saviour Jesus both human and divine.  Beyond this it is surely presumptive and ignorant of us to guess.

What does this passage say about who Jesus is?

Jesus’ birth brings together a series of important words and concepts that tell us about the nature of God’s Messiah.  At the beginning of the first century AD there was much speculation about this, and which prophecies of the Old Testament pointed to the Messiah.  Today, we are used to reading Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 11:2 and chapter 53, and interpreting them as prophecies of the Messiah as a King and also a ‘suffering servant’.  It is hard for us to understand that many other Scriptures were regarded as speaking of the Messiah; for example, that He would be of the line of Aaron, God’s ‘High Priest’ Messiah (see Exodus 40:10-12, a passage that describes a perpetual priesthood in the service of God).  Records of the writings of rabbis in the first century BC are full of such speculation, and Luke’s record stands as both a confirmation of who the Messiah is and a rebuttal of who He is not!

Firstly, the ‘virgin birth’ describes Jesus as both God and man created in the womb of Mary (see above).  In this He fulfils Isaiah’s ‘birth prophecies’ of a King (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6, 11:2).  Luke ensures that we understand this not just by his description of Mary and her response, but by reporting the speech of the angel Gabriel.  He speaks about God as ‘the Most High’ (1:32,35), a Greek translation of the emphatic Hebrew phrase ‘El- Elyon’, also known as ‘Almighty God’.  People at the time of our story regarded these words as a title to be used for the Messiah!  Then, in verse 32, Luke confirms God’s calling of the Messiah from ‘the throne of his ancestor David’, directly evoking the words of God spoken to David:

I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.  (2 Samuel 7:12-14)  

Later in the Gospel, Luke records the genealogical line linking Jesus to David through Joseph; but is it not sufficient that God should declare His Son a ‘Son of David’?  Luke, however, knew that Jesus’ earthly connection with David meant a great deal.  The descendants of David had long since disappeared from the ‘throne of Israel’.  The Babylonians had destroyed the heritage of David when the Temple was destroyed in 587BC and they took David’s descendants to the royal court in Babylon (2 Kings 24).  All earthly rulers since had been placed over Israel by empires and emperors; King Herod was no Jew.

God’s Son was to be born with a full earthly lineage and history, and a full divine lineage and history.  This is why we can say that God’s Son is real, and He is not a construction of religious sentiment.  Is it impossible for God to do this?  No.  As the angel Gabriel says, repeating a great ‘line’ of Scripture found throughout its pages ‘nothing is impossible for God’ (1:37, see also Gen 18:14, Job 10:13, Jeremiah 32:27, Zechariah 8:6, Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27 etc.).

Luke 1:26-38 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Application

This is a story of pure faith.  Now you may find that in the course of your life and discipleship, things can become very complicated.  It can be difficult to know how to speak about Jesus in a world where people will be offended if others confront their beliefs.  Traditional Christian beliefs are challenged from every angle, philosophically, religiously and scientifically.  People who attend church can have very set views about a vast range of issues making discussion of faith quite difficult at times.  So a Scriptural story describing faith in such a beautiful and straightforward manner is powerful and refreshing.  God’s people must not allow the complexities of life to cloud their judgement about faith, allowing ‘simple’ faith to become confused with ‘simplistic’ faith.  Our story here is about ‘simple faith’ at its most powerful.  Mary shows us that our lives are most blessed when we drop our pre-conceptions, our problems and our worries, and rely utterly on the grace and favour of God already revealed to us.  There is no force on earth capable of standing in the way of faith like this.

True, there is so much more for us to discover about Jesus and the salvation He offers.  Jesus teaches us about the full nature of God and the reality of the human condition, so that when we respond in faith to Him we may indeed be truly repentant and willing to be changed and ‘born anew’ (John 3:3f.).  Jesus teaches us about the Kingdom of God, which we may experience now as a sample of what God has for us in the future, beyond death.  His battles with the evils of religiosity, with the devil’s temptations and with Satan’s power in this world reveal the nature of the battles we face while living in a mortal and sinful world.  Yet our starting point is the miracle of grace whereby any one of us may, with Mary, perceive that God’s hand is indeed upon us and we are blessed, because He loves us.  Then, with powerful and utterly simple integrity, we say our ‘Yes’ to God’s ‘Yes’, and the eternal contract of salvation is opened out before us through Jesus our Saviour.

For centuries, the Catholic church has valued Mary as the mother of Jesus, yet the historic though not official equation drawn by many devout people between the saving power of Jesus and the place of Mary in the church has created divisions and drawn the church close to heresy.  The Protestant church should now seek to value Mary for what God has done through her according to Scripture, and do so without shame or fear.  We must surely accept her unique example of pure faith and service, and we should give thanks that it powerfully illustrates the glory of God’s salvation.  Mary’s faith is a vital part of the Gospel because God used it to begin the path of Salvation.  Her faith is pure, it is simple, it is offered to all, including the least significant in society, and it is all sufficient.  It scatters all human preconceptions of religion and is immediately applicable to real life.  Let us rejoice in it.

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does the faith of Mary illustrate to you, and how can God’s people learn from her response to God?
2. What does it mean to say that Jesus will be ‘holy’, and be called the ‘Son of God’?  How do people in our world respond to such claims?
3. How does God show His favour to people today?  How do we experience God’s blessing on our lives, even in the midst of difficulties?

Topics covered by this text

• The birth of Jesus Christ
• The Incarnation
• The faith of Mary

Personal comments by author

This is one of those passages of Scripture that is so powerful, we could continue to study almost infinitely and still not exhaust the possibilities of God’s Word.  I have always found it incredible that God chose to begin the work of salvation by focussing on a woman and not a man, and for this reason, we are duty bound to pay special attention to Mary and her role in God’s salvation.  Jesus is our Saviour, not Mary, though her example of faith is one of the most powerful in Scripture; her faith endured every imaginable test in the course of her life until we see her at the end of the Gospel at the foot of the Cross.  We must learn from what the Scriptures say about her

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Over a period of a week, read through this passage each day and allow its message to speak to you in different ways.  Make a record of the different things that come to you in the course of the week.
• Write down what you think is the simplest definition of faith, using this passage to guide you.

Final Prayer

Bless us with true peace, Lord Jesus we pray.  Love us, heal us, comfort as, guide us, forgive us, encourage us, empower us and challenge us we pray.  Turn us into people fit for active service in the Kingdom of our God; we praise You Lord Jesus Christ! AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:39-45

Luke 1:39-45 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Mary goes to meet her cousin Elizabeth to compare what has happened to them, and their infant children respond by recognising each other, whilst still in the wombs of their mothers!

Here is a simple story of joy and delight, telling us what Mary did as soon as she heard the news brought to her by Gabriel.  At the end of his message, the angel had told Mary that her relative, Elizabeth was pregnant (1:36), and she went to see her as quickly as possible.  She went not just to verify what the angel’s news, but to share the great joy that Elizabeth, a woman who had endured years of misery as a barren woman, was now expecting.  This was more than ‘a dream come true’; both women recognised that what was happening was the result of the Lord’s work within them.  They were privileged to be the ones chosen by God to do His will, and their meeting was a glorious reunion, blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit (1:41) in a remarkable way.

The more we read Luke’s Gospel, the more we come across the Holy Spirit (1:15, 35, 41), and we know that the second volume of his work, the Acts of the Apostles, concentrates on the work of the Holy Spirit amongst the early believers.  By comparison, the Old Testament describes the Holy Spirit only sparingly, inspiring prophets, bringing purity and cleansing, or being an agent of God’s work to save His people (see Psalm 51:11, or Isaiah 63:10,11).  But now, here at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, the presence of the Holy Spirit within the stories of Jesus’ birth is immediately striking.  Here in this story, the Holy Spirit breaks into the lives of Elizabeth and Mary with unconfined joy and a sense of great celebration.

Mary had travelled with excitement (see ‘going deeper’) to visit her relative, and Luke tells us that Elizabeth is immediately inspires by her greeting.  She is then ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ (1:41) as the child in her womb stirs within her.  This is a precious moment of joy and reassurance for Elizabeth, for whom the whole event was on-going proof of the Lord’s blessing.  Her barren years may well have included miscarriages or still-births, and this powerful sign of life within her own body was the joyous evidence of God’s promise through her husband Zachariah.  So moved, she cried out a powerful prophetic greeting to Mary (1:42-45).

Elizabeth’s prophetic words are important.  Firstly, it is remarkable that in a culture dominated by men, the first prophetic words within the New Testament are spoken by Elizabeth, who is a woman.  She is not commonly regarded as a ‘prophet’, because her pronouncement to Mary happened on one special occasion, but there is no doubt that her words were prophetic.  First, she offered Mary a blessing for what God had done within her, and as a woman, she would have understood the spiritual and physical consequences of this.  She was also the first to bless Jesus as the ‘fruit’ of Mary’s womb.  Now at that time, Mary had only just heard that she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit (1:35), but Elizabeth recognised the significance of both Mary and the child she bore.  She knew that He special and referred to him as ‘my Lord’; and in using these words, Elizabeth was the first to confess Jesus as God’s Messiah.  Not only did she recognise this herself, but so did the baby within her womb, who was John the Baptist (1:44)!

Elizabeth’s last words were very important; ‘Blessed is she who believes that what has been told her by the Lord will come true.’  Elizabeth had held the news of her own pregnancy private for more than six months (1:38), and Mary’s visit was the first time her pregnancy was recognised by someone outside her family.  During the early months of her pregnancy, Elizabeth had retained her belief in what the Lord was doing within her, and now she had the proof through the stirring of the baby within her.  She therefore encouraged Mary to have faith that what she had been told by the angel of the Lord would indeed come true, just as what had been told her husband had come true for her.

Luke 1:39-45 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

• Notes on the translation of the passage
• More about Mary and Elizabeth, and where they lived
• More about the presence of the Holy Spirit within Elizabeth
• Faith and blessing

Notes on the translation of the passage

V41 ‘leaped in her womb

Other translations:

‘leaped in her womb’  (NIV & NRSV)

The traditional rendering of the Greek word ‘skirtao’ is to ‘leap’, but the Greek word is a straightforward description of what every pregnant woman feels, which is the movement of the child in the womb, often described as ‘stirring’ or ‘kicking’.  However, in verse 44 the same words appears attached to the word ‘joy’, and translated ‘leaped for joy’.  This translation is preferred because it is common to speak of jumping for joy, if not for a child in the womb!

V42 ‘You are the most blessed of women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb’

Other translations:

‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!’   (NIV)

‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’  (NRSV)

The arrangement of the words in the Greek suggests that Elizabeth was declaring Mary more blessed than other women (see the commentary on Luke’s Gospel by Howard Marshall).  I suggest that this makes more sense here than the traditional translation.

V45 ‘will come true’

Other translations:

‘will be accomplished’   (NIV)

‘would be a fulfilment’  (NRSV)

The Greek word used here is ‘teleiosis’, which refers to the completion of something, hence the traditional translations which speak of ‘fulfilment’.  However, a normal English expression here is ‘come true’, and in this instance this is quite simply what is meant.  Mary is encouraged to believe that what Gabriel has told her will indeed happen.

More about Mary and Elizabeth, and where they lived

At the beginning of this passage, we meet Mary, fresh from hearing the news of her forthcoming pregnancy, travelling south, from Galilee to the ‘hill country of Judea’ (1:39).  The hill country of Judea is generally reckoned to be the region of hills to the south west of Jerusalem, containing Bethlehem and other towns, possibly a eighty or so miles south of Galilee, the region from which Mary came and a journey of three or four days length.  Of course, Mary makes the journey south nine months later, heavily pregnant, for the sake of the census taken at Bethlehem, her husband-to-be’s ancestral home (2:1f.).  On this occasion, she is still an agile young woman, and the passage says that she travelled with ‘haste’, and with no mention of a companion or of Joseph.  The Greek word used here for ‘haste’ means ‘earnestness, zeal, diligence’, so ‘haste’ is probably the right translation; but knowing the meaning of the word, we gain a sense of her eagerness to verify what Gabriel said to her and meet her relative Elizabeth.

There has been much speculation about the exact relationship between Mary and Elizabeth, and the common assumption is that they were cousins.  This, however, is purely speculation, for the New Testament gives us no further information other than the unspecific word ‘relative’.  In the large extended families of those days, this could mean almost anything from cousin to a close or distant aunt.  We must remember that Zachariah described his wife as ‘getting on in years’ (1:18), so would have affected the relationship between the two, at least in terms of cultural niceties.

More about the presence of the Holy Spirit within Elizabeth

Whatever the exact physical relationship of Elizabeth and Mary, however, it is remarkable that Elizabeth, the older and more senior figure, defers spiritually to the younger Mary.  She recognises the blessing of God on Mary and the story makes sense only if we assume that she (and therefore we) know both that she is to be the mother of the ‘forerunner’ (John the Baptist) and Mary is to be the mother of the Messiah.  Some of this she knew from what she had been told by her husband Zachariah, and we must assume that he managed to find a way of communicating with her despite his punishment of being deaf and dumb (see previous studies).  Yet Elizabeth would have needed spiritual revelation in order to draw all the conclusions necessary to say what she says here.  Clearly, the response of her baby to the presence of Mary and the embryonic Jesus within his mother was highly significant for her.  A mother knows the movements of a child in her womb, and the kick, leap or turn of the child at the presence of Mary affected her profoundly (1:41,44).

It is presumptive of us to imagine what the babies within Elizabeth and Mary were conscious of, but today, it is becoming ever more accepted that the child in the womb is connected in almost every conceivable way to its mother, including not just physical sensations but emotional reactions.  The growing baby responds increasingly to stimuli within the womb, and the story in Luke presents us with a beautiful recognition of the meaningful nature of life within the womb.  This is not an insignificant point.

We may also be surprised that Elizabeth is described as crying out with a loud voice (1:42); was this not unseemly?  On the contrary, these words indicate to the reader the prophetic nature of Elizabeth’s words.  Frequently in Scripture, a prophet ‘cries out’, indeed, the task of the child, John the Baptist, was to ‘cry out’ in the wilderness ‘prepare the way of the Lord’ (3:4).  We may reckon that Elizabeth’s prophetic gift was the beginnings of the same gift in her son!  She also had the courage to proclaim aloud a message of blessing.  This was not a normal manner of greeting, and a priest normally conveyed the blessing of God.  Whether Elizabeth was conscious of this or not, her actions and words are clearly a reflection of the work of the Holy Spirit in her.

Faith and blessing

This brief passage is characterised by two important spiritual characteristics, faith and blessing.  To bless means to be gracious and favourable towards someone.  Therefore, for God to bless people means that they receive the grace and favour of God.  Next, for someone to ‘bless’ another means that the one offers the other their own good will in whatever appropriate form it is expressed.  Lastly, for someone to bless God means that they offer their best and their own favourable response to God, something we usually call ‘praise’.

So here in this story, Elizabeth’s blessing of Mary when filled with the Holy Spirit, means that she offers Mary her own goodwill and favour, but also by means of the Holy Spirit, she offers God’s blessing and favour.  The notes written above also indicate the likelihood that Elizabeth described Mary as ‘most blessed’ among women.  This blessing has caused significant interest because those who promote what is called ‘Marion devotion’, suggest this constitutes clear evidence of Mary’s superiority over all other women.  I suggest that this takes the matter too far.  The blessing of one person by another has nothing to do with status, and everything to do with humility.  The fact that Mary is ‘most blessed’ does not make her any better than the rest of us, her blessing is a simple statement of a wonderful fact.  God has blessed her in a unique way because she is the mother of Jesus, God’s Son, and no other woman has that privilege.  She remains a woman with the same propensity to human sinfulness as every other man or woman on earth, as God has ordained for every human being.

Luke 1:39-45 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Application

At this point in Luke’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit brings order and understanding to the whole sequence of stories in the opening chapter.  God was of course at work in everything that was happening; but the Holy Spirit worked within both Elizabeth and Mary to make the spiritual connections.  It is simply impossible to draw simple connections between the events described in this passage and the life of God’s people today, largely because what we have read here is an unrepeatable event and the special nature of God’s work is clear.  However, I venture to suggest that the Holy Spirit is involved in the creation of each and every individual in the womb, and God’s people should be willing to speak about this boldly in an age in which people regard procreative activity as something little more than a recreational sport.  The spiritual nature of each human being is highly valuable, and we cannot afford to ignore this.

The second point of connection between this story and ourselves is the nature of the spiritual connection between Mary and Elizabeth.  Most of us know what it is like to feel that we have people who are close; we call such people ‘soul friends’, a phrase that has gained some recognition and attained general use amongst some.  The word ‘soul’ however, means little more than ‘everything that make an individual’ in the Bible, but to talk about the ‘spirit’ we possess in Christ is quite different.  I would rather we talk about ‘friends in the spirit’ or ‘spirit friends’ when speaking of those to whom we feel a spiritual connection because of the mutual recognition of the work of God’s Spirit.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is at work throughout our world, and in all people in some measure.  Even those who have not professed faith are the subject of the work of the Spirit to draw them to Christ, whether they recognise it or not.  But I reckon that God is entirely understanding of the personal circumstances that existed between Mary and Elizabeth, and may also exist between us and certain others, enabling us to appreciate the godliness of others and the spiritual connections we enjoy.  The Lord can and will use all forms of our friendship to His glory if we allow Him to work in them by His Holy Spirit.

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does the term ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ mean here in this passage, and what does this same expression mean to us today?
2. Share experiences you have had in which you have been surprised and grateful for what the Lord has done for you
3. How can we be confident that God will fulfil His promises?  Discuss this with reference to your experience of unanswered prayer.

Topics covered by this text

• The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer
• The relationship of John the Baptist and Jesus
• The blessing of the Messiah by Elizabeth

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• How do you recognise the work of the Holy Spirit within your own life and that of others?  Make sure that your understanding of this is Biblical and seek to find evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit that you have not seen before.
• Pray that God’s people will hear and read the story of the birth of Jesus with greater understanding this year, and be inspired by what they hear and read.

Final Prayer

We thank You, Almighty God, for the gift of faith.  You have accepted us on the basis of our faith, and yet it is You who have placed faith within us!  Give us the grace to continue to live by faith, to demonstrate our faith and to witness to our faith throughout our lives.  Thank You, Almighty God:  AMEN

Bible study for Luke 46-56

Luke 1:46-56 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Mary sings a song of praise to God; her song is based upon that of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, but it glories in God’s revelation not just of salvation in general, but the specific gift of salvation through His servant ...

This powerful poem has been used by generations of Christians to reflect on their salvation.  Each verse contains concise and expressive phrases, explaining what God has done through Jesus Christ and continues to do amongst His people today.  The poem is known as the ‘Magnificat’ because this is the first word of its Latin version, and it has an important place in the liturgy of many churches because of its broad and expansive description of salvation.

If we think for a moment about the story within Luke 1, we will remember that immediately after responding to the angel Gabriel, Mary embarked on a long journey.  She travelled for around three or four days to go from Galilee in the north to the hill country of Judea to the south west of Jerusalem, in order to tell her relatives, especially Elizabeth, the news.  When she arrived, Elizabeth immediately shouted with delight and blessed her (1:43-45); however, Mary was more thoughtful.  The words of her response come across as series of a well thought out reflections on the salvation of God.  Gabriel had told Mary that the child to be created in her womb would be the Messiah (1:32,33), so it was natural that Mary should reflect on this.

It seems that the starting place for her thoughts were Hannah’s words in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 2:1-10), the well known song of praise sung by the mother of Samuel after she had given birth to him and dedicated him to the Lord in the Temple.  Having been told that her child would be filled with the Holy Spirit, Mary pondered over what this might mean.  Now if you read the song of Hannah, you will indeed find a few phrases that connect strongly between this and Mary’s song;

My soul acclaims the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour   (Mary – 1:46)

My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God   (Hannah – 2:1)

He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly   (Mary – 1:52)

The Lord … brings low, he also exalts, He raises up the poor from the dust  (Hannah – 2:7)

Such parallels cannot be found throughout the two songs, however, because Hannah’s is a triumphant song, sung as if she is rejoicing at the expense of her husband’s other wife, who had previously chastised her for having no children (see 1 Sam 1:1f.).  Mary, however, has no one to fight and there is no resentment or bitterness in her.  The ‘Magnificat’ reads as if Mary, a young woman from rural Galilee, has been able to piece together the truth about the saving purposes of God from the Old Testament, whilst walking on her journey across Israel, and putting it into song.  She did this by starting with Hannah’s words, but departing from it to add phrases influenced by the prophets, which speak of God’s salvation.  For example, Mary’s phrase ‘He has pulled the mighty down from their thrones’ (1:52) does not come from Hannah, but from Isaiah, who prophesied ‘I have brought down those who sat on thrones’ (Isaiah 10:13).

Every phrase of this great song uses Scriptural words to give a message that is not Old Testament, but New.  It speaks about salvation as the victory of good over evil, of the pure mercy and love of God (1:50), and of the fulfilled Covenant promise of God made to the forefathers (1:55).  It also speaks about salvation as having been accomplished and God’s will having already been done, as if prophesying the work her son Jesus would soon do, to turn the whole world ‘upside down’ (1:53).  Moreover, it prophesies God’s purpose to bring His salvation to the poor and lowly, a theme barely found in the Old Testament but a strong feature of Jesus’ own teaching.

Each verse of this great Scripture is a Gospel treasure store, and worthy not just of our passing attention, but of our very careful consideration.  Moreover, the gift of this song is to lift the heart, like the smile on the face of one who has been blessed by God!

Luke 1:46-56 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

• Notes on the translation of the passage
• The praises of God (1:46-48)
• The blessing of God (1:49,50)
• The sevenfold saving deeds of God (1:51-54)
• The completed covenant promise of God (1:54,55)

Notes on the translation of the passage

V46 ‘Mary said’

The Majority of ancient manuscripts say ‘Mary said’, but a few significant ones say ‘Elizabeth said’!  So do we have a genuine uncertainty about whether the great poem that follows (the Magnificat) was in fact said by Mary or Elizabeth?  Not really.  Although there is not much clear evidence from the manuscripts to say which is right or wrong, the tone of the Magnificat is quite different from Elizabeth’s prophecy only a few verses previously (1:42-45).  Elizabeth shouts out with exultant praise addressing Mary, but the Magnificat is more reflective, and it addresses God.  In addition, the phrase ‘the Mighty One has done great things for me’ (1:49) sounds more like Mary speaking than Elizabeth.  All scholars accept that the evidence of some manuscripts saying ‘Elizabeth said ...’ are an unfortunate error.

V46 ‘gives the Lord yet higher praise’

The Greek word I have translated as ‘to give higher praise’ is ‘megalunei’.  This is not the word we might expect for ‘praise’.  It means ‘to enlarge, to extend, to hold in high honour and esteem’.  The well known and usual translation is ‘magnifies’, but such a word is not used today, even though it is poetic.  I suggest the phrase ‘give higher praise’, which is accurate in so far as it sums up the range of meaning suggested by the Greek.

V48 ‘For he has respected the low standing of His servant ‘

Other translations:

‘He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant’   (NIV)

‘He has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant’   (NRSV)

This has always been a difficult phrase to translate.  The Greek says ‘for he has looked with care on the humble state of his slave’.  The translation I have given picks up the idea found in one Greek dictionary that the Greek word for ‘to look with care’ could well mean ‘to respect’.  I have also preferred the expression ‘low standing’ as being both accurate in respect to the Greek and also language that is current.

V51 ‘He has done great deeds by His might‘

Other translations:

‘He has performed mighty deeds with his arm’   (NIV)

‘He has shown strength with his arm’   (NRSV)

The translation I have given avoids the use of the phrase ‘with His arm’, because it is accepted even in the Old Testament that most of the references to God’s ‘arm’ are descriptions of His strength and might, and the Hebrew word equivalent to the Greek word in this sentence is often translated ‘might’ in the Old Testament.  I see no reason why this should not be so here.

The praises of God (1:46-48)

Elizabeth’s praise was shouted out, a cry of blessing and praise.  Mary delivered her praise no less intently but with measured intensity; she says that she gives yet ‘higher praise’.  The translation notes (above) point out that instead of using the usual word for praise, Mary talks about the increase of her praise and worship.  We all know what it is like to worship the Lord and feel blessed in so doing, but then something happens that expands our praise, and we are lifted to new heights.  I am not talking about musical effects or the use of specific words, but the power of the Holy Spirit to lift the soul and make praise grow in the heart of the worshipper.  We cannot engineer such things, this is the work of the Spirit.  As Mary journeyed and came to Elizabeth, her praise and esteem of the Lord grew; this is the true evidence of her faith.

The poem says in verse 48 that Mary’s heart of praise grew as she began to understand an important truth about the nature of God; ‘He has respected the low standing of His servant ...’.  It is easy for us to point this out now, but it was staggeringly difficult for the people of the day to understand.  God had chosen to bring salvation into the world not through the established, wise, learned and spiritual wisdom of Israel’s rabbis, Pharisees, scribes and priests, but through a relatively unlearned young girl.  In those days, few would have believed that a young country girl had the spiritual purity to bear the child of God in her womb.  Indeed, the Temple priests would have assumed this should be the function of a descendant of Aaron, such as Elizabeth.  Luke’s entire story breaks the religious mould and demonstrate God’s utter humanity and impartial judgement; in the world, the Gospel does not work ‘top down’, but ‘bottom up’.

The blessing of God (1:49,50)

The next stanza of Mary’s poem contains four lines of praise and blessing offered to God; she begins; ‘the Mighty One has done great things for me ...’ (1:49).  These words express direct thanks to God for what He has done, and they are Mary’s personal thanks to the Lord for her pregnancy and the privilege granted to her.  It is possible for any of us to be so caught up in events that we fail to remember to give thanks to God directly and personally for what He has done for us; we are thankful in spirit, but do not actually say so to the Lord.  Mary did not make that mistake, even though her circumstances must have seemed uncertain and insecure.  She blessed the Lord as ‘Mighty’ and strong, and therefore able to do what He had promised.  She also proclaimed His holiness (1:49) and His mercy (1:50).

Mary’s perception of the Lord as a God of holiness and mercy is profoundly insightful.  The prophets of the Old Testament struggled to understand the nature of God and how He could be said to be merciful and just at the same time.  Mary did not agonise over the problem as they did, she simply confirmed her faith that this was the truth; moreover, she proclaimed this as the eternal nature of God ‘from generation to generation’ (1:50).  Throughout the Old Testament, there is great emphasis on the passing on of God’s blessings from generation to generation, and even though the story of God’s people had been chequered, it had still been passed on.  Though the people of Israel were profoundly flawed and perhaps unready for the revelation of their Messiah, the covenant blessings of God had been passed on, and even Mary, an unknown country girl from Galilee, knew about the great mercies of a her faithful God.

The sevenfold saving deeds of God (1:51-54)

At the heart of the Magnificat, there are seven great statements about what God has done to bring salvation into the world.  Each one of these is important, and they all stand as Mary’s testimony to the grace of God in salvation.

• God has ‘done great things’ (1:51).  The Lord God has all power and is able to do whatever is required for His work of salvation.  People are often tempted to think that God’s power is displayed in Creation and other ways, but not in their own lives or in the specific circumstances they face.  However, He is ‘Almighty’, and will do everything necessary to win us, and bring us into eternal life.
• God has ‘scattered the arrogant in the thoughts of their hearts’ (1:51).  Here, the ‘arrogant’ most likely refers to those of God’s own people who think they know better than to trust the heritage of God’s people, as just confirmed by Mary (see 1:50).  In her day, these would be the Pharisees and other religious experts, the same people Jesus confronted in His ministry.
• God has ‘pulled the powerful down from their thrones’ (1:52).  Whilst those who think they have the intelligence to question God are scattered (see above), those who think they have more power than God are ‘pulled down’.  The illusion of power continues to this day, as we can see in world affairs all around us.  Those who think they know better will never trust God for their salvation.
• God has ‘lifted up the lowly’  (1:52).  At this point in the Magnificat, we hear about the nature of God’s salvation that turns the world’s values upside down.  Those with power are pulled down and the lowly are lifted up.  It is amazing to think that the gap between the rich and the poor in this world continues to increase, but God will bring this to an end, and His Kingdom must demonstrate this Gospel truth. 
• God has ‘filled the hungry with good things’  (1:53).  We cannot read the Bible and fail to notice that the message of salvation is what we would call ‘practical’ as well as ‘spiritual’.  Indeed, we cannot separate the two.  This sentence can mean that God will reward those who are hungry to find God, but this should not blind us to the fact that it is also about His desire to feed the poor, and empower His people to do just this.
• God has ‘sent the rich empty away’  (1:53).  This power of God is a warning to each of us that when we acquire more than we need for our living then we are ‘rich’ in His eyes.  Those who retain their wealth do so against the wishes of their Maker, who sees all things.  Those who regard themselves as ‘right’ in all spiritual matters and claim riches in the things of God (and it is very easy for this to happen), have little before the throne of grace, as Jesus points out (see Matthew 25:31f.).
• God has ‘given help to His servant Israel’  (1:54)  God is constantly giving His people help.  He did this in Old Testament times, and He does this now to the new Israel and people of God, the church.  It is unwise for us to run the church as if everything depends on our efforts; it does not, and the future is in God’s hands.

I have offered some comments on each of the seven elements of God’s work for the salvation of the world.  However, we would be wise to remember this.  All these things are the evidence of God’s work in our midst.  We should not just know them, we should look out for them happening all around us.  Where we see such things, God is working in power to save people.

The completed covenant promise of God (1:54,55)

At the very end of the Magnificat, we read these words; ‘as He promised to our forefathers, to Abraham and to His descendants forever.’ (1:55).  This is no casual ending to Mary’s song of praise to God.  This is Mary’s prophecy of the completion of God’s Covenant promise.  Throughout the Old Testament, we have seen the development of God’s Covenant with His people, the model of His relationship with people that was intended to be demonstrated to the world and become a blessing to it, and the means whereby all people could come to God (see Genesis 12:2,3).  The Covenant is not just defined by Abraham’s first experiences with God (Genesis 15), or by the law given to Moses and also described as the ‘Covenant’ (Exodus 20).  Neither is it defined by the fulfilment of God’s promise to His people to live in the Promised Land (see Joshua 24), or the the promise of God to David that one of His ancestors would sit on the ‘throne of Israel’ forever (2 Samuel 7).  We leave the Old Testament at the point where the prophets perceived that God would have to make a ‘new Covenant (Isaiah 61:8, Jeremiah 31:31, Ezekiel 16:60 etc.).

All these greats of the Old Testament are the ‘descendants’ mentioned here by Mary, and the whole of the Old Testament Covenant will be fulfilled by God in the salvation to be brought into the world through the child within Mary.  At this point in Luke’s Gospel, we do not know how this will happen, and neither do we know how Jesus will fulfil the salvation promises of God outlined in the Magnificat.  Nevertheless, Mary prophesies these things, and they will come true.

Luke 1:46-56 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Appplication

God had been building up to this moment throughout history, and now His own Son was created in the world, within the womb of a young woman in Israel.  The ‘Mighty One’ (1:49) was at work to upset and overthrow unjust human powers and authorities (1:52) and act to bring hope and salvation, starting with the poor (1:53).  The work that God was doing within Mary would bring a fundamentally new relationship between God and all humanity.  For centuries, the world was not ready for this dramatic event, but now, God judged that it was.  It is hard for us to comprehend the full drama of what was happening.

The ‘Magnificat’ captures this moment of time just before the ministry of Christ, and with every opportunity to study it, we will find that it speaks to us about the truths of God’s work in the world from that time until now.  Under the heading of this study called ‘application’, we can hardly suggest any response other than to get to know this Scripture and use it.  It is in the Bible for a purpose, recorded as the considered reflections of Mary on the ministry of God and of her son Jesus Christ.

Surely, we can learn from Mary that although God’s blessing does not depend upon praise, the heart that is directed towards its Lord in unfettered praise will rejoice far more in the Lord’s boundless mercy.  Surely, we can learn from Mary that the saving power of God, described sevenfold in her song, is uninhibited and boundless in its power to save today, whatever the circumstances of our troubled world.  There is something about this song that urges us to believe the impossible, to trust in the boundless mercy and love of God for all circumstances, and to have confidence that love will never be conquered by evil, when Jesus, the Saviour, is at work.  Mary had no choice but to give herself in total commitment to her child, as any mother must do to her baby, but hers was the first experience of that true discipleship to which we are all now called.  We have a choice whether to believe this salvation and live it, or to travel as we will, and when we have made this choice to follow in His way, we find it not so much a choice as our essential blessing.

Questions (for use in groups)

1. How does this great poem remind you of the saving power of God?  Why is this poem so memorable?
2. How does this poem look forward to the ministry of Jesus, to His life, His teaching, His death or His resurrection?
3. Within your group, describe to each other how you felt when you first knew that you were saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Take each of the seven great saving characteristics of God, and meditate on them during the course of one week, perhaps using the rest of the Magnificat as a prayer of introduction and conclusion to each act of meditation.
• Read a newspaper and compare what you read in it with what you have read here in ‘Mary’s song’.  Think about the difference between the world and the world as God can make it.

Final Prayer

Glorious Lord; You live in perfect harmony and peace, and You also see the world with all its sinfulness and discord.  Your plan has always been to change the world through Your Saviour Jesus Christ and bring it at last back to its harmony and peace, in You.  Thank You Lord God, for the love we find in Jesus Christ, which makes this real: AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:57-66

Luke 1:57-66 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

Today’s story is about the birth of John the Baptist.  The events which had surrounded his conception had left his father, Zachariah, speechless (1:22), and as we saw in our earlier studies, Luke describes his condition as ‘deaf’ as well as ‘dumb’.  This explains a number of its things which might otherwise appear rather strange within this reading.  Zachariah’s incapacity did not prevent his communication with his wife, however.  He was quite capable of writing (as is mentioned here in verse 63) and we may safely assume that he had discussed what had happened to him in the Temple with Elizabeth.  They both knew that their child had been given them by God as a gift, and that he had been given for a special task.

The birth of a child is always a special occasion, and just as this it true today, so it was in ancient times.  Back then, far more children died in childbirth and a significant number of mothers as well; so the survival of mother and child was a cause for special rejoicing, especially an older mother (1:58).  Neighbours and relatives of Elizabeth and Zachariah were also interested because Elizabeth had been barren for many years.  We do not know how old Elizabeth was, but earlier, Luke records that Zachariah doubted the angel’s promise because of his wife’s age (1:7).  The real mystery in this story however surrounds John’s naming on the eighth day.  This was the day of circumcision according to the law (see Gen 17:12), but it was usual for a child to be named at birth by the father immediately.

In this instance, of course, Zachariah was unable to speak out the name that he had been given for his son by the angel Gabriel because he was deaf and dumb.  Now, if we assume that Zachariah had been able to convey this to Elizabeth, she would surely have told visitors that her child was to be called John.  However, we forget that in those days, a woman who had given birth to a child was ceremonially ‘unclean’ for seven days (see Leviticus 12:2) and she would not therefore have been able to communicate normally with others in the community; she would have been isolated for these seven days.  Now we can understand why the naming happened, in this case, on the eighth day.  This was the first day that Elizabeth and Zechariah could appear together in public, and they did so to confirm the child’s name and also perform the act of circumcision.

Elizabeth spoke up and told the assembled congregation that the child’s name would be ‘John’ after other relatives, presumably male, acted according to tradition on behalf of his mute father to give him the same name, Zachariah.  It was extraordinarily brave of Elizabeth to challenge these men, and that his name was to be ‘John’ (1:60).  She still needed her husband to verify the name, so we are told that a writing board was found on which Zechariah could write the name of his child; and to the astonishment of the gathered assembly he confirmed, ‘His name is John’!  The fact that Zechariah had been struck dumb whilst in the Temple would have been a talking point in the neighbourhood, and we have no idea what gossip, malicious or otherwise, they were subjected to.  Now, after nine months, his barren wife had given birth to a child and been given the radically different name of ‘John’.  (This name means ‘The Lord is gracious’, and the Hebrew words behind the name John are different from those behind the different name ‘Jonathan’, meaning ‘gift of God’; in Hebrew, one is not a shortened version of the other).

Immediately Zechariah named his son, his affliction was lifted, and ‘he began to speak and praise God’ (1:64) just as Gabriel had foretold (1:20).  Indeed, the name ‘John’ was itself an exclamation of praise to God.  Everything that had happened to Zechariah and his family now became a talking point in the whole area (1:65).  Not only was this a wonderful story, but it pointed towards a powerful move of God’s Spirit.  From that time onwards, people began to notice something different about the child and wonder whether he would be a prophet; ‘for it was certain that the hand of the Lord was upon him’ (1:66).  In those days, people believed that the age of the prophets had ended after the exile, so it was quite extraordinary that they should believe that God was doing something new.

The whole story is a wonderful example of godliness and a pure witness to the work of God.  Zechariah and Elizabeth had done no more than keep themselves honest and true to the God in whom they believed, and the Lord had worked a miracle of grace in their lives.  We who read the story today know that this is only the backdrop to the main story of the coming of Jesus the Messiah, but what we have read here makes coming of Jesus all the more human and understandable.

Luke 1:57-66 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

Not yet available in this series

Luke 1:57-66 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Application

Not yet available in this series

Questions (for use in groups)

1. Discuss the reasons why Zechariah was kept deaf and dumb until the child was named.  What purpose did this fulfil?
2. How is the story of John’s birth similar to the birth of Jesus?  Why does Luke tell these two stories and not simply tell the story of Jesus, as Matthew does?
3. What does this story tell you about the way God works through people to do His will?

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• This passage says much about obedience.  Would you say that you are someone who is obedient to the Lord?  Most would like to be obedient, but find it hard to sustain this, and often, we do not even know what the Lord requires of us!  Ask yourself, what is it that prevents you from being more obedient?
• Pray that God’s people might become more conscious of being His servants in the world today.

Final Prayer

Holy Father and Lord of all, You have worked throughout the centuries to bring people into the Kingdom.  Help us to understand what You would have us do now to further this great work, and have confidence in all that You plan for the future.  We praise You Jesus Christ: AMEN

Bible study for Luke 1:67-80

Luke 1:67-80 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

(consult Dictionaries)

After Zachariah had named his son John, his powers of speech were returned to him.  The Holy Spirit led him to praise God (1:67), and the majority of our passage today contains the record of what he said.  It is a striking prayer of thanksgiving, and is commonly called the ‘Benedictus’ because of the Latin word with which it begins.  The song gives praise to God for the coming of both John the Baptist and the Messiah, and together with Mary’s song (the ‘Magnificat’ – 1:46-55) it prepares the way for the story Jesus’ birth (2:1f.).  Luke told these two stories because people knew from Scripture that the Messiah would come after being heralded by a messenger of God (see Malachi 4:5,6 and Isaiah 40:3f.); both stories were necessary to explain how Scripture was fulfilled. 

Zachariah’s song of praise is majestic and powerful, but it does so much more than offer thanks to God for the birth of a son, John the Baptist.  Rather, it encompasses the whole sweep of God’s salvation plan.  This is typical of true praise, which always draws us further into the things of God than we first imagine. Zachariah’s song contains:

• God’s promise of the Messiah (1:68-70)
• The fulfilment of God’s Covenant promise of salvation (1:71-75).
• The work of John the Baptist in particular (1:76,77),
• The announcement of God’s Kingdom and a new age of peace (1:78-79).

The first section is about the Messiah, as prophesied from of old (1:68-70).  In various ways, the prophets said that the Messiah would show God’s care for His people and save them from their enemies by an act of ‘redemption’.  This word takes us back to the Exodus, when God had acted in power to deliver Israel from slavery.  On a terrible night of deliverance, God’s angel swept through Egypt in awful judgement, and the Israelites were required to daub the blood of a sacrificed lamb placed on their doorposts to avert the wrath of the angel.  The lamb, eaten at a ‘Passover meal’ was the ‘price’ of this redemption of Israel’s ‘firstborn’, when the Lord first saved His people (see Exodus 12-14).  This phenomenal event lies at the heart of our understanding of the word ‘redemption’ (1:68), and Zachariah’s song shows that people in Jesus’ day hoped that God would redeem His people in a new and more complete way.  They looked for God to come and redeem His people again as their Messiah, a king born of David’s line, that is, of the royal stock of Israel,

The second section of the song gives thanks to God in language typical of many psalms (1:71-75).  It speaks of salvation and rescue from enemies, God’s holy covenant with His people set up first with Abraham (Gen 15,17), and the hope of godly people to live ‘without fear’ in righteousness and holiness.  Although this hope was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the way this is written reflects the hopes of God’s people today.  Our human condition means that even now, we continue to call upon the Lord for help in times of trouble, and we, just as people of old, long for God’s help and redemption.  Because of this and the fact that God’s Covenant has been renewed in Christ, these verses of Zechariah’s song are special for many Christians today.

Next, John the Baptist is celebrated in verses 76 and 77 as a ’prophet of the Most High’, which is a clear confirmation that John was a prophet in the Old Testament tradition of the past.  He was the prophet who would announce the coming of the Messiah who would do the work of salvation; ‘You will go before the Lord to prepare His ways’ (1:76).  Moreover, the song tells us that John’s main message will be that of repentance ‘for the forgiveness of their sins’ (1:77), and note that repentance is not the same as salvation.  We are reminded that repentance must happen before salvation can take place.  We must not get repentance and salvation mixed up, because they are two quite different things.  Repentance is turning away from sin, and this must be done before God can ‘save’ us from the power of those sins.

The final part of the song is a great prophetic anticipation of God’s future.  In His heart and mind is the perfection of eternity where there is no darkness or ‘shadow of death’ (1:79) and where all may live in perfect peace.  We live in a world in which evil abounds and there is sometimes scant evidence of any good that can point us to a hope for the future.  It is therefore very important for us to have God’s vision of the future to inspire us and give us hope.

Zachariah’s song completes Luke’s preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ as a child in Bethlehem.  All too easily, we prepare for Christmas today by getting our food ready and buying presents, and by decorating our houses and enjoying ourselves.  In Luke 1 we have been presented with a comprehensive picture of Jesus’ coming into the world alongside John the Baptist, from the point of view of Elizabeth, Zachariah and Mary.  On the one hand, this is a story of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives, and yet God takes them and uses them for so much more.  This is a powerful and awesome introduction to the great stories of Christmas.

Luke 1:67-80 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

Not yet available in this series

Luke 1:67-80 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Going Deeper / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Application

Not yet available in this series

Questions (for use in groups)

1. Discuss in your group what you mean by ‘salvation’ and compare it to what this passage says about this subject.
2. What enemies do we need to be saved from today, and how does Jesus saves us from them?
3. Discuss the difference between repentance and salvation.  What is the importance of repentance, and how is it linked to salvation?

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Memorise parts of the Benedictus, and over a period of time, take a verse or a pair of verses and meditate on them.  As you think about their meaning, the Lord will lead you to a greater understanding of salvation and redemption.
• If you cannot memorise the Benedictus, take it with you on a sheet of paper in your pocket one day as you travel.  IN the midst of your journey, take it out and read it.  See what the Lord says to you in the midst of this very different setting.

Final Prayer

The measure of Your grace, Lord God, is the passion and care You show for us.  Lead us on a path that reflects Your love, we pray, so that we may demonstrate this to those we meet and testify to the power of Your salvation.  Be present with us as we walk in Your steps, Lord Jesus.  AMEN

Bible study for Luke 2:1-7

Luke 2:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This is the most well known story of the birth of Jesus, and the tale is told with beautiful simplicity and with great intensity of feeling.  There is much that we are not told, but what it does say is extraordinarily powerful, and it makes us feel that we too have been present at the birth of Jesus.  The previous chapter of Luke tells a joyful story about the conception of Jesus by the power of God in Mary’s womb, but chapter 2 begins with the cold reality of life in the Roman world and a three day journey undertaken by the heavily pregnant Mary.  Nothing prepares us for this harshness reality however we glamorise the manger and the swaddling bands in our own versions of the story.  Mary and Joseph were rejected in their hour of need, and Jesus was born where cattle lived and fed (2:7).  There is much joy to come in Luke’s story, but the details he shared would have initially shocked those who first read them.

Mary and Joseph came to Bethlehem because of Emperor Augustus’ census (2:1).  However, there is some confusion about the date of this and Luke’s quote, that ‘Quirinius was the governor of Syria’ (2:2).  Scholars have studied this intensely and struggled to find any date when Augustus was Emperor (27BC to 14AD), Quirinius was governor of Syria (6 to 12 AD), Herod was ruler of Israel (37BC to 4BC), and a census was taken of Israel (we will look at this later)!  Nevertheless, although we cannot easily unpick these dates today, Luke states them as well known facts, and we must accept that when the Gospel was first read, people may well have said ‘oh yes, I remember that year!’  Luke was concerned that we who want to know about the life of Jesus begin with facts and not fairy tales, so according to the knowledge available to him, he located the birth of Jesus in real time.

Mystery also surrounds Luke’s report that Mary travelled south from Nazareth to Bethlehem with Joseph.  Why would a heavily pregnant woman travel under such circumstances?  From all we know, only men were required to register and lineage was established through the male line, so Joseph alone was required, not Mary!  There are some good reasons why Mary might have travelled, however.  Firstly, in chapter 1, Mary had travelled down to Judea (where Bethlehem was situated) to meet her relative Elizabeth for the last months of her pregnancy (1:39,56).  Mary may well have wished to give birth surrounded by her own wider family, including Elizabeth.  Secondly, women could sometimes hold property in Israel (see Numbers 27:1f.); and if Mary held property she would have been required to register.  Thirdly, the scandal of Mary’s ‘virgin’ pregnancy (1:5) may well have created a tight bond between Mary and Joseph (see also Matthew 1:18-25), and the two had become inseparable.  Their pledge of marriage was indeed blessed by God, and we are entitled to imagine that any of these reasons lay behind Mary’s difficult journey to Bethlehem.

Whilst so many nativity plays have given us a variety of mental pictures of what happened next, it is best to stick to the simple words of scripture.  Luke tells us that the time came for Mary ‘to have her child’ (1:6).  Even today, when a mother goes into labour, most people will sacrifice time and effort, and offer every possible form of help to the mother and child at what has always been a ‘life and death’ moment.  We therefore cannot over-emphasise the extraordinary nature of the rejection suffered by the family of Jesus at the moment of his birth.  We have no right to try and suggest that this scene of the baby in the stable is somehow a beautiful depiction of a perfect birth.  Jesus was born and clothed, probably with traditional cloths brought by Mary for the purpose, and laid in the hay-trough normally used by the cattle who occupied a part of any normal house or ‘dwelling’ not otherwise used by people, because ‘there was no room for them in the inn’ (2:7).

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

• The date of Jesus’ birth
• The significance of Bethlehem
• The birth of Jesus, ‘laid in a manger’

Luke 2:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Translation Notes

(consult Dictionaries)

Important words

V5 ‘pledged in marriage’

The phrase ‘pledged in marriage’ translates the Greek word ‘mnesteuo’, which is a formal pre-marriage relationship in which the man and woman to be married get to know each other before the actual wedding ceremony and consummation of the marriage.  In days when marriages were arranged by the heads of families, the betrothal period gave human dignity to the whole concept of arranged marriages.

V7 ‘firstborn son’

The phrase ‘firstborn son’ seems straightforward here, and it suggests that Mary did indeed have later children.  However, the Greek word used here, ‘prototokos’, is also used in a number of places in the New Testament in a more theological manner.  For example, it is found in Colossians 1:15 to speak of Jesus as God’s ‘firstborn’ who is pre-existent in creation, and consequently to be the first to be raised from the dead (Col 1:18 – see also Romans 8:29 and Hebrews 1:6, 11:28).

V7 ‘inn’

The word ‘inn’ conjures up different images according to where you live!  In England today, for example, people might think of something between a ‘pub’ and a small hostel.  In other countries, the word is used more to describe a guest house, or somewhere rented out for various purposes.  This second use is probably more like the ‘inn’ described here in Luke 2:7.  The Greek word ‘kataluma’ could mean ‘room, guest room, or inn’ (according to a standard Biblical Greek dictionary).

Luke 2:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

The date of Jesus’ birth

The beginning of Luke 2 and Matthew 2 appear to be so straightforward, but when we put together the dates of all the character involved, then finding a time when a census took place which overlaps all the named officials has defeated scholars for centuries!  And this is the reason why people are uncertain about the birth of Jesus.  The one thing most people agree upon today is that the monks of later centuries who calculated the birth of Christ as ‘0AD’ did not get it right, because by their dating, Herod (the king mentioned in Matthew) died four years previously, around 4BC!

Now, if we reckon that Jesus was in fact born during the last year or so of the reign of Herod the Great, this means he was born around 5 BC.  This would place the birth within the reign of Augustus (27BC to 14AD), but not the governorship of Quirinius in Syria (6-12AD)!  There is, however, one possible way to reconcile all these confusing dates.  Roman records tell us that Quirinius was a notable servant of Rome in the region of Syria for many years before he was the formal ‘Governor’, so it is possible that Quirinius was a known contact between Herod and the greater province of Syria for many years before he held the governorship.

In addition, the governorship of Syria was the title of a high ranking Roman, and entitled the occupant to sit on the Senate in Rome.  Moreover, the province of Syria covered the regions of Israel and Palestine partly occupied by Jews in the days of Jesus, and Herod the Great ruled the Jewish regions of Israel and Palestine within the province of Syria.  If you have read the studies in this series on the first few verses of Luke’s Gospel, you may now realise that it may have been in Luke’s interests to ‘name-drop’ both the Emperor and also the governor of Syria.  By referring to these Roman figures at the time of Jesus’ birth, Luke connected with those who read his Gospel in Rome, in the later years of the first century.

Lastly, we must look at the matter of the date of the census.  There was no recorded official Roman census in Israel around the time quoted by Luke, but this does not mean that none was taken.  There are suggestions in ancient records that Herod was responsible for a at least one census towards the end of his reign, and after his death, when his ‘kingdom’ was split up between his three eligible sons, censuses were required to establish the tax status of the three regions of Judea, Galilee and the Decapolis ruled by each son.  There is no clear answer to when the census took place, but it seems that it was an accepted part of life in that part of the Roman Empire due to the complex politics of the region.

The significance of Bethlehem

Bethlehem was the home town of David, and all those who owned land in that region of Judah, just south of Jerusalem, would have been required to register themselves there, for tax purposes.  There may be some confusion in our minds here between the taxes required of citizens of Israel during the Roman occupation.  The religious authorities exacted a ‘Temple tax’ from all Israelites for the sake of the upkeep of the Temple, Herod the Great taxed the people in order to pay for the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, his long term project to ingratiate himself to the Jews.  Lastly, the Romans exacted various taxes largely on the movement of goods, especially agricultural taxes on the movement of food around the Empire.  This last tax required a reasonably accurate census to establish land ownership rights, and it is this form of census that seems to be referred to here in Luke 2 (because of the reference to the Emperor).

Bethlehem is stated as the birthplace of the Messiah by Micah (Micah 5:2), probably because this was the birthplace of David (1 Sam 16).  Bethlehem is a place name meaning ‘house of bread’, and its origins go back further than David into Israelite history.  It is first mentioned n the Bible as the burial place of Rachel (Gen 35:19), the favoured wife of Jacob, the father of the twelve sons and ‘tribes’ of Israel (see Gen 49).  Bethlehem was also the home town of Naomi, who returned there with Ruth after the death of her sons, establishing a new ancestral line through the marriage of Ruth and Boaz, who were the great grandparents of David.

All in all, Bethlehem was the focus of Davidic lineage and also of hope for the Messiah (2:4), and it was right that Jesus was born there, of parents who returned there not just by chance, but on official business to declare their ancestry.  In this way, Luke again confirmed the lineage of Jesus and His right to be called the Messiah.  We will look at why Jesus was brought up in Nazareth at a later point in Luke’s Gospel when this become relevant to the story Luke tells.

The birth of Jesus, ‘laid in a manger’

Although Luke tells us a simple story, Mary’s pregnancy and the birth of Jesus was also something of a social scandal.  Today, we can imagine almost any number of scenarios which might suggest why Mary and Joseph travelled together to Bethlehem and had their child in what appears to be the back of some house or inn.  Mary was not married yet was pregnant, and she was incredibly fortunate that her betrothed husband stood by her during the Roman census when most Jewish men would have disowned a woman who was pregnant.  Was this an unspoken reason why the inn-keeper was only willing to give the couple space in his inn where the lowest of servants slept and the animals were kept (2:7)? We can never know, but it is possible.

If you research the nature of dwellings built in those days, you will find that it was entirely common for ‘houses’ build of stone and mud to have space for people and space for some small domestic animals under one roof (probably goats, calves or sheep).  Such a design would be similar for small dwelling as well as larger ones such as those described as an ‘inn’ here in this passage.  If you read the notes above, you will realise that what was denied Mary and Joseph was the common hospitality of a place for guests.  There is no explanation of this, merely the cold fact of this rejection, and the fact that the baby was born without the care and attention of the community.  The text strongly implies that Mary and Joseph dealt with the birth themselves, and as much as the birth of any child is a miracle, the birth of Jesus in these circumstances was more so.

Luke specifically records that Mary wrapped Jesus in the ‘bands’, often called ‘swaddling bands’, thought in those days to keep a child’s limbs straight in the early days of its life.  We may now regard such wrapping of a child as inappropriate, but it seems clear that Luke intends us to see that the only comforts given the infant Jesus were prepared by his mother and father, together with the warmth of a makeshift cradle from a hay box made for cattle.  The picture may be highly romantic for us today, but we cannot ignore the sense of awe with which Luke records both the awfulness of Jesus’ rejection by his fellow Jews at birth, countered by the warmth of his parents and the manger.

Luke 2:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Application

Would it make any difference if we had any more facts about Jesus’ birth?  This great story is surely inspirational and designed for our faith.  God had planned to change the world since the beginning of time, bringing salvation for all and reconciliation with His people (Genesis 3), and had spoken through His servants the prophets about how this would be done through the Messiah.  Now, the time had come for the fulfilment of these prophecies.  Firstly, John the Baptist was born (1:57,58) and brought great joy (1:68-79); his work was to ‘go ahead’ of the Messiah and announce repentance for the forgiveness of sins (1:76,77).  Now it was time for the Messiah to come, and He did so as a vulnerable child born to Mary.

It is easy to read the story of Jesus’ birth and add to it all kinds of myths and legends, which fill out the story so that we can enjoy it even more.  We can imagine the difficulties of a pregnant woman riding on a donkey for the entire journey from Galilee to Bethlehem; we can imagine the scene at the inn, the animals, the ‘ox and ass’ standing by, with copious quantities of hay for clean bedding and a baby neatly wrapped in pure white linen strips of cloth.  We forget the scandal and stress, the trials of childbirth in the grubby back room of an inn, the lack of clean facilities or friendly attention, having to stay in an unknown setting, and the difficult question of where to go next.  Luke does not give us the luxury of time to dwell on such matters.  He assumes our interest is primarily spiritual not physical, and the facts he records point not so much to the details of what happened as to the significance of the birth and what lay ahead.  His story tells us something more important than any facts we may want, because it informs us that God’s plan of salvation for the whole world, prophesied in the Old Testament and signalled at His conception (1:31-33), had begun.

In this story here, everything Jesus grew up to do lay ahead of him; but at the point of Jesus birth, God was present in the lowest and most deprived of human circumstances, and capable of transforming it for His glory.  This tells us that human life is precious to God beyond any value we can place upon it, and just as God loves His own Son Jesus, He love us and waits for our response to Him just as a father or mother loves the child they have created.  Moreover, He can create great glory out of the most meagre of circumstances.

Luke 2:1-7 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. Discuss in your group the mental picture you have about what happened when Jesus was born, and compare it to this story.
2. Why was it important that Jesus should be born as one who was poor and disadvantaged? Why is it important for us today to know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem?
3. What have you learned from reading this passage of scripture today, and what does it tell you about your faith?

Topics covered by this text

• The birth of Jesus
• The historicity of Jesus’ birth
• God’s use of the poor and underprivileged to achieve His greatest purposes

Personal comments by author

God did a wonderful thing in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.  It seems a very long time ago, but in the history of the world it is not very long at all.  Also, when we read the story, it is so well known ssssto us that we can almost imagine ourselves there.  I have found it helpful to try and focus on the story as it is told, and rid my mind of the many pictures I have from nativity plays in the past.  In my opinion, the bare story appeals far more than any extended play, and spending time with it helps me appreciate what Mary and Joseph did so that Jesus could be born, for me.

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• By all means, dwell on the story, but ask the Lord to help you see beyond the words of the story to the spiritual truths which lie deeper.  Salvation is a wondrous mystery, and people throughout the centuries have discovered that their path of salvation has been blessed by reflecting upon the birth of Jesus.
• In what ways can this story change the world as well as the church?  Now that it is after Christmas, ask some others about this and see if you can agree an answer.

Final Prayer

Praise You, Lord Jesus Christ! You came as a baby, and although You could not speak to us at that time, Your very presence was the most wonderful gift the world could receive! Come again into our hearts right now, we pray: AMEN

Bible study for Luke 2:8-14

Luke 2:8-14 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Review

(consult Dictionaries)

This part of the story of the birth of Jesus is told with remarkable simplicity and honesty, and it is impossible for us to imagine the nativity story without the appearance of the angel and God’s ‘glory’, the reaction of the shepherds and the glorious heavenly host singing the praises of God.  These words have meant so much to so many people for centuries, and they still retain their power to inspire and enthuse those who read them.  As we found out yesterday, Jesus had been born in difficult circumstances; but immediately He was born, earth and heaven responded with joy, and a transformation began in Israel that would one day affect the whole world.

The passage begins with the description of shepherds ‘out in the fields’ (2:8) in the region of Bethlehem.  Shepherds did not have a good name in the early first century; their job was the lowest form of paid manual labour, and many were regarded as thieves.  The story presents us with something of a quandary, because while this was the prevailing attitude towards shepherds within Israel, in the prevailing Greek and Roman culture of the day, shepherds represented the idyllic world of paradise!  Are we therefore to think of them as scoundrels or good people?  It is more likely that Luke saw them as poor people used by God, for centuries previously, in these same fields above Bethlehem, the young David looked after his father’s sheep (see 1 Samuel 16).  How typical it was of God to announce the coming of His Son to the outcast poor in a manner that had meaning in the Gentile world, and also had historic importance to the people of Israel!

In typical Biblical manner, an angel made the announcement that God was at work (2:9), emphasising the classic angelic message from God ‘do not be afraid!’ (2:10, see Gen 21:17, 2 Kings 1:15 etc.).  But this time, the angel, presumably Gabriel, gave the greatest announcement that the world has ever heard; it was as if the whole of heaven was bursting at the seams with joy, now that God had at last begun to do the work He had promised through the prophets for centuries.  The Messiah had come.

When Moses had come into the presence of God (Exodus 35) he had been shielded from the full revelation of God’s glory because it was too much for mere mortals.  Now in the second chapter of Luke, we find no holding back, and no hesitation on God’s part.  He is content to show His Son to anyone, without condition, and to announce the birth with heavenly authority and the singing of the heavenly choirs (2:13,14).  Amazingly, the shepherds were the first people to see God in all His ‘Glory’, and see God truly for Himself!  This was an experience to live with for the rest of their lives; though we reckon that they must have told Mary about what they had seen in order for the story to have been passed down to us through Luke.

Here, the words ‘do not be afraid’ have new meaning in Scripture.  In the past, they represented God’s graciousness to individuals by which they could see something of His glory, but the time had come for them to represent God’s final complete revelation of Himself in Christ.  The time had come when the separation of God and humanity was ending, and gulf of sin between them was in its final days.  God’s heart was now open to all people, because the Messiah had come and He was God Himself, revealed in glory ‘today, in the city of David, a Saviour has been born for you, and He is the Messiah, the Lord!’ (2:11).  It is amazing that God should reveal Himself in all His glory to shepherds on that first Christmas night, and  if He was excited to reveal Himself to them, He is just as keen to show Himself to us today through the same Jesus; ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, peace amongst those he loves!’ (1:14)

Going Deeper

The Bible study goes deeper to look at these issues:

• Who were the shepherds and why were they regarded as dishonest?
• The coming of God’s glory.  What does it mean?
• The sign of the child
• The heavenly host singing praises!

Luke 2:8-14 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Translation Notes

(consult Dictionaries)

Important words

V11 ‘Saviour’

Strangely, the word ‘Saviour’, though thoroughly well known to Christians, was not used much in the New Testament, where there are only thirteen uses of the word; of these, six are found in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus.  The idea of the Messiah as the Saviour of God’s people comes largely from the Old Testament where there are another 42 references to ‘Saviour’.  Many of these are either in the Psalms (e.g. Psalms 42:11, 65:5), or in Isaiah (43:3,11, 45:15,21, etc.).

Significant phrases

V10 ‘I bring you good news of great joy for all the people’

Other translations:

‘I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people’   (NIV)

‘I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people’   (NRSV)

The main question to be answered about this text is whether the Greek word for people here (‘laos’) refers to all people including Gentiles, or just the people of Israel who were expecting the Messiah.  It is true that Luke’s Gospel is beginning to speak about the universal message of salvation, but here in this part of the story, it seems that the coming of the Messiah is good news primarily for those who are expecting Him, that is, the Jews.

Problems with the ancient Greek/Hebrew text

V11 ‘Christ, the Lord’

Most translations have this phrase ‘Christ the Lord’, but this disguises the fact that this expression is extremely rare, and found just this once here in the Gospels (see also 2 Cor 4:5 and Phil 2:11).  The Greek reads ‘Christ Lord’, in which the word ‘Christ’ means ‘the Anointed One’, or the Messiah, and the word ‘Lord’ is a word pronounced by devout Jews instead of the Holy Name of God, written JHWH.  There would be good reason to translate this phrase; ‘He is both the Messiah and God’.  In other words, the Messiah is in fact God Himself.  This was news the Jews would not have expected, because they thought the Messiah was an agent of God.  Even in Jesus’ day, they had not taken on board the message of Isaiah that the Servant was indeed God Himself come to earth as ‘Immanuel’, God with us.

Luke 2:8-14 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Going Deeper

(consult Dictionaries)

Who were the shepherds and why were they regarded as dishonest?

We naturally think positively of shepherds today, without realising that they were not regarded highly in Jesus’ day.  Problems arose with shepherds because land and livestock owners were suspicious that the they used the advantages of their position to eat some of the sheep in their care, and then blaming the loss on wild animals; this is why they had a reputation as thieves!  Moreover, this issue is not just incidental to Scripture.  In Ezekiel 34, the prophet Ezekiel has a similar problem but it is related to the spiritual life of God’s people; he castigates the ‘shepherds of Israel’ (meaning the priests) for ‘eating the sheep’ (Ez 34:2f.)!

It is worth mentioning another theory about the shepherds here.  Because the sheep were being kept on the hillsides, this means it was summer/autumn time (April to November).  During the colder months of the year, the sheep and goats (largely indistinguishable in those days) were kept in homesteads and also in caves attached to dwelling places; indeed, something very like the place described as the birthplace of Jesus.  Is it possible that Jesus was born and placed in an empty ‘manger’ because the sheep were on the hillside for seasonal reasons?

These theories also help us with an intriguing fact of history.  An ancient tradition of the church is that Jesus was born in a cave attached to a homestead, and this is mentioned by the second century writer Origen, for example.  There are records of the erection of a shrine to the god Adonis over a cave in Bethlehem during the reigns of Emperors Hadrian and Decius, and this strongly implies that the site was holy to Christians in the third century (otherwise the Romans would not have attempted to rededicate it to Adonis).  Then, in the fourth century, the newly converted Emperor Constantine constructed a basilica over the site of this shrine and cave, and the ruins of this basilica now lie underneath the present day Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  It is not at all fanciful to suggest that this site was indeed the place where Jesus was born, even if it was a cave underneath the place currently venerated in the Church of the Nativity.

Putting all this together, some have suggested that the shepherds knew where to go to find the baby Jesus because the cave where he was born was the place where the sheep they guarded in the summer would overwinter!  This may well be stretching the evidence too far.  However, there is no doubt that the shepherds were the poorest and lowest of slaves in Jewish society, yet God chose to reveal to them the glories of His salvation.  The social standing of a person does not determine their state of salvation or need for it, thanks be to God!

The coming of God’s glory.  What does it mean?

In this passage, it is as if the whole of heaven bursts with joy that at last, the glory of God’s plan for the salvation of the world has begun!  On most of the occasions in the Old Testament when an angel appears to someone, as in the stories of Abraham (Genesis 16:7f. 22:11f.) it is quite unclear whether it is God himself who has appeared, or an angelic being acting as His representative.  Certainly, when this passage describes the appearance of ‘the angel of the Lord’, the message delivered is God’s message, which is confirmed by Luke’s report of the appearance of the ‘glory of the Lord’ (2:9).   

In the Old Testament, the ‘glory of the Lord’, or the ‘glory of God’ was regarded as a specific entity; it was God’s personal presence, which for centuries had dwelt in the Tabernacle and then the Temple (see Exodus 40:34).  Jewish people spoke of God’s ‘Shekinah’ glory coming into the ‘Holy of Holies’ in the form of a cloud (see also 2 Chronicles 5:13,14).  This ‘Shekinah’ glory of God was His presence on earth with His people (from the Hebrew ‘shakan’ meaning ‘to dwell’).  Now this theory held good as long as Solomon’s Temple stood and the Ark of the Covenant was kept within the Holy of Holies in the central sanctuary of the Temple.  However, when the Babylonians ransacked the Temple in 587BC, the entire Temple was laid waste and its sacred objects were utterly destroyed.  When the Jewish people went into Exile, their sad cry was that God’s Shekinah glory had left them!  When the exiles returned to Jerusalem around 40 years later on (Ezekiel 29:11 etc.), they did indeed build a new temple, but some felt that once the Ark had been destroyed, the Shekinah glory of God did not return.  Certainly, Herod built a magnificent new Temple in the years before Jesus was born, but strict Jews were divided about whether it could be said to be a fitting place for the dwelling of God’s ‘glory’.

With this history then, it is remarkable that Luke announces with great bravado, that ‘the glory of the Lord shone round about them’ (2:9).  We read these words with awe today, but we can hardly imagine what they meant to an Israelite of those times.  This was an announcement that the Shekinah glory of God, absent from Israel since the sacking of Jerusalem six hundred years previously, was now present in Israel!  The glory that shone around the shepherds was the same glory that shone from Moses’ face when he had met with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:29f.)!  This was the same glory of the Lord that people believed would kill those who saw it even by accident!  No wonder the shepherds were fearful! 

The sign of the child

The shepherds were asked to verify their radically new experience of God by going to Bethlehem to find the child ‘lying in a manger’.  We will read tomorrow about what happened when the shepherds went to find the child, but for today, we must look at why God asked the shepherds to do this.  Would they have believed that the birth of a child was the sign of God’s Messiah?

It is impossible to know the answer to this.  It seems that the scholars of the day were aware of the prophecy in Micah that said the Messiah would be born of the tribe of Ephrathites in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:2f.), but there was a wider principle at stake.  Many of the major steps in the development of the life of Israel were linked to the birth of a child, and it does not take a scholar to work this out.  The evidence of this is in the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age (Genesis 21), the birth of Moses to a Levite man and woman (Exodus 2:1f.), the birth of Samson to Manoah and his wife (Judges 13:20f.) and the birth of Samuel to Hannah and Elkanah.  It is a fair assumption that God had inspired Isaiah to his famous prophecy ‘a virgin will conceive and bear a child’ (Isaiah 7:14) through these famous Biblical events in Israel’s ancient history.  It is doubtful that these shepherds would have perceived all the connections between these prophecies and therefore been convinced by the birth of a child that God was doing a new work.  However, it is quite reasonable to suggest that they may have had a sufficient understanding of this for God to make all this clear to them once they saw the Christ child in the manger.

We often think that the shepherds would have believed that God was doing some great work simply because the finding of a child verified what they were told on the hillside.  This may just be too simplistic an explanation of what was going on.

The heavenly host singing praises!

In Greek, the phrase the ‘great company of the heavenly host’ (2:13) includes the term for ‘army’!  So, here is God’s army proclaiming peace!  This in itself is a remarkable event, unique in history and one of the most dramatic of moments in the entire story.  Most of us have wondered what it can possibly be like to stand on a hillside, and watch the hosts of heaven sing praise to God and announce peace!

We must be careful not to be carried away without paying attention to what is going on, however.  This great angelic assembly is both army and choir, and this has considerable meaning when we consider that the announcement is not of something finished but a prophecy about what will be achieved.  In verse 14, the heavenly host praised God, as we might expect; though please note that the Scripture does not say that they were singing, merely that they were ‘saying’ praises.  This hardly makes a difference to the story, perhaps only to our perception of it, but the next point is more important.

The words of the heavenly host are in fact prophetic; ‘peace amongst those He loves’ was not achieved by the birth of Christ, it was won on the Cross at Calvary, when Jesus died for our sins and was subsequently raised from the dead.  The words of this proclamation are God’s intent to do the work of salvation, and something to be declared to people on earth.  It is like saying ‘God means business and will do what He is intent upon doing, which is to repair His relationship with His people through the Messiah.

Luke 2:8-14 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Application

Yet again, this story is no fairy tale.  The more we look at it, the more we find that we are dealing with truth because ultimately, only truth is capable of supporting the whole story of how God changed the world through the saving power of His Christ, the child born at Bethlehem.  Behind the scenes of what could be physically seen, I believe that God was excited too, and there is no reason why we cannot talk about God in the same way we talk about people, because God has made us in ‘His image’ (Gen 1:26,7).  He is like us, but infinitely more glorious and perfect, and this is why the birth of His son is reasonable.  God wanted us to see what He is like, and we see Him first in the form of a baby!  The birth of His Son was something He wanted to show to others, and in the event, He gave the message in all His ‘Glory’ to the nearest workmen on the scene, the shepherds (2:8)!

I know from what people have told me as a Christian minister that many people have experiences of God, which are powerful and real to them, but they do not find it easy to understand what has happened to them.  Sometimes such people have tried to explain their experiences to others, perhaps even to ministers or priests, but they have been rebuffed because their story has no place in the theological understanding of those they have spoken to.  How tragic, and I dearly wish this were not the case, but I have heard stories like this too often.  I often wonder what reception the shepherds would have received if they told their story to a priest in their own day.  I reckon they would have been ‘laughed out of court’ as it were, just as people can be today.  However, the story has persisted and we celebrate it at Christmas most probably because their story was remembered by Mary and passed on in later years, once the significance of Jesus became known.

We should pray that the Lord will break down the barriers which prevent ordinary people, the shepherds of our day, from pursuing the inspiration and revelation which the Lord freely gives to them today.  God bless the ‘shepherds’, those to whom God has shown Himself, wherever they are!

Luke 2:8-14 (get text)   Study links:  / Review / Notes / Going Deeper / Application / Discipleship /

Discipleship

Questions (for use in groups)

1. What does this passage of Scripture tell us about the coming of Jesus into the world, and about God’s salvation?
2. In what ways does the Lord gloriously reveal Himself to people today, particularly people who are not Christians?
3. How important is it for us to hear God’s message as being one of ‘peace’, and what does this mean?

Topics covered by this text

• Salvation and time
• The appearance of angels
• The Messiah, and His connection with David
• The angelic host praising God

Personal comments by author

We should all be on the lookout for what the Lord would like to reveal to us today, and we will miss Him if we are tied to a routine of life either mentally or spiritually which means that we cannot see or hear the new things that the Lord longs to do in our lives.  I know that most people live their lives by routine, but surely, our lives are pitifully demeaned if we are cut off from the possibilities of God’s grace and the surprises of His call.  Let us be open and alert to how He wishes to reveal Himself to us now!

Ideas for exploring discipleship

• Look back on those times when the Lord has appeared to you in some way.  Has this been strange or has it been ordinary?  Now consider how the Lord might need to appear to you today in order to make you sit up and take notice!  What would it take to make you change what you are doing and give attention to something completely different?
• Pray for the church and pray that the message of Christmas will not be forgotten now that the church ‘calendar’ moves on in the New Year.  Make a New Year’s resolution to remember some feature of the Christmas story from now until Easter

Final Prayer

Thank You Lord God that we have all been born as children, and we have grown and been brought up through infancy and youth.  We praise You that this was right for Your Son Jesus as well, and we ask You to help us value our childhood and youth through which we learned so much: AMEN