Luke 1: Receiving to God's Promises

The Book of Luke is the only Gospel written by a Gentile, for Luke was a Greek Physician. He is mentioned in Paul’s letters as a physician who accompanied him. This gospel provides a picture of the life of Jesus through the eyes of those outside of Israel.

The first chapter shows us that how we react to God’s message may determine how we receive from God. Luke opens the longest recorded narrative about Jesus with the reason for the account he is composing. As a Greek scholar, Luke has the skills to compose a historical account of what transpired.

It seemed good and desirable to me, [and so I have determined] also after having searched out diligently and followed all things closely and traced accurately the course from the highest to the minutest detail from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, [My purpose is] that you may know the full truth and understand with certainty and security against error the accounts (histories) and doctrines of the faith of which you have been informed and in which you have been orally instructed. (Luke 1:3-4 AMPC)

The events surrounding the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus have been diligently searched out and recorded from eyewitness testimony. If you can believe the literature written by Plato, Socrates, or Aristotle, you can place equal confidence in the Book of Luke.

Theophilus means “friend of God.” This could be a person, or a letter intended for all those who are “friends” of God. As a true historian, he begins at the true beginning.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:12-15 ESV)

Our Lord gave us a commandment. We are to love all other Christians as He loved us, willing to lay down our lives for one another. This attitude and devotion to the family of God and our Lord Jesus allows us to be friends of God, just as Abraham was considered a friend of God.

Luke provides a detailed background on the parents of John the Baptist. Zechariah was a priest, and Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron, the first priest under Moses. Both were in right standing before God and had not gone astray, as had many of Israel’s leaders during the time of the Lord.

Children were considered a blessing from God. Despite being on the right path, Elizabeth was unable to bear a child. Thinking that if someone is not experiencing the unusual type of blessing from God, they are not righteous is not right. God has a plan. Because the parents of John the Baptist remained faithful to God, despite the difficulties of not having a child, they received a significant blessing over time. They would raise the prophesied Witness of the Messiah.

While Zechariah was performing his priestly duties, an angel appeared before him on the right side of the altar of incense. The right side represents the place of power and authority in the physical world, and incense signifies prayer. The angel was speaking with the authority and power of God in response to the prayers prayed.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:13-17 ESV)

When angels appear, they often say, “Fear not” because they come from God’s presence and are imbued with His essence. The sheer power they exude causes us to tremble. The angel not only declared the conception of a child to those who were long past the appropriate age, but also revealed that this child would be the long-awaited forerunner of the coming Messiah. As a priest, Zechariah should have recognized the prophecy of Malachi:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6 ESV)

The prophecy is about “Elijah” coming, yet the angel made it clear that this prophecy would be fulfilled by a person born on the Earth who operated in the spiritual power of Elijah. Many people are expecting one of the two witnesses to be Elijah, making the same mistake as Israel. God does not engage in reincarnation. Each person is born once and impacts the generation and society they are born into. The only exception is the return of Jesus when He will rule and reign in Jerusalem. This event will be quite different from preparing the hearts of the people, it is about Him ruling over them.

What a blessing! Not only did God decree that they would have a child when they were past the age of conception, but the angel quoted the prophecy about the Messiah! Their child would be remembered forever as the fulfiller of an important prophecy. What was Zechariah’s response to this amazing word from God?

And Zechariah said to the angel, “By what shall I know and be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

And the angel replied to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the [very] presence of God, and I have been sent to talk to you and to bring you this good news. Now behold, you will be and will continue to be silent and not able to speak till the day when these things take place, because you have not believed what I told you; but my words are of a kind which will be fulfilled in the appointed and proper time.” (Luke 1:18-20 AMPC)

When prophets appeared in Israel, they performed signs to demonstrate that what they were saying was actually from God. Zechariah demanded a sign to prove that what Gabriel said was true because having a child would be a miracle that hadn’t occurred since Abraham. He lacked the faith to believe that what God said would come to pass, even though he was speaking to an angel!

There is an American saying, “Be careful what you ask for.” This was a great insult to the Archangel, God’s most powerful servant, who was being accused of lying. Gabriel didn’t tolerate this. He gave Zechariah a sign, but not a nice one: he became mute until what Gabriel prophesied came to pass.

Mary had a completely different reaction when Gabriel appeared to her, saying she would give birth to the descendant of David who would rule forever.

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 ESV)

Mary only asked how God’s promise would come to pass. She didn’t ask, “how can this be proved to be true,” as John’s dad did. Because of this difference, Gabriel patiently explained that the Holy Spirit would provide the child she would give birth to. Not only that, he also told her how she could verify that this would indeed come to pass:

“And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:36-38 ESV)

Mary received an additional blessing along with the requested information as a result of her polite inquiry and acceptance of Gabriel’s words. She knew Elizabeth was too old to conceive a child. This was an excellent example of God’s power to strengthen Mary’s faith in the miracle of the immaculate conception. Her response demonstrated the humility of her heart.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 ESV)

These instructions from Jesus sound similar to a popular saying, “Trust but verify.” Mary rushed to Elizabeth’s house to see if she was indeed pregnant.

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:41-45 ESV)

Mary believed what was said, but she still went to verify, and perhaps to share what she had experienced. This account reveals so much about unborn children:

1. Things may affect us in the womb because John was filled with the Holy Spirit from conception, as a result of a spoken word from God.

   1. What God can do, the enemy can imitate

2. A child in the womb can be affected by what is happening outside the womb

   1. Additional information on this topic can be found in various classes in the Remaining Free Course.

We must always be aware that what our unborn child encounters may have an impact on them once they are born, whether from God or the enemy, but that is another message. Back to the Gospel of Luke.

Mary responded to this wonderful greeting from Elizabeth with a beautiful prophetic song. After staying with her for three months, Mary returned home. Shortly afterwards, John the Baptist is born into the world.

And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”

And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.”

And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. (Luke 1:59-64 ESV)

When it came time to circumcise and name the baby, we learned why Zechariah may have had a hard time accepting the announcement from the angel. Children were traditionally named after their familial line, with the firstborn being named after their father. Gabriel commanded Zechariah to defy the traditions of the time.

The name we see as John is actually the Hebrew name Johanan (yo-khaw-nawn'), which means “whom Jahovah bestows” according to Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon. Like all names in the Bible, based on the King James interpretation, were changed from the Hebrew name into something familiar, in this case, John. God bestowed upon John the mantle of Elijah in the womb, so this name was very appropriate. Zechariah was instantly able to speak after following Gabriel’s instructions!

And you, little one, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go on before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways, To bring and give the knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness and remission of their sins. Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and loving-kindness of our God, a Light from on high will dawn upon us and visit [us] To shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace. (Luke 1:76-79 ESV)

Zechariah declared the job his son was assigned and the coming of the Messiah. John was a prophet who would help prepare the world for salvation through the forgiveness of sins. Like Zechariah, they needed to be prepared to turn away from where they were going wrong.

This is the true beginning of the coming Messiah. It began before the conception of the prophesied players, the Witness of the Messiah, and the Messiah. What each group of parents received depended on their reactions to the messages they received from God: whether the blessings of the child came through with a little difficulty or with additional support and encouragement.

How do you respond to messages from God? Do you take offense and disregard your traditions when they conflict with what is said? Or do you look at God’s Word to see if what is said is supported by God’s Word?

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Luke 1: Receiving God's Promise Online Chrsitian Church

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