Luke 1:1

Luke 1:1

In Luke 1:1-4 the Bible says, "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That you might know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." All of the books of the New Testament were either written by the apostles or the direct associates of the apostles. Therefore, the books of the New Testament are authoritative and reliable accounts purely based upon who wrote them. Luke said in verse two that he obtained his information from "eyewitnesses." If you were in any court of law, one of the most important pieces of evidence regarding any matter would be eyewitnesses.

The New Testament is authoritative and reliable because it is based upon eyewitness accounts, and also because it was given by God. The only reason that the eyewitnesses remembered the correct details, and the only reason that the authors of each book were able to record each word exactly as it should be written was because they were uniquely prepared by the Spirit of God to do so. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." In Luke 1:2 these witnesses are called "ministers of the word." A minister is a servant. They were servants of God who were gifted and called and prepared by God to be the instruments whereby His Word would be written down and preserved for all generations. Luke evidently understood that he also was gifted by God in such a way. That’s why Luke said in verse three that he had perfect understanding. By the way, this is an excellent example to follow in finding the right way to serve God in this world. You were put here for a reason, and God has gifted you in some way to fulfill His purpose for you. Find out what your gifts are, and then look for ways and opportunities to put those gifts into practice. If you do this, you will be successful at serving God in this world.

Luke was successful at serving God, and he wrote for us the Gospel according to Luke. When Luke first wrote his gospel, he addressed it to a person named Theophilus in verse 3. We know very little about Theophilus other than his name, but his name tells us something very important. In Greek his name means lover of God. There is a direct connection between the teachings of the Bible, and how much a person loves God. The wonderful truths of the Bible are offered to everyone, but only those who really desire to know and understand the truths will find them. God loves us before we love Him, but if we do not ever come to love God, the Bible will remain a closed book to us. The Bible is a mystery to some, but to others like Theophilus it’s the most wonderful book in the world.

The Bible says in Luke 1:5, "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." There is a certain significance to the fact that some very specific details are mentioned when Luke begins his story of the Christ. Luke mentions Herod, the king of Judea, and he mentions Zacharias, one of the priests. Later he mentions other details. If these details had been false or some kind of fabrication then the gospel would have been easily and readily dismissed when it was first put down in written form, but it was not.

The plan of God to bring forth the promised Messiah was now finally going to be fulfilled. The last part of the Old Testament had been written some 400 years before, and then there was silence. Some people may have been tempted to lose faith as the centuries rolled by when they did not see any signs that God’s promises would be fulfilled. But God always keeps His promises, and He promised that there would be a Messiah. That’s why Christ was born: because God had promised to send a Messiah to save the world. Finally, the day came when it was time. In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son. The events of human history are on God’s timetable.

Before the Christ was to come into the world, there was to be a forerunner: someone who would announce the arrival of the Christ. In the last book of the Old Testament it says in Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." In order to fulfill the promise of the Christ, God had to first fulfill the promise of the messenger who would prepare the way of the Christ. Everything in its own time and its own place, as God decides what is best and what pleases Him. When God works in the world, He chooses people to be His servants and to do His work for Him and with Him. The next verse in Luke shows us the kind of people that God chose in order to bring the forerunner into the world. Luke 1:6 says about Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

They were righteous and they were blameless. To be righteous has both a spiritual and a practical meaning. To be spiritually righteous comes through having faith. "The just shall live by faith." We are made spiritually righteous, not by our own efforts, but through faith in God. Romans 3:28 says, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." We know that Zacharias and Elizabeth were people of faith because it says that they were righteous "before God." There is also a practical righteousness that has to do with one’s actions and behaviors. No one can have spiritual righteousness through faith unless their purpose is to obey God and serve God and do the will of God. If you are going to be like Zacharias and Elizabeth in this world then it’s your daily priority to obey God and keep the commandments of God. Salvation is based upon forgiveness, but forgiveness can only be obtained if there is also a desire to do what is right.

Luke 1:7 tells us two important details about Elizabeth and Zacharias. It says, "And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years." They had no children and they were old. Everyone gets old if they live long enough. God can still use you when you are old. There are various definitions for what it means to be old. If you are a positive thinking person, the older that you get, you will always be able to think that people who are older than you are the old ones; but you are not really old yet. You probably have a long way to go and a lot of things to do before you become old. Being old is relative, and it depends upon what you are talking about and it depends upon how you think.

The Bible says that Zacharias and Elizabeth were old. They were old in the sense that they had already passed the child-bearing age. This circumstance is very similar to that of Abraham and his wife. Why did God choose Zacharias and Elizabeth in order to do His work of bringing a special child into the world, a child who had a very important destiny? We know that one reason was explained from Luke 1:6 that talked of their faith and dedication to God. We are best used by God when we realize in the depth of our soul that it must be all of Him and none of us. Yes, we must still work and plan and dedicate our abilities to the task at hand. But God likes to use people who truly understand that unless He does it, it will not be done. You can build an organization, you can attract large crowds, and you can gather great sums of money through the efforts of man. But you can only truly accomplish the work of God in this world when He does it through you, and He will only do it through you when you realize that it must be all of God and none of you.

Why did Zacharias and Elizabeth have no child for so many years in their marriage? Probably they desired greatly and prayed consistently that a child would be given them, especially because the culture in which they lived a great importance was placed upon the having of children. As the years went by, no doubt there was a heaviness in their heart as they saw other couples with children to tuck into bed at night. No doubt they understood the great opportunity and responsibility and challenge it would be to try to impart wisdom and knowledge to a child, hoping and praying that the child would grow up to realize his or her potential and to find his or her own path to take from God.

But Zacharias and Elizabeth went through the years having no children, and they had reached the age where having their own child was now humanly impossible. But God makes a way where there is no way. Zacharias and Elizabeth were about to learn a lesson in a very personal way that God is trying to teach all of us. "With God all things are possible." Sometimes God allows a situation to arise in our life where there is no human hope left so that we will learn to place all of our hope in God.

In spite of their circumstances, Zacharias and Elizabeth continued to serve God the best that they could each day. They did not give up on God. They did not stop serving Him because things were tough. They did not become rebellious because things did not go their way. Day in and day out, year in and year out, not much changed in their lives. But then God decided that things would change. He reached down and touched their lives and changed things in a way that they could have never imagined. Not only did they have a child and become the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy, but Jesus would eventually say of their son that of those born of a woman, none was ever greater. It’s worth waiting on God and on God’s time. When He does something, He does it right.

The day came when God decided to do something spectacular in the lives of Zacharias and Elizabeth. The day started like any other day, and then the Bible says in Luke 1:8-13, "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John."

Zacharias was a man of prayer. The angel said to Zacharias in Luke 1:13, "Thy prayer is heard." Prayer changes things. One of the reasons that Zacharias and Elizabeth saw God move and work in their lives was because they prayed to Him. God answers prayer. Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you." It is recorded in the book of Jeremiah that God said, "Call upon me, and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things." Zacharias prayed, and an angel appeared to him and said, "Thy prayer is heard," and one of the great prophecies of the Old Testament was fulfilled in the life of the son that was given to Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Luke 1:14-15 says, "And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb." Most people want to be happy, but very few are. The greatest joy possible for a human must come from God, because God made man. Only God can give true happiness. Some people are not happy because they are looking in the wrong place for happiness.

In Luke 1:14 the angel said that John the Baptist would be great in the sight of the Lord. Some people have a reputation before the world that they are great. Usually such people have a lot of money or political power when the world considers them to be great. John the Baptist had neither. Why does the Bible say that John the Baptist was great before God? First it says that he did not drink wine or strong drink. Alcohol is a drug that can have a major effect on the actions of anyone who is under its influence. There are many circumstances in this world in which a person will be offered to partake of alcohol and other drugs. The person who wants to please God in all that he does will abstain from such substances. There have been a countless number of people just in the past century who have had their lives ruined by the misuse of alcohol and other drugs. If only more people had been like John the Baptist and had refused the wine and the strong drink that the world offered them!

Instead of drugging himself with substances that had a negative effect on his behavior, John the Baptist had a different kind of influence. He had the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit "even from his mother’s womb." Christians are told in the book of Ephesians, "Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." Human beings are often not capable of facing the pressures and sorrows and difficulties of life without outside help. Human beings were not meant to face life alone. We were designed to have God as our constant companion: God in the person of the Holy Spirit.

How did John the Baptist end up accomplishing the things that he did? He was filled by the Holy Spirit. It was not John the Baptist who did the great things. It was the Spirit of God who was within him. To be filled by the Holy Spirit means many things. Some of those things are: to be controlled by the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, and to be empowered by the Spirit. The work of God will be done in the world when God’s people are led by God’s Spirit to do what they do. It’s not only what you do and say that’s important, but it’s also the power by which you do and say them. If the Spirit of God leads you, then the Spirit of God will work through you. But if you are led by your own will, you will do the same things but with an emptiness and a weakness about you. There will be more John the Baptists in the world when there are more people willing to be separate from the ways of the world, and who are filled with the Holy Spirit.

___________________________________________________