Luke Goes All In

Today and for the next several months we are going to be studying in depth the books of Luke and Acts. As you read these books you will notice that it is one continuous story divided into two books written by the same author, a physician named Luke.

But before I get started in Luke, I want you to go with me to the last book of the Old Testament and go to the very last chapter of Malachi. So, that would be Malachi chapter 4. I want to read the last two verses, verses 5 & 6.

Malachi 4:5–6 NIV

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

Malachi 4:6 NKJV

6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

God ends the Old Testament talking about a curse. This is the last words that God spoke to any of the prophets before He was silent for 400 years. What a way to end a book. This isn’t a good ending is it. The NIV uses total destruction. The NKJV uses a curse. Either way it’s not good. This is a promise made by God. But let’s go to the book of Luke now.

If you were to read from the end of Malachi, the end of the Old Testament and move right into the Old Testament as one continuous story, of the four Gospels, Luke is the best choice to do that with. Luke has the easiest transition from the Old to the New Testament. Look at how he begins his book at Luke one beginning at verse one.

Luke 1:1–4 NIV

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

This is Luke’s introduction of his book, Luke’s Gospel. This is one continuous sentence in the Greek. This is the first of two volumes. The second volume is The book of Acts. He is writing both of these books to the same person, Theophilus. Look at Acts 1:1

Acts 1:1 NIV

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

Theophilus has a cool name. It means “One who loves God.”

Did you notice in Luke 1:3 when Luke is addressing Theophilus that he says, most excellent Theophilus. That is probably because he was some kind of a Roman official or at least a person of high status or wealth. He may have even been the person that sponsored Luke, a financial supporter if you will. Or he was the one that responsible for seeing that the writings were copied and distributed. However, this book was also meant to instruct Theophilus personally.

Luke was a physician. He was also a Gentile. He is the only writer in the New Testament that was a Gentile. A Gentile was anybody that was not Jewish. We are Gentiles. And it is important to know this because. Luke wrote his Gospel account to the Gentiles and the book of Acts. We know this mostly by the way the book of Luke and Acts were written.

For instance, Matthew was written to the Jews. He writes about Jesus Christ as Sovereign. Some of the language that Matthew uses and how he says things Jews would fully understand it where the Gentiles wouldn’t get it.

Mark was written to the Romans and he writes Jesus as the suffering servant. Romans would understand this image of Christ.

Luke would write Jesus as the son of Man and the Greeks would understand this. During this time, the Greeks had a picture of the perfect man. If you have ever seen a picture of the Greek statue The Doryphoros, you would see their image of the perfect man. He is built with muscles and he usually has a spear resting on his shoulder. So the Greeks understand the ideal man and so, Luke paints Jesus as the ideal man.

John writes Jesus as the son of God.

Here are some interesting facts about the book of Luke. Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. Luke gives more details of the accounts of Jesus more than any other writer. He wants to be precise. He was a historian. He wanted to get it right and he wanted his book to be something that anyone could read and understand.

In the book of Luke there are 18 parables that are nowhere else. In the book of Luke there are 6 miracles that are nowhere else.

We also see that Luke includes different songs. His book is like a praise and worship book. He includes the song of Mary, the song of Zacharias, and the song of the angels of Bethlehem.

We know that Luke got eye witness accounts to write his Gospel. Verse 2 says…

Luke 1:2 NIV

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.

Matthew and Mark were written first so he probably was able to use that information. And there were others that he was able to lean on. Luke was a companion with Paul. We know that Luke writes about Philip and Philip was someone that walked with Christ. We believe the bible to be inspired by men of God.

2 Peter 1:21 NIV

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So, hopefully this will give you a better understanding of why Luke wrote what he wrote and why he wrote it like that. Go to verse 5 of Luke 1.

Luke 1:5–25 NIV

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

The first story that Luke gives us in his Gospel is the story of John the Baptist’s parents. Zechariah whose name means “God Remembers” and Elizabeth whose name means “His Oath”. When you put their names together it is “God Remembers His Oath.”

Elizabeth was barren. They were both too old to be having any kids. And we need to understand something, Zechariah was from the tribe of Levi and every son that came from the tribe of Levi was automatically a priest. So, Zechariah was a priest and his wife was barren. To be childless during this time was a social disgrace.

It is believed that there were 20,000 priests at this time and only one temple. So, they would perform their priestly duties 2 weeks out of the year. And then they would be off the rest of the time. It is during this time when Zechariah was fulfilling his priestly duties. What a priest would do was go in, burn incense, then come out and speak to the people.

Zechariah goes in, has the encounter with Gabriel the angel, he takes a while to come out and when he does he can’t speak to the people.

And while Zechariah is fulfilling his priestly duties he is given a promise from God. A promise that would change his life forever. A promise that would make his family complete. A promise that would change the world forever. It was through the promise to Zechariah that a messenger would come and proclaim the message that Jesus is coming to the world.

The name of John means God is gracious.

Remember Malachi 4:6, the last verse of the Old Testament, ends with a curse. Then God is silent for 400 years. And Luke starts the beginning of the New Testament with, a curse will be no more. Why? Because Jesus is coming. The one that will save the world. When you insert Jesus into the curse, you get grace.

What is Grace?

Grace - Undeserved Favor

Grace cannot be earned; it is something that is freely given.

Jesus was the bridge that the people had been waiting on and the first promise made was to Zechariah and the promise that was given to him was that he would have a son and he was to name him John mean God is gracious. John would come and go ahead of Jesus and tell the people that Jesus is coming. He would go forth and let the people know that the Savior has come.

And next week we will get into the story of Jesus’ birth and how all of that came about and all.

Let me encourage you to begin reading the book of Luke if you haven’t started already. Don’t rush through it, but read it line by line and let it soak in. We are going to cover the books of Luke and Acts in detail. These books were written for you, a Gentile. Luke is one of us.