Luke Chapter 1
MSB Book Notes on Luke. Luke is the author, and the only Gentile writer in scripture. As such, he wrote both Luke and Acts. We know little about Luke. Jerome and Eusebius say he lived in Antioch, possibly explaining why so much of Acts is about Antioch. Luke spent much time with Paul. Paul referred to Luke as a physician - hence much attention is paid to the healing ministry of Jesus. It is believed that this book, and Acts, were written about AD 60 or 61. This is because Luke records Jesus' prophecies of the coming destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD (19:42-44, 21:20-24), but says nothing about the actual event. The books must have been written before that. There are several other inferences that can be made, as listed in MSB.
His account of the nativity is the only one that includes the unusual circumstances surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, the annunciation to Mary, the manger, the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna. (Who would have known about all these? Only Mary and Joseph, and Joseph was dead before Jesus died, and Luke never met Jesus. So Luke got all these from Mary - my opinion, and I think I got the idea from something I read - maybe Ramsay's book...). In fact, Luke is very good about recording the important roles that women played during Jesus' life, and especially on the morning of the resurrection.
From Luke 9:51, Luke devotes 10 chapters to a travelogue of Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem. Much of what is in this section is unique to Luke.
MSB says Luke's writing appears to target a Gentile audience, like Mark's, and unlike Matthew's. More than the other gospel writers, Luke brings out the universal scope of the gospel invitation. He portrays (this is all from MSB) Jesus as the Son of man, rejected by Israel, and then offered to the world.
(((ADDENDUM:
Noticed this in Bobby Kelly's sermon on 12/1/24. Five times in Luke we see the phrase "in those days" identifying a specific time. Is this connected with the phrase "in that day" in the OT prophecies of Isaiah and others? Can we see this as a specific identifier, a sort of "setting apart" of what follows to a specific - and IDENTIFIABLE - time period?:
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, [Luk 1:39 ESV]
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. [Luk 2:1 ESV]
35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days." [Luk 5:35 ESV]
36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. [Luk 9:36 ESV]
23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. [Luk 21:23 ESV].
We see this phrase 18 times in the entire NT. Once in Revelation, 4 times in Acts, and the rest in the gospels. (So Paul never prophesies? He is not a prophet by this definition?) What a good study this would make. A quick look indicates that each time this is used, we can be almost certain that a specific "event" occurs in those days, and that it is unique to that time. In the OT, the phrase is "In that day..."
"In that day..." occurs 66 times in 64 verses in the OT. I skimmed them, and they all seem to be prophecy, all seem to be about a time. They run from Deuteronomy to Zechariah.
Putting this on my list. I think I'm onto something here. Classify each one as immediate, unfulfilled or complete, discrete or continuous, OT/NT/tgt/Millennial/post GWT. What a chart this might make!!!
)))
First four verses are Luke's dedication of the book to Theophilus, and statement of his purpose in writing the book. "...that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught."
Zechariah, a priest after the order of Abijah (in ESV it is phrased "of the division of Abijah". There has to be more to this.), and Elizabeth, from the daughters of Aaron. So John the Baptist was born to the priesthood on both sides. I took a quick look for Abijah, and didn't really find a former priest by that name. There was an Abijah who was King of Judah. Zechariah and Elizabeth have no children as Luke 1 starts. Zechariah is chosen by lot to burn incense before the altar of incense in the Holy Place. An angel appears to him in there, and tells him he's to have a son by Elizabeth, to name him John, and that John is not to drink wine or strong drink, and that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. (18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; [Eph 5:18 KJV] I had never thought about how closely these two verses are to each other...) He will go forth in the strength and power of Elijah. Does not say he IS Elijah.
Zechariah questions this prophecy - like Jeremiah, he questions what he is told. The angel identifies himself as Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. Zechariah is struck mute for not believing. Perhaps the location of the angel should have made it obvious that this was genuine. After his service, he goes home, and Elizabeth gets pregnant.
When Elizabeth is six months pregnant, Gabriel visits Mary in Nazareth. She lived in Nazareth. Gabriel tells her she will conceive "in her womb", perhaps an indication that this will be an unusual conception. Gabriel tells her this son will be given the throne of his father David, and that he will reign forever. Since God would cause this, the child would be called the Son of God, and would be holy. So...not born under the curse of Adam, since Jesus had no earthly father. This is why it had to be a virgin birth. Here is the context of a verse we often hear...out of context:
"For nothing will be impossible with God", vs 37. People often say "With God, all things are possible". In context, it was about a formerly barren woman getting pregnant. This had many precedents. Sarah and Samuel's mother come to mind. Am I not saying God's miracles are limited to making barren women have babies, just that, in context, that is what this was about.
Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who lives somewhere in Judah. When Elizabeth hears Mary's voice, the baby inside her "jumps", Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, and she "prophesies", or "preaches"....she "exclaims with a loud voice". And what she says has to come from God, because she and Mary have not yet spoken directly to each other. Elizabeth calls Mary "the mother of my Lord".
Mary's reply is in verse format, and labeled "Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat.
Mary says God has blessed her in this, and that because of it, all generations will call her blessed. She says she is of humble estate, and then later talks about how God will scatter the proud, bring down the mighty, fill the hungry, and send the rich away empty. She says all this is God remembering His mercy, as He spoke to Israel, and to Abraham.
So...looking at this wording, the implication is that Jesus is fulfilling both the Abrahamic (unconditional) and the Sinai (conditional) covenants. Gabriel had already made it clear that this child would fulfill the Davidic covenant. These are the three mentioned in the MSB notes in Malachi. MSB was looking ahead. Also, the timelines of these three covenants come together in Jesus, and then diverge again because he is rejected. In that divergence the church arises. The final timeline. (((I need to put together the references for each of these covenants. I have a book with many of them listed, but I don't think all of these are there. Find them all.)))
Mary went to visit Elizabeth and stays for three full months. Nazareth was a small town, and Mary's pregnancy was a local scandal, and probably very unusual in such a small community. She likely stayed with Elizabeth so long in order to be away from the judgmental eyes of those in Nazareth.
John is born, and both Elizabeth and Zachariah indicate that his name is John. This was unusual because no one in Zechariah's family was called John. Apparently, reusing family names was the order of the day. After writing John's name, Zachariah is "unmuted", and the people wonder at what this means, and what John will be.
Now that he can speak, Zechariah prophesies:
He is first filled with the Holy Spirit, as Elizabeth had been when Mary arrived. We change to verse format for the prophecy, as if it is a song.
Zechariah starts by saying that God has redeemed his people. I don't know if the theme of redemption is really new here, but I suspect it will receive much emphasis in the gospels. vs 70, 71 are about being saved from their enemies, to show mercy as promised to the fathers (nation of Israel), and to remember the covenant. This would be a reference to the Sinai covenant I think. Then vs 73 brings up "the oath that he swore...to Abraham...", so that covenant is brought in. Davidic, Sinai, and Abrahamic ALL in these verses. In 76, Zechariah refers to John directly, saying he will be called "the prophet of the Most High". First prophet since Malachi. John's purpose is to give knowledge of salvation to his people. Knowledge of how to be saved? Or knowledge of the Messiah as to who he is, and that salvation is/will be in him? The song ends with this phrase:
78 ...the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." [Luke 1:78b-79 ESV] Referring back to Malachi?:
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. [Mal 4:2 ESV]
There is also that prophecy in Isaiah about the ones in darkness being sent a great light. Many references – or at least it seems they were thinking of the OT when they wrote these NT verses.
So tying the OT to the NT was not left to chance. In just this first chapter, Luke has linked three OT covenants to the birth of Jesus. Luke is not saying that this is "a new religion", but that Jesus continues all that came before in the OT. This is all part of what was planned before the beginning.
Also, note how much of what Luke tells us here could only have come from a few possible sources, chief of which is Mary herself. Only Mary knew that Gabriel came to see her. In the three months Mary was in Judah, surely Elizabeth told her that Gabriel also appeared to Zechariah, and of the circumstances at that time. Who but Mary would have heard Elizabeth's exclamation, and surely Mary remembered her response to this. Luke pretty much had to have interviewed Mary - many times I would say - before writing his gospel.