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This
book was written by Luke, who was a doctor, and
in spite of what is commonly understood among
most Christians, Luke was most likely Jewish.
Besides being a doctor and an evangelist and theologian,
Luke was an excellent historian. He wrote this
book, and the book of Acts - two of the most important
and influential historical books ever written.
As a
good historian, Luke carefully investigated the
available information about Yeshua, including
eyewitnesses, and wrote it down in consecutive
order. Therefore this book is accurate, good,
reliable, truthful history about the Most Important
Man Who Ever Lived with the Most Important Life
Ever Lived.
It is
essential that we understand that Life, and line
up our lives with that Life. Your life, your eternal
life, are at stake here, so you had better understand
what is going on with Yeshua, and understand who
He is, and relate to Him in the right way, because
your response to Him makes the difference between
life and death, between ultimate success and ultimate
failure, between eternal bliss in Heaven and eternal
death in Hell!
In chapters
1 and 2 Luke has given us the angel Gabriel’s
testimony about Yeshua - that He is the Son of
the Most High, and the Messiah. He is the unique
God-Man.
Luke
has given us the understanding of Zachariah the
priest, the father of John the Baptist - that
Yeshua is the King Messiah who will bring salvation
and redemption.
Luke
has given us the testimony of the angel who was
sent to the shepherds at the time of Yeshua’s
birth, that Yeshua is the Lord Messiah, and the
Savior of Israel.
Luke
has given us old Shimon’s Holy-Spirit inspired
declaration about Yeshua, that He is the Lord’s
Anointed Ruler, a light of revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of Israel - the source of greatest
honor for Israel and the source of happiness and
salvation for the other nations of the world.
Luke
has given us Yeshua’s understanding about Himself,
His self-awareness even from an early age, that
God was His Father, and that He was the unique
Son of God.
That
brings us to Chapter 3. Luke skips another
18 years, when Yeshua is a fully adult man, in
the prime of His life, around age 30.
Now is
the time for the Messiah to begin His great work
to accomplish the salvation of dying humanity.
Now His public ministry, His service to the Jewish
people, begins. But, before that happens, the
Messiah’s very special forerunner, John the Immerser,
one of the very greatest prophets to have ever
lived, will try to prepare the nation of Israel
to receive the ministry of Yeshua.
John,
priest and the first great prophet who had come
among us in 400 years, had been living a very
austere, ascetic kind of life in the wilderness.
Now he began telling the Jewish people that the
Messiah was coming, and they needed to get themselves
ready for His arrival; the Messiah would immerse
those who welcome Him and believe in Him with
the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God who enables
human beings to get really close to God, the Spirit
of God who is the source of life and blessing
and joy; and John also began telling the Jewish
people that judgment was coming because Messiah
will punish those who reject and ignore Him, but
bless and reward those who welcome and follow
Him; and so it was time for Am Yisrael, the people
of Israel, to turn away from our sins, and from
our spiritual lethargy and indifference, and it
was time to turn to God and His ways, and consistently
do the right things, and then recognize and welcome
the Messiah when He shortly made Himself known.
And, it is obvious that Yeshua is that Messiah
that John was telling us about.
If they
were willing to do that, they were to be immersed
in water, as a sign that they were preparing themselves
for this new work of God, this new divine activity
in salvation history; that they were seeking spiritual
cleansing and a new beginning with God. And, many
responded to John, and were immersed.
Now,
Luke gives us God the Father’s very very very
special declaration about Yeshua: 3:21-22: It
took place at Yeshua’s baptism. Now when all
the people were baptized, Yeshua was also baptized,
and while He was praying, Heaven was opened, and
the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form
like a dove, and a voice came out of Heaven, “You
are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased”.
It is extremely rare
for Heaven to open like this.
It is
extremely rare for the Holy Spirit to manifest
Himself in some kind of form that is visible to
us. In this rare instance, the invisible and all-present
Spirit of God appeared in the form of a dove -
a dove because doves are a symbol of atonement,
since doves were used at the Temple as sacrifices
for the poor; a dove because doves are a symbol
of peace; a dove because, since doves fly in the
heavens, they are a symbol of freedom and joy
and closeness to God; a dove because doves are
a symbol of innocence, since we are to be as wise
as snakes and as innocent as doves.
The Holy
Spirit descended on Yeshua in the form of a dove,
which tells us that Yeshua is the Messiah, approved
of and anointed by the Spirit of God; and Yeshua
is innocent and sinless and pure and holy and
righteous and good. and Yeshua is the source of
atonement and forgiveness for all of our sins;
and Yeshua is the source of peace between alienated
humanity and our wonderful Creator God; and Yeshua
is the source of freedom and joy and closeness
to God.
It is
extremely rare for the Holy Spirit to come down
on someone like this. The Holy Spirit, by descending
on Yeshua, is communicating that He, the Spirit
of God, the Third Person of the Trinity, is well-pleased
with Yeshua, and that the Spirit will be with
Him, and will empower Him, and teach and guide
Him in all things for His work among the Jewish
people, and for His work to provide salvation
for lost and dying humanity.
It is
extremely rare for the voice of God the Father
to be heard among human beings. And, what was
the message? Not the Ten Commandments uttered
by the powerful and awesome voice of God from
Mount Sinai, but You - Yeshua - are My beloved
Son, in You I am well-pleased.
Whenever
the Creator says the least little thing, all of
humanity should listen. When God the Father talks
audibly like this, everyone should listen very
very carefully. Everyone should pay the most careful
attention! And, God really did speak! What did
He communicate? That Yeshua really and truly is
God’s beloved, well-loved, deeply appreciated
Son, who shares the Father’s name and nature,
deity and essence.
If you
are not a fool, you had better listen to God!
If you are not stupid, you should not ignore what
God has said about Yeshua! And, if you are wise,
you should agree with what God has said about
Yeshua. If you value your life, you should not
dare to contradict what God has said about Yeshua!
That would be like calling God a liar!
The truth
is that Yeshua is well-pleasing to God - because
Yeshua is His Son, and Yeshua is good, wonderful,
perfectly righteous, always obedient to the Father;
and self-sacrificial in His love for us; and the
only Savior and Redeemer of mankind, who are dead
in trespasses and sins!
You had
better have the same assessment about Yeshua that
God the Father has! You too had better be well-pleased
with Yeshua. You too had better acknowledge Yeshua
as the Messiah, and the special beloved Son of
God, and love Him like God loves Him, and speak
well and approvingly of Him like God does - before
you leave this life and face the Son of God on
the Day of Judgment!
You had
better agree with God, more than be concerned
about the flawed opinions of fallen, far-from-God,
dead-in-trespasses-and-sins, confused and darkened-in-understanding
human beings.
It is
extremely rare when the Three Persons of the Three-In-One
God are clearly revealed together, like they were
here. Here God the Father speaks about the Son;
the Holy Spirit descends onto the Son, and the
Son of God is praying to God the Father and anointed
by the Spirit.
This
extremely rare event is one of the most special,
most important events in human history. You need
to understand it. You need to believe it. You
need to embrace its truth. You need to act on
it. Please do so, for the sake of your own soul.
Luke
ends this third chapter by giving us a genealogy
- a list of fathers and their sons and their sons.
Many people want a good genealogy. They want to
be descended from an honorable and important line
of people. Well, this is the most important genealogy
in the world. It is the genealogy of the God-Man,
the Messiah, the Seed of the Woman, the great
Kinsman-Redeemer, the only Savior of Jews and
Gentiles, the only hope of mankind, the coming
King of kings and the Lord of lords.
This
special genealogy is almost certainly the genealogy
of Mary, who was a descendant of David, who was
a descendant of Judah, who was a descendant of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were descendants
of Shem, and Noah, and Adam.
By giving
us this most important genealogy, Luke the historian
and Bible scholar is telling us that Yeshua is
qualified by genealogy to be the Messiah - something
that only the tiniest percentage of human beings
were qualified by genealogy to be.
You see,
God, speaking through His specially chosen Jewish
prophets, had made it clear that the Son of God
would be the “Seed of the woman”. The Son of God
would be a human being, and He must come from
Shem. He must be a Shemite. Shem would bring HaShem
- the Name, God, and God’s salvation - to the
rest of humanity.
The descendants
of Shem numbered in the thousands, but the Mighty
God chose only one of them - Abraham. The Son
of God would come from faithful Abraham.
Abraham
had many sons, but God chose Isaac, not the oldest
son, Ishmael, or the other sons that came from
Abraham’s other wife, Keturah, to further His
plan to bring redemption to humanity. Adonai Tzidkaynu
- the Lord our Righteousness, would come from
Isaac. He would not be an Ishmaelite or from one
of the Arab tribes.
Isaac
had two sons, but God who often saves by the small
and the few, chose the younger son Jacob, not
the older son Esav. The Son of God would come
from Israel, and not be an Edomite.
Jacob
had twelve sons, but only Judah was chosen. The
Messiah, the One approved by God to have the leadership
of Israel, would come from the tribe of Judah.
The tribe
of Judah had many families within it, but only
the family of David was chosen. The One who is
rightly called Immanuel, God With Us, would come
from king David’s royal family.
Based
on genealogical considerations alone, only a minute
percentage of humanity could qualify to be the
Messiah, the One Anointed and chosen to meet our
deepest needs - reconciling the world of lost
and fallen human beings to God, ending our alienation
and estrangement with the great Creator; reversing
the Fall; bringing blessing instead of the curse,
giving life in place of death.
Yeshua
is that Messiah, that most special, that most
important human being, the ultimate prophet, priest
and king, and the only true Savior of Jews and
Gentiles, the only genuine source of help for
Israel and the rest of mankind’s most serious
problems. Is He your Messiah and Lord and King
and Savior?
Chapter 4
Luke,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, wants us to know
that Yeshua is the long awaited Messiah. He came
from Heaven to Earth, and was born to a specially
prepared people, and to a very special woman.
Angels and holy men and women and prophets recognized
Yeshua’s uniqueness. John, His great forerunner,
acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah. Yeshua understood
that He Himself was the Son of God. God the Father
acknowledged Yeshua as His Son. The Holy Spirit
approved of Him by descending and remaining on
Him.
In chapter
4, Luke continues telling us that Yeshua is So
Very Special, and So Very Important, and So Worthy
Of Our Confidence, Faith, Trust, Obedience and
Devotion. He starts off by telling us that after
His baptism, and right before His public ministry
began, Yeshua experienced a long and difficult
time of testing by the head tempter himself, the
most powerful evil being in the universe.
Yeshua,
full of the Holy Spirit (Yeshua was and is
full of the Spirit, which means that He is alive
and real and holy and close to God. So, the closer
we are to Yeshua, the more full of the Spirit
we will be too, and the holier we will be too,
and the closer to God we will be too!) ...
Yeshua,
full of the Holy Spirit , returned from
the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in
the wilderness for forty days (forty is the
number of testing and judgment. This is a long,
hard, difficult time of testing), being tempted
by the devil.
There
is an ancient and cosmic war going on between
God and Satan, and good and evil. The temptation
of Yeshua was a battle between the highest levels
of good and evil, between the Champion of Good
and the Eminence of Evil. If the Champion of Good
failed, humanity could never be redeemed. Our
salvation, our eternal well-being, our everlasting
life, was at stake here! For us, the stakes couldn’t
have been higher!
And
He ate nothing during those days, and when they
had ended, He became hungry. I once fasted
for ten days, and at the end of ten days, I was
hungry. How much hungrier must Yeshua have been!
And
the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of
God, tell this stone to become bread.” Just
as the angel Gabriel knew that Yeshua was the
Son of the Most High, so the Adversary also knew
that Yeshua was the Son of God. And, the Adversary
used that knowledge to tempt Yeshua. The temptation
was for Yeshua, who was the Son of God, but also
the Son of Man, to use His divine powers which
He had temporarily laid aside, to satisfy His
needs.
Understand
that it was God’s will for His Son to live as
a human being, and as a man to fully depend on
God to meet all of His needs. The Son of Man needed
to live like a man, constantly depending on His
Father to meet all of His needs. To use His divine
powers which He had temporarily laid down and
do a miracle in His own power would be to bypass
the will of God.
Yeshua
understood God’s plan for Him to live as a human
being. And so Yeshua answered the Adversary with
a quote from the Torah, which He had obviously
memorized, and therefore was there within Him
and available to help Him when He really needed
it: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by
bread alone’”.
The Son
of God resisted this temptation by reminding Himself
and the Adversary the Torah-truth, and teaching
us that human beings are to realize there are
more important things than even having our physical
needs immediately met.
Human
beings are to know those things that are even
more important than their daily bread, things
like the Word of God, and the will of God, and
then live their lives dependant on the will and
Word of God.
Human
beings are to live knowing that times of testing
and wilderness experience and hardship and hunger
may be God’s plan for their life, and they are
not to get angry or bitter with God, or short-circuit
those times of testing and hardship, but try to
cooperate with God in those times and learn the
lessons that the Lord has for us from those times.
Next
came the second temptation: And he led Him
up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him,
“I will give You all this domain and its glory;
for it has been handed over to me, and I give
it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship
before me, it shall all be Yours.”
When
the first son of God and his wife, Adam and Eve,
failed their time of testing, they lost lordship
over the Earth. Their authority was transferred
to the Adversary. Satan is the god of this world.
The world and its values and political structures
are under the influence of the domain of darkness.
The world lies under the power of the Evil One.
Satan
knew that Yeshua was meant to be the King of the
Earth. He offered Him the rulership of the world,
but in a way that would eliminate suffering and
rejection, and bypass the cross. And what was
the price Messiah had to pay to gain the world
and the honor of mankind? Messiah had to give
His allegiance to the Enemy, and make Satan His
lord, and do things the Devil’s way.
Yeshua
answered him, again with a quote from the
Torah, which He had obviously memorized, which
was there within Him and available to help Him
when He needed it most: “It is written, ‘You
shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him
only.’”
God and
God’s will and God’s ways must come before the
honor and praise of men, even if it means dishonor
by men, rejection, suffering and crucifixion.
Honor and glory and power will come later for
those who do not cut moral and spiritual corners,
and do things the world’s and the devil’s way.
Those who chose short term successes by cutting
religious and ethical corners transform themselves
into devil worshipers!
Finally,
we come to the last temptation: And he led
Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle
of the Temple, and said to Him, “If You are the
Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for
it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning
you to guard you,’ and, ‘on their hands they will
bear you up, so that you will not strike your
foot against a stone.’”
Note
well that Satan knows the Scriptures. He is able
to quote them, and use them to his advantage.
Which means that his servants will do that too.
Quoting the Bible to make a point is not enough.
The Bible must be properly interpreted and applied!
And, that is something that each one of us should
learn how to do - otherwise we can be mislead.
Jerusalem
was the center of the world, and the center of
the Chosen Nation. The Temple was the center of
Jerusalem. I like what Charles Ryrie wrote about
this temptation: “If Yeshua had cast Himself off
and landed unharmed among the crowds below, He
surely would have been acclaimed the Messiah”.
This would have given Him honor among the Jewish
people, but again, it would have eliminated the
rejection and suffering that was necessary to
atone for sin. It would have violated God’s plan
for Yeshua’s life.
And
Yeshua answered and said to him , again with
a quote from the Torah, which He had obviously
memorized, which was there within Him and available
to help Him when He needed it: “It is said,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
We are
not to do something foolish, unnecessarily risky,
or out of the will of God, and then demand that
the Lord rescue us from our foolishness. We are
to careful and wise the way we conduct ourselves,
and the way we apply His Word.
Yeshua
was and is full of the Spirit, and close to God.
So, the closer we are to Him, the more full of
the Spirit we will be too!
Yeshua
is fully knowledgeable about the Word of God,
and how to apply it. The closer we are to Him,
the more we will be able to properly interpret
and apply it too!
Yeshua
is able to withstand all temptations and testings.
He is the only human being who withstood them
all. We will go through many testings and trials
and temptations in this life - longer one and
shorter ones, easier ones and harder ones. The
closer we are to Yeshua, the more we will be able
to successfully withstand all of our testings
too!
Israel
is the son of God, and saved and then immersed
in the Red Sea, and led into the wilderness. Israel
repeated failed our testings in the wilderness.
But Yeshua is also the Son of God, and is also
Israel, and was also immersed, and also led into
the wilderness, but passed every test! So, where
Israel failed, Yeshua, the King of Israel, succeeded!
So, the closer we get to Yeshua, who represents
perfect Israel, the closer we get to true Israel.
Yeshua
is so important! You must know about Him, learn
to trust Him, get connected to and stay connected
to Him. You must be focused on Him, and be learning
from Him, and continually be following Him. You
must get close to Him and stay close to Him. Is
that you? Good! If it is not you, meet with me,
talk with me, and let’s make sure that it is!
You have too much to lose not to!
And,
if you know Messiah, won’t you make it one of
your very highest priorities to communicate to
the rest of a lost and dying world this saving
knowledge about Him?
And,
won’t you give yourself to build up and strengthen
His Community of Jew and Gentiles who know Him,
love Him, serve Him and proclaim Him?
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