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Studies in the Gospel of Christ according to Luke, 1
CHRIST, THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD
1
Abd al-Masih and Colleagues
1
(Luke 1:1 - 2:12)
 |
Waters-of-Life
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065 – Version 27.3.2004
English Title: Christ, the Savior of the World, 1 - Luke 1:1 - 2:12
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INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO LUKE
Our human language is not wide enough to contain the riches of the Savior of the World. This is why the Holy Spirit led certain men to clarify the unique Gospel in several ways and to produce four distinctive portraits of the person Jesus Christ, also to proclaim his victory over distresses, diseases, sins, death, Satan, and the wrath of God.
In the guidance of the inspiring Spirit, the evangelist Matthew proved to the Jews that Jesus of Nazareth who came from the despised Galilee was indeed the promised Christ who fulfilled the Old Testament predictions and the laws of God in his life and resurrection.
The evangelist Mark, an associate of Peter, explained to the believers in Rome who were surrounded with thousands of gods and idols, that Christ Jesus was the true Son of God and the Lord of Lords who reigns over all the powers opposite to God.
Luke, the Greek physician, presented Christ as a merciful Savior to all mankind, who established by his coming God’s peace on earth and a new era to the world.
And the evangelist John expressed in the words of the Greek philosophy the deep love of God made incarnate in Christ to enable us to obtain eternal life though living faith.
Each one of the four evangelists bore witness to a certain circle of people and conditions. Yet, Jesus Christ is the decisive answer to their numerous questions and abstract problems.
Who is the Evangelist Luke?
The other three evangelists were Jewish believers, Aramaic speakers, of Hebrew standpoint. They all translated the words and historic events of Jesus into Greek. However, the evangelist Luke was Greek of Gentile origin. He did not belong to the culture of the Old Testament. This experienced physician and cultured man of travel had command in clarifying the message of the gospel in Greek. His fluent and effective use of language sometimes surpassed that of the apostle Paul.
It is possible that Luke lived for a considerable period in Antioch and participated in raising the church formed of believers of Gentile origin (Acts 11:20-24). He knew Paul from the beginning of his missionary journeys and accompanied him personally on his second voyage from Troas to Philippi where he stayed to strengthen the new church (Acts 16:10). When Paul came back from his third journey and passed by Philippi (Acts 20:6), he took his spiritual brother with him on his long voyage to Jerusalem (Acts 21:17). During Paul’s imprisonment in Caesarea (AD 58-60) Luke drew together material, which he later used in the composition of his gospel. At last, the physician Luke accompanied the apostle Paul during his last journey to Rome sharing his shipwreck and remaining with him until he died by martyrdom. During those three periods of the apostle Paul’s company, Luke depicted the events employing the first person “we”, as Paul’s student, eyewitness and companion.
Paul himself mentioned Luke three times by name and called him his beloved and faithful fellow laborer (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24; 2 Timothy 4:11), which clarifies to us the deep impression of Paul’s theological thoughts about justification by grace on Luke’s gospel which testified complete salvation to all mankind (2:14; 3:4-6; 24:26). This privilege of grace can only be obtained by faith (7:50; 15:1; 17:10; 18:14; 19:1-10; 23:34,43). Whoever enters into this grace finds in it the spring of everlasting joy (1:46-47; 6:23; 13:17; 15:5-10, 23; 19:6; 24:41,52).
How Did Luke Write His Gospel?
The wise physician wanted to know more accurately about the life of Christ than he had heard from Paul and the early Christians in Antioch. He accompanied his teacher (in AD 58) to Jerusalem and met James, Jesus’ brother, whom he joined in companionship as a child in one family. Furthermore, the evangelist sought details from Peter and the other apostles also from many eyewitnesses of the life of Jesus about their experiences with the merciful Lord (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:8,21; John 15:26).
First of all, Luke found in Jerusalem a collection of Jesus’ sayings and events compiled under supervision of the apostles and probably translated into Greek by Matthew, Andrews and Philips to establish the believers of Jewish pilgrims who did not learn Aramaic in their distant homes (Acts 2:42; John 12:20; Luke 1:1-4). Luke extracted verbally much of what was contained in that source common to the three earlier gospels, but unfortunately absent from us today. However these contents are made available to us through those three earlier gospels. This is why Luke’s account is in full agreement with that of the earlier evangelists.
The characteristic of Luke’s gospel is that he who describes the person of Jesus is an experienced physician who was much interested to know the miracle of Jesus’ conception of the Holy Spirit and his birth of the Virgin Mary whom he had most probably met in person and inquired about these events. It is a special blessing, that the Holy Spirit guides a physician to discover through his own efforts this great mystery and to cover this unknown link of the history of Jesus Christ.
We also find in his gospel an expert description of the miracles of Jesus, which the wise physician was completely unable to do by himself: giving sight to the blind, cleansing the lepers and raising the dead. Discerningly, Luke draws our attention to Christ’s great compassion and kind mercy so that we may see the source of his power originating only from the divine mercy.
Luke was especially interested in the body of him who was raised from the dead that he questioned eyewitnesses about strange details which we do not find in such clarity in the other gospels: Christ asked his disciples to touch him with their hands in order that they might feel that he was not a ghost but flesh and blood. He also ate before their eyes to overcome their unbelief.
Who is the Receiver of This Message?
Luke states the name of the receiver. It is Theophilus (lover of God) whom he calls (most excellent) or (noble), a magisterial designation also given to Felix, the Roman governor of Judea and Festus who succeeded him (Acts 23:20; 24:3; 26:25). Theophilus was probably a prominent Roman official of high rank who once ruled Antioch and knew that region and Italy accurately, but needed wide clarifications about all the places and customs of Palestine and Greece which were strange to him. Theophilus was probably near to the first church in Antioch and had consecrated, under the name of that church, his palaces and dedicated them to the meetings of the believers as we find in the traditional information about this person. Then he was transferred to Rome and there he wanted to gain a just conception of the progress of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, the capital. This is the historical password of Luke’s report which is composed of two parts: the first one is his Gospel in which he tells us how the Savior of the world completed his way from Bethlehem to Nazareth, Capernaum and Jerusalem where the salvation of the world was completed.
And the second part of his report is the Acts of the Apostles in which Luke shows us how the kingdom of God spread out immediately from Jerusalem to Samaria, Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece and Rome and was also prepared to reach Spain.
By these purposes, Luke did not compose a limited gospel for the believers of the Jewish nation, but preached all the nations with the divine salvation in the widest manner as Paul did. Luke did not present a Jesus Christ promised only to the Jews, but a Savior, Founder and Proprietor of the world, giving peace to the whole world, and preaching God’s pleasure with the repenting sinners, for the only true Savior has overcome all the distresses, diseases and the power of death with its cause that is sin as well as the temptations of the devil which prompt us to disobey God. Christ is the Victor and the Lord of Peace to all nations. This is the keynote of Luke’s gospel.
The astonishing thing is that Luke’s gospel and the Acts of the Apostles were not written to the public, but to the edification of one person so that this official of high rank might continue in faith, receive new insight for his social duties, be just and merciful toward the poor and confine the carelessness of the rich who deserve God’s wrath because of their hard hearts. Luke shows us that Christ does not only save us from our sins, but also qualifies us to practice love and help to the poor. We therefore realize that Luke’s gospel has a practical social characteristic.
Analysis of Luke’s Gospel
Appearance of Christ 1:1 - 4:13
Galilean Campaign 4:14 - 9:50
Voyage to Jerusalem 9:51 - 18:30
Ministry in Jerusalem until Christ's death 18:31 – 23:56
Reports of Christ’s resurrection 24
If you follow the steps of Jesus, through your deep penetration into Luke’s gospel, you will receive a great power and divine motive to preach the nations, for Luke was a preacher with the apostle Paul filled with love and the Holy Spirit. Pray and listen to the Spirit of the Lord through his servant Luke.
QUESTION 1: What are the different characteristics of the four gospels?
QUESTION 2: What do you know about the life of the evangelist Luke?
QUESTION 3: How did Luke write his gospel?
QUESTION 4: Who was the receiver of Luke’s gospel?
QUESTION 5: How was Luke’s gospel divided?
The Introduction of the Evangelist
LUKE 1:1-4
1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
The Savior of the world was truly born. He lived among us and was openly crucified, and then he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. Those were the things, which had been fulfilled among his followers who received the gift of the great Holy Spirit through their faith.
This Spirit came out of them and prompted them to publish the good news of salvation all around the world. Many have written letters and books to clarify the unique person Jesus Christ to the public. All true reports about Jesus signify a gospel. This significance is rather more exact than that of the word “gospel” which was originally used in the house of Roman Caesar for official announcements, i.e. when a child was born to him, or when he won victory over the enemies. You have the right and the privilege to spread the good news of Christ’s birth and victory in the world.
When Theophilus, the Roman governor had heard much about the King of kings and Lord of lords, he wanted to know every thing exactly about the chronological events covering the Lord’s birth, death and unique resurrection. Luke, the Greek physician traveled to meet the eyewitnesses in Christ’s company and asked them about the whole details. He did not begin his gospel with the baptism of Christ at the hands of John the Baptist, but examined the mysteries of Christ’s birth carefully and traced up his life with great attention. Our faith is founded not on ideologies or philosophical ideas, but on a living person who had exerted an open and clear influence on the history of mankind.
Luke found a collection of Jesus’ sayings gathered by the apostles, the ministers of the word, and translated by them from Aramaic into Greek with all exactness and carefulness. Today, we do not have the mother of all those gospels in Aramaic. However they appear clearly in the first three gospels with power and great glory. Luke added to these sayings the reports and parables of the eyewitnesses whom he had visited and searched until he extracted, through his diligence, the precious words of Christ, which are not found in the other gospels.
We thank our Lord Jesus Christ who through his Holy Spirit guided the Greek physician Luke to write his gospel, for in his diligence the objective work becomes accurately united with the power of inspiration and the world traveler’s insight with the simple faith in God’s mercy which is the foundation of Christ’s peace to all humans.
Luke wrote his gospel to confirm to the spiritual student governor what he had learned about the incidents of Christ, not only historically, but spiritually first, so that he might be filled with God’s joy and gladness. You may also obtain this through studying the gospel if you read it with continuous prayer.
PRAYER: Our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you because you rose from the dead and live and reign with the Father in one essence. We glorify you because you guided your servant Luke and many to write your gospel accurately. Please help us to hear you in their words, understand your intents, believe in your kindness, do your will, convey your salvation to others and tell them that you are the Savior of the world who preaches us personally in his unequalled gospel.
QUESTION 6: What were the principles adopted by Luke in writing his gospel?
PART I
HISTORICAL EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH
CHRIST'S BIRTH
(Luke 1:5 - 2:52)
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF JOHN THE BAPTIST'S BIRTH
(Luke 1:5-25)
LUKE 1:5-7
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
Herod, the First, was a ruthless cruel king who came from Edom and reigned over the Jews. He helped the Romans in their battle in Egypt, and by subtle flattery and timely support, won the imperial favor as their agent, which made him bitterly hated by his people. Herod was well-known to the Roman officials, for he flattered Caesar and built cities under his name in the Greek fashion thus sucking the funds of his people whom he terrified though he had built the glorious temple to flatter them.
In the midst of hatred, colonization and clamorous currents, the priests of God lived in humility and offered daily sacrifices to God in order to reconcile the sinful nation with him knowing that the wrath of the Holy One is revealed against all ungodliness of men. One thousand years before Christ, King David divided the priests into 24 groups each one of which officiated day and night for a complete week before God to atone for the sinners. The eighth of those was that of Abijah of the middle rank, which was not responsible for administering all priestly ceremonies.
Zacharias, the priest whose name signifies “God remembers” was married to Elizabeth “God is my oath” who was herself of priestly lineage, of the daughters of Aaron, Moses’ brother. Zacharias’ family was blessed with the justification of daily sacrifices, for no man is righteous of himself.
Their piety and love to God appeared in their wise walking in the commandments of the Lord according to the Law and its interpretation. Thus they lived in humility praying and serving. Their neighbors honored and loved this family out of which the blessing of the Lord came to others. It is a happy thing when those who are joined to each other in marriage are both joined to the Lord. Grace for grace comes out of this couple to those around them.
No sanctification without keeping the commandments, and no justification without sacrifice. Through these principles of the Old Testament: sanctification and justification Luke leads us to the faith of the New Testament which is in front of that of the old, for Christ justified us by his sacrifice and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us to keep the commandments.
Luke began his gospel with a report around the temple and ended it (Luke 24:53) inside the temple, showing reverence towards the “house” or dwelling of God in the Old Testament until the Jews refused the reconciliation in Christ and the Romans ruined the temple entirely when God had left it according to the prophecy in the Book of Ezekiel.
During their prayers, Zacharias and Elizabeth felt the coming wrath of God several times, for he did not give them children. They suffered from their loneness in their old age and considered their barrenness as a shame on them. Yet in their particular daily brokenness they remained righteous. They did not walk arrogantly because of their own righteousness, but laid their hope completely upon the grace. God does not leave the humble prayer, but knows the cries of his heart and answers him in due time.
PRAYER: Our Lord, we thank you for your saints in the Old Testament who walked before you in broken hearts and believed in their sanctification through sacrifices. Please forgive us our haughtiness and help us in your coming wrath for the sake of the sacrifice of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
QUESTION 7: How did Luke arrange his gospel in relation to the Old Testament?
LUKE 1:8-17
8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the alter of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord.”
Public worships were attended at the temple of the Lord every day at nine o’clock in the morning before making the burnt offering and at three o’clock in the afternoon after the same offering (Acts 3:1). During both occasions many prayers met to praise altogether the glory of the Holy One and to pour their hearts before him. It occurred that the eighth priestly division stayed for a complete week in Jerusalem to perform all the services of the temple.
The Lord chose Zacharias by lot to minister at the alter and make the offering of incense in the temple. As the people joined in hymns of prayer, the elder moved forward to the holy place and burnt the incense in token of their prayers and praises ascending to the Lord (Psalms 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). However, the ministering priest fell down in adoration to the near All-Hearing God, summing up in ritual words the communal pleas. He had the privilege of bringing sacred personal pleas before the Lord. God answered his prayer in a wonderful way. The elder immediately saw a luminous angel standing in bright glory on the right side of the alter out of which the smell of incense ascended in the midst of the darkness of the holy room. And then the priest was troubled, for any appearance of a spiritual person signified punishment and judgment. None is righteous of himself before God. So do not ask your Lord for the appearance of angels or Christ, but repent as long as it is called “Today” and believe in Christ so that he may fill you with his Holy Spirit who is God himself.
The angel did not come for judgment, but gave good tidings to Zacharias of the beginning of the age of God’s grace. No man can realize the principle change in his Lord’s plan, therefore God sent an angel in order that Zacharias might realize the spiritual change to come. The brilliant angel comforted the troubled priest and ordered him not to be afraid. The statement, “Do not be afraid” appears 365 times in the Holy Bible. It orders us according to the number of the days of the year not to be afraid at all.
The reporter confirmed that God answers prayers maybe late according to our feeling, but punctually according to his prudent loving will. Then rest assured that no word or statement of your prayers is forgotten. The good Father does not neglect the pressing needs of his children, but answers in prudence and due time. Do you believe that each word of your pleas is answered according to the will of your Lord’s mercy?
The angel was a person speaking understandable words. He brought us good tidings of days of joy and gladness, for the meaning of the name “John” is the Lord is gracious. The Creator healed the sick body of Elizabeth so that she might be able to conceive. Would that the Lord touches the dry bodies of churches so that they might be filled and the children of God be multiplied.
Many promises of the Old Testament had their accomplishment in the coming of John the Baptist (Malachi 3:1,23,24; Isaiah 40:1-4). All angels and believers rejoiced at his coming, for his appearance indicated a new age in the entire creation of God. Since childhood, John was devoted, consecrated and engaged to the Holy God who filled the forerunner of his Son with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb so that he might be able to carry out his hard service. Thus John was the greatest among those born of women. He surpassed philosophers, kings and prophets. Yet, in spite of his excellence, he was not born of the Holy Spirit, but in a normal manner of Zacharias his father. He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the great.
God had prepared two services for the Baptist: First he had to call the multitudes to repentance so that they might discover their sins, and to baptize the brokenhearted with the baptism of forgiveness in the Jordan. So John cultivated all the people with his sharp word, prepared the hearts for the new plant and kindled the great movement of repentance. Here his second service began. He did not call himself Christ or founder of a new age, but confessed that he was only a forerunner in the hands of the coming Lord to guide people to him. He taught all the Jews that a prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah should be sent before the day of the Lord. Later on Jesus testified openly that the spirit and power of Elijah worked in the Baptist as an indication of the truth of Christ (Matthew 17:11-13).
The Holy Spirit led those prepared of the elders who were deep-rooted in the Law into conversion that they might follow the new generation following Christ and enter altogether into the open doors of the age of grace.
At the same time, the Holy Spirit broke the obstinacy of disobedient young people and led them into God-fearing, humility and obedience. In this manner, the Spirit of the Lord calls you to repentance and conversion so that you may please God by accepting the Gospel. He who realizes his sins, confesses them penitently and forsakes them by accepting Christ’s salvation becomes a living member of the people of God who are spread in all nations and tongues that are called today Christians. Are you a servant of the Lord in your surroundings distinguished in humility and activity?
PRAYER: Thank you Lord for sending John the Baptist and opening the age of grace through him. Please lead us to true repentance so that we may be converted and filled with your Spirit and become living members of your holy people.
QUESTION 8: How did the angel appear to Zacharias?
QUESTION 9: What are the promises of the Old Testament for John the Baptist?
QUESTION 10: What are the principles of his service?
LUKE 1:18-25
18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. 20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” 21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. 22 But when he came out, and could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. 23 And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
The holy Creator honors those who pray and speaks to them through the Holy Bible, his faithful witnesses and ministering angels. Do you believe in the speaking of the Most High? Do you submit to his call? Do you accept his promises joyfully? God himself comes to you through his word. He who doubts his statements accuses God of lying. He who refuses his word refuses the All-Ruling himself.
Do you believe that your prayers are answered? Zacharias prayed, but his ministry became a priestly custom. He did not wholeheartedly believe that his petitions would be answered, but believed in his own experiences and in the principles of nature rather than he trusted the All-Ruling Creator. The priest doubted the word of the Lord and did not immediately realize that the appearance of the angel was the guarantee of accomplishment of God’s promise. In this manner many believers do not trust completely the word of Christ, for they do not realize that the Crucified One is the unique guarantee of accomplishment of his Father’s promises. Would that we do not refuse God’s promises or let our hearts be like the stones which refuse the water that is brought to it, but accept and receive them immediately thanking God for them in faith, which can never be shaken.
When doubt appeared in the priest, the angel became angry in his holiness and said, “Behold, I am present. Do you not see me and notice that God is speaking to you personally through me and has chosen you and authorized you giving you a sign, which is beyond human understanding? I represent God’s omnipotence and am coming from the glorious throne to you, sinning elder, in the midst of the darkness of your world, to bring you glad tidings of great joy. Do you not believe? This shows that you are a hardhearted priest in spite of your apparent piety and prayers.
Dear brother, do you believe in the words of the Lord addressed to you? Do you harden your heart against his drawing love? Believe and do not be late lest the grace of God is changed into fury poured on those who doubt and are slow to believe.
The herald smote the priest’s tongue with muteness. He did not destroy him, but punished him in grace to leave for him the opportunity to consider the revelations of God’s ambassador to him. The word of God is full of grace. It creates a life of love and punishes the disobedient violently. Yet, the design of God’s mercy does not fall forever. The Holy One carries out the plan of his love precisely. Your Savior will complete his way with you if you devote your self to him and do not object against his word intentionally.
While the angel and the frightened priest were engaged in conversation, the people stayed in the courtyard expecting Zacharias to come out of the temple, because he was to pronounce the blessing upon them. Now observe that he who lives without the blessing of the Mediator between the Most High and men falls into temptation and condemnation. However, the poor priest was now speechless because of his unbelief. He could not pronounce the blessing because God punished him. Unfortunately, we find today many ministers who are good speakers, but their words are empty and dead because of their unbelief in the complete word of God. Their blessings are nothing but a powerless ritual veil, for the hand of Christ does not support them, but punishes them because of their hypocrisy, selfishness and doubts. Does the power of God for joy come out of you? Do you look like a weak, silent, mute priest that is void of the Spirit of God?
PRAYER: My Lord, declare your word to me. Demand unconditional faith from me. Forgive me every delay in accepting your word and strengthen my little faith so that I may trust completely that many spiritual children of our nation are born to you and become mature in your blessings.
QUESTION 11: How did God nourish the priest in full trust?
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST'S
BIRTH
(Luke 1:26-38)
LUKE 1:26-33
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
The name of the city of Nazareth does not appear at all in the Old Testament, for God’s triumph became clear only in the New Testament. The pious Jews called Galilee with contempt “the circuit of backward Gentiles” (Isaiah 9:1). However, God, in his design, intended to reveal his glory in thick darkness. The coming of Christ did not take place in the temple and its clamor, but in a simple house on the outlying areas of the town. Today, the angel of the Lord does not reveal the design of the Holy One only in capitals and churches, but also in village caves and nomad tents. He often finds more obedience of faith with the simple and the lowly than with the clever, rich and religious.
Mary was a virgin of the tribe of David. We do not know much about her past. However, her name signifies in Hebrew “bitterness” or “sorrow”. Her father probably so called her because she did not have a child. He was not aware that God’s promise was revealed from the beginning and that the long-expected Messiah was to be born of a woman and not of a man (Genesis 3:16). Mary was a true woman representing our troubles and sorrows. We all went astray. There is none who does good, no, not one. Christ said, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Luke 18:19).
Yet, there is a great difference between Mary and us. Our hearts are hard, whereas her heart was prepared to believe and hear the word of God and to obey his Spirit. Mary took power from the Scriptures and continued as pure virgin expecting God’s guidance. She agreed to be betrothed in the city of Nazareth to Joseph, the carpenter who was also a son of the same royal family of King David like her. Both of them were worthy of participating in God’s promises to this seed (2 Samuel 7:12,14). The angel of God entered into the house of Mary and prepared her to accept the mother of all miracles, to listen to the word of the Lord, believe it and accept it, for Christ is born only of the word of God in which the Virgin believed.
The first two words of the divine herald sounded as if the door of heaven was opened wide, for the messenger of God testified peace and grace to the world as a foundation for the New Testament as all the other evangelists did in the beginning of their gospels. Mary was highly favored and chosen by God among all mortal women to bear the Eternal One down her heart. All the blessings of heaven and the fullness of the Godhead centered and dwelt in her fetus. Christ was not filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb as John the Baptist was, but was practically God himself with Mary. Until now, God is near to men, but hidden. However, Mary began her powerful new communion with God, which indicates that Christ resides in our hearts through faith.
Mary was not perfect in herself like Christ who spoke with the angels as his ministers, but became troubled and afraid, because the light of God uncovered all her humanity. However she did not speak quickly, but kept silent and thought as quick as lightning of what this wonderful salutation could mean. Would that all humans hear God’s call quickly and consider it prayerfully so that they may receive from the Holy One a more profound and clear answer than what they heard in the first call.
The angel knew the Virgin’s thoughts and confirmed to her that she found favor with the Holy One. She was not the spring of all favors, but God’s favor was made incarnate in her child. This is why the angel suggested to her that she should not be afraid of the mighty angel who takes revenge and judges, but should cast all fear and embrace his grace and love. Mary sought the living God Throughout her life until she received the fruits of her prayers and yearnings.
Mary perfected her trust in God and laid her hope completely on grace trusting God’s pure love and holy protection.
At this certain faith, the angel revealed to her seven secrets about her coming child:
- That her child would not be a daughter but a son who is known before his birth and a reason for her great joy.
- That his name was Jesus which means “God’s help and salvation” as the motto of the new age.
- That he was great before God not as John was but as a divine person of the Godhead.
- That he is the Son of God in person. God from God. Light from light. True God from the true God. Begotten, not created, in one essence with the Father.
- That he was appointed as a king according to the promises given to David the Psalmist who was anointed with the Spirit of God.
- That Jesus was of David’s seed lawfully and bodily, for Luke calls Mary’s father as Joseph’s father (Luke 3:23). Thus Mary and Joseph are the king’s descendants and Jesus was a true man from a true man. He was not a ghost or a traveling spirit.
- That the kingdom of Christ is not temporal or earthly like David’s, but spiritual and everlasting as Jesus confessed before Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world… For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:36-37). However, most of the Jews did not want to hear the voice of God, and they crucified their king. Yet, the Lord can submit to himself this obstinate people in order that they should kneel before him and worship the one whom they have pierced.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You are my King and I am your unprofitable servant. Please forgive all my unbelief and teach me the true faith in your divinity, birth and humanity so that I may consider your words and accept them immediately upon hearing them and your power may become greater in my weakness.
QUESTION 12: What is the meaning of the angel’s salutation to Mary?
QUESTION 13: What is the difference between Jesus and John?
LUKE 1:34-38
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
When the angel announced the promise to Zacharias, the latter doubted and wondered, “How shall I know this?” (1:18) though he had seen the glorious herald and heard his clear words. Yet, Mary did not doubt, but asked the angel, “How can this be?” She believed, understood and trembled in humanity at the impossible thing. Gabriel did not consider her question as doubt, but as an inquiry concerning the way and manner how the miracle should be made. Only God is qualified to answer such a question. It is not impermissible to ask God to clarify his ways in your life if you did not object to his designs.
For the sake of Mary’s obedient preparedness the angel revealed the secret of incarnation of the Holy Spirit in Christ, that is the Spirit of God himself with all his powers, abilities and glories was determined to dwell as a fetus in her. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in the Son and the Holy Spirit himself was his essence. Man! Did you know that all the Holy Trinity was participant when the Savior of the world dwelt in the Virgin Mary? Our language is unable to express this culmination of human history and our mind is so small to realize how God loved us that he clothed his Son with the sufferings of the world and was embodied in flesh. Worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the One God, and love him with all your heart, for his love for the corrupt humans was the only motive and reason for the conception of Christ.
There was neither lust, nor sin, nor selfishness, nor impurity in this miracle, for the Holy God appeared in the Holy Christ who was in himself full of holiness and void of inherited sin. Even all the sinful motives of the seed of his father David and his followers that were found in Mary were overcome and changed into complete purity, divine power and eternal truth.
Man cannot realize the mystery of this moment without the Holy Spirit. Those who are not born of the love of God blaspheme on Christ and say that he was born of a human being. Yet, he who was renewed in repentance and received everlasting life from the word of the Gospel worships God the Father who sent to us his Son in the form of flesh.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is a true man from a true man and true God from the true God. He did not need a second spiritual birth. He is the Life-Giver who offers us, justified, his life through faith in him in order that we may become by his power children of God looking forward to his imminent coming which is our certain hope.
The strong angel gave the frightened Mary a clear sign so that she could believe what was impossible to believe, for the blessed one thought how could it be possible for a creature to conceive the Creator of the world in her womb. The angel showed her the divine miracle in Elizabeth her relative who was not of the house of David and became pregnant though she was barren. This was a further encouragement to her faith, which prepared Mary for the decisive word of the Lord.
Is anything impossible with God? Dear brother, do you believe in God’s unlimited power in your life, church and nation? Then do not give the lie to God and do not cheat yourself with human thoughts. Do you believe in God’s absolute power? Did you put yourself, your mind, diseases, friends and enemies before the throne of grace committing yourself in the hands of the Highest? Where is your love for him? How true is your faith? Take hold of God, and set your love upon him, for he is the Almighty who wants to save and is able to make salvation. He practically saves according to your faith. You are the door through which the grace of God is willing to enter into your surroundings.
Mary believed in the omnipotence of her Lord and opened herself to the will of love. Christ did not dwell in her without her consent. Through her humble submission she fulfilled the designs of the Highest. If Mary hesitated at that moment or refused the word of God, the world would fall and we would remain in our sins, reprobate and condemned by God. Yet, the Virgin was deep-rooted in the Old Testament obeying the guidance of the Holy Spirit in her life. She believed the prophecies and was able to accept Christ, the present of God to the world.
By her spiritual consent, Mary washed the shame attributed to woman since the fall of Eve and changed her weakness into glory. The Virgin suffered a lot for the Son of God who was placed in her heart. However, she bore the shame of accusation with patience, faith and thankfulness to her Lord throughout her life.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, we worship you because you gave birth to Christ with all holiness of your love in your maidservant Mary. We are prayerfully astonished at the miracle of your dwelling. Please renew us all so that we may immediately believe in your word addressed to us trusting that you change and renew, through our faith, our unfair surroundings.
QUESTION 14: How did the Virgin become pregnant with Christ? (1:34-38)
MARY'S VISIT TO ELIZABETH
(Luke 1:39-56)
LUKE 1:39-45
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
The Virgin Mary turned with her flowing heart to her compassionate big friend in a city unknown to us today, to tell her of her secrets seeking encouragement for her faith through common prayers, being unable to tell any body in her town, Nazareth, about her miracle. She was thankful to the angel who showed her a way out of her trouble. So she hastened away to Elizabeth who lived in a town in south Jerusalem, 100 kilometers away from her town Nazareth. The Holy Spirit confirmed to Mary her obedience of faith and comforted her warmly when she arrived at the house of the priest. At the same time, he revealed to the old Elizabeth a clarification of the mother of all miracles before the virgin revealed her secret. The priest’s wife became filled with the Holy Spirit who gave her the power of prediction and revealed to her secrets that would not come to human’s mind.
The prophetical spirit let Elizabeth’s tongue utter a wonderful salutation to Mary who had saluted her using the customary tokens of affectionate salutation. Elizabeth was not alone in hearing those words, which were filled with the power of God, but her fetus also leaped joyfully, for John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb and was then given to understand that Christ, the incarnate divine Spirit was at hand. The Holy Spirit does not need human ears, eyes and senses to know and witness. He feels immediately with unperceivable depths and reveals secrets that are beyond our understandings. Through the apparent power of the Spirit, Elizabeth immediately knew the secrets of Mary without being informed by anybody.
Now, the power of God exploded through the words of the prophetess. Her tongue cried unconsciously and the Spirit of God testified through her saying, “You, young Mary, are greater than I am. You are not great in yourself, but the glory of your fetus lights you and his blessings make you more blessed than all women.” Yet, these blessings were not of her but of her child, the stream of all blessings.
Elizabeth immediately called Jesus Lord, for the Holy Spirit revealed to her that God, the Lord dwelt in Mary. She trembled in her heart because of her approach to God, for the Holy Spirit in her sensed his union with the Son. The great old woman bowed before the humble virgin for the Holy Spirit reveals the secrets to the believer who opens himself to his directions. The divine herald revealed to Elizabeth the essential worthiness in Mary through which she became an example to us. The Virgin believed unconditionally the word of God. Through her obedience of faith, the things, which were impossible, became possible. This is her honor, privilege and right. Mary’s faith was the door through which the Son of God came to our evil world.
Today, your faith is the means by which Christ prevails in you and around you. Do you follow the mother of Jesus according to her effectual faith?
Then you will hear the same words of Elizabeth of which she told Mary: that what God had already said be done. You do not have to do God’s will in your weakness. He will complete it through your acquiescence in his will. So let the Holy Spirit release you from your doubts, sins and personal ability. Be firm in the trust, chastity and power of your Lord. Adhere to Christ so that he may let his Spirit flow in you as the juice of the vine flows into the branches creating leaves and fruits. Blessed is he who believes and becomes united with Christ with the bond of love in his heart. This is the first beatification in the Holy Bible.
PRAYER: Holy Lord, we worship you because you move the believers with your Spirit as you wish, preparing their ways and revealing to them your secrets. Forgive us all tattling, backbiting and perjury; and help us into purity and truthfulness in the communion of saints.
QUESTION 15: Why did Elizabeth beatify Mary?
LUKE 1:46-50
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
Mary’s praises are the crown of the psalms of the Old Testament and a glorious beginning of all the joys of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit spoke through Mary and revealed the secrets of God’s judgment in the simple words of the Virgin. The past of mankind met in these words. Our future is clarified through the words of the Holy Spirit, and God’s church harmonizes everywhere in Mary’s song of thankfulness, for the aim of all the revelation and realization of salvation is to glorify the holy God out of an undivided heart.
Mary’s words, which reached us in the New Testament, were very few (Luke 1:34,38; 2:48; John 2:3,5). This is why her saying here deserves all our attention, wherein we find familiar statements from the Old Testament and the Psalms which indicates that the Virgin penetrated deeply into the word of her Lord, kept his verses and lived them. The Holy Spirit united the treasures hidden in them for great praise to God.
Do you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? He glorifies God and declares that man is small. The joy of the knowledge of God is so great. The peace of God covers the believer so that his soul does not move haughtily but glorifies the Lord. As such the spirit rejoices, for the pleasure of God is revealed to it and no sorrow disturbs it. Do you rejoice in your mind? Are you sad? He who is sad cares for himself, but he who is glad lives for God and becomes free from his selfishness, for God is love and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Dear brother, come to your Lord so that he may fill you with his Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not found in man out of his nature. Mary confessed openly that God was her Savior from her distresses. Mary is not the Savior of the world. God has saved the mother of Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not lie. All those who magnify themselves and other selves are foolish; for the heavenly Illuminator shows us corruption in our humanity and at the same time draws us up to the faithful love of God.
We are not worthy to be called servants of God, for we are sinners. However, the Holy Spirit confirms to us that the Lord accepted us and overcame the sin inherited in us by grace. All those that are highly favored bow down to the dust, worship to their Savior, kiss his feet, and put themselves at his disposal for everlasting service. Are you an independent master and lord in your life, or a lowly servant to your Lord? Humble yourself as Mary who called herself the maidservant of the Lord. The Holy Spirit wants to break your pride and release yourself from haughtiness.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Mary experienced this principle of the Spirit of God, for when she had confessed her need to God’s salvation as the maidservant of the Lord, God exalted her so that she might receive joy for joy and grace for grace.
Yet, her way in this world was full of bitterness, despise, and accusation, for her fiancé and parents knew nothing about her conception of the Holy Spirit. But God himself justified and guided her (Matthew 1:18). Her child was born in an awful stable, while the angels’ storm of praises broke out in heaven. The Magi worshiped to the newborn child of the manger who fled after a while with his parents to Egypt. Mary stood sorrowfully under the cross of her son. Yet, she saw him who was raised from the dead prevailing and ruling the worlds. She remained together with the disciples expecting the promise of the Father and was filled with them with the Holy Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost. She abided in Christ forever, for he who believes in him, though he may die, he shall live; and all those living who believe in him shall never die. We beatify Mary with all those renewed in Christ, for they live as children of God in everlasting gladness.
Dear brother, can you pronounce Mary’s words in faith? Dare and pronounce in faith the words of the Holy Spirit: “He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation” (1:49).
Mary did not take lessons in theology, but the Holy Spirit revealed to her the essence of God as merciful and holy according to her own experiences. Would that all the nations accept this revelation of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin’s mouth. Our God is like a consuming fire, which burns all sins and unrepentant humans. Yet, the heart of his holiness is love and nothing but love. He who follows the right way and submits to the Spirit of God accepting Christ as a Savior, will be drawn to the holiness of God’s love, for Christ’s birth had no other design but to make of you a saint filled with the love of God (Romans 5:5; Ephesians 1:4).
PRAYER: Our Holy Father, we praise you, worship you, love you, and magnify you because of your many great things also because you saved us in your Son Jesus Christ. You did not reject us for our faults, but sanctified us and filled us with your love. Please keep us in Christ’s humility so that we may not fall from the grace, which surpasses all understanding.
QUESTION 16: How do we know that Mary was humble?
QUESTION 17: What names and attributes of God did the Virgin make apparent in her song?
LUKE 1:51-56
51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, 55 as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.
God is not an incomprehensible far-away mighty spirit. He interferes in the history of the world. His characteristics are not a logical conception, but are practically apparent in the lives of humans. God does not sleep, but works. Since humanity fell in sin, the Holy One has restlessly been saving, asking and working for the salvation of the world.
Study God’s ruling of the world on Mary’s mouth, and penetrate deeply into the mightiness of his work according to the nine verbs mentioned in the second part of the Virgin’s praise, and then you will be more cognizant than those who hold diplomas in sociology or sciences.
God is the power, as Christ testified to the essence of his Father during the last trial before the Jews (Matthew 26:64). He is the only positive and constructive power in the world. By his power he created the world. It is wise to worship the Creator when you penetrate deeply into the mysteries of his creation during your physical, chemical, and biological courses, for all sciences reveal the great, beautiful, and mighty power of God.
Man became haughty in Satan’s temptations and God drove him away from his nearness, for whoever separates himself from his source becomes an enemy of the Creator in his mind. Blessed are you when you realize that all humans are disobedient, for the spirit of Satan works in them (Ephesians 2:1-5). This is why we became the children of wrath, given up to the lusts of our hearts. The history of mankind is a revelation of God’s waves of wrath on us (Romans 1:18; Revelation 6:17).
God’s condemnation upon all haughtiness and lust is more effective than you know. The Holy One gave man a chance to live in the fear of God according to his redemptive plan. Yet, he who becomes haughty and does not put his gifts, money, and ability at God’s disposal will fall down from his illusory seat to shame, dislike, and destruction. Did you realize how the simple Virgin condemned the kings, leaders, great and fanciful people through her words given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
She confessed in her discernment that he who is lowly will participate in government with God, and he who is meek will own the earth. God will have mercy upon you if you continue patient, gentle, and regarding your enemies better than yourself. Christ’s way is humility. This is why God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:5-11). If God exalted you, and gave you blessings, gifts, and success, do you continue lowly and simple as a child of the Lord, or do you become haughty as other creatures, thinking you are quite something? The Holy Spirit teaches you to die to yourself and live for God alone.
Now observe how God blesses you disobedient, and gives you bread abundantly. He is our Father and Provider who would not destroy us quickly though we deserve his wrath. Would that people turn to their Creator, see his blessings and multiply them. Unfortunately, countries make out of these blessings exorbitantly expensive weapons. It is to be mentioned that the price of one warplane is sufficient to satisfy the needs of millions of human beings. As such people waste the gifts of the Provider who enriches us with his riches. However, selfishness makes the rich poor, for they destroy themselves given up to their lust according to the wrath of God.
The people of wilderness knew how God filled them with his providence and brought down to them manna and quails. Yet, they complained against their Provider and did not understand the drawing of his Spirit to make of them a holy nation, but fell in his wrath. However, the Lord did not destroy his adversaries entirely in spite of his continuous punishments throughout centuries, which indicates that he would not end or annul his grace with us, for he remains merciful in the midst of his fairness, holiness, and wrath.
God is faithful to his promises, which he gave to Abraham, and the fathers of faith and to their followers. What was the worthiness of those fathers? It was their faith. They heard the word of God and held fast to his promise faithfully and trustfully, and this faith was accounted to them for righteousness. Because of this faith, God dealt with them, and he would never change his words for he is faithful.
Did you realize the deep secrets, which the Holy Spirit crystallized in Mary? Open yourself to the voice of God, without hatred or haughtiness, so that you may listen to reason and see God working in the midst of the disorder of our distant world.
As it was time for Elizabeth, the prophetess to give birth to her son, Mary came back trusting that God would guard her, guide her, and care much for her.
She experienced his unrecognizable providence. Nevertheless, Mary’s way remained the way of striving and faithful patience so that the God’s strength might be made perfect in our weakness.
PRAYER: Our Lord, the Highest, I am fool. I do not realize your ways of ruling the world as you see them. Please forgive me my short prudence and illuminate me with your Holy Spirit of humility so that I may walk according to your love and truth, and avoid your wrath, holding fast your directions, and obeying your words every day.
QUESTION 18: What does God do in his management of the world?
THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Luke 1:57-80)
LUKE 1:57-66
57 Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. 59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. 60 His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 So they made signs to his father -- what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. 65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.
The grace of God develops gradually in the life of the elect, and nobody can stop it. John, who was filled with the Spirit, was born of a barren mother. In this manner the forerunner of Christ who prepared the way of his Lord was found, and the greatest among those born of women appeared. The relatives and neighbors rejoiced deeply at the mercy of God who granted the mute priest an offspring to succeed him. They glorified God and rejoiced at his favor. Then the boy was duly received in his nation through the accustomed rites of circumcising and naming the newborn child. Those present marveled when the mother asked, on behalf of her mute husband, that her child be called John, instead of Zacharias, contrary their customs. Why would that woman break the rule of her people? Zacharias was a nice name meaning “God has remembered us”. The neighbors were very upset and asked the mute father to speak or to express his opinion in signs. The poor father had been mute for nine months in the school of the Holy Spirit keeping his secrets into his heart. However, from the beginning of his muteness, he wrote to his wife in brief on a writing tablet what the angel told him to do. Both Zacharias and his wife were pleased when the mother became pregnant. Thus John, before his birth, became his father’s preacher of repentance. The blessing became a reproach. Zacharias penetrated deeply into the scriptures and prayed continuously, knowing that his disease signified a punishment from God for his unbelief.
Zacharias also knew that the impediment of his tongue would be loosed when his child, given by God, is born. Yet, when the child was born and his tongue remained unloosed, he doubted: Could his faith be untrue, and his prayers unanswered? But the child was brought to express the work of grace. The father decided, according to the angel’s order, to avoid all human opinions, and to place his hope completely on grace. So he wrote on the tablet that the name of his firstborn child should be John as an emblem of the age of grace to come.
Having held fast to God’s promises and command, Zacharias passed the last exam of faith and the impediment of his tongue was loosed. His imprisoned words dashed out easily and gracefully praising the Lord from the innermost recesses of his heart. Zacharias glorified God, revealed the secrets of his child’s birth, told those present about the angel and his words, and showed them how God interfered in his life.
Thereupon, the people became afraid for they knew from their own history that God created children in strange ways before making radical changes in the course of their nation’s life, the same as he had created Isaac, Moses, and Samuel. Whereas the motto of the angel’s revelation was the coming of Christ whose way should be prepared by John, the religious and politicians became frightened at the designs of God about to happen. Some of them wished repentance, renewal, justice, and raising of the dead in their nation when Christ came. Others rejoiced in themselves and hoped they would be delivered from the yoke of occupation. They did not realize at all that Christ does not build his kingdom on weapons and armies but through the pouring of the Holy Spirit who created repentance, conversion, and renewal of hearts by his grace.
The birth of the Baptist resulted in a deep movement in the holy land before he began to speak the words of his message.
PRAYER: Lord! Teach me faith, especially when your directions are not easily understood to me. Help me to testify according to your word when people contradict me, so that I may praise you forever, for your salvation is coming, your kingdom is apparent, and your Spirit renews millions. Thank you for you have begotten us in the age of grace.
QUESTION 19: Why was it necessary for Zacharias to wait until the impediment of his tongue was loosed in order to call his son John?
LUKE 1:67-75
67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, 68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, 70 as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, 72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, 73 the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: 74 to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
The word “Holy Spirit” appears four times in Chapter 1 of Luke’s Gospel (15, 35, 41 and 67), which includes the preparatory period of Christ’s birth. The physician Luke realized clearly that the first role in Christ’s coming was that of God and not of men, for his Spirit revealed the divine designs, drove away the doubts, guided the obedient, and filled the weak with his power. Did you realize how the love of God creates knowledge, faith, and fruits in those who willingly align with the redemptive plan of God? Open yourself to the Spirit of Christ and you will experience miracles in the brokenness of your pride for the sake of glorifying your Lord in your surroundings.
Zacharias kept silent for nine months penetrating deeply into the words of the angel. Then Mary entered into the house of Zacharias. His wife cried in the joy of the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin testified to the old priest how the angel Gabriel appeared before her.
Then Zacharias realized that neither he, nor his wife, nor his child nor Mary were the center of the history of God and of all those heavenly movements, but Mary’s fetus alone was the eternal promised one. At that moment, the priest who was well experienced in the scriptures knew that Christ was coming. This knowledge was like an electric shock in his mind. He forgot himself and his house, and glorified God for the coming of his Spirit for incarnation.
Great was the song of the old priest who recovered the use of his speech, and had, throughout his life, reconciled his wicked people with the Holy One through his sacrifices. He realized that the faraway Glorified One was coming to them in Christ to visit those who were suffering, and that he truly came to them.
This divine coming to men does not signify judgment, destruction, and annihilation in his shining light, but kind grace, merciful salvation, and everlasting redemption. The doubtful old priest experienced this principle in himself, for God had forgiven him his unbelief and deep doubts, and filled him with his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he magnified the grace and drew his hearers to the power of God’s love. Dear brother, are you tongue-tied, or released and praising the grace of God?
The expression “horn of salvation” refers to the eminence or small projection called “horn” on each of the four corners of the Jewish alter. To this persons might flee for safety when in danger of avengers, and be safe. As the sacrifice was burnt the refugees stood under it considering it as a substitute for them in order that they might receive life. As such the experienced priest realized that Jesus was the horn of salvation to all sinners, and whoever took hold of him should not be destroyed in the wrath of God who takes revenge on all sins, but should be justified looking at him who was slain as a substitute for us in Golgotha. Do you hold fast the horn of salvation?
All those spiritual gifts were not immediately poured on us. They have a long story and deep reason, which the prophets had already foretold. In the Holy Spirit, they saw the coming Christ as a unique person and Savior of the world. Their testimony is true. It is gradually coming true, crystallized in us, and made perfect in the glorious coming of Christ.
The fathers of faith trusted the living God. They are now seeing the fruits of their faith, for our God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. They rejoiced in paradise on the day of Christ’s birth, magnified God with thanksgiving for the resurrection of the Crucified One, received him who ascended to heaven, and acclaimed for he sat down in the throne.
They saw that Christ was he who guaranteed the covenant with God, for no man or nation could make a covenant with the Holy God, but the blood of the Son of God cleanses us and qualifies us to come near to God and live with him in a new covenant, which includes us forever with grace and innocence.
God’s oath before Abraham, the faithful Bedouin, who in his obedience to God was prepared to sacrifice his firstborn child Isaac, found its accomplishment in Christ. In this preparedness he was too near to the love of God who gave his only begotten Son on the cross for us. God had sworn to the broken and obedient Abraham that Christ should come of his seed and that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed (Genesis 22:16-17).
Zacharias understood this spiritual plan in the Old Testament, for he was a conversant priest. However, he was wrong in his Jewish opinion that the coming Christ would establish the kingdom of God by force and make Jerusalem the capital center of the world. The priest Zacharias yearned for two things: First, cleansing of the sinful people. Second, the nation’s triumph over the foreign enemy.
In spite of this latter earthly yearning, he did not yearn for riches, welfare, and dignity, but for free public worship and guidance of his nation. He realized the design of the unique coming of Christ as worship for the entire nation, so that all should come near to God in repentance, cleansing, sanctification, and supplication, in the holiness of his truth and divine righteousness. Christ came to us with those two characteristics, which are beyond our human understanding. He who sets his love upon the Son of God is divinely justified, and he who abides in him is filled with the Holy Spirit with complete and everlasting holiness.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we magnify you because of the incarnate Christ who came with hope and universal salvation to men. Please redeem us from all our earthly longings and make us fast in your righteousness and holiness so that we may praise you throughout our life.
QUESTION 20: What are the origins and aims of our salvation?
LUKE 1:76-80
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, 78 through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 80 So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.
The old priest was about to forget his son in his praise to God, for the insight of the history of the love of God and its designs refreshed his spirit. Then he turned to his son John, the symbol of the Lord’s grace, and foretold his essence, job, strength, and fruits.
John was not the Son of the Highest, but his prophet, created of dust, and filled with the Holy Spirit as the other prophets before him. His distinction was that he came at a time when Jesus Christ was about to come; and therefore the Baptist became the forerunner of the Lord who prepared his way, administered baptism to him, and witnessed his glory.
Zacharias realized through the Holy Spirit in all revelations that Mary’s child was the Lord himself. The introductory of the angel and the motives of the Holy Spirit illuminated him into this testimony which was dangerous to declare among the Jews: that the Lord should visit the earth and walk among people, and that John should prepare his way. That was the great revolution in creation, for the Creator comes now to his creatures to examine, save, and finish. Are you prepared to receive him? How is your relation with God? Are you worthy of meeting him? Get ready to his presence soon.
Zacharias knew that no man was worthy of meeting God or in fact to worship to Christ in the manger, for we are all sinners. The most important thing in the Baptist’s ministry was leading people to true and faithful repentance, so that they might realize that they could only obtain salvation by remission of sins. Are your sins forgiven, dear brother? Have you become holy, pure, and acceptable? Examine yourself in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and confess your lies, thefts, laziness, and all kinds of injustice and disgrace. Your knowledge of yourself and your confession openly of your sins is the only way in which you prepare the way of God into your heart. Come and bow down before your Creator and do not cheat yourself, for you are unsuccessful. Confess your sins and ask your Lord’s forgiveness.
Then, you will know the miracle of God’s love, for the Son came from his heaven to our impure darkness, and the foretokens of his righteousness shone as the glorious sun in our dark night. Open your mind and your subconscious completely to the mercy of God apparent in Christ, so that you may wake up, get up, and praise God in the morning and in the evening.
In Christ alone, the disagreement between you and God ends in your heart, divine peace begins, and you live in complete harmony with the will of your Lord. Then, you would not run like a wild ass motivated by your careless lusts, nor would you quarrel with every man because of your excessive sensitivity, but abandon your rights, forgive your enemies openly, and bear patiently those that are difficult to bear, for Christ’s redemption gives you the ability to do that which is impossible, so that you may die to yourself and God may live in you.
John grew older in years, bodily and spiritually. He isolated himself from the superficial world, with its bitter temptations and shallowness, and prepared himself praying to God. He might have joined the Essenes in Qumran, so that he might be ready to answer the voice of the Highest when he calls him to bear witness to his people. Similarly, we wish you advancement in spirit and in body, in our God’s Sun of righteousness, so that you may become witness of Christ’s power, and guide your surroundings to the Savior of the world.
PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for you supported John as your servant, and sent him to prepare the way of your Son. Please cleanse us from our sins and renew our minds so that we may prepare his way in our surroundings and get ready to his imminent advent.
QUESTION 21: What did Zacharias tell more that the angel told him about his son?
THE BIRTH OF JESUS IN BETHLEHEM
(Luke 2:1-20)
LUKE 2:1-7
1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Every country is in need of an abundant supply of money to equip a strong army, organize state departments all around the country, and build grandiose palaces. This is why the Roman state regulated the law of census once every fourteen years, where all people of the entire Roman Empire should be registered with all their properties to enable tax collectors to control and collect the taxes. The governors registered all trees, houses, animals, and men by force and scolding. They spread their spies everywhere to arrest those who might abstain from giving exact numbers, in order to raise the taxation for the coming years taking no consideration of the harvest, death, or other considerations. Thus, grudge and curse grew increasingly in the hearts of many because of that injustice at the time of Christ’s birth. All citizens hated this census, and everyone raced to his homeland and birthplace to be registered there out of fear of severe punishment.
In compliance with the order of the Caesar, Joseph, the carpenter accompanied his fiancée Mary from Nazareth toward the south of the town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem signifies the house of bread; a proper place for him to be born in who is the Bread of life, the Bread that came down from heaven.
Joseph took the trouble of that long journey of 170 kilometers with his fiancé among the mountains, hills, and robbers who lurked to attack the travelers, rob them, and kill them. Joseph was not pleased with this journey with his fiancé who was pregnant in her last days. However, he was required by the government to take this inescapable procedure.
Here, we may find a distinguishing feature of the account of Christ’s birth: that God employed the great Caesar Augustus, who called himself the wonderful savior of the world, to move the officials of his state all around the world, in order to accomplish the promise that was summed up in the Book of Micah that the true Savior of the world should be born in Bethlehem and not in the shining Rome, or Nazareth, or the pious Jerusalem, or the holy temple, but in a despised village, in the solitude of the world. Thus God begins his great things quietly with small things. He employs kings and countries to fulfill his redemptive plan, and reaches the goal of his designs away from those that are great and important in human societies.
When Joseph arrived at his town late, all the houses and inns were overcrowded with the newcomers who came from everywhere because of the census. He could not find a place to sleep. At such hard times, none but those that are rich and notable could find a house to receive them and provide them with food. The Son of Mary was born in an awful stable. From the first day of his birth he looked like those who had no refuge. From his first day he began to face the calamities of our world. His contemptible birth indicates that God has no place in the world of man, for the dislike of the selfish drives away the love of the Eternal One to a place which is not appropriate for him, such as the stable that is filled with microbes and bad smells. However, the mother looked after beloved child and wrapped him in swaddling cloths to keep him warm. Joseph must have probably put straw and hay in the manger, and covered them two nights before the child’s birth, and thus the stable was changed into a home of love, which lighted and overcame all poorness and distress.
The arrival of the Son of God to the stable means not only comfort to men, but also hope to animals, for all creatures expected the revealing of the Son of God and the appearance of the new creation (Romans 8:19-23). The Son of God came down from the glory of his heaven immediately to include in his redemption all the creation even animals.
Thus the Son of the Highest was born, and nine months of spiritual striving around faith and trust in Mary and Joseph ended, for the impossible and wonderful thing, that is the incarnation of the Spirit of God, was beyond the understanding of the Virgin and her fiancé. Yet, both the angel and the Holy Spirit confirmed with all clarity that the fetus in Mary was truly the Son of the living God. He was not a daughter, but a firstborn son. What joy, thankfulness, and hope were sent out around the poor manger!
The fullness of time was now come, when God visited the world, reconciling it to himself. Let us not forget that God’s descending took place in a stable and not in a palace, in order that all men should realize that God comes down and does not require of us to go up. The Holy One seeks those that are sinful, going astray, unsuccessful, and repentant, not those that are content, clever, rich, proud, and pious.
How does your heart look like? Does it look like a stable full of faults and sins, having no comfort but bad smell? Have you become a poor manger prepared for Jesus? No doubt, all people are filled with mud, but when Christ enters into one’s heart, divine cleansing begins, and the Son of God puts in us love, thankfulness, and hope. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. So prepare your heart as it is so that Christ may dwell in you and sanctify you, and his presence illuminates your mind and your heart be filled with the Holy Spirit.
PRAYER: Thank you Christ, for you became a man. We ask forgiveness, for we had only a dirty stable. Please possess me and cleanse my heart so that it may become a manger for you and you may continue in me in your divinity forever.
QUESTION 22: Why was Christ born in a stable?
LUKE 2: 8-12
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Some nomads were warming themselves around the fire, which they lighted in a dark night on the hill of Bethlehem, while their sheep grazed under the open sky. The shepherds chatted and passed the time with conversation that drifted from one topic to another. They talked about their town, which became overcrowded with those people who came from everywhere to be registered with their families in the official count of population. The shepherds saw many of their friends and neighbors who came to this town with many others. Some of the shepherds began to curse the Roman occupation and wish for the coming of the Savior. Then one of them took the rebec and played expressing his longing for the forthcoming Christ.
Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared in the midst of them as a flash of lightening, making the night as bright as day. His rays pierced their hearts, and they were exceedingly afraid and frightened. Their mouths became dry, and their sins became apparent before them. They were convicted by their conscience for their thefts, lies, impurities, and all unfairness, thinking it was the Day of Judgment.
But a gentle voice went out of the fullness of the shining light saying, “Do not be afraid.” Undoubtedly, the shepherds were, as other humans, thieves in proportion to God’s holiness. However, the Most Generous Benefactor was not determined to destroy them as they thought, but to save them. The angel did not only bring them joyful news, but also furnished them with abundant matter for joy, that is the great joy of God. All true believers swim in the sea of joy for they received the good tidings of salvation from the merciful Creator. God loves, delivers, and helps us. Hence, darkness disappears and distress ends.
To evangelize is to preach the gospel of victory and to bring the good tidings of the divine peace, the performances of the power of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of Christ. Do you bring good or bad tidings? Do you cause, in the name of God, comfort, hope, and spiritual revival? Or do you break your friends with the burden of laws and ordinances, which neither they nor you can observe?
Christ was born for all of us. The eternal Holy One is no more a far revengeful Judge. He offered himself unconditionally though we are sinful. The love of God surpasses our understanding. Believe in the angel’s good tidings, for Christ was born for you as well. God himself offers himself to you.
The word “today” which the angel said to the shepherds put to them a decisive limit in the history of mankind. It means to us the coming of divinity into our life, i.e. the second birth, for when man is drawn into the sea of God’s love, a new life begins in him. Was Christ born for you today? Did you accept God’s present for the great feast? Do you still live with no aim or meaning in life? The Savior is born for you today. Believe, realize, and worship, holding fast your divine right.
The angel described to the frightened shepherds in exact terms the meaning of the Son of God’s coming to men:
- He was born in the city of David, as his successor, according to the promise in (2 Samuel 7:12-13). The child of the manger is the diving King whose kingdom is at hand.
- He who is born in a stable is the Savior of the world, and the hero who does not save us by means of politics and peace, but redeems us from the chains of sin, the power of death, the temptations of the devil, and the wrath of God in the last judgment.
- The Son of Mary is the true Christ who is anointed with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He is the incarnate Word of God, divine Announcer, and Forgiver of sins to the uttermost, who was raised from the dead after he had sacrificed himself a ransom for many. Christ is the slain Lamb of God who is worthy of all worship and praise, having reconciled us with the Father, on the cross. When will you magnify his holy names entrusting yourself to him in an eternal new commitment?
Christ, the Savior is the Lord himself who created the world. He is the Ruler who has control over the history of mankind, the One who made the covenant in the Old Testament, and is now sitting at the right hand of the Father reigning with him in the union of the Holy Spirit and blessing us with the fullness of blessings in heaven. Did you realize the meaning of Christ’s birth? The righteous Holy One is love. He loves you and intends to dwell in you to continue in you so that you may become a divine man, full of the spirit of love, and that you may embody the words said by a preacher: “If Christ was born thousand times in Bethlehem and not in you, then you would remain reprobate forever.”
PRAYER: O divine love, you became incarnate and came down to us saving and redeeming. Fill my heart with your essence so that I may live for you and you in me. I thank you with all saints for your birth and coming to us.
QUESTION 23: Why did the angel command the shepherds not to be afraid, but to rejoice?
QUESTION 24: What are the meanings of the titles of Christ in the angel’s statement?
LUKE 2:13-14
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
As the shepherds heard the titles of Christ from the angel’s mouth, they became spellbound out of astonishment. The words of the divine announcer pierced their hearts. However, in order that they should understand what God meant by his Son’s birth, the shining angel gave them a clear sign which could be touched with their hands and seen with their eyes: a newborn child wrapped in ordinary cloths and lying in a poor manger.
It was necessary for those simple shepherds to realize that the great Lord became a meek child. He did not remain a glorious Spirit, but became a body so loaded with the infirmities of our being that he needed to be wrapped like a child. He could not speak in the manger, but was committed into his maidservant’s hands. The Son of the Highest became small, poor, and lowly. This is the meaning of God’s coming down in the New Testament. This is the opposite of haughtiness. He Great One did not remain mighty and haughty, but humbled himself and became near to us. This is our God: Love embodied in flesh.
When this initial thought entered into the minds of the unwise, they sank and fell to the ground, for heavens became wide, the light shone brightly, and a multitude of angels appeared, thousands and ten thousands praising and rejoicing joyfully and gladly, for the true Savior has now entered the wicked world. Suddenly the shepherds heard a storm of praise blowing from heaven, and carrying song and chants in the lights of glory. The divine voices sang with all clarity proclaiming the glory, majesty, and splendor of our God to whom pertain the kingdom, the power, the honor, the wisdom, the worship, and thankfulness. He has everything, and everything refers to him. The suns are his footstool, and the saints sing before him.
The sight of the glory of the Holy One did not burn those spellbound shepherds, but opened to them certain hope and promise of all God’s revelations: peace on earth as in heaven. The eternal divine peace with no disagreement, dislike, or war.
God sent his Christ to represent peace on our tired, sick earth. Today, the Holy Spirit accomplishes this true peace in Jesus’ followers. Did you know that the peace of the Holy One began in the world in those who opened themselves to his pleasure? Yet, whoever closes himself against the message of the manger and the cross, becomes disturbed and goes astray, for there is no peace for the unbelievers. Wherever the remission of sins dwells and the power of the Holy Spirit works, there begins Christ’s peace on earth.
The design of God’s grace is fulfilled in all those whose hearts became a cradle for Jesus and who answered the message of salvation thankfully and prayerfully. Did you realize the pleasure of God offered to all men? Did you follow the Prince of Peace and become a peacemaker? The pleasure of the Holy One pours out on you and dwells in you. You may ask how. Well! The Babe of the manger is the proof. God is with you. He wants to dwell in you so that eternal peace may begin in your life.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, We worship you because your glory is greater than the sun, which you created with your word. Please raise my hands toward the rays of your love so that I may be filled with your peace and truth, for your pleasure is coming to me, and is determined to dwell in many.
QUESTION 25: How did the child of the manger proclaim God’s glory?
LUKE 2:15-20
15 So it was, when the angels had
gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let
us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord
has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely
known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those
who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19
But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
When the waves of the dark night crashed and rippled around the nomads, darkness did not enter their hearts, for the word of God let the light of hope go into them. They saw the glories of heaven and heard the good tidings of salvation from the angels’ mouths.
The shepherds jumped up and ran quickly. They probably stumbled in the dark, but they continued their way toward Bethlehem, investigating and searching until they found Jesus. Then they saw nothing but a lowly manger, ordinary wrappings, a babe in a stable with animals, a simple woman, and a poor man. They saw no angels, no glory, and no indication of well being or divinity. However, they caught the same smell of sheep, which was familiar to them.
Then they fell on their knees in submission, knowing that God has come to the world, and particularly to them, unwise, despised shepherds. They were of the first seers of the babe who changed the world. Yet, they were not slow in believing the words of the angel, but saw the King in the manger and recognized him in spite of the poor condition.
Dear brother, did you hear the Lord’s call? Did you realize it completely? Take firm hold of it and complete it. Then you will meet your Lord personally, and find that he is gentle and lowly in heart. He will make you lowly and you will find rest for your soul.
When the shepherds fell on their knees before their Lord in faithful thankfulness, they testified with great joy what they saw in the fields, and all those who heard them were amazed, especially Mary and Joseph who, once again received, through this news, a divine confirmation of their obedience of faith. Mary said nothing, but heard, believed, and compared the newly announced names of her Son with those he already had. She kept those treasures of the Holy Spirit in her heart, and probably told Luke personally of these incidents, which he exclusively reported, and consequently became the expressive spokesman and trumpeter of Mary’s reports.
When the shepherds left the stable, they filled the town with their wonderful news. The people were greatly astonished, and considered the story as fable fabricated by the shepherds. None of the people paid attention to the whole story. They had neither interest nor time to visit the stable because of their businesses and greed to earn money from the travelers who filled all the houses. Therefore, the Bethlehemites did not run to the manger, nor did they worship to the King who was in the midst of them. None of them came to see Christ, neither the mayor, nor the traders, nor the prominent, nor the teachers, nor the boys, nor the mothers. None of them looked for Jesus, because of their engagement in earning money. They served mammon, and consequently remained wandering about in their darkness.
The shepherds turned their backs to the shallow-minded people, and went away glorifying and praising God, back to their place on the hill. They moved back to their flocks, praising God and singing hymns to him. They heard his word and believed it. They saw the Promised One, honored him and bore witness to him. Thus they magnified God and continued in grace.
Dear reader, what is your attitude? Whom do you look like in this story? Are you still in the night of sins, as the shepherds were before the angel appeared to them? Are you still superficial as the Bethlehemites were upon hearing the good tidings of salvation? Did you hear the living word of your Lord, believe it, run to the center of the world, and find Christ living? Then he will fill you with his peace, and send you to the world so that you may become a witness to his humility. Do you testify the incarnate love of God among people? Do you magnify the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Did you become a shepherd testifying the riches of the grace of God? Magnify your heavenly Father by your faith and faithfulness, for there is born to you this day the Savior who is Christ the Lord. Do you believe in him with commitment, thankfully and cheerfully?
PRAYER: We shout with joy and applaud you, our King who is born in a stable. We thank you for reaching our lowliness. Please push us with your Holy Spirit to you and fill us with the thankfulness of your joy, so that we may communicate the current of your power to others, and not love money, but adhere to you faithfully and prayerfully.
QUESTION 26: What is the intimation of the shepherds’ moving to the manger and proceeding from it to the world?
JESUS CIRCUMCISED
AND PRESENTED TO GOD IN THE TEMPLE
(Luke 2:21-38)
LUKE 2:21-24
21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. 22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
The Son of God is delivered from the law, for in his unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit he put all the laws and their judgments from eternity, to lead the sinners into repentance and faith through the sacrifice. Christ is the Lawmaker and the Lord of the Sabbath. He has the right to change and to fulfill the judgments. But as the Son of Man and the Deputy of mankind, he was subject to the ordinances of the law, bore our sins, and suffered from the wrath of God, as Paul wrote in (Galatians 4:4-5) about his birth.
In the Old Testament, circumcision means three things:
- Man’s confession of his corruption as inherent in him from birth, for every man is a sinner from childhood and deserves immediate death and destruction.
- He who becomes circumcised is admitted into covenant with God, and is also admitted into the people of grace, for the pure sacrifice atoned for his sin (Romans 3:25).
- Voluntary separation from self-will, and from living apart from God, by committing himself to the Lord’s service as a member in the holy nation.
If we apply these three principles to Jesus, we will see that in performing this rite he accepted to die in the wrath of God for our sins. As our representative he opened the door of entering into covenant with God, for he who was chosen from the beginning continued in his covenant with his Father, and did not need a new acceptance. Furthermore, in his circumcision he proved giving up his self-will voluntarily to his Father’s praise service in his chosen ones who are the new family of God (John 1:12; 1 Peter 1:8-22).
Study these lawful secrets, and you will find their summary in the name of Jesus, which he was given during this rite. His name means that God helps the world only through reconciliation in Christ, which began on the day of circumcision. People only called him “Jesus” after the lamb of redemption was put on him. Then the name of the Holy One appeared.
Joseph had his adopted Son Jesus circumcised and given his name eight days after his birth in Bethlehem.
However, Mary, his mother had to perform the rite of purification according to the Old Testament. Forty days after their isolation, the holy family traveled to Jerusalem, where Mary brought two pigeons for herself: one as a burnt offering, and the other as a sin offering (Leviticus 12:8). The sin offering symbolizes that all people are born in sins and need God’s forgiveness. By Mary’s making this offering she showed her poverty, for the rich were required to offer a lamb for a burnt offering, whereas the poor were permitted to slay two pigeons; and Mary offered this sacrifice voluntarily, in proportion to the financial ability of the family. Though the Savior was pure from any moral defilement in his conception and birth, Mary knew her situation as a human being, and brought the sin offering for herself.
In these words, we also read about fulfillment of a third ordinance of the law, that is redeeming Jesus from the office of priesthood, for every first-born male child was regarded as “holy” to the Lord, and was dedicated to minister to him in the temple as long as he lived. However, all the firstborn were delivered from this service through the appointment of the tribe of Levi in the place of the eldest sons, to serve in the sanctuary (Numbers 3:13,40). In remembrance of this truth, that every firstborn is automatically made holy to God, a firstborn male child was to be presented in front of the face of God, and his parents had to pay the redemption-money for him, five shekels, equivalent to a carpenter’s wages for forty days (Numbers 3:47).
In spite of Jesus’ redemption from priesthood ministry, he remained the High Priest to all people, and had always consecrated himself to God, for all the provisions of the law were not only fulfilled in him, but he himself fulfilled them through his love, truth, and sacrifice more than all people and deeper than the letters of the law could speak.
PRAYER: Our Lord Jesus, we thank you because you fulfilled the law by your circumcision and redemption in the temple, and delivered us from the judgments of the Old Testament to so that we may serve God’s love under the sprinkling of your holy blood.
QUESTION 27: How did Jesus’ parents fulfill the law of the Old Testament?
LUKE 2:25-35
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; 30 for my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” 33 And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against 35 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
The Holy Spirit promises his prophets as he wishes. In Jerusalem, there was an aged man called Simeon who regularly attended the service of the synagogue, and was justified through his faith in daily offerings. He walked humbly in the ways of the Lord, and because of his many prayers the Lord gave him insight so that he might penetrate deeply into the Old Testament to realize beforehand the essence of Christ, and to look forward to the Coming One, for all those who penetrate deeply into Christ, the Savior yearn for his coming.
The holy aged man had a special revelation from God that he would not die before he had seen Christ. The divine Spirit led him into the temple when Joseph and Mary came in with the child to present him to the Lord. Neither their clothes were luxurious, nor the child appeared as a hero. Yet, when Simeon came near to the holy family, the Holy Spirit shook him and enlightened his eyes until he saw, among the crowded people, the Unique One who was, simultaneously, a god and man. The aged man came, in faith and in cheer at the power of God, to Jesus’ parents, took the child up out of the arms of his astonished mother, bowed down with submission to him, and praised God in words including the innermost depths of the New Testament. Figuratively, all the fathers of faith bowed down in the person of old Simeon worshipping to the divine child and giving much praise to God. This is a symbolic indication that all the New Testament is subject to the Founder of the New Testament.
The word “now”, to all those who were waiting, meant the arrival of God, and the end of their expectation. God has communicated with men. This is the aged man’s statement that he had achieved his end, and that he was prepared to die joyfully, for he feasted his eyes on the Savior. He did not call him a Savior, but immediately saw complete salvation flowing in him. He saw all the powers and blesses pouring out of him, and confessed the peace of God on all the creation. Simeon did not only seek his own peace, but yearned for the salvation of the whole world. He was a true pious who contained, in the love of God, all those who were going astray.
This aged Simeon was, according to the confirmations of the New Testament, the first Jew who, through his deep penetration into the Old Testament, realized, more than all other scribes and Pharisees, that Christ was not only Savior of his own people, but also the Savior of all the nations (Isaiah 52:10). The Jewish commentators passed over this verse and did not clarify its meaning. They also neglected the truth that Jesus would open the eyes and the hearts of all the nations to cure them with his salvation. However, the Holy Spirit revealed in the word of God’s spiritual two-edged sword that Christ is the Savior of the world, as our comfort to, truth, and eternal power.
Yet, the blessing Spirit did not refuse the people of the Old Testament, but testified to them that they had not value except in Christ, for all men are sinners, but the Savior could bring back the glory of God in those who went astray, for the Son is the incarnate glory of God. The Jews without Christ are void of God’s glory and blessings, and are falling in condemnation and wrath.
Jesus’ parents did not understand those strong words, and were amazed. However, Mary got used to keep the prophecies of the Holy Spirit, and was prepared to accept bitterness in the interest of the Savior’s coming. The prophet Simeon blessed Jesus’ parents so that they might realize and bear the revelations of the Holy Spirit. He went on saying in discernment:
“Do not think that God’s Christ comes with soft, merry, and cheerful love; for his coming means spiritual war, radical separation, and wrestling between heaven and hell. Christ is like a rock in the wide river of nations, which divides them into two parties: First, those who refuse the Son of God and fall into destruction and hell. Second, those who see the Redeemer, become saved by him, and rise from the dead spiritually now and physically thereafter. This principle was realized at the time of Christ in his people and is still being realized in all the nations. Nobody can ignore Christ. You can either refuse him and fall into hell, or love him and become a member of his spiritual body and then go to heaven. What is your attitude toward Christ? Do you submit to him, or do you disobey his love?
Mary had to bear the waves of hatred poured out on her Son. She did not die with a sword that pierced her body, but the sufferings of her Son on the cross broke her last hope and her self-reliance. She asked herself if the prophecies of the angels, the words of Elizabeth, the statement of the shepherds, and Simeon’s discernment were wrong! She also wondered what the divinity of her Son meant. But he who was raised from the dead revealed to her that he had to suffer as a ransom for us, and that all believers were crucified with him in order that they should not be proud of their own dignity, but live out of the flow of the Savior’s salvation. Mary’s spiritual death was made in the cross, and her renewal in the resurrection of the Victor. She believed in the truth. Yet, the cross does not mean uncovering fearful thoughts only in Mary, but also in us all. Judas, Peter, Caiaphas, Pilate, and all the people became unveiled during Jesus’ trial. In front of his holiness our hearts are made manifest, and we can only confess that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
PRAYER: Holy God, we worship you because you called us in your Son, saved, and sanctified us. We ask you to lighten the minds of many, so that they may come into your salvation and not be perished. Overcome all our pride, selfishness, evil thought, and evil intent; so that we may live a holy life before you without disobedience.
QUESTION 28: What did the Holy Spirit reveal, through the aged Simeon, about Jesus, the Savior?
LUKE 2:36-38
36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
The Holy Spirit does not dwell only in men, but also in women. Not only in virgins, but also in those that are married and widowed. A widow came from the east north. She realized, after her peaceful marital life, that life disappears and vanishes away as a cloud. Only with God we find our rest and warm pleasure.
This widow remained night and day near the house of God, praying for the coming of Christ, and asking for preparedness of his people to receive him. Yet, when this woman found that her prayers did not change much in the nation, she fasted so that the hungry nerves of her belly might represent continuous crying to the answering, living God. Then the Holy Spirit led this maidservant of the Lord to Jesus, and she realized in the Child, the incarnate Lord and his glory. The words in which she praised God were not reported to us as those of Zacharias and Simeon. Yet, we find the pleasant report that she was not satisfied with songs and praises, but she communicated the knowledge of God in Christ to all those who waited for him. Imagine this strange thing: that the Holy Spirit made out of an aged widow of 84 years an effectual preacher. This blessed Spirit had also employed the despised shepherds as informers of the diving joy. Where are your mouth, feet, and heart in order to glorify God before all those who seek him?
The Son of God came into the temple, but the scribes, leaders, and priests did not notice him at all, for the gift of prophecy was put out in them. However God honored the aged elders who were waiting for the Lord’s coming through seeing his humble Son. The Holy Spirit led them into faith and praise.
Jesus’ Childhood
(Luke 2:39-52)
LUKE 2:39-40
39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
After Mary and Joseph fulfilled the judgments of the law, they went back to Nazareth with the child Jesus. They had been away from their city for about two months. What a wonderful thing that had happened during that short time: the heavens parted, and the Son of God was born. The mother returned with her babe, and she kept him with all her care, love, and prayers.
We know but a little about Jesus’ childhood and youth. Certainly, he did not form creatures out of clay and blow into them in order that they might live. Nor did he bring down foods from heaven. However, he was born in a wonderful way, but grew up in an ordinary human way. God’s Spirit and angels kept him in order that the spiritual characteristics might overcome the inherited physical effects, so that he might not be affected by any defect because of the devil’s plots. Therefore, he remained healthy in body, soul, and spirit; and appeared as all the children around him, of moderate stature, with black hair, dark eyes, smooth, thin body, and muscles, which were not weak. The distinguishing feature in his infancy was his rich wisdom. He appeared full of the incarnate divine wisdom, and his judgment was penetrating.
All the people saw his purity, truthfulness, love and power; and the grace of the Lord shadowed him.
His heavenly Father guarded him as the apple of his eye, for this Son of Man was the only Son of God, God from God, Light from light, True God from the True God, begotten, not created, in one essence with the Father. He had no golden halo around his head, nor did he become haughty. He trained himself in gentleness and was lowly in heart.
PRAYER: Our Holy Father, we worship you because your pure Spirit fills all those who are prepared for you so that he may lead them to Jesus whom you filled with your wisdom and shadowed with grace. Please let every man who is prepared to meet you be filled with the virtues of your Holy Spirit.
QUESTION 29: What are the characters and qualities of the boy Jesus? How can you achieve and realize them in yourself?
LUKE 2:41-52
41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; 44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. 45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought you anxiously.” 49 And He said to them, “Why did you ask Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” 50 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. 51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
According to the law of the Old Testament, all males at the age of twelve, were required to visit the Holy Land three times a year, at the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:23). But because of the long journey, many were not able to travel but once a year. The Passover became the greatest of the three feasts to the entire nation.
When Jesus was twelve years old, he was required to go for the first time to Jerusalem, the center of the world, and the dwelling place of the one God who has not partner, to whom the boy Jesus longed for God was the aim of his heart and the end of his hopes.
What did he see in Jerusalem? Thousands of slain lambs, for all the pilgrims went to Jerusalem to remember God’s wrath that passed by them. The thought of “the Lamb of God” had a deep impression in the boy’s mind. He understood the principle that no one could come near to God without blood. Sacrifice became the motto of his life, for he was designated as the Lamb of God who would open for us the door to the Father.
Jesus lived a sinless life, and was holy at all times. He was drawn with all his heart to God, his origin, and forgot his father and mother by adoption, and all the world and nature. He took up knowledge from the teachers of righteousness who interpreted the Torah and the Prophets to pilgrims in the porches of the temple. Those teachers were also prepared to answer the boys who asked important questions.
Jesus asked the priests with all attention, and answered their questions in way, which drew their attention to him. So the teachers raced to converse with him, and the boy became the center of attraction in the temple, without haughtiness, for the adults felt automatically that the wisdom of God spoke through that genius and exceptional boy. Some of them were impressed by his character. They took him home with them, gave him food to eat, and completed the conversation with him until the nightfall, for the boy’s soul was deeply penetrated into the word of God.
At that time, his parents thought that he was traveling together with his friends in the caravan to Nazareth, alongside of the Jordan. They became obviously worried and afraid when they did not find him with their kindred and acquaintance, and knew that he did not tell his uncles and aunts where he was. Then his parents turned back again and went up to Jerusalem seeking him, and when they did not find him with their relatives, they went toward the temple where they found him surrounded with the scribes and scholars. They were afraid for him for they were not much educated. They were simple villagers who lived in a high mountainous region, and were not accustomed to the noise of capital cities.
Joseph said nothing so that he might not explode with anger, or for he was not the strong person in the family. Mary did not want to oppose the boy’s enthusiasm for the word of God, or to disparage blaming him for his disobedience. She clarified her trouble and told him how ill his father Joseph took it: how he became extremely afraid with her for the boy might have been stolen, lost in the desert, or ravened by beasts. Then the Holy Spirit, through Jesus, contested the unbelief of his parents and asked them, “Why are you searching for me? Did you not know that I am under my Father’s care and protection? I have come to his house to worship to him, and he will not leave me. He is my protection, my fortress, and my rock.
Furthermore, Jesus was certain, through his study of the Torah, that the great, creating, and All-Ruling God was not far from him or strange to him, but was his true and essential Father. No man in the Old Testament dared to call God his own Father except Jesus, for this statement was only privileged to the long-awaited Christ (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 2:7; 89:27). The people considered themselves as the servant of God, and the called the Eternal One their Father. But this means a true birth of God only figuratively.
When he was twelve years old, Jesus spoke the supreme revelation of the New Testament that God is not fearful and distant, but he is his Father. In that age, he knew clearly the mystery of the Holy Trinity, his own sonship, and God’s adoption. With this word, he overcame the Old Testament and all religions in principle, and opened for us the way to God, that we may, after reconciliation, call God our Father in heaven. Flesh and blood did not reveal this truth to him. But his near Father did.
God, praise be to him, gave him not only the knowledge of his fatherhood, but also the power to abide in him. Jesus knew that he should continue constantly in his Father’s business. His love, joy, peace, kindness, truth, and power were all the spiritual expanses in which Jesus lived. God’s power and complete divinity appeared in the boy when he was twelve years old. Did you realize the motto of your life? Did you remain in your past about your Father’s business, or did you not realize yet your Father? Penetrate deeply into the word of Jesus so that you may live forever.
Mary said to Jesus that Joseph was his father, and the boy answered her rightfully that his only Father was God. It was not the voice of the twelve years old young man that spoke those words, but the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him. This same Spirit directed the newborn child of God to be immediately dutiful and obedient to his father by adoption, and go with him not resentfully, but humbly, obediently, and agreeably. They went down together to the deep Jordan Valley as a symbol of his coming down from his communion with God to the level of human life in family and village, also to be engaged in the trade he learnt, and to work with his father at the trade of a carpenter.
From that time and until the age of thirty, Jesus retired into obscurity, growing up in the power of God, his Father, without leaving his wide expanses. And when Joseph, his father by adoption died, he was still in obscurity, taking upon himself the duty of providing the family, working with his hands and trusting his Father’s providence, as we read in (Matthew 6:19-34). Jesus did not become an intellectual, or philosopher, but a continuing worker in the power of the Holy Spirit, beloved by all men. Is this the second motto for your life: not to become haughty and wish for climbing the stairs of life, but to remain humble and industrious in the profession which God put you in?
PRAYER: Holy God, you are the mighty, righteous, Eternal One. We are unprofitable, but in Christ Jesus you became our true Father. Please forgive us our sins, and fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we may hallow your Fatherly name, by word and deed, in our prayers and faith.
QUESTION 30: Why did Jesus say, “I must be about my Father’s business”? What does this mean?
QUIZ
How Christ Was Born
Dear reader,
If you studied carefully the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel, you would be able to answer easily 24 questions out of the 30 questions stated hereunder. If you mail us correct answers to these questions we will send you the next part of this series on the gospel of Luke:
1. What are the different characteristics of the four gospels?
2. What do you know about the life of the evangelist Luke?
3. How did Luke write his gospel?
4. Who was the receiver of Luke’s gospel?
5. How was Luke’s gospel divided?
6. What were the principles adopted by Luke in writing his gospel? (1:1-4)
7. How did Luke arrange his gospel in relation to the Old Testament? (1:5-7)
8. How did the angel appear to Zacharias? (1:8-16)
9. What are the promises of the Old Testament for John the Baptist? (1:8-17)
10. What are the principles of his service?
11. How did God nourish the priest in full trust? (1:18-25)
12. What is the meaning of the angel’s salutation to Mary? (1:26-33)
13. What is the difference between Jesus and John? (1:26-33)
14. How did the Virgin become pregnant with Christ? (1:34-38)
15. Why did Elizabeth beatify Mary? (1:39-45)
16. How do we know that Mary was humble? (1:46-50)
17. What names and attributes of God did the Virgin make apparent in her song? (1:46-55)
18. What does God do in his management of the world? (1:51-56)
19. Why was it necessary for Zacharias to wait until the impediment of his tongue was loosed in order to call his son John? (1:57-66)
20. What are the origins and aims of our salvation?
21. What did Zacharias tell more that the angel told him about his son?
22. Why was Christ born in a stable?
23. Why did the angel command the shepherds not to be afraid, but to rejoice?
24. What are the meanings of the titles of Christ in the angel’s statement?
25. How did the child of the manger proclaim God’s glory?
26. What is the intimation of the shepherds’ moving to the manger and proceeding from it to the world?
27. How did Jesus’ parents fulfill the law of the Old Testament?
28. What did the Holy Spirit reveal, through the aged Simeon, about Jesus, the Savior?
29. What are the characters and qualities of the boy Jesus? How can you achieve and realize them in yourself?
30. Why did Jesus say, “I must be about my Father’s business”? What does this mean?
Send us your name and address clearly written along with your reply and write to the following address:
WATERS-OF-LIFE • P.O. BOX 15755
PITTSBURGH, PA 15244
USA
PART II
THE PREPARATION FOR
THE WORK OF CHRIST IN PUBLIC
(Luke 3:1 - 4:13)
DEMONSTRATING AND PREACHING REPENTANCE
THE ACTS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
(Luke 3:1-20)
LUKE 3:1-5
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch
of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of
Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the
son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the
words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the
crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; 6 and all
flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
The wheel of history turns toward its end. At that time, Augustus Caesar had died in AD 14 after he reigned 45 years over the Mediterranean, calling himself the savior of the world (B.C. 31 to AD 14). Tiberius Caesar succeeded him in Rome, and was filled with spite, hatred, and distrust toward all the people. He reigned from AD 14 to AD 37 and during his dominion all the events reported in the gospel took place.
The physician Luke particularly focused on the year AD 28/29, for in that year John the Baptist, Christ’s forerunner went out of his ascetic isolation in the wilderness. The then political and religious situations were so bad, for Satan reigned over the whole country.
At that time, the bloody Herod, killer of the children of Bethlehem had died. Antipas and Philips, sons of Herod had divided with Lysanias the kingdom of Herod who was an agent to Rome. They were no less proud, haughty, and adulterous in their grandiose palaces, which were full of adultery, than their father was.
During the disorder that took place after Herod’s death, Rome abolished the liberty of Judea, and appointed governors with unrestricted authority. The second governor over Judea was Pontius Pilate, a violent, cold, conscienceless ruler who once mixed his enemies’ blood with that of the sacrifices offered in the temple, to abuse the rites, laws, and faith of the people.
The governor who preceded him had deposed Annas, the high priest in AD 15 and appointed in his place some of his relation whom he also deposed thereafter, until he found in Caiaphas, the attorney general, his obedient person who would do his will. Caiaphas, on his part, delivered legal opinions in agreement with Pilate’s policy toward the Jewish law and customs. The Jewish law had appointed that there should be but one high priest at a time, but here were two, to serve some ill turn or other.
Consequently, the situations became worse, and the hearts of people became like a burnt desert having no water. Yet, particularly, in the midst of public corruption, God began to save mankind, not in the temple, but in the wilderness. There the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, and not vice versa, for man in unable to establish salvation through his own prayers and acts, but God pierces the wall of our sins with his word, and lightens our stupid minds with his gospel. This is the consolation in the beginning of the year and at all times. The word of God comes to you and fills you, so that you may become like a holy carriage loaded with the word of your Lord and running toward the world causing a new age to shine.
John, the greatest of all prophets, preached those who were thirst for righteousness with a small word of six letters: “repent” (turn back to your Lord. Turn away from your worldly designs and seek God. Change your mind and realize the Holy One so that you may know your terrible sins. He, who lives without his Lord, remains superficial and aimless, in spite of his high diplomas and good manners. Penetrate deeply into the gospel, and confess all your sins, asking God’s forgiveness, so that the power of Lord may dwell in you.
John came, in the name of God, with baptism, in token of repentance, for drowning in the Jordan symbolized the drowning and burial of the thief, whereas his coming out of water signified consecration of the purified one to the holy service of God. Did you realize the meaning of your baptism? Did you die to yourself and resurrect in the Spirit of your Lord?
How astonishing! The gospel does not only command you to repent and to deny yourself, but guides you, first of all, to the ancient prophecy in (Isaiah 3:4-5) which Luke writes in the Septuagint. The motive in this prophecy was to reveal the coming of the Lord. To John, the preaching of repentance, baptism, and remission of sin was preparation of the way of the Lord, for the Holy One visited mankind in his Son. Are you ready to meet your Lord, with your heart prepared to receive him?
You cannot come to your Lord while you are unclean. The Holy Spirit leads you to straighten your crooked ways, break the mountain of your haughtiness, and fill the valleys of your abominations and the trenches of your error with the grace of God. However, if you try to reform yourself, you will experience, in fact, that you are unable to prepare the way of the Lord. So, we advise you to commit your sinful soul in Christ’s hands from the first day of this year, so that he may give you the power of the Holy Spirit who practices in you useful repentance, overcomes your corrupt sins, and fills you with God’s salvation. Repent, dear brother, for your Lord is coming to you.
PRAYER: O Holy One, I do not deserve to hear your voice. Cleanse my hearing, and sanctify my heart, so that I may understand your saying, and separate my self from the corrupt world to prepare myself for your service. Make your way up into my heart, and fill my mind with your gospel so that I may become filled with the gospel of your salvation, calling the world to you.
QUESTION 31: When did John the Baptist begin his ministry, and what is the meaning of his baptism?
LUKE 3:7-14
7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” 12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” 14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Whoever belongs to a noble family, is proud of his origin. The members of the Old Testament called themselves the Children of Abraham, thinking that they could be justified by his blessings, and strengthened by his spirit. However, John called those who raced to him from everywhere the “brood of vipers”, meaning the devil who poured of his spirit out on humans and misled them into doubting the love of God, and separation from him in obstinate haughtiness, so that men, poisoned with the spirit of hypocrisy and self-conceit, would not return to their source. What are you, my dear brother? Are you a repenting sinner, or an evil hypocrite? Which spirit reigns in you: pride, or humility?
Woe to the faiths, religions, and churches, which teach their followers that fanaticism, prayers, fasting, and own works justify those who are pious. Whoever builds himself on his own worthiness falls into the last judgment, for we are all idle, inactive, and even criminal in the rays of love of the Holy One. The Day of Judgment is certainly coming, when the Holy Lord uncovers all your faults. The hour of his wrath is at hand, as all faithful prophets testified (Malachi 4:1-5). Then you will stand shamefully without an excuse, for your heart is a nest of vipers, full of evil thoughts and bad recollections.
Do not think that the imaginations of your repentance, or the sorrows of your soul satisfy God, for the eternal Judge does not only require your feeling, wishes, and prayers; but a complete change which produces good works. God, in compassion to you, is prepared to change your entire life, knowing that you are unable to reform yourself. Then, do not think indifferently that the Lord will neglect your faults, for no prophet, even Abraham himself, will save you.
John said addressing the people of the covenant, “God has no need of you, or of your services, for he can raise to himself many children out of the many stones in this wilderness. If you do not repent, and turn to him completely penitent you will be destroyed. Whoever hardens his heart toward the call of God, makes his heart petrified; but he who listens to the word of the Creator receives a new heart and a divine power. Thank God who changes many, and renews millions all around the world.
Every nation that does not turn to God is like a barren tree whose owner is standing beside it with his ax in his raised hand to cut the idle tree. What good fruits does God find in you and your nation? Will the cutting ax fall on you, or it will be interrupted because the Highest sees your preparedness to repentance and knows your longing for purity and truth?
Many of John’s hearers truly repented, confessed their sins openly, and practiced the baptism of forgiveness as a token of God’s condemnation on them. The Baptist said to those brokenhearted, “Love is fulfillment of the law. If you love God, distribute your clothes, give the poor, share your bread and money with them, prepare work for them, and give the poor in your class auxiliary lessons freely. If you had to ask for money in the name of your company, or to sell goods and trade, do not ask for more than what is required indeed. Content yourself with the minimum in order that you should not fall into the pride of riches. The Baptist told the soldiers who defend their country not to be violent or false witnesses, but to live in contentment without pomp. The forerunner did not call them to leave their job in order to serve Christ in the unsociableness of wilderness, but sent them to their different jobs and commanded them to practice love, truthfulness, and humility so that they may prepare the way of the Lord in their practical life.
PRAYER: Lord, you know if I were the child of your Spirit, or the child of the wicked viper. Please forgive me all my haughtiness, and cure me of self-conceit and hypocrisy. I confess all my sins before you, and I ask you to overcome my abstinence and lusts, so that I may live contentedly, with lowliness and holiness in the power of your word.
QUESTION 32: Why did John call men, “the children of the devil”? What are the true fruits that are worthy of repentance?
LUKE 3:15-20
15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
John the Baptist had a great influence on his hearers, for he preached powerfully as someone who had authority from God, feared nobody, criticized the acts of Herod Antipas, and rebuked him for living in incest with his brother’s wife, showing a bad example to his people.
The people wondered at his courage, and thought he was the Christ to come. However John continued in his faithfulness, and disowned all pretensions to the honor of being himself the Christ, though all the people expected the coming of the promised One who would make radical reforms to the corrupt state of the Jews.
The Baptist revealed to the people his essence and the nature of his message that is to prepare the way of Christ through self-denial in genuine repentance. In comparison between John and Christ, he said he was not worthy to untie the thongs of Christ’s sandals. John consigned his followers, and turned them over from himself to Jesus Christ, setting a great example in humility to all ministers of the Lord.
Then he clarified to the public that the baptism with water is not sufficient for salvation, for it is only an indication of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, which Christ administers in his divine power. Did the Holy Spirit dwell in you through your faith in the Savior? Do you know the only power that renews hearts and minds? Do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit, for he is not a consuming fire, but a paradise, which refines your heart and comforts your mind. This gentle Spirit is God himself. The Father and the Son want to live in you and in every believer. Christ came to reconcile us with his Father, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in those justified and confirm them in communion with God forever. Then the believer bears fruits worthy of repentance, for we cannot fulfill the law unless we are born of God, and his love is continued in us through the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to bear many good fruits and your fruits remain.
John saw Christ as a harvester in the threshing floor of the world, who, in the storm of God’s judgment, separates the weighty wheat from the flying chaff. As such Christ, at the end of time, will separate the believers who work in love from those that are not filled with the Holy Spirit, but are living carelessly, for the power of the Spirit of Christ alone makes us righteous and accepted. Without this power we are evil and dust, and must be burnt in the fire of God’s condemnation. So open yourself today to the Spirit of the Lord, so that he may purify you in the fire of his divine love and you may humble yourself as John did, glorify the power of Christ, bow down before him, and worship him thankfully and repentantly.
Satan and his followers hated John because of his frank testimony, powerful fruits, and straight behavior. When John completed his testimony, God allowed that his messenger be put in the prison of Herod, the adulterer, in order to examine the prophet’s faith, and show his continuing faithfulness even to death. Thus John became, even in his sufferings, a forerunner and symbol of the Christ to come.
PRAYER: O Lord, you are the Spirit. You came to our world to baptize us with your Holy Spirit. Force all evil spirits out of our souls, and purify us completely, so that we may be filled with your love and that we may appear on the Day of Judgment with the fruits of your power which become clear today in humility, faith, and hope, especially in critical days.
QUESTION 33: What is baptism with the Holy Spirit?
CHRIST'S BAPTISM, CONSECRATION AS CHRIST,
AND GENEALOGY
(Luke 3:21-38)
LUKE 3:21-22
21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
The Judge of all, the Lord of the worlds of whom John the Baptist prophesied, is Jesus of Nazareth who mixed with the multitudes of people who crowded at the banks of the Jordan without being noticed by anyone. The astonishing thing is that the Holy One, though sinless himself, classed himself with the sinners, and submitted to the baptism of John, as if he needed to be purified from sins. However, Christ, the pure Holy One lived constantly a sinless life, continued in love and patience, and was baptized for us in the Jordan, for he bore our sins. From the beginning of his appearance, he came out as the Lamb of God; and in his baptism, he clarified to us beforehand what he was determined to finish on the cross.
He who was born of the Holy Spirit did not go out of his isolation through an exciting miracle, or a loud-voiced speech, but in the symbol of the baptism of redemption to all men, confirming the meaning of his mission and his harmony with God’s design. After his baptism, he spoke with his Father about this redemptive design, praying and making himself of no reputation. Then the closed heavens parted, and the Holy Spirit came down, not as a destroying thunderbolt over the corrupt mankind, but in the form of a dove (a symbol of innocence and harmlessness, a messenger of peace), as an indication of reconciliation with God. Christ was not in need of baptism with the Holy Spirit, for he himself is the Spirit of God made incarnate. However his Father spread through him the fullness of his Spirit, to confirm and support him for his redemptive mission, and to reveal his harmonization with the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Holy Trinity. God completely seeks our salvation. Did you thank him for this unequalled revelation?
God revealed his glory not only to the eyes of Jesus and the Baptist, but also to their ears, for the word of God contains all his authority expressed in meanings made understandable to our minds. The Father testified his own Fatherhood, Jesus’ sonship, and their complete unity in joyful love. Therefore the little words revealed after Christ’s baptism show us the glory of the essence of the Holy Trinity more than all human philosophies do. There is no enmity, disturbance, or sorrow between the Father and the Son, for Christ has always done his Father’s will. Our God is the God of peace, of love, and of pleasure.
These principles reveal to us the aim of Christ’s redemption, for he wishes to make all the believers partners in the characteristics of his essence, so that God may become our Father in heaven, and we become filled with his Holy Spirit, living in harmony with his will for the Father’s pleasure, and continuing in his love and peace. Which spirit works in you? Were you baptized with the Holy Spirit indeed? Did you fulfill his design in his mighty power? Then God says to you, “You are my beloved son; in you I am well pleased.”
PRAYER: Our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, hallowed be your name through our baptism with your love, and our fullness and continuance in your pleasure. Please forgive us our selfishness and independence from you. Urge us to deny ourselves, and put ourselves at reconciliation service for many, so that the heavens may part over our nation, raining many blessings on us.
QUESTION 34: What do we learn from Christ’s baptism?
LUKE 3:23-38
23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, 27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
The genealogy of Jesus, which contains seventy-seven names, declares that he is the Son of Adam, as well as the Son of God. Jesus’ baptism underlines his divine sonship. However Luke carries the line back to Adam to emphasize Jesus’ descent from the first father of the human race. Both divine and human descent of Jesus have inspired the church with its faith that he is a true God and a true Man.
As a partner of human beings in blood and flesh, Jesus was a man like us. He responded to the voice of the blood like any other man, tasted the pleasure of family relations, and also felt their burdens. Furthermore, he was attached to the destiny of his nation, in language, customs, history, faith, and covenant with God.
Luke shows us clearly that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, as his neighbors thought, but God is his Father indeed. The evangelist traces his descent from Adam who was in a peculiar manner the son of God, being, more immediately than any of his offspring, the offspring of God by creation. This demonstrates that Jesus does not only belong to the people of the Old Testament, but also to all mankind. Thus Christ is an international, and not national, person. He belongs to the whole world and not to a specified country or nation.
Paul called Christ the last Adam; beginning with a new generation formed of the children of God, for the first Adam who was created in the glorious image of God lost his privilege because of his haughtiness and disobedience, and became perishable and mortal; whereas Jesus, the man who was born of the Holy Spirit was the true Son of God. He continued in humility, made his glory of no reputation to save the evil humans whom he reconciled with God to make them partners in his sonship and in the life of his resurrection. In Christ alone we can be children of God.
Christ began his redemptive ministry when he was about 30 years old. He abstained from marriage, family, ease, and prominence choosing degradation and the love of enemies whom he bore their sins, and sacrificed his life for, in the fullness of the power of his life as a young man, an offering acceptable to God. Is this not the perfect type for you: not to live for yourself, but to put your life at the service of reconciling the world with God who sends you to spread his salvation?
PRAYER: Our Lord Jesus Christ, you are a true God, and a true Man. Help us, sinners, to be children of God, to follow you, and to sacrifice our lives for the salvation of many. Overcome all our inheritances of human descent, and sanctify our characters so that we may bear many fruits of your Spirit.
QUESTION 35: What is the purpose of writing the genealogy of Jesus in Luke’s gospel?
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS
(John 4:1-14)
LUKE 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus, being filled with the
Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness,
2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing,
and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him,
“If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus
answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of God.’”
After his baptism, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and was longing for isolation with his heavenly Father, to converse with him about the secrets of his salvational ministry on earth, for the Son did nothing of himself, but what the Father showed him. This converse with his Father in the wilderness of our world was so important to him that he did not care for food and drink, for the communion with God makes even the desert a paradise. The Holy Spirit, at all moments, directed the thoughts of the Son and his conversation with God, and sealed the beginning of his ministry, while he prayed and fasted for forty days and nights in his isolation in the wilderness.
The wicked devil stole into holy place of Jesus with the aim of finding out a weak point in him, to snatch him from the communion of his Father, and abolish the cross and the redemption of the world. The evil one found no gap to attack Christ but his hungry body. Therefore, he opened the eyes of the hungry Son to the millions of stones around him, and inspired him to create bread out of them. The devil believed in the authority of the Son, as the Creator of the universe, who is able to change the matter into something else.
However the poison of the devil was in the question and not only in the purpose of the temptation. The evil one did not say, “you are the Son of God”, but “if you are the Son of God do so and so” putting Christ’s sonship and the Father’s fatherhood in question, as if he were not certain, and in need of a proof. However, the Son realized the voice of the genius deceiver. He did not want to win the world through bread, but chose the way of the cross.
Jesus hit the devil with the word “it is written” though he was able to compose another expressive and indicative word, but he humbled himself under the previous revelation of God, showing us that man lives essentially by the word of God, for this word confirms to us our communion with the Holy One. Christ humbled himself too much and called himself a true man who needed daily bread to live, and needed more the word of God, which is the spiritual nourishment of the soul.
Did you realize how Jesus triumphed over the devil? He did not doubt his spiritual sonship, nor did he obey the voice of the tempter, but refused to satisfy the world with performance of good deeds and exciting miracles, and chose to listen to the written word of God as the only way to continue in eternal life. Dear brother, do not listen to the thousands of voices in our world, and do not give up to the aims of mankind, but read every day the word of God attentively. Do not fall into temptation, for this is the heavenly nourishment, which gives you the power to overcome the devil. Blessed are you, if you appoint five to fifteen minutes every morning and every evening to pray and to read in the Holy Bible. Then you will enrich yourself spiritually, and be sanctified by your humility, knowing that there is no solution to the problems of our world but in the cross of Christ who leads us into communion with God, the Father, and establishes us more firmly in him.
PRAYER: Our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for you opposed the devil from the first moment, and did not doubt the fatherhood of God and your certain sonship to him, but chose the way of the cross, listening to the written word. Open our ears so that we may listen to the voice of your guidance, obey you, and pluck up courage to overcome all spiritual, psychological, and physical temptations.
QUESTION 36: Why did Jesus not make bread out of the stones in the wilderness?
LUKE 4:5-13
5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a
high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their
glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7
Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus
answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall
worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and
said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For
it is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You,’ 11 and
‘in their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash your foot against a
stone.’” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall
not tempt the Lord your God.’” 13 Now when the devil had ended every
temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
The devil did not stop at the first temptation, but offered much of his enticements to cut the Son from his Father’s communion, and abolish the salvation of the world. The evil one led the Holy One to a high mountain, and showed him all the countries, houses, treasures, animals, armies, technology, mightiness, and power of the earth, that Jesus, to whom all things have been delivered, called him thereafter “the ruler of this world”.
The father of all liars alleged that the whole world was delivered to him, that he had the power to dispose of it and all its glory, and that he was prepared to give Jesus whatever he wished if he fell down and worshiped him. Jesus came to this world to return the corrupt world to God and to reconcile the disobedient with his Father. Now Satan is offering to Jesus to win the world without sufferings or death, on condition that one of the persons of the Holy Spirit should be enslaved by the spirit of the evil one.
Jesus, without delay, refused all riches, fame, and authority. He chose the written word, adhered to his Father with whom he was in continuous communion of love, and ordered the enemy, with a divine authority, to submit himself to God and worship the Creator, putting an end to his enmity through a sincere repentance. At this moment, heaven became out of breath, and all the chambers of hell trembled, for the Son of God ordered the devil to obey the faith.
However, the devil pretended to be deaf. He hardened his heart against the order of God, the Highest, showing his preparedness to accompany Christ to the temple to worship before God. He set Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple that overlooked the pious prayers in the holy temple; and then the accursed deceiver whispered into Christ’s ear, saying, “If you are the Son of God, proclaim your full glory, and throw yourself down from here, and the angels of God will race to bear you up on their hands, then you will show the power of God, according to your faith, and the multitudes will be filled with wonder, and acknowledge with shouts that this is the true Christ. They will worship to you willingly, hoping for the resurrection of the dead; and nothing wrong will happen to you for your faith will save you.
But Christ chose the way of the cross, knowing that his second glorious coming cannot take place without the cross, for God is not willing that any reprobate should be condemned by his glory, but that all should come to repentance and be saved. Jesus did not want to fascinate the harmless with incredible miracles, but to lead them to conversion and renewal of their minds. Christ refused the temptation of the devil in order not to lose his communion with his heavenly Father, or set his kingdom before the thought became ripe in the believers. Christ called that thought which was against the will of the Holy One “a temptation of God”. He continued obediently, chose the way of the cross, and refused to make bread, put on authority, and show his glory.
What do you do in the temptation of the devil? Do you respond to your lusts, and become enslaved by your thoughts? Do you fall into the deception of riches and worship money in your subconscious? Do you want to put into effect the ways of God in your own power, without his guidance? Then you will become a follower of the devil, and lose your communion with God. Dear brother, choose to read the word of God everyday, content yourself with what you have, and pray to your Lord so that he may help you to understand his word with divine wisdom, and to carry it out in your social life, for the devil also knows the Bible, and he inspires you with the words of God in twisted manner. Make every effort to understand the word of your Lord truthfully, and continue in your sonship, in order that nothing separates you from God, your Father who filled you with his gentle Spirit so that you may complete the way of faith.
PRAYER: O Mighty Lord, I am so weak to resist the tricks of the devil. Do not enter me into temptation, but make me firm in the expanses of Christ, and deliver me from the devil, in order that the evil enemy may not have authority in me, but I continue in communion with you and with our heavenly Father forever.
QUESTION 37: Why did Jesus did not accept the riches of the world, and refused to show himself in the glory of his Father in the midst of the temple?
PART III
JESUS' MINISTRY IN GALILEE
(Luke 4:14 - 9:50)
JESUS
PREACHES IN NAZARETH
AND IS REFUSED BY ITS PEOPLE
(Luke 4:14-30)
LUKE 4: 14-21
14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Christ went from the deep Jordan Valley up to the mountains of Galilee, passing by Jerusalem, the capital. He chose Nazareth, his despised hometown, and entered into its synagogues where the mature interpreted the Torah one to another in small circles. Jesus gained a great reputation as a teacher, though he was not past thirty, for the power of God came out of him and moved the hearts.
He went into the synagogue of his city on the Sabbath day, where the place appointed to be read that day was in the prophecy of Isaiah (61:1-2), in which the prophet gradually explains Christ’s essence and works. When Jesus read that paragraph, everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently, for they had known him from childhood, and were all expecting the political savior who would liberate the country, not only spiritually, but also socially.
The Son of God saw in this brief prophecy an evident demonstration of his heart, principles, and rights that he declared with determination “Today, these promises are fulfilled in truth before you. He explained the seven characteristics of Christ in this text, not in a wrong political manner, but in relation to God’s salvation, according to the revelation of the Holy Spirit at all times, saying:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me: Whereas the Spirit of God is God himself, therefore all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in the man Jesus bodily, and the Holy Trinity appeared in him. He received his authority by the anointment of the Spirit, for the name “Christ” signifies the “Anointed”. Anciently kings and prophets and the high priest were set apart to their work by anointing with the oil of dedication, by God’s order, so that all important offices of the Old Testament might continue in connection with God. Christ contained all offices, powers, knowledge, and authorities in his person, for the Highest himself spoke and reigned through him. Christ is the true Prophet, the King of Kings, and the High Priest who reconciled us with God by giving his life for us. All these meanings are found in the name of Christ.
Christ did not come to those that are rich, clever, arrogant, and self-satisfied with their own righteousness, but to the poor, repentant, ignorant, and mobs, for those are in need of him, whereas the others are self-sufficient, particularly the pious who think themselves upright. Those are the hypocrites in fact. The Son of God did not come for judgment or for destroying the sinners, but for encouragement and comfort, as a reason for joy and hope to those who believe.
Christ heals the brokenhearted. He healed the sick, and raised the dead; but he knew that the damage and great loss in man is his wicked heart. When man loses hope, knows his sin, becomes disturbed about himself, and broken in his pride, Christ becomes greatly merciful toward him. If you confess your failure, Christ will firmly and faithfully lift you, and set you in his grace.
Christ calls us to believe in the possibility of deliverance from the prison of sin and from the bonds of death. He does not immediately deliver us from this bondage, but he gives us his promise demanding from us to believe his word, and confirming to us deliverance from all involvements and laws, so that we may decide, determine and want to become free, for Christ does not make of you a dominated slave, but delivers you and makes you participant in responsibility. Are you prepared to accept Christ’s salvation, and to trust your Savior, submitting your will to him?
Christ opens the eyes of the blind in body and in spirit. No one could recover sight to the blind except Jesus, by the word of his power. Thus he opens our spiritual eyes that are clinging to sin, so that we may see God, our Father. Christ enlightens our deep-black darkness with his shining love, for he is the Light of the World.
Christ sets free those who are downtrodden, for whoever enters into Jesus’ care and healing, becomes gradually developed in mind toward true deliverance from the bondage of the devil. When a man is mentally or psychologically unfit or troubled by an evil spirit of an antichrist religion, his enslaved state comes to an end by virtue of Christ’s interference, and he becomes free in heart, and happy in spirit, for the Lord is a Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord may be, there will be freedom.
The voice of the love of God in Christ fulfilled the acceptable year of the Lord. Now we live in the age of grace. God’s wrath has gone away, and his love became open to all. It was an order in the Old Testament, once every fifty years, that the slaves were set at liberty and relieved, mortgaged properties returned to their original owners, and all the people enjoyed the fruits of the fields equally. In the New Testament, the age of grace comes to deliver us from sin and death, to make us partners in the powers and the rights of God, and to give us spiritual nourishment out of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. As the fiftieth year of the Old Testament began with the great Feast of Atonement, so the age of grace began with Christ’s death on the cross. Did you partake in the acceptable year of the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord upon you, because he anointed you?
PRAYER: O Lord, we glorify you because you are true God from the true God, anointed with all the fullness of the Holy Spirit, delivering mankind from the bondage of sins and death, and developing complicated minds into the fullness of God’s love. Please help us to repent, and commit ourselves to the treatment of your kindness.
QUESTION 38: What is the essence of Christ and his works, which made the souls grow gradually?
LUKE 4:22-30
22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow, 27 and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
The unenlightened minds of the Nazarene could not realize Christ’s birth of the Holy Spirit. The men and boys in the synagogue were naturalist and not spiritual. They called Jesus the Son of Joseph and not the Son of God. They were blind without the Holy Spirit, corrupt, and arrogant in the quarrelsome spirit of their city.
The People of Nazareth suffered the condition of being held in contempt by other famous cities, as Capernaum and Jerusalem. They expected that Jesus should work miracles among them which might bring them fame and riches. They were also prepared to bear their native on their shoulders if he acceded to their proposal, improving their situations and causing their fame to rise.
Joseph, Jesus’ father by adoption had probably died at that time, and Mary moved with her family into a poor stage. The Nazarene said to Jesus, “Make well your situation first. Build a palace, cause your relatives to become well-known, provide your town with wide roads and water, raise our civil, not spiritual, state; and then we will make you the center of our civilization, the prince of your homeland, and confess that you are the true Christ. What do you have so that we may follow you?”
However, Jesus had no money, no properties, and no armies, except the Spirit, mercy, and light. He did not come with dominion, advanced civilization, or earthly honor, but presented to the world holiness, comfort, and renewal of hearts. Christ kept from the pride of riches and the fading away celebrity, and chose self-denial, humility, and meekness. The overwhelming majority of the people of the Old Testament were not prepared to walk in this way of the Holy Spirit. They refused Jesus for he did not enrich them, and they hated him for he called to repentance and heartbrokenness.
It has always been the same: When the people felt Christ’s kindness, tongue, and humility, they shouted in the beginning “Hosanna!” but when they got no money, political triumph, or bright honor, they shouted “Crucify! Crucify!” In the end, they chose Barabbas, the murderer and rebel, and rejected Jesus, the meek Lamb of God. Which one do you choose? Think attentively of the aims of your life, and decide your future.
The strange inversion from zeal to dislike was intentionally caused by Jesus himself, to disclose what was hidden in the hearts of the people. He said to the Nazarene, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”, which signifies that he was a true prophet who did not agree to the demands of his city. History has often proved that God’s help most easily reached the despised heathens that are not chosen, rather than the unrepentant pious of the Old Testament. Christ could not help and save if the hearts were not broken, and the souls were not fearful of the holiness of their Lord, knowing that they were not worthy of his mercy. Nevertheless, the Nazarene agitators sought victory not repentance, and hoped for pomp not confession. Therefore they angrily and furiously pushed Jesus, and brought him out of the synagogue to throw him down over the cliff so that he might be torn to pieces.
The people of Nazareth were known for robbery, highway robbery, and indifference, whether in spiritualities or in state affairs, in spite of their hypocritical professing and observances. When Christ made clear to them that the Spirit of God would not dwell in a city dressed in such a spirit of robbery, and called them to brokenness of their pride, the devil insinuated into their minds that they should kill the Savior of the world before he finished his redemption of the world on the cross.
Jesus went with them to the brow of the hill. And as he turned back and looked at them, his eyesight pierced their hearts. He condemned them with his sharp sight without saying a word. Their hearts became exposed, and their bodies motionless, as they realized that he was God. Christ, on his part, left his killers and relatives stilled in their passions, and arrested in their purposes, and passed silently through them. That was his wonderful miracle in Nazareth: that he revealed, by his spiritual majesty, their satanic impurity.
This occasion brought to light another miracle: that the Son of God was brought up as a child among demons, and remained in spite of that holy and sinless. God kept his Son until he completed his message on the cross. Dear brother, do you live in a town that is full of demons? Do not be afraid. Commit yourself to your Lord, and he will keep you, sanctify you, and complete your message to the end. Then nobody can have power over you.
PRAYER: O Lord, You know my heart. Please forgive me my greed for wealth, fame, and earthly wishes. Guide me to repentance, confession, and self-denial. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Save many in my surroundings, so that they may save their old souls, and your Holy Spirit may dwell in them richly and joyfully.
QUESTION 39: Why did the wretched superficial Nazarene hate their native Jesus?
JESUS'
MINISTRY IN CAPERNAUM
AND ITS SURROUNDINGS
(Luke 4:31-44)
LUKE 4:31-37
31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. 32 And they were
astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.
33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.
And he cried out with a loud voice,
34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did
You come to destroy us? I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!” 35 But
Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon
had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him. 36 Then
they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, “What a word this is!
For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come
out.” 37 And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding
region.
The children of Nazareth did not recognize the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. They did not understand the preaching of the Savior, closed themselves against his teaching and person, hated him because he rebuked their hardness, and wanted to kill him. So Jesus finally departed from his hometown, and chose Capernaum, a small city on the northwest corner of the Sea of Tiberias, as the main center of his activity, where he dwelt in the house of Peter, the eldest of his disciples. In Capernaum, Jesus went every Sabbath to the synagogue, where the praying seekers of God met, and he taught them with mighty authority, for God, himself, who dwelt in him, spoke through him, and they were all cut to the heart. The familiar words in the Torah became in his mouth full of light and power, piercing the hearts with God’s judgment, and comforting the hopeless with the love of the Highest. Jesus’ teaching was not logical, objective, or classical, but spiritual and direct, which hit the foundation of subconscious.
A man possessed by an unclean spirit, whom nobody could release, came into the synagogue, and when the evil spirit felt God’s presence, he cried frightfully, “What do you want of me? I do not want to join myself to you. Keep away from me. The time has not come yet for judgment. Why are you coming early? I know you exactly Man, Jesus of the wicked Nazareth. You are the Holy One of God.” The demons know Jesus, believe in him, and tremble at his holiness. All hell fears this unique name “Jesus” the Man of God. They did not see his love, kindness, help, and salvation, for his glorious mercy was concealed from them. They trembled at his holy, authoritative majesty, for God’s holiness hides the glory of his love. The devil did not see the innermost essence of Jesus, but only realized the rays of his shining truth.
Jesus did not allow the devil to speak any more, for his saying was an initial lying even if it appeared as the most truthful saying. Jesus is certainly the Holy One and the Judge of the world, but his heart is full of love for salvation, healing, deliverance, comfort, and giving life. The Spirit of the Lord in Christ intended to redeem the world, and not to destroy it. However, the devil did not declare this truth, but wanted to let mankind fall into fear of Jesus, just as his fear of Jesus was disturbed and confused.
Jesus had mercy upon the suffering demon-possessed, and commanded the unclean spirit with a word’s speaking to go out. When God decides something, no one can object. With a cry of fear, the demon went out of its residence, which he had captured, and threw the man to the floor with force and fury, as if he would have dashed him to pieces; but he could not hurt him, for the Son of God enclosed the poor man with his merciful power.
Then those who stood by kept in place, and their back nerves became numb, seeing the struggle between heaven and hell. They realized the authoritative means in Jesus, that is his powerful word. Did you realize by which means the authority of Christ comes to us? It only comes by means of his gospel. Open yourself completely to the words of Christ, so that all the powers of God may dwell in you, uncovering all your sins, forgiving you all your sins, and overcoming all unclean spirits in you. Christ is the Triumphant even over your thoughts, spirit, and body, if you open yourself to him willingly.
PRAYER: O Lord, I come to you with an unclean, troubled heart. Heal me. Cleanse me. Forgive me my thoughts and works. Cast out all unclean spirits in me, so that they may never come back to me. Dwell with your Holy Spirit in me, in order that I should commit myself to you completely once and forever. I want nothing but to serve, glorify, and thank you.
QUESTION 40: How, and why did Jesus cast out the unclean spirit from the demon-possessed?
LUKE 4:38-41
38 Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. 39 So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them. 40 When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. 41 And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.
Jesus returned from the midst of the spiritual battle in the synagogue to the house of Peter, his eldest disciple, who was an inhabitant of Bethsaida (John 1:44), but subsequently dwelt with his family at Capernaum following Christ. Jesus did not ask his disciple to divorce his wife when he believed in him, but blessed all his house and filled him with the power of his Spirit.
When the dangerous fever attacked Peter’s mother-in-law who dwelt with him, both of them together with all the disciples asked Jesus to heal her. Their common faith and lowly demand moved the arm of God. Did you realize the mystery of the power of common prayer before Jesus?
Then Jesus stood over the bed of the feverish patient, took her by hand, and with a word’s speaking commanded the microbe away from her cells. The word of the Creator contains the power of excluding any disease, for wherever Christ comes, eternal life, healing, and Paradise begin. In his presence the hearts, bodies, and minds become cured. Come to Jesus with all your hardships. Commit your life to him so that his strength may be made perfect in your weakness.
Peter’s mother-in-law experienced Christ’s triumph and power, for she immediately arose with certainty and confidence, and ministered to the audience. She became the symbol of the faithful, for he who is cured by Christ in his innermost heart and is renewed, immediately becomes a servant of Christ and of all the people, just as Jesus made himself a servant of all humanity. Are a sick man, or a servant?
People raced to Peter’s house, carrying the patients on their beds, and mothers came with their children on their arms, asking Jesus to heal them with his power. Christ did not reject anyone, but put his divine, blessed hands on each of them and delivered them from the power of sickness. His healing was not magic. It was the power of God that flowed out of his merciful heart into the innermost depths of the believer.
The sun’s setting in the end of that Sabbath day granted those who were bound by the law the freedom to bring their patients to Jesus. They brought them on donkeys, carriages, and horses, for they knew that healing was at hand and given freely to everyone.
It appeared that a considerable part of the sick were not attacked by pathological microbes, but were possessed by demons. Woe to those who go to fortune-tellers, consult the dead, deal with tarot cards, buy a blue bead for protection, or decorate their cars with a heart pierced with an arrow. Such loathsome behaviors make them join themselves immediately with demons, for they believe in their effectual power. Come to Jesus, with your evil spirit and huge bonds, for he delivers you from the power of Satan, moves you into his expanses, and keeps you safe under the protection of the living God.
The demons know Jesus well. They know that he is the Son of God. This knowledge is not under question or investigation, but is a reason for their fear and trembling. Unfortunately, many people are blind to the truth of God and his Son. They know neither God, nor his Son who was born of his Spirit. They look like the blind who do not find the way leading to life, and do not give themselves up to those endowed with eyesight that may lead them into deliverance. He who sees Christ sees his Father, for the Son is one with him and is continuous in him.
Jesus rebuked the demons, so that they might not reveal his mystery that he is the true Christ, in order that they should not incite the political zeal in the multitudes, for he was willing to leave the occasion to them that they might recognize his true picture, as he had revealed to them in the synagogue of Nazareth, as an emblem to all his services. Christ built the faith of his followers not on the testimony of demons, but on his love, truth, and mercy. He delivered those who suffered from their bondage, and carried them to the freedom of the redeemed of the Lord. Did you become firm in his expanses?
PRAYER: Lord of Lords, we worship to you, for you are true God from the true God, Light from the eternal Light. Forgive us our sins and affection for unclean spirits. Deliver us from the fever of our lusts. Loose the bonds of our slavery to evil spirits, and make us firm in your merciful kingdom.
QUESTION 41: Why did Christ prevent the evil spirits from speaking, and how did he heal the sick?
LUKE 4:41-44
42 Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; 43 but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” 44 And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Jesus was a true man. He was tired of his saving efforts and works, and was tempted into haughtiness for his bright results and the strong demonic revelations. He departed from the multitudes, and left his disciples, to be alone with his Father, to whom he prayed, pouring out and emptying his heart before him, and seeking his guidance, wisdom, power, authority, patience, love, and continuous kindness. Jesus prayed in the morning, putting his long day at his Father’s service. He would not do any miracle of himself, but everything he did was in full harmony with his Father: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does” (John 5:19-20).
Jesus’ prayer had the same thing that he taught us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” He did not say to us: “God forces you to get the blessing. Go and embrace as much as you wish of treasures. All the doors are opened to you.” No! He would not say that, but he awakes in us the effort to pray, the striving to believe, and the patience to supplicate. To him, the straying multitudes, their accumulating troubles, the complexes that chained their souls, and the bondage of their minds to spirits were not subject to philosophized thoughts, or a reason for criticism and contempt; but he loved the poor, and prayed for them. He stood in the midst of the world disasters, and overcame them. Jesus was a faithful prayer. This was the reason for his triumph over all evil authorities, for God continues in him because of his thankfulness and faithful prayer. Without prayer there is no fellowship with the highest. How do you pray? Do you pray continuously for the others, or do you only mention yourself?
The people of Capernaum followed Christ to his place of solitude in the wilderness, and sought him, for they experienced the power of his authority, and wished to secure themselves. The same spirit of the Nazarene appeared once again in the people of Capernaum. As for the Nazarene, Christ could not help them, because of their unbelief. However, in spite of the earthly ambition of the people of Capernaum, Christ revealed to them the motive of his heart, the love of God, for he left heaven and became a man to save the repentant.
The love of the Holy One in him made his preaching a holy necessity and duty. Undoubtedly, God is not compelled, but free. However his essence compels him to carry out his will, for his holiness must condemn the evil. His love prompts him to sacrifice himself as a substitute for them. Christ lived in the commitment of divine necessity, which many people do not understand, because they do not actually know God’s essence in his love and holiness.
Jesus went to many towns, making them partners in the power of God, and bringing to them the gospel of salvation. The healing of the sick was not motto of his ministry, but the strange good tidings about the kingdom of God present among men. His heavenly Father is the All-Possessor, and not Satan, the liar. The Son strived to make people turn to God, so that they might leave willingly the bondage of sin, and become filled with the love of the Highest. The possibilities of the kingdom of the Father were included and hidden in Christ. As the seeds contain their leaves, flowers, and fruits, so the kingdom of grace is today hidden in the believers. God calls all the creatures to submit willingly, for God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Have you become a citizen of the kingdom of God, submitting yourself to its Proprietor?
As the Father sent his Son to spread the kingdom of truth, so the King of Kings calls you so that he may equip you with his power and make you a partner in carrying out his constitution, as he declared in Nazareth (4:18-19). Did you realize and memorize Christ’s program, and are you carrying it out?
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, you are my Lord, King, and Owner. Please forgive me my selfishness, my seeking to become independent from you, and my disobedience. Teach me spiritual submission. Let the Spirit of your love fill me, and prompt me to preach the world, as you, yourself, were a great preacher.
QUESTION 42: What are the mysteries of the effectual ministry of Christ?
CHRIST TEACHES FROM SIMON'S BOAT,
THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES,
AND THE CALLING OF THE FIRST DISCIPLES
Luke 5:1-11
LUKE 5:1-11
1 So it was, as the multitude
pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of
Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had
gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He got into one of the
boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And
He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He had stopped
speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets
for a catch.” 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all
night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”
6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their
net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to
come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began
to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For he and all who were with
him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus
said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” 11 So when
they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
All men hunger for the Spirit of God’s word and salvation. Every body thirsts for the remission of his sins in his innermost being. So open your mouth and preach grace. Depict Christ before the eyes of your friends and colleagues, for they are craving for Paradise, even if they pretended to the contrary. Every man craves in his heart for the house of his heavenly Father.
The multitudes raced toward Christ, and pressed upon him. He was crowded, and in danger of being crowded into the water: What must he do? He got into one of the boats that belonged to Simon, and asked Simon with all lowliness and gentleness to help him in his preaching, that he would thrust out a little from the multitudes so that everyone might see and hear him. He sat down as the divine Teacher who teaches ignorant men how to enter into the kingdom of God through conversion, and tuning their hearts to the power of eternal love. The great multitudes sat down on the shore of the lake, listening silently to this unique voice. Nothing could be heard but the words of Jesus and the whispers of the waves.
When Jesus had stopped speaking, he commanded Peter to fish. It was daytime, when all the fish went down to the cooler waters deep in the lake. Though Peter was most impressed with Jesus’ sermon, and called Jesus “Master”, his experience, as a fisherman, made him quite sure that they would catch nothing. He showed discomfort, for he had toiled all the night, and had taken nothing. Nevertheless he was ready to believe the Master’s word even in matters in which Jesus would not naturally be considered an expert. For the sake of Christ’s demand, he was prepared to do anything, even though he understood no meaning to, even though his partners would laugh at him. However, Christ was willing to break his servant in his experience, and show him that his professional skill is useless to him in the kingdom of God where the laws and powers of the Holy Spirit apply.
Today, Christ is calling people to run into the depth of the sea of mankind, and let down in it the net of the word of God, probably at a time that seems completely inconvenient. But Christ sees the hidden developments in the depths of peoples. Listen to Christ’s command, and pay attention to one thing: Be cautious to let down the whole net of the word of God, and not only a part of it, also be careful that your net should not have holes in belief, in order that the fish should not flee from it. Clean your net and get ready for fishing.
The disciples obeyed Christ’s command. In this obedience of faith, we find a reason for God’s triumph. If Peter had not obeyed Christ’s word, he would have not become his disciple. Now, Jesus’ will has pushed a great multitude of fish into the net of the experienced fisherman that his net was about to break. Dear brother: Today is the day of fishing in our nation. Today the great number of fish is running toward the word of God. Where are you now to win a great number of your friends, through your testimony, words, and messages? Obey Christ with lowliness. Be encouraged, listening to the guidance of the Savior, and then you will draw many to his light, so that they may enter into eternal life, from death in darkness. Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.
Peter was not stubborn and greedy, but divided the fish among them all, and advised his partners to cooperate. This is the duty of believers today: not only to fill their own boat, but also the others’ boats. Do not become sad if a member of your church entered into another church, for Christ will give you many new members, if you spread the fullness of the word of God clearly.
In this fishing, Peter realized that Jesus is God. He probably prayed during the night, and sang hymns with his co-workers, asking God to fill their nets. But when they had taken nothing, they complained and blasphemed. But now Jesus has answered their prayers in another way greater than they had thought. Peter became ashamed of his unbelief, complaint, obstinacy, and blaspheming. He fell down at the Son of God’s knees, trembling, and confessing his sins, for the Holy Spirit uncovered his corruption and malice by revealing Christ as the All-Ruling, who controls the fish in the depths of the sea, and sees the secrets of the hearts. Peter did not give thanks for the given fish, but was ashamed of his wicked heart. Does the grace of God shake in your life? For he blessed you when you deserved afflictions, and granted you grace when you were to die because of your crime.
Jesus thrust the fear of the selfish Peter, commanded him to be converted, so that he might not think of himself anymore, and called him to serve God, and to serve people as well. In his brokenness, Peter became prepared to enter into the kingdom of God. In this way the Son of God calls you to die to your selfish interests, and turn to your fellow human being to fish him, not with artifice and deception, but with lowliness and love, so that he may not die on the shore, but enter into the fullness of God’s power and life. In truth, every man is dead in trespasses, but whoever enters into the net of the word of God lives.
Peter and his co-workers heard Christ’s decisive call, and they were prepared in their hearts by virtue of the John the Baptist’s preaching. At the moment of getting a lot of fish, they left all their riches, and chose the way of Christ’s poorness and persecution with him, to make their fellow human beings partners in the glory of the Son of God. Christ called you to his service. Then pray, and obey all his commands.
PRAYER: O Lord, I am not worthy of the favor of your presence with me, for I am a sinful man in all my being. Thank you for your favor, for you honor me with grace for grace. You keep me in your blessing, and do not cast me out. Please send many to fish men in our nation and all around the world today.
QUESTION 43: Why did Peter tremble from Christ?
JESUS
CLEANSES A LEPER
AND WITHRAWS INTO THE DESERT
(Luke 5:12-16)
LUKE 5:12-16
12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.” 15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.
In the Old Testament, leprosy was considered as a divine punishment for hidden sins in man. The leprous man was, in order to avoid contagion, very properly separated from the congregation. The poor lepers lived as “walking tombs”, and their relatives, ashamedly and cautiously, looked after them. A leper was to cry, “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn all not to defile themselves by approaching him.
One of the lepers, who had heard about Christ’s wonderful power, came cautiously near Jesus, and immediately the multitudes moved away angrily from him, getting ready to drive him away. But he fell down before Jesus, knowing that no man could help him, for he was in an advanced stage of leprosy and some members of his body had fallen off.
The leper openly confessed his faith in Jesus, as the Almighty who has complete power over everything, even leprosy. Do you believe in the power of Christ in your life? The leper was uncertain that the Holy One of God would help him in spite of his sins that were apparent through his leprosy. He asked Jesus with lowliness if he would accept to heal him, putting all his hope and strong longing in this plea; and Christ gave him a divine answer: he embraced him –according to the original Greek text-without being afraid of infection and slow dead, for he was the Prince of Life, who embraced all the corrupt mankind through his incarnation. The poor leper realized that Christ entered him into the love of God. Do you come to Jesus with your hardships, and confess openly? He does not reject you because of your sins, but embraces you and surrounds you with all his love.
Then the Son of God testified of the mystery of his saving will, saying, “ I will save you. I will heal you. I will make you clean.” If you ask yourself, “Will God help and save me?” Christ will answer you, “I will.” Do you believe in his answer? We are all living in the age of grace. Enter into the pleasure of God and wish what he wishes so that you may receive the fullness of his power. The Lord does not mean first to improve your financial position, or your professional interests. His goal is your wicked heart. When you completely submit to the hands of Jesus, he will also help you in your healthy matters, school problems, and professional developments, for the main stream of the will of God is love, blessing, strengthening, and social reviving.
Jesus commanded the leper to recover, and urged him to become active by a strong will. By his word he gave him the power to get well. The Creator’s command broke the authority of the disease, and loosed the chains of sin in the innermost depth of the patient. The love of Christ overcame all the troubles in this poor man who committed himself into the hands of Jesus. Now a divine current flew into his members and skin. They grew up once again, and the leprosy fell as scabs from his skin. Not gradually, but immediately, once and forever the outcast who was rejected from society became healthy and sound.
Jesus sent the cleansed man to the priests according to the law, to bring an offer in the temple (Leviticus 13:49; 14:10), also in order that those mediators between God and the people of the covenant should officially confirm that Christ is the divine Physician who released people from incurable diseases.
The multitudes felt the presence of the divine messenger who delivered them from the chains and consequences of sin, so they gathered, and heard the gospel. They drank out of the fullness of Christ, and felt that the kingdom of God had begun. Sin and its consequences faded away through Christ and his power.
Observe that the more Jesus did miracles, the more he prayed, making himself of no reputation, and delivering all glory to his Father. He was not isolated, but prayed constantly, for his faith was but a prayer. He did nothing apart from God. Every movement of his hand and every word he said were in harmony with the Spirit of his Father. Do you pray and speak to your heavenly Father about all the concerns of your life? You can do nothing without him. As he abides in you and you in him, you bear much fruit.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, we glorify you because you healed the leper and purified him from his sins. Please cleanse me of all my sins, and sanctify me completely. I believe in your will and in your preparedness to heal me. I submit myself to you, and thank you for your love and salvation to all humanity
QUESTION 44: What is the will of God?
ENCOUNTERS
WITH STRICTS RELIGIOUS LEADERS
(Luke 5:17 - 6:11)
LUKE 5:17-26
17 Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. 20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of God has power on earth to forgive sin” -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have see strange things today!”
God is the Power, and Christ is the Power of the Lord, out of whom rivers of blessing flowed by word, deed, and prayer. Many began to follow Christ.
Those in charge of religious bodies having had doubts about his personality, for Jesus had not studied in their schools, nor had he ever joined any of their parties, watched him and sent spies to him that they might seize on his words and acts. The proud Pharisees were known for insisting that the law of God be observed as the scribes interpreted it and were considered as the experts, or doctors of the law. They both wanted to know the mystery of Jesus’ power; censoring every word he said to pick up something on which to ground a reproach or accusation.
It was the will of God’s wisdom, at that moment, that some men should bring a paralyzed man to Jesus. That was the most beautiful and powerful symbol of preaching. When the men could not reach Jesus, they went up on the roof upon him, took off some tiles and lowered the paralyzed man down into the room in front of Jesus, without saying any word. Their act was unmistakably a cry of faith, prayer, and hope. Jesus was pleased with this interruption and disturbance during his teaching, for he loved faith, and saw in it the hope of the believer, which pierces hardships. Do you immediately come in supplication? Do you become pressing and stubborn in your love in order that Jesus should save your spiritually paralyzed friend?
Christ knows the reason for all the diseases of our sins. There is no certain sin, which usually causes a certain disease, but our life that is faraway from God is the reason for our distresses and the cause of all the disasters of the world. Jesus’ untying the psychological bonds of the sick man was an introduction to healing his body. Did you hear Jesus’ word, “Your sins are forgiven you”? Fall on your knees and bow your head before the Son of God. Take firm hold of his promise immediately. This essential word belongs to every man who longs for purity, righteousness, and peace with God. Your sins are forgiven you. Believe in this gospel and you will be saved. Christ speaks to you personally, and looses the bonds of your sins. Believe in the word of your Lord, and thank him so that you may enter into a covenant with him, and his peace may flow in you. Christ himself is the Guarantor of his divine saying which belongs to all humanity.
When the spies of religious bodies heard this forgiving word, they thought that none could forgive sins but God. They were right, and therefore they considered this word from Jesus’ mouth as blasphemy, and that Jesus deserved death. They were blind to his divinity, and did not sense the power of the Holy Spirit flowing out from the person of Jesus, but hated him, for he was different from them. He was from above, and they were from beneath.
Perceiving their thoughts, and reading their hatred in their eyes, Jesus disclosed their condemning pride, and showed clearly their shortsightedness. He asked them why they had such evil thoughts in their hearts, brought his adversaries over to repentance, and provided them with a proof of his power, so that they might learn and love faith, and receive remission of their sins.
The Man Jesus testified of his authority: that he had the prerogative and the power to forgive sins. None of the prophets of the Old Testament foretold such characteristics of Christ. Now the Son of God reveals his privilege as participant in the power of God. By that he showed that he stood at the same level with God, one with him, and abiding in him. This testimony causes our minds to explode. However, Christ hid his divinity, and called himself the Son of Man so that his hearers might realize the mother of all miracles: that God himself was incarnate among them, remitting their sins by his grace.
After this fundamental discussion, Jesus gave the frightened multitude and the objecting haters a tangible proof which he had revealed to them before bringing it into effect: he commanded the paralyzed man, by an utterance of his tongue, to arise. Those present, out of breath, saw him who became delivered from sin, rising up, because he felt the love of Christ, and grasped the word of forgiveness. The joy of the Lord came into his heart. He jumped, in the name of Christ, from his bed, tried his parts which were stiff and rigid for many years, took up his tearful bed, and walked on his feet indeed, praising God cheerfully, and glorifying Jesus, his Savior.
The multitudes became frightened, and they prayed in their hearts. And the doctors of the law became silent, for the power of the Lord openly triumphed over sins and diseases. Those who were defeated boiled over, flaming up with rage, and thought of killing Christ, for in this very occasion he showed his truth and the essence of his work before those spies. His initial preaching in Nazareth of the prophecy in (Isaiah 61) found its accomplishment with more clarification, and all the hearts were shaken by a spiritual quake. Did the power of God touch you? Did you become certain of the remission of your sins? Worship to your Lord, for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, my Savior and my Lord. Thank you for you pardoned all my sins, and atoned for my malice, in the greatness of your grace and loving kindnesses. I kiss your feet, worship to you, and love you, and thank you, because you bring us to eternal life. Please keep me in your righteousness, and make my life praise to our God, and service to people.
QUESTION 45: Why did Jesus forgive the paralyzed his sins?
LUKE 5:27-32
27 After these things He went out
and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to
him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great
number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their
scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You
eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered and said to
them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Many people were confused in Jesus’ presence, impressed with his power, and convicted by their conscience. The cheating tax collector called Levi was also hit in his innermost being by the word of Christ. He had been deceived by his thought, but now he is willing to become free from his sin. He believed in the word of Jesus and the remission of his sins, and was deeply attracted to the Savior, but his profession and its bad reputation kept him away from the Righteous One, for the tax collectors who were employed by the occupying authority were considered as unclean, criminal bloodsuckers, and were officially rejected and disrespected by the nation.
Yet, Christ knows the thoughts in the hearts of people. He saw how the heart of Levi, the tax collector, was opened completely to the good news of the gospel. Jesus went forth and saw him. He commanded him using only two words, “Follow me”. When God speaks, he makes something new. This command made out of the sinful Levi, the apostle and evangelist Matthew who compiled the historical sayings and events of Jesus, for he mastered several languages, and wrote the origin of the gospels in Aramaic under supervision of the other apostles; then he translated it into Greek. Christ took him out of the factory of sins into the freedom of the Lord. Did you hear the voice of Jesus, or are you still a slave of money and of earthly aims? Do you follow Christ with an undivided heart? Get up and follow the Savior of the world, and you will become a tree of grace full of fruits, as Matthew became a reason for salvation of many.
He, who was called, left his money, records, and office all at once, for he realized that the Son of God had called him. When Christ passed by him, he took hold of his divine gown, and considered everything else in the world as foul and rubbish. Matthew invited the Highest to his house, and made him a great feast. He immediately unveiled his apostolic spirit, and invited all his friends so that Christ might enter into their hard hearts. In fact many of those disqualified and contemptible came wondering at the great honor conferred on them by the man of God.
The professors and lawyers hated Jesus, because he broke the good custom, and dealt with tax collectors, agents of the Romans, whom he openly accepted, and dined with them in a great banquet. The fanatic and the experts in the law set a trap for Christ to discover the motives and aims of his work. They were blind to Jesus’ mercy, and not prepared to see their hard hearts. Yet, Jesus stabbed their pride, and unveiled their hypocrisy through their own statement, which they used to quote in support of their arguments, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” The tax collectors were, in fact, sick in spirit and in soul, and in need of the Savior and his power, without realizing that. However it is a fault not to speak with the corrupt, for they are in urgent need of salvation, deliverance, and instruction.
Jesus also uncovered the hypocrisy of the professors who thought that they had no need of forgiveness or the Savior, for they saw in themselves righteousness and truthfulness of instruction, as well as uprightness of behavior. Woe to the proud righteous, and those that are self-complacent, for they neither know God, nor fear him. None is righteous in from of God. They have all turned aside. They have together become corrupt. There is none who does a good or righteous work. This is the most terrible self-deceit. Study God’s holiness and love so that you may know your own state. You are sinful and guilty. The more you get near to the glory of God, the more you discover your evil heart and disqualified mind. Confess your abominable works before Christ. Give testimony of all your evil deeds: stealing, lying, impurity, and haughtiness, and of every moment in which you caused damage to anyone, so that you may know your need of the salvation of Christ, crying, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of your tender mercies, do not cast me off. Then, you will realize Christ’s love and merciful kindness, and experience how he cleanses your subconscious, and gives you peace and divine righteousness.
However, if you go too far in thinking yourself righteous and acceptable because of your prayers, sacrifices, and fasting, you will be cheating your self. You will not be justified in your conscience, and you will not enter into heaven, for God only accepts the purified repentant, and the sinner who is justified and saved by the blood of Christ, and made perfect through his intercession. Listen please, my dear brother: Christ has come. He is present, and prepared to save practically. He will truly redeem you, if you become broken before him, and confess all your corruption. Do not hesitate! Come on and uncover the thoughts within you before him. Have recourse to his mercy.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, you have known me with all my unclean thoughts, harsh words, and evil deeds. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my subconscious, so that I may be saved by the sprinkling of your precious blood, and I may complete the faithfulness of your intercession. Draw me by your word to your continuous fellowship.
QUESTION 46: Why can Christ not save the unrepentant?
LUKE 5:33-39
33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” 34 And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.” 36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear; and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, “The old is better.”
Christ did not come as a gloomy prophet, preparing people for God through fasts and laws. He is rather like the bridegroom who brings about joy for all his companions and adherents. The Son of Man came from heaven to be united with humanity in a pure spiritual union. His motive was the love of God, his dress was his holiness, his motto was his meekness, and his power was his patience.
The divine Bridegroom asked for his bride who was not mindful about him, but indulged in her sexual immorality with the low spirits of this world. Yet, the lover did not reject the sinful bride, but purified her with his blood, and sanctified her with his Spirit. The church is a purified bride of the Son of God. How does joy not prevail in human race as long as heaven is united with earth, and God with men?
In the past, the repentant fasted, and flagellated their bodies to make God bestow plentiful blessings upon them. But now, God has appeared, through Christ, among men. He came with the abundance of his love to the obstinate disobedient, and caused eternal joy to enter into them. Thus fasting ended, and sad prayers of gloomy faces did not ascend to heaven any longer. On the contrary, trilling cries of joy spread everywhere, for God arrived at the earth. Does your heart participate in the heavenly joy, because the Eternal One appeared in fact among the mortal human beings?
The fanatic Pharisees did not realize the mystery of the Son of Man, but criticized the joyfulness of his disciples. The followers of John the Baptist also knit their brows, and shook their heads at the new godliness of Christians, who lived ordinarily and realistically, ate and drank satisfactorily as all other people, and did not exercise corporal penances to win the kingdom of God.
Those who clung fanatically to the law, though they worked for the sake of pleasing God, did not realize Christ, in whom all the fullness of heavenly blessings dwelt freely among us; but wanted to continue in their human good deeds, law-abiding behaviors, and gloomy righteousness, so that they might be justified and sanctified. Yet, such was impossible and unworkable.
There is a very great difference between the godliness of the Old Testament, and the righteousness of the New Testament. Men of old considered themselves righteous, dressing themselves up with their own deeds as if they were dressed in an ostentatiously bright dress. Such a dress would soon become torn and old, as every man is sinful before his Lord. But Christ came to us with his own righteousness, purified us with his blood, and dressed us up with the fruits of his Spirit. Because of his gracious kindness, every Christian wears the eternal pure white wedding garment. It is impossible to mistake the human and the heavenly gowns one for another. You have either to prepare yourself for God’s wedding in your old, torn gown made of your sinful own righteousness, or to be completely sanctified only with the blood of Christ.
Christ compared the spirit of his age to new wine that does not agree with old bottles weaved with thousands of law threads. The love of Christ tears all superficial human judgments, and consecrates man to the service of God and the needy. The holy consecration to the service of love is the new godliness at the age of Christ, where the Spirit of the Lord does not break us with prohibitions, commandments, and judgments; but encourages us to a new life in which love is the perfection of law. However, the old-fashioned are used to their hard judgments and gloomy repentance. They do not want to leave that atmosphere, but to sip their laws as mature wine, and refresh themselves with that (wine!). They do not know the power of God’s love. Moreover, they do not know the new wine that entered into the world through the blood of Christ which works in our bellies, and minds, driving out all filthiness away from us. Thus Christ called his disciples to new ways of life, and to a unique divine power, and delivered them from lifeless rites and fanciful judgments. Did you prepare yourself for the wedding of the Son of God? Do you associate with him in his service to the needy and the mobs? Enter into the joy of your Lord and ask for the poor, and then you will find the divine Bridegroom with them.
PRAYER: O Lord, your Holy Spirit delivers us from our selves, and from the measures of men. Your precious blood dresses us with your righteousness, purity, and majesty. Please help us to continue in your love and peace, so that we may become lively members of your bride church, and decorate us with all good deeds originated from your great grace.
QUESTION 47: Why did Christ call himself Bridegroom, and rejected the order of fasting of the Old Testament?
LUKE 6:1-11
1 Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grainfields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. 2 And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3 But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” 5 And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” 6 Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I sill ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?” 10 And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples walked through the golden grain fields. The disciples became hungry, for their Master was not wealthy, but he used to ask his heavenly Father for the minimum necessary bread to support every day’s life, with all simplicity and humility. Some of the disciples plucked the heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate their delicious kernels. According to the law of the Old Testament, the poor and the needy were allowed to pick grains or fruits for immediate consumption. Therefore the Pharisees complained of the disciples for violating the Sabbath, and not any rights of property. They considered the rubbing of grain heads a work comparable to harvesting.
However, Christ explained the meaning of the law to those extremists, referring to David, the anointed king who entered into the holy tabernacle of meeting and ate together with his hungry companions the showbread that was consecrated to God and his priesthood, for their satisfaction was more essential than observing rites. Laws are made to serve man, and man is not a servant of them. Thus Christ made a fundamental change in the meaning of the law, and revealed himself as the divine Lawmaker who explained the old principles in a new manner, and summed them up in the unique commandment of love. By this powerful work, Christ delivered us from formal keeping of the law, into the thought and work of love, as Paul said many times, that no man can keep the law out of himself, but he that is righteous by the blood of Christ receives the power of the Holy Spirit who leads him to keep the commandments. In the New Testament, the sword of law is not hanging over your head to destroy you. It has become the motive of power and joyfulness in you.
It is regrettable that the Sabbath Day Adventists and those of their faith still keep the Sabbath in the Jewish spirit. They keep their Sabbaths as a symbol of the day of God’s rest when he had created his creation, without realizing that Christ tired for our salvation, and made new creation, showing his eternal life in his resurrection. In the New Testament, our Lord did not command us at all to keep any specified day, but he sanctified man himself, in order that all his days should be holy. Every day the Christian partakes of God’s rest in his conscience, for Christ’s life dwelt in him, and consequently we have become justified freely by grace through the faith, and not by keeping the law.
Yet, lawyers had no ears to hear the voices of the life of grace. They spied on Christ to condemn him, but the Lord showed them their blindness rightfully, saying to them, “Which is the most important: to keep the Sabbath without mercifulness, or to break the Sabbath for the sake of mercifulness?” Jesus Christ pierced the dead Pharisees one after the other with his sharp sight, and abolished with his question their twisted principles, emphasizing the necessity of performing good deeds all the days without exception, and avoiding evil deeds all the days without exception. Thus he showed us that the Sabbath, in the New Testament, has no advantage over any other day of the week, for love alone makes all the days kept for God, as Paul said, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. In this manner, the life of man is made completely for the service of God, praising his glorious salvation, and not only a certain day of the week.
When Jesus healed, in this new spirit, the withered hand, with a word’s speaking, in the midst of the Sabbath meeting in the synagogue, the lawyers became enraged so much the more against him, for they immediately realized, in their intelligence, that Christ did not only tear the tent of their judgments by his divine love, but also condemned them personally, at the same time, for they knew the good, and restrained men from doing good by their laws.
Many churches and several religions seek to bring their followers into heaven through keeping the laws. They, in fact, are bringing them down into the lower parts of hell. Keeping the law can never save us. Only Christ saves us. He inserts his law into our hearts, through his Holy Spirit, so that the sensibility of his love may guide us, and we may live holy at all times. Did you become free from the law, or are you still enslaved to it? Did the law of Christ dwell in you, and you walked in the fullness of his love with lowliness all the days of your life?
PRAYER: O Heavenly Father, we are filled with sins, impurity, blindness, and abominable fanaticism. Please forgive us our hard hearts, deliver us from our self-righteousness, and break our law spirit, so that we may glorify you with praise, love, and service to all men, at all times.
QUESTION 48: What is the meaning of the statement, “Christ is the Householder”, and why do Christians celebrate Sunday joyfully instead of the Sabbath?
THE TWELVE APOSTLES ARE CHOSEN
AND MANY ARE HEALED
(Luke 6:12-19)
LUKE 6:12-19
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. 17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
Jesus reached a decisive stage in his ministry: the lawyers, his adversaries, organized themselves to destroy him, while his fame spread abroad, and multitudes raced to him from the capital city Jerusalem, also from all the villages of Judea, and even from the Phoenician regions of Tyre and Sidon. They all came to hear his wisdom, be cured by his power, and seek power from him, for he healed all those who believed in him.
What did Christ do in this distinctive stage? He prayed, separated himself from the multitudes who sought him, and left his disciples. He did not care about his enemies, but resorted to God, his Father, and stayed with him in prayer. Luke called this deep prayer in the Greek text “the Prayer of God” which has no equal in the whole New Testament. This prayer was ended with most beautiful harmony with his Father, and has resulted in full clarification of the future. Did you fall into suffocating crises? Did increasingly heavy duties and burdens press on you? Then separate yourself into the isolation of prayer, for by prayer alone you may receive guidance, direction, wisdom, and authority.
What was the guidance that was clarified in the Son through his prayer and conversation with his Father? When Jesus had returned from a long night prayer, he chose twelve apostles. He had already been followed by overcrowded multitudes. But now the Savior of the world appoints twelve disciples that they may accompany him at all times, learn his experiences, see his patience, realize his wisdom, and get used to his designs. Thus he began to train a select group of leaders for his future church. Those leaders were to bring his eternal life to the world.
Christ knew that he had to die, and God showed him those who should carry his power, one by one, to spread the kingdom of God until the end of the world. Jesus did not ask many, “Do you want to become apostles?” but he called each one of them by his name out of the multitudes. The call of God changed them into apostles of Christ. They were no better than the others, but the Holy Spirit found in them starting points that they might be prepared and changed into the image of Christ.
They were all unsuccessful. But the Holy Spirit made them authorities of the power of God who changed the world. Until now, we are living from Christ’s call to them. Did you keep their names by heart, as long as you believe in their faith, and know Christ through their testimony, and are strengthened by their prayer, which they offered when they were in this world?
Twelve is a holy number in the Old Testament. It symbolizes the conjunction between heaven and earth. Three symbolizes God, the Holy trinity, and four the four quarters of the earth. If we multiply three by four, both numbers, which indicate the fullness of God, mixed with our low world, become in harmony. The twelve became the fathers of the people of the Old Testament.
Christ did not immediately empower those he called, nor did he send them at once to the evil world, but taught them insight. What did they see? They saw Jesus and no one else.
Did you realize the person of Christ? See how people raced to him. After that night prayer he did not lay his hands on the sick, but all those who believed in him touched his garment, and were cured by that touching. The physician Luke inquired with all exactness about the details of that event, and testified of it. All disasters of mankind disappeared by his word and his power. Come to Jesus, and stay with him in a thankful prayer. He wants to call you, touch you, and send you.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, please forgive me my poor prayer. Teach me to see you, believe in you, love you, and worship to you, so that my life might be your own. Teach me obedience, and fill me with your insight that I may do what you will, stand where you call me, and go to whom your Spirit guides me. Thank you for you do not despise me, but call me to your fellowship and service. Amen.
QUESTION 49: Why did Christ call the twelve disciples, and how did he choose them?
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
(Luke 6:20-49)
LUKE 6:20-23
20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward
His disciples, and said, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of
God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who
weep now, for you shall laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile
you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in
that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in
like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
Now, having showed us the first stage of the life history of the Savior Jesus, Luke places us in the midst of the preaching of the Son of God, who addresses people, looking particularly to his newly called disciples. Do you see, my dear brother, Christ’s eyes looking at you? Do you hear his holy words addressed to you in person? He beatifies you for you are poor and needy. Because all men are poor and needy in relation to the glory of God, we all die, but he lives. We are all imperfect, but he is the Perfect One. We are evil, and he is Righteousness. We are all unclean, and he is holy. We are sick spiritually and bodily, but he is the source of health and safety. We are unwise, but he is wise. We are characterized by treachery, but he is called Faithful. Compare your life with God, O man, and confess your sins, faults, evil, and ungodliness, so that the word of Christ “Blessed are you poor” may reach you. Jesus does not beatify only the poor in money and mind, but all men, for we are beggars, living from the crumbs of the grace of God.
Now, Christ has appeared among us. The fullness of Godhead dwelt in him bodily, and the powers of heaven come out of him. The multitudes touched him, and the riches of the love of God flow out of him to all people. He has given his life for the poor evil world. In him we obtain all blessings of heaven. He is the King who reigns in the kingdom of God, and his kingdom is present in him as a plant in its seed. Whoever accepts him becomes rich, righteous, and blessed as God is. Do you wish to become as rich as the Creator? Look at Christ. Take hold of him eternally, and he will beatify you indeed.
All men hunger for God. They do not know that truth, but seek to quench their thirst to peace through amusement, movies, and drugs. Did you hear love songs by radio? They are all but one cry for true love, hunger for mercy, and longing to God who is hidden from them. All men seek the Highest, but they are blind, and do not know what they are looking for. They clearly strayed from the right path, and were about to die out of thirst for that peace. Blessed are you if you realized that your soul thirsts for the word of God, and your heart hungers for the spirit of grace. You ask for remission of your sins, reconciliation with your Lord, and comfort for your hopelessness. If you seek God, Christ will assure you of heavenly happiness, for he is willing to be personally your spiritual nourishment, as he offers himself to you in the Lord’s Supper. By his word he satisfies your hunger for the knowledge of righteousness, and gives your soul its pleasure. The hunger of body is for a season and a time, but the hunger of heart is forever. Eat Jesus and you will be filled, for he is the Bread of Life for many.
Did you ever weep over your sins? Did your own mud ever disgust you? Do you suffer from your haughtiness? Are you frightened of the coming judgment on the world? Blessed are you if your offenses tormented you, and you felt the judgment of God by your own affection. Then when you become broken to your self, and cry, “Help! Help!” Christ leans toward you, saying, “Your sins are forgiven you. You have been justified and sanctified by grace. Believe on your Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Accept what he offers you of peace, atonement, and purification, and you will be delivered from the power of sin, and will dive into God’s peace and eternal joy. We do certify to you that the cross of Christ is the Sabbath of our peacefulness. We laugh in hardship, and are consoled in death, for God is with us, and Christ in centered in our hearts.
His love prompted us to follow him, and his power qualified us to serve. Do you want to become a servant of Christ? Then poverty will be waiting for you, in addition to contempt, and hatred. You will be mocked, and your old friends will leave you. Your family will probably throw you out. Never mind! Jesus Christ commands you to leap joyfully, and to continue in gladness, for your reward is God himself. His glory will be your dress. Be delighted at his virtues, for his love made you love, and his patience renewed you into a meek lamb. Then you will be looking forward to the coming of Jesus who will come again for your complete redemption. Are you waiting for this unique moment, the moment of supplication and joyfulness? He is coming quickly.
PRAYER: O Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only speak a word, and my soul will be healed. We are all not worthy of your visit. But only speak one word, and we will be filled with your peace, and the power of your love.
QUESTION 50: Who are the poor, hungry, and weepers in Christ’s beatitudes, and did he promise them?
LUKE 6:24-26
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”
Woe to those who think themselves rich in money, spirit, and experience; for they, in fact, are foolish, haughty, and thieves. God alone is the Rich, the Possessor, and the Wise. He who does not repent before God, and becomes broken to his haughtiness belongs to those who think themselves rich, but are poor.
What would you ask in exchange for your left eye, if someone blind came to you asking you to give him your eye that he might recover? Would you deliver your eye for one thousand, or hundreds of thousands? Do you realize the full extent of your riches? The value of your body equals to millions, and you have not yet thanked your Lord for creating you. We are all God’s possession, and agents of his properties. He who lives without God falls into hell, for he is a thief, inasmuch as he did not return the deposit to its owner. Whoever lives without God does not find rest for his conscience, or comfort for his heart, for mammon became his god. He becomes out of health, and death lurks about him. Woe to the rich that are poor, and blessed are the poor that are rich in Christ. To which these two parties do you belong?
Christ says, “Woe to those that are gluttonous and drunkards who suppress the cries of their hungry souls with wine and roast meat without listening to the plea of the poor beggar. Woe to fornicators and sodomites out of whose bellies flow unclean lusts, who tread on their, and on others’ consciences. They will run after the word of God, but they will not find it. They will seek comfort with demons, with the dead, and with fortunetellers. They will gradually fall into hopelessness more and more. The tables that are filled with food, and the warehouses that are filled with grains and metals are not the riches of people, but the word of God alone. The blessing of this word can open the poor nations. Those that are hungry will soon attack those that are filled and fasten them to crosses to enjoy themselves with their wealth before them.
Did you ever hear a drunkard laughing? He behaves without restraint, showing his corruption from within. Did you ever listen to your friends or co-workers laughing at dirty jests? A dirty jest is like a nail inside your soul. It will torment you if you are unable to give up completely your impurity, out of yourself. Did you ever see how those that are strong and triumphant mock and smile sarcastically at those whom they defeated? They are all subject to death. Their loud bursts of laughter stop in their throats when they realize that the seed of death was within them at all times. Did you prepare yourself for your death? Moses taught us the wise prayer, saying, “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
The most heinous deception in mankind is hypocrisy. People say one to another that they are smart, good, talented, and pious. They believe this flattering compliment, smile, and bow one to another, acknowledging applause and expressing thanks, for each one of them considers himself as a minor god. Such are demons. They do not know their sins, for none is righteous, beautiful, and wise except God and his Anointed. Repent, and call to repentance. Let peacocks pack their feathers, and wolves take off the lamb furs, seeking the death of their wolfish heart that they may be filled with the spirit of meek lambs. What are you, then: haughty, or lowly in grace?
PRAYER: God, be merciful to me a sinner! Deliver me from my self-deceit. Free me from my stealing, teach me to number my days, lead me into repentance by your Holy Spirit, and put my evil heart to death, so that I may gain your meekness, humility, and the fullness of your kind love.
QUESTION 51: Why does Christ express woefulness to the rich, overstuffed bellies, and those who laugh, particularly the hypocrite?
LUKE 6:27-36
27 ”But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. 32 But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
In some philosophies and religions of the world, you may find a constitution for the love of God and men. But you may not find such a constitution for unconditional forgiveness of enemies, for the followers of those beliefs are not certain of God’s remission of their sins. They are uncertain and doubtful about his mercy. Their depiction of their god stamps their culture, and seals their characters.
Yet, our God is Love. His mercy is limitless. He has given his only begotten Son so that we might be delivered for his sonship. This redemption of our God changed our insight, and turned our principles: we love as he loves us, and forgive as he forgives us. He was patient on us, and did not destroy us when we blasphemed against him angrily. He did good to us when we enraged him, and blessed us when we overstepped his limits.
Christ is the image of our God. He was stricken, but remained silent. He was crowned with thorns, but blessed his tormenters. His blood was shed, and he was spat in his face. He loved the ungodly and adulterers, and prayed while hanged on the infamous tree, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Don’t you see that Christ is the good example for to all mankind? Unfortunately, none of us is righteous. We are all corrupt, wicked, and evil. But Christ died for us that we might be healed by his death. He gave us his Spirit, in order that the love of God should dwell in our hearts. He participated us in the right of his sonship, that we might call God “our Father”. Do you realize your privilege? God loves you, though you are his enemy, inasmuch as he gave his only begotten Son in order that you, disobedient, should become his dear son. When will you thank his love, and respond to it, committing yourself completely, and obeying your eternal thankfulness to him?
Listen, faithful brother: Christ pulls you out of the corruption of your humanity to the highest degree of your thankfulness, for he commands you, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” Are you not frightened of this commandment? Do not be afraid, for the mercy of your Father is considerably great. He offers you power that you may be merciful to all, just as your Father is merciful. Ho does this happen? It happens only through believing in Christ and his justification. The Holy Spirit dwells in your heart. This merciful Spirit is your Father’s Spirit. Essence from his essence, and light from his light. Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? Come to Christ, and ask him to change your stony heart with a merciful heart. Then you will love all men, forgive your enemies, and bear those that are difficult in your Father’s patience. The mercy of God in your heart is not only an emotional feeling, but it urges you to sacrifice. Words are often cheap, but money, bread, and clothes are valuable. How much do you sacrifice monthly? Your sacrifice in comparison with your income shows your love. You are not compelled to help the poor, or to contribute to your church, for love does not know obligation, but privilege in sacrifice. If the Spirit of your Father dwelt in you, you will prepare jobs for the jobless, lend those that are in hardship, and pray for helping mobs in practical ways. If you serve your church in the name of Christ, you will receive a great wage, for your Lord will increase your power for service, multiply people’s contempt against you, and increases your sufferings in order that you should become more close to the image of his love and forgiveness. God himself is the wages of those who bear the cross.
In all your diligence in bringing up the new generation, and in helping the poor, you will soon know that charities are important, but heart salvation is more important. The capital of believers is almost small in many instances, but the power of their prayer is great. The continuous contributions of the poor accompanied with their prayers are more powerful than the large and considerable contributions that might be offered by the rich. God knows your heart. Are you merciful, as your Father is?
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, my heart is like a stone. I love myself first. Please forgive me my selfishness, change my heart, and renew my mind, in order that money should not be my god, but you crucified. Dye my characters with your meekness, and seal me within, that I may see you hanged bleeding on the cross, and that I may also sacrifice myself for love. Be merciful to me that I may also become merciful.
QUESTION 52: Why do Christians love all their enemies?
LUKE 6:37-42
37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” 39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from you own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
Every man is foolish in many instances, when he thinks he can realize everything. What is more horrible than superficiality? Who can know the heart of a man, his past, his inner background, the elements he inherited from others, the effects that surrounded him and took part in his formation since childhood and their consequences on his development, on his experiences with demons, and on his complicated present? Do not judge any man, and do not reject any sinner, for you do not know what flows out of you if you were in his position.
If you were obliged to give your opinion about someone, be cautious not to criticize him harshly without love, Recognize his good and negative gifts at one time, and make up an opinion to yourself, keeping in mind that God alone knows best about him, for you only see the outer layers of his soul. Do you rather know yourself? Then how do you judge the mobs and enemies, as long as you are not omniscient and do not know the mystery of life and death? Man! Know your limits, and confess your folly, so that you may give your heart wisdom and humility, and you may ask your Lord, in every respect, what he wants, and what you have to say and to do, according to the gospel of his constructive love.
God is Mercy, Forgiveness, Provider, and Love, giving us grace for grace. If you abide in him, you will love all in your Father’s affection, and his Holy Spirit will urge you to lovingkindness and tender mercies. Under this deepness, there will be no place for hurtful criticism, or rejection of the poor in your heart, for your Father in heaven forgave their iniquities when he gave his Son on the cross. How then can you judge those who have been forgiven and released? There are no unforgiven iniquities in the world except refusing Christ and his righteousness.
Nevertheless we must judge the evil spirit who is working in people, nations, and faiths; but we must love the man who is pressed by such spirit, for God desires all men to be saved. The sea of love flows from God to release the slaves of the evil one. Are you of the evil spirit? Do you despise other people? Are you yourself in need of liberation, or were you broken to your haughtiness, and are helping God in releasing those that are bound by the devil?
The agent of God’s mercy who wants to embody him in you is like a flood, for God is love, and is determined to put the fullness of his love in you, that you may become the source of kindness in your surroundings.
But if you remained blind to the folly of your malice, you cannot lead another man to God at all, and you have no right to teach people any sciences or theology, for you have not realized yet that every normal man is blind, ignorant, and poor. However, as Christ’s forgiveness opened the eyes of your heart, and you participated in the great flowing of his power, and the knowledge of his love, you have become a lampstand in your dark surroundings. Do not think that you are something, for all the good in you is from God. We have nothing to be proud of. We have only to thank him who made us good. You are nothing, but your Lord is everything. He desires to make you exactly like his own vision.
He, who lives near brothers and sisters in Christ, soon sees their small mistakes. And he, who thinks himself an expert in the ways of the Holy Spirit, and boasts as if he were mighty to save the brothers, begins to remove the speck from their eyes, which causes acute pain. Alas! Those that are godly in particular rarely see that they are wicked in their souls, for they are blinded with spiritual haughtiness, which deprives them from seeing their many sins. We recommend, dear brother, that you do not criticize the others’ faults, but reform yourself first, and then pray continuously for your enemies. Be aware that you are the smallest and the most needy in your community. To confess your infirmity is not failing. It is a divine power. So criticize yourself, and judge your sins. Do not judge them superficially. Then you may become merciful to your brother’s infirmities.
PRAYER: O Holy Lord, You have known my heart and mind, and have condemned my haughtiness and my hard soul. Please rebuke the censorious evil spirit in me, forgive me my iniquities, and fill me with your love, patience, wisdom, and spirit of discerning, that I may testify of the truth, love those that are going astray as you love me, and forgive them their iniquities as you forgive me my iniquities. Thank you for the sea of your love that is flowing over us.
QUESTION 53: Why does Christ prevent us from criticizing others?
LUKE 6:43-46
43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by it s own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?”
Paul explained to us the meaning of the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:19-26). It goes without saying that no man is righteous, bearing good fruit. Do you know the unclean works even in a well-mannered, polite man? Did you smell rotten pride in the professors of all religions? An ordinary man is corrupt before God, and is good for nothing. He looks like an unfruitful tree, and should rather be cut down and thrown into the fire.
But when Christ purifies us with his word, and cleans our hearts with his blood, the power of the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and makes us good. In the humility of Christ’s love an unprofitable man becomes profitable, for the Lord’s joy and peace urge us to be patient. Study the fruits of the Holy Spirit attentively, and then you will know what the Lord is willing to do of you.
Do not deceive yourself! Nobody is good in himself. All have turned aside, together become corrupt, and lost the glory of God freely given to them. Of course, if your compare yourself with others, you will be neither worst, nor better than they are. But if you take Christ as a measure for your life, you will certainly see the truth of your ugliness. The teaching about good man is the greatest lying in present and in past. The devil insinuates this deception into churches, religions, philosophies, and schools; as if man is capable of cultivation and correction. Man, at his best, is in fact like a tamed beast. But from inside, he is filled with rejection, hatred, and spite.
There is none good but God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, also those who crucify their selfishness in repentance that they may be filled with the love of the Eternal One. The goodness in a believer is not out of him, but out of God who stimulates your talents, and calls up your powers that he may employ them in the large stream of his love.
Did you become a good divine tree, or are you still a bad poisonous weed? You must know the answer out of your speech and writing. What kind of speech comes out of you: love, purity, truthfulness, self-control, and divine power, or imaginations, lies, passion, mockery, and hatred? Examine yourself that you may know your maturity, or condemnation in God’s judgment.
Do you address Christ, your Lord? What are your behaviors, which prove to your neighbors the fact that Jesus is your Lord and King? Do you carry out his will? Do you magnify his power in your weakness? How do you submit to his love? Are you really walking in his Spirit-control? Christ wants you to realize your faith practically, for belief without consequences is of no avail. But when Christ is centered in your heart, you become meek, good, and chaste, not of your ability, but out of your Lord’s power.
Faith without good works is dead, but the love of God overcomes our characters. We believe that Christ newly creates us, and we experience his sanctification, for God himself makes us perfect, blameless, and established in love until the forthcoming advent of Christ.
PRAYER: O Lord, I am an unprofitable servant. Please do not reject me from your neighborhood, but change my mind into your truth, and fill my heart with your mercy, so that I may thank you for establishing me in you, bear much fruit, and magnify you, for your salvation is our living hope.
QUESTION 54: Who is righteous?
LUKE 6:47-49
47 “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
Jesus was a carpenter and builder. He took part in building many houses, and saw with his experienced eye which houses were well established, and which were without a foundation. He had already seen fallen houses and firmly established houses in the midst of the sweeping flood.
Jesus compared the life of man to a house that is built step by step, beautifully decorated, and provided with valuable furniture. Yet, all these fine appearances are useless, if the house did not have a solid foundation to enable it to stand firm in the days of disasters. What is the foundation of the house of your life?
Christ is the eternal foundation to every believer. He comes to us with his word, and from here the difference between the wise and the unwise arises. The wise believer hears the gospel of Christ, and opens his heart to his speech. This speech moves his heart, his pride becomes broken, and he actually repents. Then the word of Christ can convert him, creating a new man, founded on Christ who fills him with his power and love, that he may do what the Holy Spirit wills. This man became wise for he built himself on the power of God. Christ became the foundation of his being at present, and his intercessor on the Day of Judgment. The Holy Spirit also became the engine of his motives. The connection between man and God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not superficial, but firm. It continues in death and forever, for the blood of Christ is our righteousness, and his Spirit our comfort.
The unwise may also hear the word of Christ, but does not care much about it, for his heart is full of thoughts and problems. He accepts some of the thoughts of the Son of God to build his life, but does not repent originally, or change morally and radically. His faith remains superficial and traditional, without the works of the love of God. In the days of trouble and old age this man will not find strength and comfort, but death will smile at him like a fearful ghoul, in spite of his baptism, and the judgment of God will lie in wait for him like a hungry lion. Great will be the fall of this man, for he heard the word of God, but did not really open himself to the instrument of his Lord’s power, neglecting his favor.
The flood of God’s wrath is inescapably coming, and his judgment is certainly imminent. Are you firmly established in Christ? Or are you still relying on yourself? Does the Holy Spirit produce in you the fruit of his goodness, or do you look like a dirty container filled with garbage? Resort to Christ, and repent truly, so that he may be your only Lord, and his love may overcome your iniquities. Hurry to the Savior of the world that he may save you and sanctify you while it is called “Today.”
PRAYER: O Lord, We worship to you for you became the foundation of our life; and made us deep-rooted in you, changed us, and helped us to hear and realize your word. Please keep us in your love, strengthen us in your purity, and guide us to your truth that we may abide in you, and do what you say with your help.
QUESTION 55: How do we found the house of our life faithfully, in spite of the disasters of time and the Last Judgment?
THE
HEALING OF THE CENTURION'S SERVANT
(Luke 7:1-10)
LUKE 7:1-10
1 Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. 3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 5 “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.” 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter into my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” 10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.
The city of Capernaum was under authority of King Herod Antipas. The Romans stationed a garrison in that important commercial center, in order that the Jews should not surprisingly rise in rebellion against authority. The centurion of the detachment quartered there was a wise officer who did not dominate over the foreign enemy nation by force and violence, but understood them and loved them, for he realized that their religion, which calls to belief in the One God, is the right religion that is filled with power. He honored this belief, and built for them a new, wide, spacious synagogue, which became more famous and honored in heavens and on earth than the Temple of Jerusalem, for Jesus made it the center of his ministry in which he frequently taught, healed the sick, and drove out demons from the demon-possessed.
When Christ’s enemies had organized themselves to destroy him, and after he had chosen his disciples to preach, the representative of the pagan commander came to him seeking his help. The centurion had already heard about the wonderful works of Jesus. He sent his spies to him, and knew exactly that Jesus was not a fearful rebel who led the racing multitudes into a riot, but that he was overflowing with love, and filled with the power of God. His healings and casting out demons confirmed to the centurion his noble designs.
The cautious heathen commander recognized the voice of God more than the blind Pharisees themselves who, through their fanatic clinging to the law, became far away from the truth. The centurion believed in Christ without seeing him. He had his sayings and words translated, and then he examined them exactly and understood the message of the Prince of peace. He knew that his kingdom was not of this world, and was not founded on swords and taxes.
The good thought of the centurion appeared in his genuine affection for his sick servant. He did not leave him neglected, but looked after him, and when he was ready to die, his master found no means and help except in Jesus, the greatest Physician. But as a heathen, he was prohibited from receiving the teachers of religion into his house, so he sent messengers and elders of the synagogue to Jesus, to mediate before him for his sick servant. Those went pleasantly to carry out the centurion’s will, and told Jesus that he was worthy of his help, though he was unclean according to their faith. When Christ did not respond immediately to their demand, they insisted on him, and testified repeatedly of the kindness and favor of that respectable commander. In fact the love of God responds to every honest human service. Jesus went, though he was prohibited from visiting a heathen according to the law. He was determined to enter into the centurion’s house even if the Jews considered it a sin.
However the centurion had a sensitivity that made him feel that it was impossible for Jesus to enter his house. He expressed his great faith in words, saying, “I am not worthy that you should enter my house.” Imagine how the commander of the occupying authority humbled himself and submitted to that extent to the judgments of the Jewish nations, calling himself “not worthy” in the full meaning of that word, in spite of the elders’ testimony of his worthiness, “he is worthy.” This is the mystery of greatness in any great person. He that is worthy considers himself unworthy. Unfortunately, today he who is unworthy declares himself as worthy. How do you see yourself man?
Thus the centurion confessed his faith in the power of Jesus, believing that he could command the angels to overcome demons and disease, as the officer commands his soldiers to destroy the enemies and rebels. This foreign commander realized deeply Jesus and his essence. He did not only call him “Master”, but officially called him “Lord”, as we stated expressly in the original Greek text. No Jewish dared at that time to pronounce this title, for such a testimony implied a confession of Christ’s divinity in his human being.
Jesus accepted this faith immediately, wondering about the work of the Holy Spirit in this foreign man. He also marveled because of the unbelief in Nazareth (Mark 6:6). The Son of Man openly declared the beginning of the age of preaching the Gentiles, when the faith of the pagan commander appeared greater, holier, deeper, and more effectual than the faith of all his disciples, followers, and professing multitudes. He healed the servant immediately, for the power of Christ became completely evident through the centurion’s faith, even at a distance.
How does your faith appear? Do you only believe for yourself, or do you also pray for others? Where your love and faith come, in harmony with your unworthiness, near to Jesus, and you submit completely to him, the power of the Son of God appears with greatest expression in the salvation of your friends, even if they were distant from you. How does your prayer come out now, with selfishness, or with love for others?
PRAYER: O Lord, I am not worthy that you should come near to me, for I am selfish and unclean. Please forgive me my iniquities and little love for others. Heal me and save me. Heal them and save them. I do believe that your power overcomes me together with my friends whose names are before you. You are our Lord and Savior. To you we worship.
QUESTION 56: Why did Jesus praise the centurion’s faith?
JESUS
RAISES THE SON OF THE WIDOW OF NAIN
(Luke 7:11-17)
LUKE 7:11-17
11 Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. 12 And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. 16 Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” 17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, Jesus went to the city of Nain, 50 km. from Capernaum. Nain signifies “delightful”, but death attacked this delightful, beautiful town as a monster, and cut off a young man. To the Jews, the death of a man in the prime of youth was considered as a divine judgment (Psalms 55:23; 102:26). Though the young man was the only son of his widowed mother, and the hope of his clan for the continuance of their seed, his death was considered as a punishment to all his house. His mother had already suffered the death of her husband, and now the second heavy blow hits her innermost being. She saw in those afflictions the proclamation of God’s condemnation on her, and was crushed, faithful, and God fearing. Many of the people of her town accompanied her in the funeral of her only child. The mother wept, shed tears, and tore out her hair. The procession of death went on to the open tomb to receive the dead body of the young man.
Opposite to this hopeless procession came the procession of life in the Prince of Life. Jesus saw the mother’s repentant heart, which neither complained nor blasphemed against God, but only complained about the sorrows of the mother who wept bitterly and penitently. The weeping of the repentant mother moved the heart of God. Christ said to her his comforting word, “Do not weep.” The Son of Man says this kind, tender, and powerful word to all those who weep in the world if they repented, for he comes to them with the full comfort of the power of God present in his person.
Jesus Christ came silently toward the coffin and touched it. The procession of death stopped. Then Christ followed his consoling, merciful word with his saving authoritative work. Christ did not call God to help and support him, but immediately commanded the dead man in his own name and authority, “I say to you, arise.” This word pierced the kingdom of the dead, and the dead man heard the call of his Lord. The word of the Creator breathed the powers of life into the dead body, and the man stood up and did not need anybody to support him. His spirit and his soul came back to him, and he spoke and lived as if he had never died. Christ raised the young man quickly from his coffin, as the father raises his sleeping son from his bed. Christ’s dominion is considerably great.
The crowds attending Christ became frightened, and those attending the funeral fixed their eyes stunningly on Christ’s mouth when they heard his words and saw the dead man starting up alive out of his coffin. They all felt the presence of God among them, trembled, and glorified the Holy One saying, “The prophet promised by Moses has truly come (Deuteronomy 18:15,18). He will make an new covenant with our God, and will guide his straying people into salvation.” They thought that Jesus was Christ himself, for every Jewish was aware that the raising of the dead is one of the signs of Christ; so some of them dared to say, “God himself is present among us in the man Jesus, for he has visited his despised people.” The report about the raising of the dead spread everywhere like a thunderbolt, and excited the hearts and minds.
Dear brother, did you realize the meaning of raising the dead at the hand of Christ? Whoever realizes and confesses that Jesus is Lord over death, must say with boldness and testimony that he is the true God and the Son of the Highest, filled with the Spirit, for God alone can raise the dead.
Did you realize the meaning of raising the young man before the walls of Nain with relation to yourself? You are like the young man in his coffin, full of corrupt thoughts and rotten sins, with the seed of death fixed to you. Now, Jesus Christ stands personally before you, blocks your way to the open tomb, touches you and says, “Young man, I say to you arise.” And you arise and live full of the power of God, and serve your Lord and Savior, thankfully and living forever.
PRAYER: We glorify you O Lord, and praise you joyfully and gladly for you raised the young man in Nain, raised us to life from the death of sins, and gave us eternal life. We worship to you Victor, and drink of the water of your life. Please call thousands of young men of our nation to the process of your triumphal procession. Amen.
QUESTION 57: How could Jesus raise the dead young man?
THE
DELEGATION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST,
JESUS' ANSWER, AND HIS TESTIMONY OF THE BAPTIST (Luke 7:18-35)
LUKE 7:18-23
18 Then the disciples of John
reported to him concerning all these things. 19 And John, calling two of his
disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we
look for another?” 20 When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the
Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for
another?’”
21 And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil
spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. 22 The Jesus answered and said to
them, “God and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind
see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
The reports about the wonderful works of Jesus spread, even into the dark cells of Herod’s prison. John the Baptist who baptized Jesus, and saw the Spirit descending on the Lamb of God, thought too much about Christ, the Anointed with the Spirit, and looked forward to his appearance as a Victor and King who would reform the nation, and change the face of the world. At the same time, he hoped that Jesus would release him from the deadly prison, for he saw it was impossible for the Lord to abandon his forerunner who confessed him openly when nobody knew him. John expected a gesture of gratitude from Jesus.
All the members of the Old Testament waited for Christ. Some of them wanted him a political hero, and others an ardent professor. All thoughts centered on the person of the coming Christ, the Judge of the world who raises the dead. John wanted to bring Jesus gradually to declare himself openly to be indeed the Christ, by asking him about that, for he believed in him, but without steadiness. He wanted to extinguish his doubts that overflowed out of him during his long waiting in the deep prison.
However Jesus preached and healed many people. The word, “many” which is often found in our reading, indicates the greatness of the love of Christ, his merciful kindness, and indefatigable mighty power. Did you ever reflect on the signification of Jesus’ healing many of the blind only by an utterance of his mouth, without any operation? None but the Creator can open the eyes of men and give them sight after their long darkness. Imagine the joy that dwelt in the blind that were endowed with eyesight! How the people magnified God aloud! How the eyes absorbed Jesus’ image and sucked his impressing exceptional sweetness into their innermost depths at first glance! Dear brother, Does Christ’s image have the deepest impression in yourself? Do you see him in his love, kindness, power, mercy, and effort as the Savior of the world and the servant of all? Did Christ become the model of your life, the emblem of your future, and your saving Redeemer?
Christ answered John’s messengers, “Tell him who is imprisoned all what you see and hear, for this is in fact the kingdom of God that flourishes among you. I have not come with sword, money, and honor; but with forgiveness of sins, driving out demons, and raising the dead.” Please think once again, my dear brother: Who can forgive sins? Who is he that is stronger than the devil? And who can take the prey out of the mouth of death? God alone is the Almighty, and Christ stands before you in the authority of his Father, God from God. Light from light. True God from the true God, in one essence with the Father.
John expected another Christ: a champion who judges and manages. But Christ was embodied love. His power became great in the faith of the weak. The poor hear the gospel. Their holding fast to the Savior saves them, and often brings them into the kingdom of God, overcoming in them the temptations of hell. Christ made clearer to John’s messengers that he does not change the situations, but the hearts in the repentant; and he reconciles those that are prepared with God. He does not force the adulterer into everlasting life. He who seeks an earthly savior may choose an earthly Caesar, king, or leader; and fall with him into fire. But he, who longs for a heavenly Christ, must participate in his contempt, death, and life; and be with him from today in Paradise.
Jesus did not beatify John the Baptist, but all those who accept the meekness of the Lamb of God. Whoever asks Christ for promotion in office, school, allowances, and reputation, soon stumbles in Christ; but whoever repents, seeks only love, and forgets himself, enters into the kingdom of God, and abides in the power of his love. Thus Jesus put John before the choice that he might believe in his divinity, especially that he did not release him from prison.
PRAYER: O Lord, forgive us if we took more interest in earthly things than that of your kingdom and righteousness. Open our eyes to your loving kindness, and joyfulness of your glory, that we may see you, worship to you, and tell all people that you are God the Lord who leads us into self-denial.
QUESTION 58: What do we learn from Jesus’ deeds and words?
LUKE 7:24-30
24 When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.’ 28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.
Jesus did not keep the striving of faith away from John, for it is the act of faith that justifies and not repentance, knowledge, and godliness. Christ loved his forerunner, and showed respect towards him openly. He said that the Baptist was not movable as a reed shaken with the wind, but hard toward the proud and sinful, strict against the soft and haughty, and harsh toward the adulterous king. He pierced their hearts. John was the true harbinger, and faithful guard to his nation, who called all to repentance and returning.
John did not only speak with his mouth pressing on his hearers with heavy burdens which he did not bear, but he lived what he said, and denied himself. He did not give way to ease and comfort, nor did he seek pleasure in the midst of the flood of sin in his people, but repented instead of them all, had his clothing of camel’s hair, and lived on locusts and wild honey in the wilderness. Thus he was the embodied call to repentance.
Nevertheless, John was not only the greatest of all prophets in the history of mankind, but was also more important than all the leaders and priests of the Old Testament. He surpassed Moses, David, and all philosophers and founders of religions in the world, for he foreran the Lord immediately before his coming, prepared his way, and cultivated, with the power of a divine angel, the hearts of the people that they might be prepared to accept the sowing of the gospel. Christ bore witness to his power, and confirmed that he prepared his way rightfully, and lived in faithfulness, lowliness, and power. This is the high encomium, which Christ gave of John the Baptist. Would that we hear, at the end of our effort, a warm admiration for our faithful service from Christ that has been raised from the dead.
Christ clarified to his hearers, in relation to the kingdom of God, that he that is least among those born of the Holy Spirit is greater than John, who is the greatest of all those that are born of dust. It goes without saying that the believers of the New Testament are not in themselves better than John. Moreover they cannot do any good of themselves. However, God became their Father through Christ’s reconciliation, and the Holy Spirit made them partners in eternal life. In fact, if you believe in Christ, you will become, by grace, greater than a prophet; i.e. you will become a child of God with all the rights and power given freely to you. But you are also called to participate in Christ’s sufferings, to deny yourself, to bear your cross everyday patiently, and not to doubt your Father’s love which cares for you at all times.
The multitudes of sinners confessed their sins openly during the baptism on the Jordan. They bowed down under God’s judgment, confessing that they deserved destruction, and asking forgiveness only for the sake of grace. As to the professors and scribes, they embraced their own righteousness and trivial dignity, rejected John’s baptism, and did not enter into the redemptive plan of God. They hid their sins in themselves, thinking that their good deeds caused God’s blessing forever. By this principle, they transgressed God’s plan of grace, and instigated the people against John and Jesus, in order that their deceiving teaching should not move from the law, and that the people may remain imprisoned in the nets of their deception.
LUKE 7:31-35
31 And the Lord said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is justified by all her children.”
Christ likened the hardhearted rulers and elders of the people to arrogant stubborn children who invite others to play, and then quarrel with those who do not dance in tune with their flute, attributing to themselves the right opinion and the highest word for weeping or rejoicing. When the ascetic John demanded worthy repentance weeping, the lawyers rejected his call, for their Pharisaic flute was tuned to rejoicing in keeping the law. They called him who called to repentance a devil. And when Jesus, the complete Man, came calling men to the joy of grace, living an ordinary life in the spirit of his kindness, loving all people, and merciful to the sinners and evildoers, the lawyers hated him, for his love surpassed their teachings, and his righteousness came to them with grace from God, and not from their hypocrite works, and called him a reveler, and participant of thieves. If John and Jesus had kissed the hands of the rulers of the people and did what they demanded of them, they would have received great honor; but they called to repentance of all men, and therefore the rulers of the people felt indignant about the Lord’s call and closed their minds and hearts against it. They were like the stubborn children who do not obey their parents’ call.
Yet all those who were prudent gained from John and Jesus the greatest wisdom, which intimates seeking the Lord, hating sins, and freely justification by Christ. He who likewise responds to God’s wisdom becomes filled with the powers and will of our heavenly Father, the All-Wise. Did you become worthy of the kingdom of the Lord, or do you look like the stubborn children who ask others to dance in tune with their principles?
PRAYER: O Lord, I am not worthy to be your child. But you guided me with your gospel into repentance, sanctified me with the blood of your Son, and gave birth to me again of your Spirit. I thank you with all my heart, and ask you to release my thought from the bondage of the law, in order that I should not reject or judge anybody, but love all in your Holy Spirit.
QUESTION 59: Why did Jesus call John the greatest among all prophets and those that are born of women? Why is he who is least in the kingdom of heaven greater than John?
JESUS ANOINTED BY A SINFUL WOMAN
(Luke 7:36-50)
LUKE 7:36-50
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked
Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat.
37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus
sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of
fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to
wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she
kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the
Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This man,
if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is
touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered and said to him,
“Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41
“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred
denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And they had nothing with which to repay, he
freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him
more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman
and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no
water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them
with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not
ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head
with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I
say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to
whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 And He said to her, “Your
sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to
themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Jesus loved his enemies, and did not reject the invitation of the censorious proud Pharisee to eat with him, though he was aware that his party had evil intents against Jesus.
The host was probably looking forward to seeing a miracle done by Christ in his own house. May be he wanted to examine Jesus: who he was? Or meant to intervene between him and his fanatic society. Anyhow, this Pharisee did not treat Jesus as a friend, nor did he offer him water to wash his feet from the dust of the road. And when Jesus entered into his house, he did not kiss him as a righteous brother, nor did he anoint his head with perfumed oil to honor him as a respectable guest; but remained reticent with him as mediator between two parties.
When the guests sat down to eat, the Holy Spirit led an unclean sinful woman who was despised by the people of the town. This woman came into the house to get near to the Savior, for she had already heard his preaching, and received forgiveness of her sins by faith. Her heart overflowed with thankfulness and love, and she shed her tears ashamedly and repentantly on Jesus’ feet, then soon wiped his feet with her loosened hair and kissed them as a symbol of her worship to her Holy Lord. She also broke a bottle of perfume to make an offering of thankfulness and praise to God, for she knew who he was that has comforted her heart with his blessed gospel.
Then the householder, clean Simon became disturbed, when he saw how the unclean woman was allowed to touch his feet, supposing that he would become polluted by her touch, and would consequently fall from his divine communion. That was a Pharisaic examination of Jesus by Simon who thought within his heart that the Nazarene was not a prophet, since he did not realize the secrets of men’s hearts. But Christ read the proud man’s thoughts, and showed him how the Son of God could read all the thoughts of hearts, and hit them all with a piercing reply that condemns the proud and comforts the repentant.
Jesus led the Pharisee to judge himself, for the latter thought that his sins were little and he did not need a savior. Therefore he did not like Jesus. However, the great sinful woman whom Jesus released from the bonds of sin thanked the Lord with a true heart. Do you love Jesus? The extent of your love appears in your thankfulness for the forgiveness of your sins. Your heart is probably still hard, and you did not know yet that you are an invalid corrupt criminal.
Christ taught the professor to realize in the justified sinful woman the reason for true love. She received forgiveness of her sins not by a work of righteousness, which she had done, but contrarily according to her love for her Savior who delivered her from her malice.
It is not necessary to commit serious sins and then love God after having forgiven you them. You have rather to ask your Lord to open your eyes that you may know the thoughts of your heart, that you are adulterer, thief, self-conceited, disobedient, transgressor against God, and worthy of immediate destruction. We are all sinners of the race of dirty sin. Blessed are you if you accepted your justification in Christ, and became sanctified by your faith, loving Christ joyfully, and serving him gladly.
Jesus clearly taught the lawyers this principle of the Holy Spirit. The Son of God forgave the sins in case people returned to him moved by the power of his preaching. He could not say to the self-loving professor, “Your sins are forgiven you”, for he did not repent. But he gave the repentant sinful woman the fullness of salvation freely, for her faith saved her. Jesus confirmed her faith and her preference over the unrepentant householder. And she went back joyfully justified, whereas the self-conceited professor flamed up with rage, and remained deprived of God’s comfort. Where did you reach in Christ’s knowledge and salvation? Do you thank him for forgiving your sins? What do you do to show your love to him?
PRAYER: O Lord, you are love. You do not despise me, but raise me up to you. I am ashamed of my sins. Please forgive me my sins, untie the bonds of my soul, and sanctify me in your communion, so that I may preach everybody with your salvation, and kiss your feet in your next coming. You, and no one else, are my Lord and my God.
QUESTION 60: Why did Christ say to the loving woman, “Your faith has saved you”?
JESUS' CONSTANT COMPANIONS
(Luke 8:1-3)
LUKE 8:1-3
1 Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went
through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the
kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,
2 And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary
called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, 3 and Joanna the wife of
Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from
their substance.
Luke is the only evangelist who reports the way in which Jesus Christ obtained money for his living and dressing, he and his disciples. The Lord refused to make bread miraculously out of stones, so the women whom he healed gave him of their money to facilitate the ministry of the Lord and his apostles. Some of them accompanied the procession of salvation, without being rejected by the Lord, for the majesty of his power and the holiness of his person kept them together with his disciples in purity. No impurity ever broke out near Christ, which indicates the kind of love in heaven, where there is no sexual relation, but thankfulness, holy love, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
It is a great privilege in Christianity that not only men are faithful, but women are as well. Those noble maidservants did not talk much, but devoted their attention, with their practical mind, to useful food and clean dress.
Many women in the world, through Christ, became free from contempt as being creatures in a degree beneath that of men, for Christ forgives them their sins as he forgives men, all the same, placing them at the same level in redemptive salvation. Even today, Christ offers the fullness of the gospel to all women and girls, that is half of human beings. He who hears his voice comes to him, becomes sanctified, and serves him practically, as the respectable ladies served him at that time.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
AND THE FIELD WITH ITS FOUR KINDS
(Luke 8:4-15)
LUKE 8:4-8
4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and
they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 A sower went out
to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled
down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as
it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8
But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.”
When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Do you want to hear more about grounds in Christ’s parables? Did you exactly understand his saying? His disciples did not understand Christ’s sayings exactly and profoundly, and they asked their Master to give them more explanation. Yet, the public satisfied themselves with the interesting story. They left Jesus, the Sower and did not understand their sowing, nor did they understand their own heart. A superficial man spontaneously hardens his heart and bears no fruit.
LUKE 8:9-10
9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” 10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing the may not understand.’”
Such is the case, my dear brother, with those multitudes. But you are more interested in hearing about the gospel of Christ. You ask him with lowliness and prudence, and he opens your eyes, and cultivates your heart that you may accept the seed of the word of God. Hear the explication of Christ prayerfully, and you will see the danger that surrounds you, and the promises, which the Son of God gave you for your deliverance.
LUKE 8:11-15
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word
of God.
12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes
away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with
joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation
fall away. 14 And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have
heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and
bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are
those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear
fruit with patience.
Did your heart become hard as a street through much listening to the radio, or to your own occupied thoughts, that there is no place for the word of God within you? Are you like a stone in the midst of a river, into which no wetness comes? Ask your Lord for brokenness of your hard heart, in order that you should not become like a road paved with cement, but like a fertile ground, good for the sowing of the word of God. If you did not repent, the devil would come personally, and take away the holy seed from you. The evil one, first of all, wants you to forget the powerful word of God. He makes you busy, after your listening to sermons, with idle babblings, exciting clamor, excessive pastime, and futile imaginations in order that your listening to the word should be in vain. Be watchful how to hear! Keep the word of the Lord with determination and steadiness, and memorize many verses. Do not think that your knowledge of the Lord’s counsel is enough. You are just a novice.
Keep away from enthusiasm in following Christ. You are not righteous and skillful enough, nor are you worthy of serving him. He wants first to change your heart, and crush your mind completely, that you may penetrate deeply into his words, and take power from them. Do not be superficial, but open your heart completely to the grace of God, for its power can keep you in the times of trouble, so that you may become patient and love your enemies. Ask your Lord to break your superficiality, imaginations, and self-righteousness that you may become righteous.
Do you love both money and the Lord simultaneously? Are you trying to gain honor and self-denial simultaneously? Do you trust the All-Ruling and wish to manage your life simultaneously? Are you satisfied with the joy of Christ, or are you also searching in the mud of amusement? Christ wants you to be perfect to him. He does not crown a divided heart. If you do not give up yourself completely and forever to Christ, the spirit of the world will choke you, and worries will overburden you. Then you will not find power in yourself, for Christ is the only Deliverer and Savior.
No man has a good, clean heart as a good ground, but the word of Christ makes us useful, and prepares us for hearing, believing, and good working. Be aware that the fruits of the Holy Spirit do not grow in one day in a heart that was already filled with evil. In order to strengthen your faith, you need patience, longsuffering, and constant confidence in the mercy of God, for it is he who bears you. Abide in him and he in you that you may bear much fruit.
PRAYER: O Lord, you know my heart. Please plow it deep. Break the indifference in me. Cause superficiality to explode. Take away from me all inclination to money and amusement. Overcome the worries and doubts. Sow your love in me, and teach me patience in looking at you.
QUESTION 61: What are the four kinds of men’s hearts that Jesus saw with his hearers? Why does only one kind of them bear good fruit?
THE MYSTERIS OF THE FAMILY OF GOD
(Luke 8:16-21)
Luke 8:16-18
16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. 18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”
Christ enlightened the minds of his disciples with his gospel that they might become shining light in the darkness of the world, by word, deed, and behavior. The religion of Christ has a call that is not living for itself, but is prepared to spread the riches of the knowledge of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit throughout all the people.
However, preaching on roads and public squares is sometimes prevented under certain conditions. Christ points out to the picture of the family which meets inside the house around the lamp of the gospel. This signifies that if someone visited you at home, let him observe that the comfort of the gospel is the glory of your home.
Christ called his followers the light of the world, the salt of earth, and the leaven of the dough. It is impossible for you to hide your faith before your neighbors. They feel your love, peace, and joy unless your faith has died and become a conserved tradition. Never force anyone in your surroundings to accept your faith, but prepare yourself, at all times, to answer frankly, with prudence and lowliness whoever asks you about your faith, for our religion is not secret circles, but is opened to every convert.
Everyone is invited to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but not everyone understands them. Christ invites all, but few come. The lightening of man happens by direct interference of God. Yet those whom God opens their hearts to the meaning of his words are not the clever and proud, or the professors who hold the tradition, but those who hear with lowliness and thirst for righteousness. Christ says frankly, “Take heed how you hear.” He, who listens to the word of God, thinks of it, moves it into his heart, and discusses it with others, becomes lightened with the power of God. If he prayed according to the meanings that are new to him, he would receive a divine power, and live in fellowship with God, for man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He who listens to Christ watchfully becomes more and more enriched, for, in the kingdom of God, there is a principle of spontaneous growth in love, in the knowledge of God, and in the power of the Spirit. This positive development in the believer only depends on hearing the gospel.
Unfortunately, there is also the principle of spontaneous failure where the faculty of perceiving becomes weak, and the mentioning of the gospel becomes little. He who neglects the word of God forgets his Lord, becomes empty from the power of God, and loses all what he had of divine things. If someone listened to the gospel proudly, mocked at Christ, and censored his words sarcastically, he rejects the gospel willingly, loses grace, and becomes filled with an unclean spirit. Do not forget that the devil has only one purpose: to wipe off the word from you, take away your interest in praying and reading, and help you to forget its impressions quickly. Take heed therefore how you hear the words of Jesus, for your salvation depends on your hearing the gospel.
Do you hear it, understand it, live it, and tell others about it?
LUKE 8:19-21
19 Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. 20 And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.” 21 But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
Jesus lived in fellowship with his disciples, leaving his beloved mother and brothers. And when his enemies cast him away as a deceiver, warned people from following him, and officially rejected his message, his family came to him, and insisted on him to abstain from preaching, in order that he and his family should not be driven out of the nation. But Christ, with the sword of the Spirit, cut the temptation of blood, and called all hearers of the word of the Spirit of God his brothers and his sisters, if they did what they heard from him. With these words, the Savior revealed the mystery of the family of God, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the divine kingdom, except those that are born of the word of their Lord.
Mary heard this decisive word with a wounded heart, but she understood its meaning when she was filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. She probably told Luke personally of this event, and Luke on his part reported it to us to us in addition to other reports, which he had learnt from Mary.
PRAYER: Our reporting Lord, we thank you for your holy word, our spiritual nourishment. Teach us to read your word constantly and understand it, so that we may long for more hearing, and grow in peace and faith. Release us from the bonds of sin in order that nothing should separate us from your word, which is the power of our life.
QUESTION 62: How do we become rich in God?
QUIZ
The Preparation For the Work of Christ in Public
and Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee
Dear reader,
If you studied carefully Chapters 3 to 8 of the Gospel of Luke, you would be able to answer easily 24 questions out of the following 32 questions. If you mail us correct answers to these questions we will send you the next part of this series on the gospel of Luke:
31. When did John the Baptist begin his ministry, and what is the meaning of his baptism?
32. Why did John call men, “the children of the devil”? What are the true fruits that are worthy of repentance?
33. What is baptism with the Holy Spirit?
34. What do we learn from Christ’s baptism?
35. What is the purpose of writing the genealogy of Jesus in Luke’s gospel?
36. Why did Jesus not make bread out of the stones in the wilderness?
37. Why did Jesus did not accept the riches of the world, and refused to show himself in the glory of his Father in the midst of the temple?
38. What is the essence of Christ and his works, which made the souls grow gradually?
39. Why did the wretched superficial Nazarene hate their native Jesus?
40. How, and why did Jesus cast out the unclean spirit from the demon-possessed?
41. Why did Christ prevent the evil spirits from speaking, and how did he heal the sick?
42. What are the mysteries of the effectual ministry of Christ?
43. Why did Peter tremble from Christ?
44. What is the will of God?
45. Why did Jesus forgive the paralyzed his sins?
46. Why can Christ not save the unrepentant?
47. Why did Christ call himself Bridegroom, and rejected the order of fasting of the Old Testament?
48. What is the meaning of the statement, “Christ is the Householder”, and why do Christians celebrate Sunday joyfully instead of the Sabbath?
49. Why did Christ call the twelve disciples, and how did he choose them?
50. Who are the poor, hungry, and weepers in Christ’s beatitudes, and did he promise them?
51. Why does Christ express woefulness to the rich, overstuffed bellies, and those who laugh, particularly the hypocrite?
52. Why do Christians love all their enemies?
53. Why does Christ prevent us from criticizing others?
54. Who is righteous?
55. How do we found the house of our life faithfully, in spite of the disasters of time and the Last Judgment?
56. Why did Jesus praise the centurion’s faith?
57. How could Jesus raise the dead young man?
58. What do we learn from Jesus’ deeds and words?
59. Why did Jesus call John the greatest among all prophets and those that are born of women? Why is he who is least in the kingdom of heaven greater than John?
60. Why did Christ say to the loving woman, “Your faith has saved you”?
61. What are the four kinds of men’s hearts that Jesus saw with his hearers? Why does only one kind of them bear good fruit?
62. How do we become rich in God?
Send us your name and address clearly written along with your reply and write to the following address:
WATERS-OF-LIFE
P.O. BOX 15755
PITTSBURGH, PA 15244
USA
CHRIST'S POWER OVER THE STORM,
THE DEVILS AND DEATH
(Luk 8:22-56)
LUKE 8:22-25
22 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out. 23 But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. 24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
Jesus continued his way alongside of Capernaum, for his enemies were willing to kill him. He began wandering about unsteadily, passed by all the villages of the region, and slept in the wilderness in order that nobody should know his place, for the hour of his death had not come yet. Christ himself appointed the place and time for his victory.
When Jesus went over the lake in a boat, the devil tried to destroy the Son of God and his followers by drowning him in the rough waves. But Jesus slept calmly and serenely, with a pure conscience, preserved with the protective care of his Father. His Spirit dwelt in God, and his will was in full harmony with his Father’s. He did not fear death, nor was he frightened of its danger. Nevertheless, the fatigue of his ministry had worn him out. He had walked many kilometers, and his soul had starved greatly in prayers, faith, love, and enduring difficult people. The Man Jesus slept peacefully in spite of the waves, which clashed against the boat.
The disciples, as experienced fishermen who knew every mood of the lake, made every effort to hold out against the storm, but the devil’s attack surpassed their human ability, and the boat became gradually filled with water. So they tried to empty the boat from the water that dashed into it, but the storm was violent, and the waves became very high. Yet, Jesus remained asleep. The wind blew, the sail split apart, and they were greatly afraid. Yet, Christ was soundly asleep, feeling safe in the hands of his Father.
Then the disciples came to him who was asleep, awoke him, confessed their inability, and screamed in the midst of the storm fearing death when a billow came toward them as an overwhelming mountain to devour them. Christ got up. He did not preach the hopeless for half an hour or more, nor did he discuss with them the reason for the storm, but cried out one word against the guffaw of demons, and immediately the winds and the waves became completely calm. The Creator ordered his creation, and his creation obeyed him. The Lord of the spirits commanded the wind and it became silent.
In the silence of frightened hell, Jesus began to speak to his disciples. He gave them a rebuke for their inordinate fear, and asked them about their faith; but they drew back fearfully, for they felt that the Lord of the spirits was standing before them. Yet, Jesus is not a devil, but he is the incarnate love of God. He is not covenanted with Satan, but he is the Savior of the world who demands of us to believe in his divinity. Without this faith, we cannot be saved, nor can we find help and blessing, for the living faith means to be engaged and covenanted with Jesus forever. Do you believe in the Son of God? Then his holy powers drive out your hopelessness, and you gain heavenly power, for our faith is not lifeless doctrine, or logical proofs of books, but holding fast to the Lord that has been raised from the dead, conquering all grave powers.
The fellowship of faithful fishermen on Christ’s boat is a token of the church at all times. Today, we are not living in the quietness of heaven, but are crossing the rough sea of humans, and the devil is determined to destroy all those who believe in Christ. But if we lived with Christ on one boat, he would embrace us, for he forgave us our sins and sanctified our characters that we might not fall as long as we are in his Father’s communion. He allows us to seek his help in hardships and dangers, not fearfully and hopelessly, but trustfully and thankfully, for he protects us in the eruption of elements, and keeps us safe from the hatred and rage of hell. Do you abide by Christ’s fellowship on the boat of church? Did you experience the presence of God’s peace in your heart when the peace of Christ had silenced the troubled waves within you?
PRAYER: Our Lord Jesus Christ, we worship to you, for you are the Lord of lords, having authority over all powers, elements, and spirits. Please forgive us our little faith, fear, and hopelessness, and teach us to continue in faith, and become assured in the calmness of the Holy Spirit so that we may continue in the fellowship of saints, and experience your presence with us forever.
LUKE 8:26-39
26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him, 31 and they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32 Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. And they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33 Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37 Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
Jesus was the incarnate Spirit of God in whom the fullness of the power of the Creator dwelt. The holiness of the Holy Spirit appeared in him, and the love of the Holy Trinity moved him.
When Jesus arrived at the eastern shore of Lake Tiberias, a pagan region, wishing to find rest and pray there with his disciples, away from the overcrowded multitudes, a man possessed with unclean spirits hurried to him, and was attracted to Christ as a piece of iron is attracted to a magnet. The man who had devils had bothered all the country, and was causing endless troubles to himself. He had found refuge not in a house, but among the tombs with the dead, running without clothes in the fields, and cutting all the chains with which people bound him. The evil spirits in that tormented man knew Jesus immediately, and cried fearfully, “Woe to us! You have come before the due time. You are the Son of God. Begotten, not created. Filled with the holiness of God. You are Power of the Highest. We are perished. You have the power and the right to torment us.”
Would that the scales of blindness fall from the eyes of foolish men, the locks fly away from the ears of the deaf, and the stony hearts explode, that they may realize that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, and not a mere prophet. The devil has vaccinated millions with his antichrist spirit, and filled their minds and subconscious with repudiation of Jesus’ divinity, that they became rigid in their hatred and refusal. Though this deceitful spirit, the father of all liars knows exactly that his doctrine is lying, he purposely deceives the multitudes. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. Yet where Christ comes in person, and when the apostles of his Holy Spirit pray in loving lowliness, and preach willingly with fasting, there the devil’s authority fades away, and his power is defeated, for Christ is the Savior of the world, and his name drives out all demons without delay. Come to the divine Victor and you will be secure forever.
Thousands of hosts of wickedness resided in that poor man, calling themselves “Legion”, which signifies in the language of the ancient Roman army a division of 3,000-6,000 soldiers. These unclean spirits cried sharply and explosively like dogs, for fear that the eternal Judge might drive them out immediately into the deep chasm, having heard the gnashing of hell, and known the place of everlasting punishment. Dear brother, in these satanic confessions, you may see the future of the reprobates. So repent, as long as there is time, unless you are cast together with the followers of Satan into the lake of fire prepared for the enemy of God and his angels. Christ loves you, and is willing to save you. Believe in your Lord, and abide in the gospel of salvation that you may become sanctified, flee from the spirit of Satan, and stand safe under the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.
Disturbed unclean spirits seek shelter in human bodies, but they destroy their shelter automatically, for they are, by all means, destructive. Christ cast them out of the patient, and allowed them to enter into a herd of swine. The falling of the herd into the abyss and the lake is a token of the final judgment. Do you belong to those who behave like pigs, or do you sit at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in your right mind?
What a beautiful depiction of the event: He, out of whom the devils were departed, sat at the feet of Jesus all peaceful, calm, and rational, as a consequence of Christ’s triumph. Today, you can see groups of disordered, restless, furious, and wicked young people. You know that those are driven by unclean spirits. On the other hand, you can see others neat, pleasing, favored with Jesus’ blessing, in their right minds, and enjoying great divine joyfulness. Those are driven by the Holy Spirit, and are made secure in Christ’s expanses. Do you belong to them?
Then Jesus sends you, as a token and witness of his salvational work, to testify to all the people of your country that Christ drove all unclean spirits out of your breast with his holy word. You should be a witness of the Savior even if all the people of your country rejected Christ. The Lord goes wherever the people reject him. Yet, he loves those who reject him, in spite of their ignorance, and sends his witnesses to them. Are you a witness of the great God into your low surroundings?
PRAYER: O Lord, you are my Savior. Thank you for saving me from the power of all evil spirits, for your Holy Spirit resides in me. Forgive me my sins, and help me to become properly clothed for you, neat and clean in all my behavior, a faithful witness of your word, and light in my idolatrous neighborhood.
LUKE 8:40-56
40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the
multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. 41 And behold, there
came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down
at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only
daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes
thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had
spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came
from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of
blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter
and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You
say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I
perceived power going out from Me.”
47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and
falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people
the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And He
said to her, “ Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. God in
peace.” 49 While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the
synagogue’s house, saying to Him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the
teacher.” 50 But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be
afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” 51 When He came into the
house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the
father and mother of the girl. 52 Now all wept and mourned for her; but He
said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53 And they ridiculed Him,
knowing that she was dead. 54 But He put them all outside, took her by the hand
and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” 55 Then her spirit returned, and she
arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. 56 And
her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had
happened.
The Heathen, fearfully, sent Jesus, the Savior of the world away from the circle of their town. But the believers of the Old Testament waited for him. The ruler of the synagogue believed in him, sought him, came to him, bowed down before him, and threw himself down in submission to him. He heard much of Christ’s sayings, saw his miracles in the synagogue, and dared to believe that the power of God went out of this man, and that the Highest who is present in him is worthy of worship. The ruler asked Jesus, the Savior to come to his house and heal his daughter who was dying, and Jesus immediately accompanied him.
At that very moment, a sick woman drew close to the Savior to take power from him by touching his garment. Her faith was so great that the power of Christ went into her as an electric shock. It healed her sick body at once, and stopped the flow of her blood. This woman had been subjected for many years to pain, hardship, and shyness before many physicians, as if afflicted by God. But now, she has recovered by touching him, and her twelve years of suffering came to an end.
When she had recovered, Christ wanted to raise her to high faith. He asked about the unknown person who touched him willfully with faith and drew the power of the Holy Spirit out of him into himself.
In his prudence, he led the woman to confess her faith and testify her hardship and what Christ did to her in words of thankfulness. Furthermore, the Lord strengthened her trust and said to her his strange words, “Your faith has made you well.” He did not say to her, “I healed you.” But he referred the healing to her faith. This contact with him made heaven enter into her heart. He gave her divine peace and sanctification of mind, and said to her, “Now, I give you the peace of the Highest. Accept everlasting cure, and fullness of blessings. Go in peace.”
During this conversation, the ruler of the synagogue stood up boiling with impatience, for his only daughter was struggling with death, and the Only Physician was late because of an unclean woman, as if such a woman were better than him, righteous ruler of the synagogue. When he heard that his daughter was dead, he wanted in his deep sorrow and resentment to ask Jesus not to continue his way to his house. But the Lord, in his kindness, outstripped him, raised him to the highest degree in faith, and prevented the brokenhearted from becoming afraid, just as he prevents you from every fear, and demands of you more faith. Christ guarantees your salvation if you believe, and he secures triumph in you and around you if you continue in your trust humility.
Jesus chose three of his disciples that these selected ones might see his glory, and their faith be fed. Everyone in the house was sad, weeping, and wailing. Suddenly they who wept began to laugh when Jesus said that the girl was not dead, but sleeping, for they were knew for sure that she was dead. Christ commanded them not to weep, for he, the Prince of life, was present among them. Why do people weep when someone dies? Do they not know everlasting life? As a bishop stood at a wall ready to be shot by unbelievers who had sentenced him to death, he cried out his last words to the poor soldiers, saying to them, “Adieu, dead! Now I am going to the living. Every true Christian knows that death is the gate to life.” Are you afraid of death, or do you live untroubled in Christ?
Death is not the absolute end. With regard to our bodies, death is like sleeping, for our spirits remain awake for judgment, either in disturbance because of sins, or in peace in the bosom of the Savior. Christ, who lives from everlasting to everlasting, took the girl by his creating hand, and said to her in a gentle voice, “Get up, child!” This is the raising word, which Christ speaks. You will hear this word when Christ comes again, if you were one of his beloved. Then he will take your body out immediately raised with glory and you will live with your Lord forever joyfully and peacefully.
The girl was still on earth. Her spirit returned from the world of spirits, and came again into the dead body. She was no longer sick or weak, but opened her eyes wonderfully, and got up immediately from the bed. How astonishing that Christ did not say to her at that moment, “Worship to your Lord, and commit yourself to me your Savior”, but turned back to her lost and disturbed parents and commanded them to give her something to eat. Our Creator confirms the earthly life, and is fully aware of all our ordinary practical needs.
Then Christ commanded the parents with calmness to glorify God, and realize him who overcomes the devil, diseases, and death.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for you are the Prince of life, out of whom life-giving rivers flow. Please open my heart to your love, and my mind to your power, that I may live today faithfully with all those who hold fast to you. Help me to hear, when you come, your invitation to your glory.
CHRIST SENDS OUT HIS TWELVE DISCIPLES TO PREACH
(Luke 9:1-9)
LUKE 9:1-6
1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Jesus gathered his disciples and empowered them after they had heard his words for a long time, seen his works, and become strong in faith through his presence, until they received his power, and understood his designs. Christ wished to multiply the glory of his love, so he commanded his followers not only to preach, but also to cast out demons, and cure diseases. He gave them authority over all unclean spirits and all diseases, and sent them as the Father had sent him filled with the powers of the Holy Spirit to effectuate the kingdom of God, where Christ himself is King, Center, and Source of all power, for out of him power flowed to those who had no authority, and grace to those who were unworthy.
Dear brother, the command of our King is needful, and the time in which we can behave openly is short. Who hears Christ’s call to ministry? Who comes preparedly to him? Is your faith growing so that Christ may send you and equip you as a delegate to your surroundings? Do not preach philosophies, but communicate the power of Christ to those that are dead in sins that they may rise in truth and truthfulness. Set free in the name of Jesus the prisoners of the devil that they may enter into the light, and leave darkness. The fullness of the kingdom dwells in all those who obey the gospel. All humble followers of Christ, with all the saints who had fallen asleep are the kingdom of God that is passing through time and present among us.
Christ gave practical remarks to his servants that they might know how to behave wisely in their service. First he prevented them from worrying about money and bread, and commanded them not to bear treasures, loads, or weapons in their missionary journeys, so that they might be able to travel easily and not become exposed to theft. The kingdom of Christ is not out of this world, but is spiritual. This is why the gifts of Christ are spiritual and not material. Christ did not give his apostles salaries, cars, or earthly equipment, but said to them, “Wherever you may be, eat and drink what is offered to you by your hearers.” This command belongs to the people of the Old Testament in the first place, for that people was used to look after the ministers of the Lord with respect to their sustenance and food.
Christ made his disciples understand beforehand that they should experience the same as he had experienced: that some hearers would accept them, and others would reject them with dislike. It was advisable to keep the truth for the firstfruits of faith into whatsoever village they passed by, even if rich and clever friends were renewed thereafter and offered them more comfortable shelter, for faithfulness is the principle in ministering.
But where the hatred of hell hardens the hearts, the apostles should not compel the rejecters to accept the blessing, but they should go out simply shaking off all the dust from their clothes in token of the knowledge that they would not partake of God’s condemnation, which falls on all those who reject the gospel. Woe to the house, town, city, or country that rejects Christ and his salvation. The Lord’s condemnation and deadly wars will destroy them.
The apostles obeyed the words of their Lord, and walked to the towns, two by two. They revealed the triumph of Christ, preached with what they saw and heard, put their hands on the sick and healed them in the name of Christ, and experienced that the Lord himself accompanied them without their knowledge. His power was made perfect in their weakness.
LUKE 9:7-9
7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. 9 And Herod said, “John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?” So he sought to see Him.
Now, Herod had executed the Baptist whose preparatory ministry ended, and Christ has sent his apostles to spread the kingdom of God. Yet, the murderous king who was convicted by his conscience, heard of Jesus, and supposed that the spirit of John came to his palace to take revenge. His retinue tried to calm him down and said to him that Christ was the prophet to whom Moses referred, or the expected Elijah. Everyone wondered about the mystery of the person of the great Son of God. Herod desired to meet him, but Christ did not lower himself to political atmospheres, nor was he willing to please or gratify anybody. His disciples testified of his power by word and deed. They did not teach lifeless thoughts, but guided their hearers to Jesus of Nazareth, the divine Victor.
PRAYER: O Lord, we thank you with all our hearts for today you call your messengers, train them, equip them, educate them, and then send them, and empower them for several services that they may spread your great kingdom of love in our nation and throughout the world. Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.
THE END OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY
IN THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION OF GALILEE
(Luke 9:10-50)
LUKE 9:10-17
10 And the apostles, when they had returned, told
Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a
deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the
multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them
about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the
day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude
away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get
provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”
13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We
have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all
these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. And He said to His
disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” 15 And they did so, and
made them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and
looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples
to set before the multitude. 17 So they all ate and were filled, and twelve
baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.
Events followed one another quickly. The disciples returned and told Christ of the miracles of his power done by their words and with their hands upon mentioning his name. These reports came at the same time to the ears of the king who brought John, the forerunner of Christ to death. This king had probably begun to search thoroughly throughout his region for all those who were baptized at the hands of the Baptist.
Then Jesus took his apostles and walked out of his country towards the kingdom of Philips, brother of the murderous Herod Antipas, where Jesus desired to deepen his disciples’ experiences, and guide them to pray and give thanks that they might humble themselves and glorify God alone, keeping in mind that they were nothing, and that their Lord is everything.
When the multitudes in Capernaum observed that the Savior of the world was about to leave their country with his followers, they followed him in droves. And as Christ moved on a boat to the other bank of the lake, five thousand men followed him on foot and on boats to partake of the power of his blessings. Thereafter they found Jesus in the wilderness, and listened comfortably to his message about the diving kingdom in which peace and truth prevail, and no sin, injustice, or murder enter. This kingdom of God begins today in whoever repents to Jesus, the Possessor who qualified us, by his blood, to receive the power of his Spirit which establishes us in the services of divine love, and in the fellowship of the divine kingdom. Did you become a member of it, or are you just neutrally listening to the words of Christ outside the kingdom of God?
When the sun went down, the multitudes became hungry, and worried. The disciples also became disturbed about them. They were afraid of embezzlement, quarrels, fainting, and hatred; so they asked Jesus to end the preaching and healing, and send the five thousand people away. But the Lord looked at his apostles and was determined to give them an unforgettable lesson in order that they should never become puffed up because of their experiences in preaching, as long as they were unprofitable servants in spite of all the miracles they had done.
Christ commanded his disciples to feed that great multitude of people, but they confessed their inability having nothing but few to offer. Such crushing confession is the principle foundation to every servant of the Lord. Be aware that you and I are nothing. We have nothing, and we know but few of the knowledge given to us by the grace of the Creator. All physicians, philosophers, scientists, and geniuses know nothing, understand nothing, and can do nothing except that which is granted and made available to them by their Lord’s grace. Did you know that you are nothing but a breath of your Lord’s grace?
When Christ had overcharged them, their minds began to think and compute: how could they manage to satisfy such a great multitude in a human way? They had a look on their moneybox, and counted the number of camels, donkeys, and ships required to carry food to them. Consequently they realized that it was impossible for them to solve this problem for they thought according to their earthly power. But Christ thought in a heavenly manner. He commanded the multitudes to divide themselves into one hundred groups of fifty, for the kingdom of God does not accept disorder, or confusion. They sat according to Jesus’ commanded, fixing their eyes on him to see what he might do while their stomachs growled and gurgled hungrily.
Jesus Christ took the five loaves and the two fishes in his hands, put them before the face of God, and thanked him for this gift. His thanksgiving and looking at his Father, together with his trust in his great providence, and love for his lost hearers, mixed with constant praise were the mystery of this miracle and the power of performing it. The bread became automatically multiplied in his hands as well as the fish, until the entire multitude was filled. The disciples and the multitudes altogether were astonished, and some of them mumbled prayers giving thanks to their Lord. What about you? Do you thank your Lord for the little that is given freely to you? Do you share it out with others, or do you withhold it from them? Where is your faith? Where is your thankfulness? Where is your love?
In the beginning of his ministry, Christ did not agree, in his temptation by the devil, to make out of the stones, bread for himself. But he was moved with compassion toward his hungry followers who had suffered long for the sake of spiritual nourishment, when they had listened to him for a long time. He was prepared to fill their bellies when they had penetrated deeply into divine things, and not vice versa, for Christ is not a king of bread. However, fleshly blessings shall be added to him who seeks first his kingdom and righteousness. The Lord did not make for his hearers a cake, chickens, and wine; but bread and fish only. The multitudes drank water from the neighboring lake and springs, and when they were all filled of food, they filled twelve baskets of bread and fish, which were more that what was at hand in the beginning. Christ commanded them to gather the pieces that were left over, in order that nothing of the grace might be perished.
Then the honorable apostles and all the public realized that Christ is the Creator, His Majesty, the Almighty, and the Conqueror of all elements who multiplies by his love what is in hand. He alone can solve the problems of the future of mankind. Such management happens not through international contributions or monetary aids, but through the spiritual Lord’s Supper. Jesus gave his body and his blood to his repentant disciples as nourishment for their road in the desert of the world. The filling of the five thousand men in Galilee was a token of the Lord’s Supper everywhere, where the Son of Man sacrifices his life, feeds those who thirst for righteousness, and give them life through his Spirit. Did you enjoy God’s spiritual nourishment, where the King gives himself to fill his chosen citizens of the world?
PRAYER: O Lord, How great you are! I am sinful, and am filled with complaint, worries, doubt, and unbelief. Please open my eyes to your love and power that I may believe in your ability, and carry out of your fullness to all those who hunger for righteousness; thus, we receive grace for grace.
LUKE 9:18-22
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.” 20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
After the top of Christ’s ministry in Galilee, represented by filling the five thousand men with two fish and five loaves, the Son of Man withdrew with his disciples to pray. Did you realize that Jesus was a prayer, and that he did nothing and said nothing without continuous prayers? In this leading spirit, the Lord examined his disciples and drew them into confessing his essence. During this conversation, it appeared that the multitudes of his hearers did not realize his truth, for they supposed he was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament, or Elijah who was to precede the “day of the Lord”, or even John the Baptist who was beheaded by Herod but the other day. The people’s knowledge was still superficial, and related with fearful expectation of death and spirits.
However, Christ wished to guide his disciples to take a decisive decision. He pierced their hearts and asked them directly, “Who do you say that I am?” If the Lord Christ asked you this question, what would you answer him? What would you say to your friend? Who is Christ? A schoolgirl wrote on her copybook in answer to this question: “He is my Savior.” This is the most correct answer. There is no better answer than that, for this word bears the experience of salvation and the power of Christ. Did you experience personally your Savior’s salvation?
This answer was not possible before the death of Christ, for salvation was not done yet. Peter dared, contrary to the people’s opinion, and in opposition to the Pharisees’ spies, and said in the name of all the disciples, “You are the promised Christ, Son of the living God.” In the origination of this knowledge, the Holy Spirit wiped off all the doubts and questions in Peter, and created in him the faith, which was not originated by men, but by their Lord. No one can say that Jesus is Lord and Christ except by the Holy Spirit. Grace becomes realized whenever a sinner knows Jesus’ essence and holds fast to his divinity.
What did Peter understand when his lips uttered this unique name, “Christ”? The Old Testament says that he is the Anointed with the Holy Spirit, who bears all the powers of God in him, and unifies all the offices of the Old Testament in himself; and that he is promised by God to set up an everlasting kingdom on earth whose center is Jerusalem. The Jews looked forward to the coming of this Promise One that he might establish the kingdom of peace, raise the dead, overcome injustice, and spread freedom all around the country that was burdened with the bondage of colonization. These expectations became earthly political and not spiritual. The majority of the people rejected the preaching of John the Baptist, for he preached a coming solemn Christ who judges severely, and requires conversion and radical repentance.
The Pharisees alleged that the Messiah would only come if all the Jews kept the commandment of the Sabbath without a fault. The Zealots, on their part, expected a fighting Messiah who would drive out the Romans with sword, and make truth prevails by force and violence.
For these reasons, Christ prevented his disciples from speaking about his Messianism, lest false victories should break out about his person. He did not reject Peter’s testimony, but confirmed it with his silent consent; asking him to continue in faith, without giving him a proof and an express consent. He did not say to him, “Yes, Peter, you are right, I am the expected Christ.” But he prevented him from confessing this faith openly before his death on the cross.
And yet, Jesus began to spread the knowledge of the true Christ in the hearts of the disciples: the Son of the Highest has come to set up the kingdom of God. But he cannot establish this holy kingdom out of sinners in faults and offences, for the kingdom of the Holy One is formed of saints, as he said, “You shall be holy, for I am Holy”. Christ made clear this word to us by his saying, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” This divine kingdom is a Fatherly kingdom formed of the children of his Holy Spirit.
No man in the world is filled with this Spirit, for sin has separated us from out Lord. Christ came to purify, justify, and sanctify the people of his kingdom. The kingdom could not come before the crucifixion. Jesus began to tell his messengers that the true Christ came to suffer, die, and atone for the sin of the world as the Lamb of God. He could not build his kingdom with sinners on earth unless they are sanctified.
This essential knowledge did not enter into the minds of the disciples. They expected an eloquent-speaking prominent champion who would rouse the feelings and emotions of the multitudes and reign over the spirits and elements. Their thoughts were filled with the authority of Jesus. They did not observe his way down to death, nor did it occur to them that the religious leaders of the nation would bring the Christ of God to death or even partake of his death. After filling the five thousand, and after Peter’s testimony, Christ’s recurrent phrase to his disciples was that the Son of Man must die, in order to prove to his followers that he was certain of his triumph and that he was in harmony with the will of God.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus, we worship to you for you are the Christ of God, and in you dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Forgive us our superficial faith, and teach us the necessity of your sufferings and death that we may partake of your obedience of faith, and your triumphant resurrection.
LUKE 9:23-27
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
Do you wish to follow Christ and become a member of his kingdom? Do you long for changing into his image, and becoming a child of God that the name of your Father may be hallowed in your behavior? Then your sins will be clarified in Christ’s presence. In these verses, the words self, and life appear four times, and the pronouns me, and my appear five times, which places us face to face before Christ. His holiness reveals your impurity, so confess your corruption openly, deny yourself, and hate your dissolution. Do not show appreciation of yourself, but keep away from it. Do not listen to the cry of the flesh, but overcome your selfish sensitivity, stab your self-pity, and consider yourself as nothing that Christ may become everything.
How do you deny yourself practically? Christ said, “Take up your cross”, and not, “Take up my own cross.” He means to prepare you to accept your death sentence because of your sins, for the cross signifies the most horrible death penalty, which is prepared for runaway slaves, and despised criminals. Christ suggests to you, slave of sin, and runaway from God’s expanses into the fellowship of the disobedient, that you should bow your head to the due rewards of death that the Spirit of God may condemn you without mercy. Then you will not like your corrupt self, but you will despise it. You will also know that you have unmistakably lost it, and that it has no more value, but is going into destructive death.
This self-denial does not take place for one time only, but is realized daily by following Christ. Your Lord did not say, “Deny yourself for one time only and you will be saved”, but he wants you to practice your self-denial daily, to continue in judging yourself at all times, and to bear your death penalty constantly.
In fact, nobody can deny and deaden himself, and live at the same time, except those who follow Christ. In him we learn how to reject our sins, tread on our haughtiness, and hear at the same time his call to the true life that is filled with joy, happiness, and love.
The following of Christ is like a trip on the top of a series of mountains, where on the right and the left there are bottomless chasms. But in faith, we set our love on our Leader, and follow him step by step, neither quicker nor slower, neither before him nor behind him, but side by side with him, at the same speed, according to his will, looking unto him, not caring about ourselves, but focusing all our attention on him that we may forget ourselves and win him.
Christ stabs you further in your own self, saying to you, “If you wished to praise your manners and your continuous ease, and to make prominent your noble origin, you would soon fade away and become corrupt because of this selfishness, as all clever and rich nations disappeared through their boastfulness. But if you worshiped Christ, and became poor for the sake of his service, seeking not your self but him, then his power and Spirit would flow in you, and his life would compensate your losing self and give you an eternal being.
Unfortunately, people think that they are reforming the society with its schools, education, and morals. The are actually deceiving themselves. What we need, in fact, is to kill the ego, and not to boast of the customary morals, but to reject false humanity to win Christ alone. It is possible for a man, family, or people to prosper, and become so rich, clever, famous, and great that all the world may profit through him; but then he will come to the top of the slope and begin to fall down, for whoever turns to himself with the aim of winning the whole world, deviates from God, moves away from him, and loses everlasting life, for Christ said, “No one can serve two masters.” Christ understood this crafty temptation of the devil from the beginning, and refused to possess the world choosing the cross. This is why today he possesses the world and the heavenly places, and lives forever (Also compare John 12:25; Luke 17:23; Matthew 10:33).
Do you love Christ? Come to him and ask him to heal your losing soul. He is the Savior of the world, and is prepared to care for you that you may become cured and follow him. See the absolute loss of your soul, and confess it before Christ, asking him for your salvation that he may change your falling into sublimity, and your corruption into holiness. Hurry up and save yourself, for Christ is your Savior.
Do you love Jesus? Then tell the others about your Savior, for the bridegroom who does not tell about his beloved bride or address her does not love her, and the Christian who does not read daily Christ’s messages and tell others of his reports does not love his Savior at all. Are you ashamed of bringing the word of your Lord before your friends? Who is greater, Christ or men? Do you love yourself or your Lord?
Christ will come in doubled glory, for he denied himself on the cross and won it, having been given by his Father all authority in heaven and on earth. The Son will come in the glory of the Lamb of God, in the full glory of the Father and of all the holy angels who will be attending him. Then the kingdom of God will appear openly and become realized practically. Did you deny yourself, and become worthy for the kingdom of God in Christ’s blood and Spirit?
Christ knows that no man is worthy of entering into the kingdom of God. But whoever participates in renewing the universe receives the power of eternal life in the midst of our abysmal age, and passes from death into everlasting life. Since the Day of Pentecost, millions of people have lived heavenly life, over whom death has no power, for they have denied and condemned themselves, bringing honor only to Christ, the beloved Redeemer, and looking forward to his coming prayerfully.
PRAYER: O Lord Jesus Christ, You are my Savior, my Measure, and my Aim. Forgive me my selfishness, put to death in your kindness my corrupt self, and create in me a clean heart, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Bind me to yourself that I may follow your Spirit wherever you will.
LUKE 9:28-36
28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. 30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”-- not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” 36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days of the things they had seen.
Jesus called his disciples to put to death their selves, and take up the cross continuously, for he chose this way for himself, making himself of no reputation, and died for us on the cross of the infamous and accursed cross. There is no other way for salvation except that of the Lamb of God.
This way is but a transition period whose aim is to glorify God in the unity of love. Jesus chose his mature disciples, and showed them the true glory in God’s communion that they might clearly realize the aim of their self-denial, for this is the motto of all mature believers: To glory through the cross.
This glory is not received through a gift or ownership from God, but through humble prayer. Luke showed us more than the other evangelists that Jesus was a holy prayer, and a model to all prayers. As he spoke with his Father, the appearance of his face became different, for God is the center and direction of the prayer. He created man in his image, and therefore this image can easily be realized in praying.
In Christ’s harmonization with God, his appearance and his robe changed into light. Moses, the founder of the Old Testament had bright skin after his meeting with God. But Jesus, the founder of the New Testament was the Holy One himself, and therefore the glory that appeared in him was complete and unveiled (Compare 2 Corinthians 3:4-18).
Open your eyes and observe what is strange and impossible: the dead are alive. Moses is the founder of the law, and Elijah is the symbol of the prophets. This indicates that Christ, in his prophecies about his death was in full harmony with all the principles of the Old Testament, for Christ did not set up his kingdom by human power and ability, but by sufferings, cross, and resurrection.
Probably the two glorious apostles of God had to tell the incarnate Son about the mysteries and difficulties of his planned sacrificial death, for such metaphysical significations with all their details and consequences on the whole universe were beyond human understanding. Therefore the Son prepared himself to die crowned with shame purposely and intentionally to reconcile men with the Holy One.
This transfiguration took place that the three disciples might also understand the way of the cross as the only way to the reserved glory. However Peter did not see the cross, but only glory, and while his Lord was talking to everyone about the hour of his death, his subconscious mumbled about his wish: to cling to those three holy men so that Paradise might become into the world, and he might go into it without sufferings and worries. It was not easy to the disciples to see the shining glory of Christ, for they slept in a state of extreme exaltation, shining light and beauty. Their human spirits could not bear the appearance of God’s glory. They also slept in Gethsemane when the fullness of God’s wrath, and all the temptations of the devil descended upon Jesus. But the three eyewitnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration were granted to keep a little awake to see with open eyes and with astonishment the God of light who dazzled them with his splendor more than the brightness of the midday sun did (John 1:14).
In this sleeplike or half-conscious state, there came the cloud of the light of God, which accompanied the people in the wilderness, and which Ezekiel saw fearfully, for it was the veil of the glory of the Holy One. Fear fell upon those creatures, and their offences burnt in to their consciences. But the Creator did not come to judge his Son’s witnesses, for their faith had saved them. He brought good tidings to those who were afraid, and showed them the way to complete salvation. The Holy Bible does not contain many divine words with which God directly addressed his creatures; therefore it is necessary to penetrate deeply into each letter of his words and say them in our prayers to God.
The holy God called Jesus his Son, because he humbled and denied himself, and chose the way of the cross. This was the will of the Father. The essence of the Father appears in the Son’s meekness. Christ is not a created prophet, but he proceeded from the Father before all the ages, and was an eternal, holy, and glorious one of the three divine persons.
The Son of God became incarnate because of our unclean state. His Father kept him as the apple of his eye since childhood, and the Holy Spirit developed his human talents with his heavenly power. Thus the Man Jesus became the perfect Man who determined in his love to die for others, for he alone was worthy to die as a substitute for us.
He was the incarnate Word of God, and the best Revelation of his true eternal will. God commands you to hear Jesus’ word daily and accept it, for it is filled with the creative power, divine authority, and spiritual comfort. Christ’s word offers you eternal life.
When the disciples heard God’s revelation and commandment and accepted them, they realized who Jesus was, and knew that he was not a political savior, but the Son of God in flesh, and an designated Lamb for the cross. At this moment, the vision stopped and the voice became silent, and they saw Jesus alone. This is the summary of our faith: We do not need any angels, saints, bishops, or churches, for Jesus is our Savior, and our faith in him delivers us. You will never see anyone of help to you except Christ. Bind yourself to him, for God says to you, “This is my beloved Son. Hear him.”
PRAYER: O Father, we thank you for sending your Son to our evil world to save us. Clean our ears and hearts that we may listen to his words and keep them, that we may realize his divinity, respond to your Fatherhood, and glorify you for his death on the cross with pure and wise behavior.
LUKE 9:37-43
37 Now it happened on the next day, when they had
come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him.
38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore
You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes
him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth,
and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him.
40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Then
Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 And as he was still
coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the
unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they
were all amazed at the majesty of God.
Christ went with his disciples from the highness of transfiguration on the majestic and sacred Mount Hermon down to the deep Jordan Valley of disasters, tribulation, and offences. He newly entered into fellowship with men where unclean spirits dominate.
Christ’s followers themselves were defective and weak in their faith. Though they had already driven out demons in the name of Christ (Luke 10:17), they could not heal the demon-possessed boy who was afflicted with epilepsy. The physician Luke described this boy as possessed by a demon. Yet, not all diseases are as such, therefore we must be cautious not to judge any disease superficially. It is through faithful prayers in Christ’s fellowship, and silent fasting that the unclean spirit is forced to get out and leave the temple, which he had already occupied, to the power of Christ.
Jesus was exceedingly sorrowful to smell the unclean spirit, and see the weakness of his disciples when he had approached his Father, and abided in the glory of his love. He pierced their unbelief, and we can hear in his reproach to them the voice of the Holy Spirit, sorrowful for our malice, and revealing our perverseness and unbelief. The Spirit of the Lord resists our hard hearts, and feels sorrow for our incomplete trust. God was with men, but they did not believe in his present power. Christ remains with us all the days; so who abides in him and triumphs in his name? The Holy Spirit dwells with his fullness in the believers. Then where is the abundance of his love in them?
God’s holiness prompts him to leave and destroy us, for our unbelief is the greatest sin. But his love is patient. It has mercy upon us, and heals our evil hearts. It is good to you to distinguish exactly between yourself and Christ. He is from heaven, but we are subject to falling into hell. He is holy, and we are of corrupt minds. He is Love, and we are selfish and ungrateful. Jesus made himself of no reputation and was given all the authority of his Father, but we do not deny ourselves, and consequently we fall down failing and weak continuously. Be aware that God wants you to decide that you must believe, and to complete your commitment to his eternal fellowship. Leave the world, and keep away from false spirits, deceitfulness of riches, and superficiality of civilization that you may win Christ, the Son of God. Set your love upon him for he loves you and drives away your darkness.
The evil spirit in the sick boy perceived the narrowness of Christ, so he became angry and afraid, for the glory of God came to him. And when the disciples came to Jesus with the furious patient, the demon tried to tear the demon-possessed boy, then Jesus ordered the evil spirit to leave his prey, and thus he won the sick boy to the living God. Did you observe Christ’s attention to that poor boy, and how he used his power to save him? Did you realize the meaning of this deed? Even today, Jesus Christ looks after every sick boy in your country and all around the world. I a spiritual father cried out, “O Lord, have mercy on my son.” Do you cry out by grace for others, or do you still pray for yourself only?
Blessed are those who pray for others, for the greatness of God appears through their faithful love. Christ is willing to triumph through your faith too. So come to your Lord that he may cure you of the dictates of your evil heart, and fill you with his faith in order that his power should become perfect in your simplicity.
PRAYER: O Father, your love is great, and your power is endless. Forgive me my terrible unbelief, and all detested selfishness. Prevail against me for obedience to the faith that I may pray for others. Save every boy and girl in our surroundings who long to become free from their impurities and lying, and sanctify us completely with your grace.
LUKE 9:43-45
43 But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.
In the three examples explaining the words of Christ about the faithless and perverse generation, Luke shows us that the disciples themselves could not believe. Their thought was opposite to the counsel of God. They were blind and foolish, and did not perceive the way of God. Christ said to them, “Open your ears to my words.” But their minds were as deaf stones, and their understanding was not tuned to the Spirit of God. Though they were near to Jesus and chosen, they did not understand the necessity of Christ’s cross at all, and could not realize that the Son of God would be condemned by men as the rejected Son of Man. Nevertheless they were cognizant of the meaning of “the Son of Man”. This word is attributed to the eternal Judge, according to the Book of Daniel. Then how could defendants judge their Judge? How did the Almighty allow his mortal creatures and servants to torment him? This great mystery cannot be perceived by any human being today, unless the Holy Spirit helps him and opens his mind, revealing to him Christ’s humility, and uncovering God’s plan of love in his beloved Son.
At that time, the disciples were ignorant, perverse, and uncertain. So what about you? Do you dare to confess before your Lord the renewal of your mind, asking him to reveal his way and his aim for you and your church, or do you remain deaf and foolish to the mentioning of the Lord’s name?
LUKE 9:46-48
46 Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. 47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great.”
The disciples were not only poor in knowledge, but were also haughty. They thought they were quite something. This is the destructive sin inside churches, that some brothers think themselves cleverer, more gifted, and more important than the others. However, Christ dislikes this original evil spirit. He set a child among those men, and explained to them that that child, in spite of his youthfulness, was greater than them all. It goes without saying that the child was not profitable in himself, for he was sinful as others are, but his life became valuable and meaningful because of Christ’s love and response to him. The important thing is not what you are, or what you have, but it is the thing itself. God loves you, and Christ died for you, and his Spirit prompts you to do good. Your value is not within you, but without you. It is in the grace of God.
The setting of a child in the midst of men indicated his need of someone who would bring him up. May be he was parentless. By such a parable, Christ shows us that we are in urgent need of our heavenly Father, and that we cannot live without God. The child’s trust in his earthly father represents the faith humility in the believer who places his in his heavenly Father.
In his love, Christ looked after this forsaken child, and provided him with a shelter. This word of Christ has found shelters for thousands of the forsaken, for many poor believers sacrificed their lives to receive homeless people. They do not receive any reward for that, but Christ and his Father in the holy unity dwell in them, for God loves the small, and all those who consider themselves small and needy. Woe to the proud! They are in hell with the devils. What are you aiming at in your life? To be a simple servant in your meetings, or puffed up and proud? A faithful servant is better than the self-conceited great.
LUKE 9:49-50
49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
The disciples and we are not only foolish and proud, but are also selfish and violent. John who became thereafter the messenger of the love of God was angry when he saw a believer in Christ healing the sick and driving out demons in the name of the Savior, because that man was not of the company of the chosen apostles. John was adherent to the privileg