Luke 4:14-15

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14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.” ~ Luke 4:14-15

Having spent forty days in the desert being tempted by the devil, according to v.14, the Lord Jesus returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. He returned in the power of the Spirit because He submitted to the Spirit rather than the devil while in the desert. As a result, the Lord Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit. In response, according to v.15, good news about the Lord Jesus spread throughout all the Galilean area.

This Galilean ministry of the Lord Jesus, is covered in Luke 4:14-9:51. It lasted about a year and a half. During this time the Lord Jesus, along with His disciples, visited about 240 towns and villages.  And, according to Luke 9:51, the scene then shifts to the south, to the area of Judea.

The Lord Jesus ministers in Galilee with a continually similar pattern.  And that pattern is given to us in todays text, He taught in the synagogues in the power of the Spirit.

Luke, by the design, goes immediately from the temptation of the Lord Jesus to the afore mentioned Galilean ministry. But, the Lord Jesus had a ministry of about a year that happened between Luke 4:13 and Luke 4:14. This Galilean ministry, mentioned in Luke 4:14f, took place after the yearlong ministry of the Lord Jesus that Luke doesn't mention in his Gospel. The details about this year long ministry are given us by Matthew, Mark and John.

This year long ministry began in December of the year. According to Matthew 4:12 and Mark 1:14, at that time, the Lord Jesus didn't even go back to Galilee to begin His Galilean ministry until John the Baptist was imprisoned. 

These events of that interval year are recorded for us in John 1:29, where we read, "The next day, he,” being John, “saw Jesus coming to him, and said, 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'"

Now, at this time, the Lord Jesus is back at the Jordan river. In John 1:35, "The next day John was standing with two of his disciples, looked upon Jesus as He walked and said, 'Behold the Lamb of God.'" Then we read in John 1:37-39, "And two disciples of John heard Him speak and they follow Jesus and Jesus turned and beheld them following and said to them, 'What do you seek?'  And they said to Him, 'Rabbi,' which translated means teacher, 'where are You staying?'  And He said to them, 'Come and you will see.'  They came therefore and saw where He was staying. They stayed with Him that day.  It was about the tenth hour."  

Then in John 1:40-42, we read, "One of the two that heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, 'We've found the Messiah.' He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon the son of John, you shall be called Cephas.'"  

It was during this time the Lord Jesus began to gather His disciples to Himself. 

Mostly on the testimony of John the Baptist, these first four men began to follow the Lord Jesus. 

So, John the Baptist identified the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God in John 1:29. In addition, John tells the people to follow the Lord Jesus. As a result, Andrew and Peter and later on, Philip and Nathanael are the first four to follow the Lord Jesus. Actually, they follow Him a year after they were initially introduced to Him.

Now at this point in John 1:42, the Lord Jesus looked at Simon, and said, "You are Simon." Later on in John 1:47, when the Lord Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, being brought by Philip, “He said of him, 'Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile.'"  

"Nathanael said to Him," in John 1:48, "'How do You know me?' The Lord Jesus answered, 'Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you.'"  The Lord Jesus is using His supernatural powers here and it is a display of His divinity.

This is the conclusion of Nathanael who said in John 1:49, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the king of Israel.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?  You shall see greater things than these." 

After His temptation, the Lord Jesus did go back to Galilee briefly. He, with these disciples, attended a wedding in Cana where He performed His first miracle. Following His first miracle, He also met with Nicodemus and the woman at the well. 

Then, in Luke 4:14 we are given a description of when the Lord Jesus went back to Galilee to teach in the power of the Holy Spirit in the synagogues. He went to Galilee immediately after His time of temptation, just briefly enough to have this encounter with the disciples, and to attend a week long wedding. Then He went south to Jerusalem where He met Nicodemus and remained in Jerusalem until John the Baptist was imprisoned and He then went to Galilee to begin His official ministry there.

In Luke 4:14, we read, "And Jesus returned to Galilee."  We just covered what He was doing before this happened.  "And He came back in the power of the Spirit. And the news about Him spread throughout all the surrounding district." We know that because of John 4:43. The Word had spread all over the place because when Passover happened, all the people were down in Jerusalem, two million of them, for the Passover, the great majority of them, so the Word was spreading everywhere.  And it was then in that kind of popular environment that He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

In Luke 4:14, Luke uses the word "news" which is phm in the Greek. This is the word from which we get our English word "fame." The fame of the Lord Jesus was starting to spread. And, His priority was to teach with power from the Holy Spirit.

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Luke 4:5-13

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5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. ~ Luke 4:5-13

Luke gives us three examples of the temptations Satan threw at the Lord Jesus. First, in v.3 he says, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Then, in v.5–7 Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world and says, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours." Finally, in v.9–11 Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

We come to the second temptation in v.5, where we read, "The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world." Again, the devil is questioning God's promise. Here the devil is offering the Lord Jesus rule and reign over the whole earth without having to go to the cross. All of this only if the Lord Jesus will worship this one who once said, "I will be like the Most High."

Notice the response of the Lord Jesus in v.8 which reads, "It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only." The Lord Jesus responds with God's definition of this subject. That's it! That's the key, letting God define us and our lives.

In v.9, we see the third temptation which reads, "The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here." 

With this third temptation, the devil quotes Scripture. In v.10-11, we read, "For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” But, the devil is quoting the verse out of its context. This verse that the devil is quoting comes from Psalm 91. In quoting this verse, the devil is suggesting a way that was not the way of God.   

 

Then in v.12, the Lord Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 which reads, "It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test." 

In v.13, we read, "When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time." The Greek word kairos is used here, not chronos, not chronological time, but just the right showing of time. The devil is waiting to tempt the Lord Jesus at "an opportune time." Perhaps when he perceives that He is weakened.

The Lord Jesus said to the religious leaders, "You do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." We'll never know the power of God until we know the Scriptures; they go hand and hand. 

These temptations are amazingly relevant for us today. Satan doesn't tempt the mature with adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, murder which are all too obvious. When Satan means business with someone strong in the faith, he sticks with religion and he makes the Bible his textbook. 

He says to us "If you are a child of God, why are you living like a pauper? If you are a child of the king, why don't you live like a prince? The children of the king don't drive second-hand clunkers, they drive new cars. The children of the king don't throw their lives away in ministry, living on a shoestring budget, building no reserves. If you are a child of the king, claim your blessings. God has promised to send his angels to make you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. Throw yourself into these blessings. The best testimony you can be to your status as an heir of God is to be wealthy and have the best of everything."

If only we today could see this new "gospel" as a species of Satan's temptation to Jesus. Satan had one aim in the wilderness: to do whatever he could to keep the Lord Jesus from suffering. He was willing to let the Lord Jesus have all the glory and authority of a world ruler if he just wouldn't gain it through suffering. He was eager to let Jesus use his divine power if he would just use it to relieve his suffering. He was willing to let all the worshipers in Jerusalem see and acknowledge his divine sonship if only the angels of God would keep Jesus from suffering. 

In Matthew 16, the Lord Jesus said to the disciples that he had to go up to Jerusalem and suffer and be killed, and Peter said, "God forbid, Lord"? Jesus responded to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me" (Matthew 16:23). Satan's aim in the wilderness was to hinder Jesus from suffering. Because His suffering and death meant the final destruction of Satan and the salvation of you and me. And Satan's aim in the church today is to hinder us from following the Lord Jesus when he says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (in the path of suffering)." (Luke 9:23).

People sometimes ask, if Satan is real, why don't we see more demon possession and exorcisms in America. Satan holds American Christianity so tightly in the vice-grip of comfort and wealth that he's not about to tip his hand with too much demonic craziness. What Satan fears most in the American church is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that causes us to say with Paul, "I count everything as refuse that I might gain Christ . . . that I might know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

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Luke 4:1-4

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1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” Luke 4:1-4

Luke 4:1-13 describes the forty day temptation the Lord Jesus experienced in the wilderness. This is the final event, before the Lord Jesus actually begins His public ministry. This conflict with the Devil takes place almost six weeks. In many ways, it is the final exam of the Lord Jesus in the process of being prepared for His ministry. As Messiah, the Lord Jesus came to render sin and death null and void. In order to do this, He had to defeat Satan head to head. If the Lord Jesus is our Savior, He has to conquer Satan. Today, we are just considering the first four verses.

It is important to know that Jesus was a man. Yes, He is God, but He voluntarily set aside His privileges as God. He didn't cease to be God, He is fully God and fully man. He did what the Father wanted Him to do and He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit. So He set aside the use of His divine powers and submitted Himself to true humanness and allowed the Spirit of God to work His work through Him.

According to v.1, the Lord Jesus was fully submitted to the Holy Spirit who led Him into the wilderness. And, "the devil," in v.2, confronts Him. The word "devil" is the Greek word diabolos, which means "accuser," or "slanderer."  "The Devil" is the accuser of the brethren. And, of course, he would want to bring an accusation against Jesus Himself, but he had none that he could bring legitimately.  

Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses deny the deity of Jesus. But, the demonic world doesn't. Repeatedly the Devil says to the Lord Jesus, "If” or "since you are the Son of God." He employs the first class conditional sentence which means when you use an "if" followed by a positively structured sentence, it means "since you are the Son of God." Satan knew exactly who he was dealing with, this is why he tried to pressure the Lord Jesus to sin.

Every temptation that came to the Lord Jesus was a temptation from the outside of Him. It couldn't from within because He was sinless. However, this doesn't mean the temptations weren't real. His temptation came at Him to its maximum capacity because He endured the fullest pressure and never gave in to it. 

The devil found him in the wilderness, the area between the Dead Sea, the Jordan river, and Jerusalem. This is an area referred to in the Old Testament as Jeshimon, translated "the devastation." It is mountainous and rocky, with jagged peaks and severe ravines that go down hundreds of feet. It is dry and barren. It is inhabited by wild animals, snakes, and scorpions. 

Before he became know as the Devil his name was Lucifer. According to Luke 10:18, the Lord Jesus saw Lucifer fall from heaven like lightning.  He was the anointed angel. Some of his story is given in Ezekiel 28:11-15, Isaiah 14:12-14.  He was the anointed angel which probably means he was the praise and worship leader of heaven.  He was heaven's chief musician.  He was the one who led all the angelic praise.

For some incomprehensible reason he decided that wasn't enough, that he wanted to be equal with God.  And so the prophets tell us, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, that he said, "I will" five times. Pride was lifted up in his heart and he thought to dethrone God and God threw him out of heaven. In Revelation 12 we learn when God threw him out of heaven, He threw a third of the angels with him because they joined his rebellion. There was a mutiny in heaven. One third of the angels became the demons then.

Then he succeeded with Adam and Eve and plunged all humanity into sin. Now he comes after the Lord Jesus, the incarnate God-Man Himself.  And he must destroy Jesus because He has come to conquer sin and death and offer man a personal relationship with God. 

So into the wilderness comes Jesus, all alone, led by the Spirit of God who has filled Him, to find the devil for the confrontation.  This loneliest of all places, this anti-Eden, this most cursed piece of land where no garden grows and for forty days the devil throws everything he's got at Him.

According to v.2, "He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry."  He had eaten nothing for forty days. The devil has been tempting Him this whole time, and He's felt the maximum power of every temptation. And finally the devil backs away and for the first time in forty days it tells us, "at the end of them he was hungry."  He wasn't hungry during the forty days, the whole deal was too intense.

As the Lord Jesus begins to feel the hunger, the devil senses a new opportunity.  He senses vulnerability, and he moves in yet again. This time he uses a different strategy. According to v.3 he sees an angle in the Lord Jesus being starved and weak. He's now going to exploit that to the max and see if he can't crush the Son of God under the power of his assault.

Luke gives us three examples of the temptations Satan threw at the Lord Jesus. Today, we will just consider the first. In v.3, Satan is questioning God's provision by saying, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." You will remember, he is saying "since you are the Son of God." "Since you have all power, use your power to satisfy yourself." 

This is really a question about God's provision. "Hey, since you're the Promised One, you're the Son of God, since that's true, why isn't your Father providing for you out here? Why would He let His own Son, the Messiah, starve to death? So, use your power to satisfy yourself."  

In v.4, we read, "Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone." He is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 which in effect says, "You obey Me and I'll make sure you have everything you need." Life isn't a matter of what we eat. Life is a matter of realizing the purposes of God in this world and how we fit into what He is doing. 

The Lord Jesus is affirming His absolute confidence in and dependence upon God. He's affirming what Paul says, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."  His confident and ours is based on the character of the Father who will always meet our every need.

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Luke 3:23-38

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23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josek, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, 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 Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, 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 Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. ~ Luke 2:23-38

I know, I know what you're thinking, "this is a long list of genealogy, and it is boring." But, it is not. In fact, by the end of this blog, you will be blown away.

In our text, Luke provides the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. In it, Luke gives a great amount of detail, listing seventy-seven names in the line of the Messiah, all the way back to Adam, and even back to God, who is the last name mentioned in v.38.

The Jews kept precise genealogical records as a matter of public availability and accuracy. And, though they were young, Mary and Joseph were devout lovers of God and of the Scripture.  And they were surely aware of the fact that the prophets had said that the Messiah would come to redeem mankind. This is the purpose of this genealogy, to show the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Now, the ancestry of the Lord Jesus given by Luke takes us back to David, then back to Abraham, then back to Adam and then it goes back to God. Luke shows the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of God's redemptive prophecies and purposes. The Lord Jesus is the hope of all humanity. The fate of everyone who has ever lived and will ever live is linked to the Lord Jesus being the Messiah.

In these first three chapters of his Gospel account, Dr. Luke is amassing evidence to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. And it's irrefutable evidence. The genealogy of the Lord Jesus shows that He is the promised Messiah because He comes through the royal line that goes back to David which was predicted in advance. And it's very important in v.31, the last name is David. The Lord Jesus' lineage comes through the line of David, from Adam down to Abraham down to David down to Jesus.  

Luke, in his genealogy of the Lord Jesus goes from the present to the past. He starts with the grandfather of the Lord Jesus and goes all the way back to Adam and God. Luke goes from the present to the past, whereas Matthew goes from the past to the present. 

Luke's genealogy has seventy-seven names, whereas Matthew has forty-two names. Luke's list is a lot longer because he goes past Abraham all the way to Adam.  Neither of the genealogy lists give all the names.  Not every name is there. We know that by comparing some of the genealogy records of Genesis. 

In Matthew's genealogy and in Luke's genealogy we have different names in the records. In v.31, Luke traces Jesus' line back to David through Nathan. Nathan was David's third son born to Bathsheba. But the first son born to Bathsheba was Solomon. And the genealogy in Matthew goes back through Solomon. So in Matthew's genealogy we go back through Solomon to David. In Luke's genealogy we go back through Nathan to David. So, we have two different lines.

Matthew identifies Jesus' grandfather as a man named Jacob. He writes Jesus' earthly father was Joseph and his father was Jacob. But Luke writes in v.23, that Jesus' grandfather's name was Eli. So, we've got two sons of David, and we've got two grandfathers of Jesus, one being Jacob in the genealogy of Matthew, one being Eli in the genealogy of Luke. Both are royal lines because both come out of David. Solomon comes out of David, Nathan comes out of David. You have both those royal lines.

Interestingly, from David to Abraham the genealogy of Matthew and Luke are identical. From David back to Abraham, the names are the same. But from David down, the names are completely different. When we read the genealogy in Matthew 1 and we go Joseph, Jacob, we go through a list of names back to Solomon. Then we come here, we read Eli, and we go through a list of names back to Nathan. Those lists are different. What we really have then is two grandfathers, going back to two sons of David with different names.

Everybody has two genealogies like that. One is maternal and one is paternal. In Matthew we have the genealogy of Joseph through his father Jacob back to David through Solomon. In Luke we have the genealogy of Mary through her father, Eli.  

In our text, we have the genealogy of Mary which Luke gives under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to prove not only does He have the legal right to rule through His father, but He has the blood of David in his veins because of His mother. So either way, He is a descendant of David. He is the King legally through Joseph, and He is King naturally through Mary.  The credentials are clear, they are detailed and they are irrefutable.

Our text includes the genealogy of Mary, but, there's a problem, Mary is not mentioned. Of course, there aren't any women named in the entire genealogy, Mary notwithstanding. So, the first male would be Mary's father, and that's Eli. So, Luke, through Mary's father Eli traces the line of the Lord Jesus all the way back through Nathan.

To the contrary, Matthew includes four women in his genealogy. In fact, he picked two prostitutes, an adulteress, and an outcast, Gentile. Luke picked Tamar, whose story included having sex with her father. Luke picked Rahab who was a prostitute. Luke picked Ruth, who was a cursed Moabitess. And, Luke picked Bathsheba who conceived a child out of wedlock with David. I love this, because Matthew does this to demonstrate and highlight God's grace. 

Philip Yancey writes about grace by saying, “At the heart of the gospel is a God who deliberately surrenders to the wild, irresistable power of love.” He goes on to write, “Jesus did not give the parables to teach us how to live. He gave them, I believe, to correct our notions about who God is and who God loves.” 

In v.23, we read, "Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry."  The Lord Jesus had been living in obscurity in the town of Nazareth with His family, working in His father's business. He had only made one public appearance in terms of the text of Scripture, that at the age of twelve at the Passover. He spent thirty years in obscurity and didn't have a public ministry.

His public ministry was launched by His baptism in v.21-22. Luke then tells us in v.23 the Lord Jesus then began His ministry. This is verified, by the way, in Acts 1:22 and Acts 10:37 where it says He began His ministry at His baptism. 

Age thirty was the recognized age when people would acknowledge someone in a position of authority. According to Numbers 4, when somebody entered into priestly service, they needed to be thirty years of age. He would have been capable at the age of eighteen, or nineteen or twenty to engage Himself in the way He did in His ministry, but He waited until an appropriate age which the people would acknowledge as an appropriate age, the age of thirty. And He began His ministry. 

But, before we get into that ministry, Luke gives us this genealogy as part of His credentials. In v.23-38, Luke starts with Eli and ends with God. He goes backwards from the Lord Jesus back to Adam back to God.

In v.38, Luke identifies the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Every one of Adam's descendants has been stained with the sin of Adam and the likeness of God has been corrupted. But, not so with the Lord Jesus who is Himself the sinless, perfect man bearing absolutely perfectly the image of God. But He is not only the Son of God, He's also the Son of Adam. He is like us, tempted, troubled, suffering, persecuted, hated, reviled and killed. He is fully man and fully God, and therefore most qualified to be our Savior.

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Luke 3:18-22

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18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. 19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison. 21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” ~ Luke 3:18-22

John the Baptist's preaching was bold, strong, and confrontative. He called on all people to repent from depending upon themselves to depending upon God.  He told them if they would repent from their sin, God would forgive their sins, and they would enter a personal relationship with God.  John's boldness cost him his life, and he became the first martyr for Christ.

The Jews were tired of the Roman oppression and they wanted the Messiah to arrive and deliver them and liberate them from the Roman rule.  And, when they heard that the forerunner of the Messiah was there, they clamored to hear him. John was preaching the message of repentance and he was baptizing people as an outward symbol of their inward repentance and this was going on for about six months before the Lord Jesus actually showed up to be identified as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

John was the last representation of the law which spiritually crushes us. John used the law to reveal to the people their wickedness and the reality of eternal judgment.  He preached the reality of eternal hell.  And he preached that men would go there if they didn't repent and believe in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He warned people to flee from the wrath to come.  

At the end of about six months of John's ministry, the Lord Jesus came on the scene. John the Baptist baptized the Lord Jesus.  At that point, God was officially identifying Jesus as the Messiah, but that did not end, as I said, John's ministry. It continued for about six months longer.

At the end of v.18 we read, "John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them."  The people, of course, were the Jews. But John's message. In v.19 we read, "But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done."

Herod was not a Jew, he was an Edomite. This one fact proves John didn't limit his preaching to the Jews. John's ministry overlapped the ministry of the Lord Jesus until Herod put him in jail. John thrived upon preaching the Gospel, the Good News of a personal relationship with God.

Luke 3:19-20 is a parenthetical idea. In these two verses Luke describes the circumstances of John's death. Luke is not chronological here, Herod didn't put him in prison at this point. That came some time later. Luke is just wrapping up the story of John the Baptist, so he reaches forward to tell you how that story ends. 

Luke records the imprisonment of John the Baptist before he records Jesus' baptism because he wants to emphasize the break between John's ministry and the Lord Jesus' ministry. This was a tremendous turning point in redemptive history because the Lord Jesus started preaching in Luke 16:16 says, "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it." 

In v.21 we read, "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened." From this point on, the spotlight is on the Lord Jesus and His teaching. John's ministry overlapped the ministry of the Lord Jesus about six months. He was in prison for up to a year at which time he was executed.

According to v. 21 the baptism of the Lord Jesus was not just a part of John's work, but its climax. The coming of the Lord Jesus meant the going of John who said in John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease." 

The Lord Jesus was baptized by John not due to His need to repent, He was perfect. The Lord Jesus was baptized by John even though John, in Matthew's gospel, tried to prevent the Lord Jesus from being baptized by saying, "'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'" He was baptized because it was fitting for Him to do everything that is right. 

According to v.21, the Lord Jesus was praying when the heavens opened and the Spirit came and God spoke? Luke loves to picture the Lord Jesus in prayer. He shows Him praying at all the crucial turning points of His life: here at the baptism, at the selection of the twelve apostles (6:12), at Peter's confession (9:18), at the transfiguration (9:28), in Gethsemane (22:41), on the cross (23:34). He tells us that Jesus went repeatedly to the wilderness to pray (5:16) and that he spent whole nights in prayer (6:12). The point of all this must be to show that even in Jesus' life there is a correlation between earnest prayer and the blessing of God.

Then, according to v.22, God answers the Lord Jesus' prayer by sending His Spirit in a visible form and then declaring verbally His delight in His Son by saying, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The dove suggests Jesus purity, meekness, and innocence. It was not majestic like the eagle or fierce like the hawk. It was simple, common, innocent, the kind of bird poor people could offer for a sacrifice.

Finally, notice the words from the Father to the Son: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." This is one of two times the audible voice of God was heard. The other was at the Transfiguration in Luke 9:35 which reads, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” In Luke 9 the Father speaks for the benefit of Peter, James and John who were with the Lord Jesus. In our text today, the Father speaks to the Son for His encouragement as He starts this three and a half year journey.

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Luke 3:7-17

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7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. 11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” 13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” 15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ~ Luke 3:7-17

John the Baptist's message was designed to prepare the people for the Messiah and to introduce the Messiah to the people. In v.7, John says, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" John's message of good news that God will forgive our sins is framed up by the bad news that we were born into sin and we need God's help. John's message is harsh, and his approach, although difficult for the proud to receive, was truthful and liberating. 

At the heart of John's message was a call for sinners to repent. Repentance is turning away from our ideas on how to live our lives, and turning to God's definition of things. In this first message from John the Baptist, we can identify five characteristics of repentance.

The first characteristic of repentance is admitting that we are sinful. John likens the people to "vipers." These Jews to whom John is speaking knew full well the story of the Fall in Genesis 3 where Satan took on the form of a "viper" and deceived Eve. True repentance requires an admission of one's sinfulness, that we were conceived into sinfulness, and, as a result, we do not get life right apart from God.

The second element of repentance is a recognition of the wrath of God. In v.7, John asks a question, "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" John said this in order to prepare the people for the Good News that would follow. The absence of God's love is His wrath. The Good News of forgiveness of sin is not effective in the hearts of those who do not have a proper understanding of their hopelessness. We are all sinful and until our sinfulness is atoned for, we are objects of God's wrath. Admitting our sinfulness creates a measure of brokenness that allows the Gospel to do its work in our hearts most effectively.

The third element of repentance is the rejection of religious ritual. In v.7, when John said,  "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?," he meant, “Did you think that by this rite of baptism you would escape the wrath to come? It doesn't do you any good to come down here and go through the water. That is not enough. You have to reject religious rituals and seek God with an honest heart.” No ritual saves anyone, not even baptism. We cannot avoid God's wrath without His forgiveness.

In v.8 John says, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” We cannot bring forth the fruit of God apart from a personal relationship with Him. "Fruit in keeping with repentance" illustrates that God has come into our lives. Baptism is an outward sign of something that has happened in the heart, and John knew it could be an outward sign of lifelessness in the heart.

The fourth element of repentance is also found in v.8. John said, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father." Salvation is not genetic. John's hearers thought, "we are Jews, we are the people of the promise, we are automatically God's children." But they failed to remember that their faith in the God of the Bible was essential. Repentance is an element of our faith in the God of the Bible. It doesn't matter what our parents believe, their faith in the God of the Bible isn't automatically passed to us. God does not have grandchildren.

In v.9, we read, "The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Repentance is the work of God, it is the result of Him making us alive to Him. And, if He has not made us alive to Him, we are dead to Him and not in His family.

The fifth and final element of biblical repentance is receiving the Lord Jesus as our Savior. In v.15-17, we read, "15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 

In Acts 4:12, we read, "Neither is there salvation in any other name than the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." No matter what kind of repentance a person makes, there is no salvation unless there is trust in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. So, that's the capstone on John's preaching.  He preaches repentance from self toward the Messiah.

John is saying I can't save you, nor can I damn you.  I can't give you the Holy Spirit, nor can I bring you to eternal punishment. So, the Messiah who is coming is none other than God.  And He will do what no prophet, no man, even the greatest man who ever lived up until his time, could even begin to think to do.

In v.17, we read, “His winnowing fork is in his hand.” A winnowing fork is a large, wooden farm implement. It was used to sweep through the wheat and discharge the heads into the air. The heavier, good kernels of grain would fall back to the ground almost exactly where they were cut, and the lighter, worthless chaff would be blown away in the wind. The good grain would be gathered into the barn and the chaff would be burned in the fire. The picture that John is painting is of dividing the  good from the bad. The question is: what makes anything good? It is the presence of God. It is His presence that makes anything holy. John is saying there are two kinds of people in the world: those who will receive the free gift of new life through the Messiah, and those who will reject it.

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Luke 3:1-6

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1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’” ~ Luke 3:1-6

Luke 3:1-2 we are informs us that John the Baptist's ministry began when he was about thirty years old. John's dad, Zachariah, served as a priest in the temple when the angel Gabriel spoke to him that his wife Elizabeth, though old, was going to have a child. Since his dad was a priest, John was born into the priestly line. But, he wasn't your run of the mill priest. When he comes on the scene, he is living in the desert, wearing a camel's hair garment, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. .  

At the end of v.2, we read, "The word of God came to John." This word "word" in the Greek, is rehma which is an experiential word, only recognized in a personal relationship. Rehma means "the spoken word of God." The rehma of God is a personal and special statement from God launching John into his calling.

Every follower of the Lord Jesus has a calling. In Romans 12:2, we read, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Discerning the call of God assumes a renewed mind. To “be renewed in our mind” means to have our minds framed up by the word of God. And, out of a renewed mind, we are able to discern God's calling on our lives.

Integral to this is the development of our faith in the God of the Bible. I've mentioned this before but there are two things which create faith in the believer. First, trials that drive us to a position where we can hear God speak to us is the first part of this two step process. In 1 Peter 1:3-7, we read, "3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." This passage clearly shows us that when trials push us to look to the Lord and listen to Him, we will grow in our faith in Him.

The second step in this process is found in Romans 10:17, which reads, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." Hearing the spoken word of the Lord causes our faith or our hearts ability to see God to grow. John experienced this here in our text.

In v.3, we read, "He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." In v.3, John offers from God to the people "forgiveness of sins" in response to them turning back to God. This turning back to God is an offer for the people to have a personal relationship with God. This is what God had in mind from the very beginning.

And so we see in v.3, "He went into all the country around the Jordan," that is, the Jordan River. It's a river that stretches from north to south 156 miles. It's the eastern border of the country of Israel, Jordan being on the east side. "He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." The Jordan is very hot, murky, dirty, slimy water. 

This was the spot that the children of Israel crossed over into the land under Joshua. Nationally Israel had been baptized in that Jordan River years before. John takes this place as the place where he inaugurates his ministry. John's baptism was "a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Baptism was not a Christian ordnance in its origin. The Jews started it first. If someone wanted to become a Jew, they had to go through three steps: first, instruction by a scribe; second, male circumcision, and three, baptism in water, which illustrates cleansing. 

In v.4, we learn John becomes “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"  And therein he announces the arrival of the Messiah. So, onto center stage comes John, the first prophet in Israel in over 400 years. And he has two tasks: first, to prepare the people for the Messiah; second, to present the Messiah to the people. 

Now, John the Baptist is the cousin of the Lord Jesus. His job is to set the stage for the Messiah, pointing the way to the One who was coming. And he's going to do so by baptizing people. John's baptism was a baptism of preparation. It is not a baptism of transformation. It is not the same baptism of that of Jesus; it is different. 

In v.4–6, Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5, which reads, "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all people will see God’s salvation." 

The Greek word for "salvation" in Luke 3:6 is a rare word that occurs in Luke's two volumes, Luke-Acts, only three times: here, in 2:30, and in Acts 28:28. The point in each place is to stress that now salvation is being made clearly available for Gentiles as well as Jews. 

In Luke 2:30-31 Simeon says of the baby Jesus, "My eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles." And in Acts 28:28 Paul says to the Jews who rejected the Gospel, "Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen." As indicated throughout the scriptures, God's heart has always been for all people, Jewish and Gentile.

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Luke 2:41-52

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41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. ~ Luke 2:41-52

At this point in this redemptive narrative, according to v.41-42, the Lord Jesus is twelve years of age. He and His family have made the seventy five to eighty mile trek to Jerusalem, again, in order to celebrate Passover. From day forty of His human life, the first twelve years of His life is covered in one verse. 

In Exodus and Deuteronomy, instructions are given on certain feasts that God ordained for Israel. These feasts were memorials to God's faithfulness to Israel, and there were many feast but the three main feasts were held every year. There was the feast of Passover in late March or early April, fifty days later there was Pentecost, and then, in October, the feast of Tabernacles. 

Combined with the Feast of Unleavened Bread was the feast of the Passover which was one day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days. During this feast, the nation of Israel commemorated the exodus of Israel from Egypt. During this week long celebration, the population in Jerusalem would swell considerably. In v.41, every year Jesus’ parents would make the 75-80 mile trek to Jerusalem. The trip would take them three to four days.

It was their custom to travel in large caravans with a large company of people. The Lord Jesus just one year away from his rite of passage into adulthood, which would happen at his thirteenth birthday, was in this caravan. In these large caravans children would often be mixed in with the other families who were relatives and friends. 

After the Passover, according to v.43-45, they traveled the full first day’s journey assuming that the twelve year old Jesus was just hanging out with other children or other families. But when they got ready to make camp that night, they could not find Him anywhere. Since at nighttime the travel was dangerous, they could not go back to Jerusalem until the next day. When they got back to Jerusalem to look for Him, they eventually find Him  “after three days” in the Temple.

According to v.48, there they find the twelve year old Lord Jesus seated with a company of people under the teachers and participated in the question/answer session. And, everyone was amazed that this boy had such a deep understanding of God’s Law and of God Himself. This subtle display of His deity underscores the fact that He is the Son of God come to be the Lamb of God.

In response to His parents, in v.49, the Lord Jesus said, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” The Lord Jesus didn’t mean that they shouldn’t have come looking for Him, He is simply asking, “Why didn’t you come here first when I was missing? Shouldn’t you have assumed that this is where I would be? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house, doing my Father's will? ” He understood His unique calling as the Son of God, He knew that He was the ultimate Passover Lamb. He was there at the Temple to tell the people what His Father had in mind for them, a personal relationship with Him through the real Passover Lamb. 

But Mary and Joseph did not understand, despite the fact that they went through the miraculous sequence of events, angelic visitations, the virgin birth, angels’ appearing to shepherds, and meeting Simeon Anna. This is one reason the Lord emphasizes the ceremonies that enable us to remember what He has faithfully done in the past.

When the Lord Jesus embraced the calling for which He has been born, He was misunderstood by other people, even His parents. This serves as a reminder that when we walk in the paths that are laid out for us by God, many will not understand, even those who are closest to us.

As parents, if we are going to encourage our children to really be devoted to God, then we have to be willing to endure the pain of letting them go. In our last blog, Joseph and Mary brought the Lord Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord. They met Simeon, who offered a word of prophecy and encouragement to them, but then Simeon turned to Mary and said these telling words: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 

God may take our children to places that we would have never designed for them, had the choice been ours. That pain is part of the process of letting our children go and trusting Him with them. And because we’re going to have to learn to endure the pain of letting our children go, we have to learn to trust God with them, to believe that God and His call on our lives and the lives of our children is completely trustworthy.  

Do we look at our lives with a sense of calling? Do we see our lives as marked out by God, as a gift for God, to be lived for His glory? Do we believe that we are not here randomly but He has created us for a purpose, to love Him and to love others in His name? 

In v.49, the Lord Jesus said, “I have to be in My Father's house," and He is sending a major message to His parents that a transition is taking place, that they're not going to have the same parental oversight over Him as they did before. Now, God His Father is going to determine His life and what He does, and how He does it.

According to v.51, we are told that Mary "treasured all these things in her heart." This verse shows that Luke got much of his writing of this gospel narrative from Mary. Luke often throughout this Gospel gives inside perspective of how Mary saw these things and how she felt about it.

Finally, In v.52, we read, "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." God could have sent a full-grown Christ, but He didn’t. The two greatest commands are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. True human growth is not Godward at the expense of love. True human growth is not man-ward at the expense of love. No human, not even the God-man Himself, skips the growth and maturation process, and no true growth is one-dimensional, but both toward God and man, with all the love and the problems and pains that come with it. Even the negative plays a role in the redemption of man and the glory of God.

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Luke 2:36-40

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36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. 39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him. ~ Luke 2:36-40

In v.36, we read, "There was also a prophetess, Anna." The name "Anna" means grace.  She had been graced by God to be a prophetess who is somebody who speaks God's truth. She was a teacher of the Old Testament to other women. 

Anna was the daughter of Penuel, another Old Testament name, of the tribe of Asher who was one of the ten tribes of the northern kingdom. The kingdom was split after Solomon's reign. Ten tribes went north, two tribes stayed south and the south was Judah and Benjamin. All the other ten tribes went to the north. In 722 B.C. the northern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. The ten tribes went north and in 722 B.C. Assyria came under Sargon II and destroyed them and carried them away captive. Their capital city was Damascus. The northern kingdom was taken captive and never returned.

Anna, of the tribe of Asher, comes eight centuries later. In 722 B.C. the ten northern tribes were taken into captivity, but prior to that there had been a steady migration of people into the southern kingdom. The Northern Kingdom was steeped in idolatry. There wasn't one good king. This is part of the reason the northern kingdom went into captivity when they did, they did not honor God or His word.

Anna was old and she never left the temple, she lived there. Around the temple grounds there were some apartments. They were normally dwelling places for priests, around the outer court. When the priests came to do their two weeks of service at the temple, they needed a place to stay. And they had quite a number of these apartments around the temple. It just may well have been that because she was a widow so many years and because she was continually at the temple, they just decided that they would just provide a place for her. She was serving night and day with fastings and prayers.

In v.38, we read, "Coming up to them at that very moment." The very moment that Simeon was uttering this prophecy. I'm sure Simeon knew Anna because he was a regular temple goer.  And anybody who had been there that long would have been well known and would have known  everyone who frequented the Temple. Anna had been there literally for decades.  

You can only imagine after all these many years of one focus in life, God and His glory, praying and fasting for the salvation of Israel. She was one of those looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. There wasn't going to be any redemption in Jerusalem until the Redeemer came. She had been praying and fasting all those years for the Messiah to come and bring the promised redemption and fulfill the Abrahamic and the Davidic Covenants.

According to v.38, after Anna comes up, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." Like Simeon, God had answered prayer. The Messiah had come and Anna knew who He was. God's timing is always amazing. Anna was probably sensitized to the coming of the Lord due to the fact that she spent so much time in prayer and fasting and in His word.

In v.39, we read, "When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth." Sensitivity to God is not an automatic thing. We must be regular in His word and in prayer. When we are, we will be modulated to hear Him when He speaks or to follow Him when He leads. It's like that AM transistor radio I had when I was a little boy. I had to really work with the tuning button on it to get a clearer message out of it. I have found it works the same way with God. And, the moduling button is prayer and reading the word of God.

In v.40, we read, "And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him."  The word "grace" means the favor of God was on Him.  The greatest testimony that will ever be given to the identity of Jesus Christ comes not from Joseph and Mary, comes not from Simeon and Anna, comes not from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The greatest testimony ever given to the identity of Jesus Christ comes from the Father whose favor was on Him. Same is true of you and me, and the nice part is when the Father looks at us, having believed on his Son, He sees us through the lens of His Son.

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Luke 2:25-35

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25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation. 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. 33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” ”~ Luke 2:25-35

In our text, we are introduced to Simeon of whom little is known. In v.25 the Holy Spirit was on Him. In v.26, the Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death until he saw the Messiah. Then in v.27, the Spirit moves him to enter the temple at just the right moment to see the Lord Jesus who was a forty day old child. Simeon, a man of great faith, declares the word of the Lord over the baby Jesus, and is ready to die in peace. His peace was the product of the coming of Messiah and that the word of God is sure. 

"Simeon" means "God has heard."  All of his life Simeon cried to God to send  the Messiah. This was no doubt the cry of Simeon's heart. Wonderfully in the end, God heard, and the Messiah came. 

Most likely Simeon was an old man who was near death. This is why, in v.29, he told the Lord that he was ready to die.  He was ready to depart in peace. Could you see yourself spending a lifetime waiting for the appearance of the Messiah and it happen? We could see His appearing any day now. I am no prophet and I am not saying that we are in the last days, but I would not be surprised at all to see His next coming soon.

In v.25 we read, "Simeon was righteous and devout." Simeon was "righteous" means he was justified by his faith in the God of the Bible. He did not earn his righteousness, that's impossible. God declared him righteous based on His faith in Him. God is the only One who declares sinners righteous when we trust in Him for forgiveness, and we will never be declared righteous on the basis of our own works.  God applied the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which hadn't even happened yet to Simeon because Simeon looked forward in faith to the God of the Bible and he rested in His promises of a Messiah who would take away his sin.

Simeon was also "devout" which means he was sanctified. He took the word of God serious and he was defined by God, accordingly. In fact, in v.25 "He was waiting for the consolation of Israel." This means he was looking for the help or comfort of Israel. Luke uses the Greek word "paraklesis," which means he had a hope in the coming of the Messiah who would suffer the penalty that our sinfulness created. He was anticipating the fulfillment of everything promised to Abraham and to David. 

In v.25 we read, "And the Holy Spirit was on him." In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon people, and when He did, through the anointed the recipient was given a special responsibility.  Most often it had to do with speaking for God. Simeon was not a priest. He was just one righteous, devout man with an accurate theology believing in the literal prophecies of the Old Testament being fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah. 

In v.26 we learn that sometime in the past the Spirit of God revealed to Simeon that he wouldn't see death before he had seen the coming of Messiah. He was convinced Messiah would come before he died. He lived in constant expectancy of that promise.  

In v.27, we learn that "Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required." It is clear the Spirit was leading Simeon. Everything is coming to its climax, forty days after the birth of the Lord Jesus. God providentially had named Simeon "God has heard," and, God, by His Spirit, providentially prompts his heart and he decides to go into the Temple courts at the exact moment Mary and Jospeh brought the Lord Jesus into the Temple courts. Joseph and Mary didn't know anything about Simeon.  

Mary and Jospeh were there to do that which was required by the law. According to v.28, Simeon took the Lord Jesus into his arms, "and praised God." He knew in that moment that in his arms was the Messiah. 

According to v.29-30 Simeon breaks out into a song of satisfaction. So firm is his theology that he recognizes the Messiah was this forty day old baby. So firm was his conviction, as a result, he is ready to die. The waiting was over, the watching was over. Simeon had prepared his heart and soul for this the arrival of the Lord God.

Like Simeon, we await the coming of the Lord. Like Simeon, we need to live on our tiptoes, wide-eyed and waiting for the one who would come to save His people. In 2 Timothy 4:8, we read, "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing."

To love His appearing means to live in the light of His coming, to live as if He were coming today. It means we set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. 

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