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Luke

Dumbstruck (Shadows of Bethlehem #1) (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

The incarnation of Christ was indeed the most wonderful of God’s wondrous works. But it was the most unsurprising surprise. God’s hand had guided the story of redemption to this culmination. Like a lovely symphony the OT introduces certain motifs, which are picked up and expanded in the Incarnation of Christ. So, it would be wise for us to listen to those themes from the OT that anticipated the events surrounding Christ’s birth in order to better sing the Gospel song.

THE TEXT

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 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. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. … Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied.

Luke 1:5-22, 57-67

THE DUMBSTRUCK PROPHET

Zacharias’ loss of speech is usually interpreted one-dimensionally. It is seen simply as a judgment on his lack of faith. But I think to stop there with interpreting his story is to miss the bigger picture being painted. This is not the first time that God has used this sort of miracle. If we look to some of the other instances where a man of God was struck dumb we get a fuller picture of the story of Zacharias.

Moses

Some commentators an instance of Moses being dumbstruck in the strange episode when the Lord comes against Moses for not having circumcised his son (Ex 4). His wife quickly does the deed, satisfying the Lord’s anger. While this might be a display of the flexibility of some commentators, this episode is followed by Aaron arriving to be Moses’ spokesman. Moses is mute in his interactions with Pharaoh. God’s judgement upon hardened Pharaoh is displayed in a prophet who uses others to speak on his behalf.

Ezekiel

More explicitly there are several instances in Ezekiel’s ministry where he’s left dumbstruck. When he is first called to ministry by receiving a vision of God’s glory, he’s left speechless for seven days (Ez. 3:15). The Lord then tells him: “And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house (Eze 3:26).” Later on in the book of Ezekiel we have this statement from the Lord: “In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD (Eze 24:27).” So, this sign of a prophet being struck silent and then his tongue being loosed would be a recognizable sign to the house Israel. The closing & opening indicates two things. First, the prophet being struck silent is a warning to the house of Israel that the Word of the Lord is withheld from them because of their rebellion. Second, the loosing of the prophet’s tongue compels them to acknowledge their God and return to faithfulness.

Daniel

When an angel appeared to Daniel (after his three week period of fasting and prayer) we read this: And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb (Dan 10:15). Daniel is then strengthened when “one like the appearance of a man” touched him (Dan. 10:19), and Daniel is hailed as a man greatly beloved (Dan. 10:20). At the end of the book of Daniel he is told: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased (Dan 12:4). The angelic messenger, Gabriel, that meets Zacharias draws us back to the story of Daniel’s visions (8:16, 9:21). When this sort of thing happened in the OT it demonstrated that God was making ready to answer His people’s prayers for deliverance and overthrow wicked nations.

Zacharias becomes a symbol of the entire prophetic tradition. God seals and unseals His Word as He sees fit. The hiding of His Word is a judgement. But God’s favor is found when He lets loose His Word.

THE PROPHET & THE SON OF MAN

God calls Ezekiel “Son of Man” ninety times, and this becomes a favorite title for Jesus in the Gospels. It also comes up in Daniel’s awesome vision of the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13, Cf. Ps. 80:17). In regards to Ezekiel, most commentators take it to be a term of humility. This is a half picture though. God summons Ezekiel to unfurl His mysterious & dark purposes to an apostate people; this term is humbling, but not because of its lowliness but because of its loftiness. 

This Son of Man is calling Israel back to faithfulness, to take up the dominion of the earth by faith in Yahweh’s promises. In other words, Jesus is the “one like the Son of Man” described in Daniel, taking up judgement upon the world, and he is the True Prophet (likened to Ezekiel) summoning us to the New Humanity which His Kingdom is inaugurating. This also explains all the cherubic imagery throughout Ezekiel; the administration of angels is coming to a close as God will send a Man to be the mediator between mankind and Yahweh. Zacharias becomes a clear sign that the prophetic ministry is being resumed, and this means that the Son of Man shall soon be raised up to replace the angelic mediation with an eternal Mediator.

HIS NAME IS JOHN

We should also take a longer look at what was going on with why the name John was selected for this Lord’s forerunner. We’re told that the friends & relatives were surprised at Elizabeth informing them that the boy’s name was John (vv59-62). This name was not a family name, and so they were perplexed by this selection. However, once Zacharias writes down the name John His tongue is loosed.

But why John? His name means “Yahweh is Gracious” or “Yahweh has shown favor”. The Hebrew word for favor is (chen). Luke is wanting his audience to see that God has not forgotten His promise of setting His favor on Israel. Though there has been prophetic silence (symbolized by Zacharias’ own silence), God has not forgotten them. Indeed God has remembered His covenant promise to be unto them a gracious God. Zacharias’ name means “God has remembered”. Remembered what? To be gracious. To show favor. 

This whole passage puts us in mind of the first of the great OT prophets: Samuel. His mother’s name, Hannah, is the feminine form of the same root word for gracious/favor found in John’s name.

God did not forget the barrenness of Hannah, and now we see Him remembering the barrenness of Elizabeth. The profound glory of all this is that when God shows His favor (chen) He does so by making His Word abundant. With Hannah, the text explicitly tells us that the word of the Lord was rare in those days (1 Sam. 3:1), and so God raised up the prophet Samuel. But now, in the fullness of time, God brings the prophetic office to a great crescendo in this father and son duo. Yahweh has remembered to be gracious, and now He brings to us the Word made flesh.

THE PROPHETS BLADE

The Lord promised that before the coming of Messiah a prophetic messenger would come to clear the way for the Prince to come into His kingdom. The prophetic ministry was used by God to do spiritual surgery. Imagine you have a splinter go so deep that you can’t easily grab it to remove it with just your fingers. You could just leave it alone, and adjust to life with it in your skin, hoping it just goes away. But the prophetic ministry was given to God’s people in order to point out the deep sin in our hearts. The only way to remove the tumor is to pierce the skin, harm the surrounding flesh, blood, and bone. But this is the only way to save the life.

In the story of John’s birth, the clear imagery for us is to see that the prophetic ministry had not passed away, but was coming to its greatest crescendo. Zacharias is a sort of OT prophet (Lk. 1:67), who raises up the greatest prophet Israel had ever known (Mt. 11:11), who himself gave way, in due time, to the final Prophet: Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:30).

All the words of the OT prophets from Moses down to John were Christ’s Words. He speaks to us in the preaching of His Word. Christ is speaking to you now in His prophetic ministry of preaching. He warns that rebellious people will be given dumbstruck prophets.

He calls you to humble yourself and heed his call to cast aside the chains that have tangled you up. The prophet calls to you to prepare Him room.

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Believing is Seeing (King’s Cross Church)

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INTRODUCTION

After touching Jesus’ hands and side and believing, Jesus said to Thomas, “because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn. 20:29). There is a particular blessing in hearing the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead and believing. In fact, while sight has a good function, it is not the controlling or foundational faculty. What you believe colors what you can or will be able to see. Living by faith doesn’t mean living in an imaginary world; it means living with the certain knowledge that some things are true even though you can’t see them and with that knowledge seeing everything more clearly.

THE TEXT

“And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus…” (Lk. 24:13-35)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Luke sets up this story by highlighting the uncertainty of the women and the disciples having found the tomb empty and hearing a message from angels (Lk. 24:1-12). With that uncertainty and unbelief lingering, two other disciples began walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus that same day, talking about everything that had happened, and Jesus joined them, but they didn’t recognize Him (Lk. 24:13-16). Jesus asked them what they were talking about and why they were sad, and they asked Him if He was the only pilgrim in town who didn’t know what had happened to Jesus of Nazareth (Lk. 24:17-24).

Jesus responds, chiding them for their unbelief, and proceeds to explain from Moses and all the prophets that the Messiah had to suffer before being glorified (Lk. 24:25-27). When the disciples drew near their destination, they urged Jesus to come with them, and when He sat down with them, and blessed and broke bread and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, and He vanished (Lk. 24:28-31). Making sense of the glorious Bible study on the road, the two immediately returned to Jerusalem and told the others who had also heard that Peter had seen Jesus (Lk. 24:32-35).

THE BLIND ADAMSON FAMILY

Instead of grabbing the shoulders of Cleopas and the other disciple and looking them in the face and saying, “It’s me! It’s me!” or saying, “Oh fools and slow of heart to recognize that I’m standing right in front of you,” Jesus locates the foolishness and unbelief in their failure to remember and believe the Bible (Lk. 24:25). We have a hard time believing this, but one of the central messages of Scripture is that we cannot see or understand anything rightly apart from God and His Word. While the serpent promised a greater vision and wisdom, when the eyes of Adam and Eve were “opened,” they actually became blind and foolish (Gen. 3:5-7).

This doesn’t mean unbelievers can’t see or understand anything; nor does this mean that Christians magically see everything clearly. But it means that because of sin and separation from God everything is distorted, disoriented, and muddled. We desperately need the spectacles of Scripture and the Lasik surgery of the Spirit. Jesus says that having unconfessed sin is like having a log in your eye (Mt. 7:3-5). This is one of the reasons Jesus heals so many blind people during His ministry. He came to give sight to the blind Adamson family (Eph. 4:18).

MOSES, THE PROPHETS, AND RESURRECTION PROOF

So beginning with Moses, Jesus explains how the Scriptures teach that the Messiah had to suffer before coming into His glory. Jesus may have begun in the Garden with the Fall and promise of the seed of the woman and the skins that covered their shame: there needed to be blood shed by a substitute so that Adam and Eve could live. He may have talked about the covenant promises pictured in circumcision, barren wives conceiving, Isaac received back from the dead in a type, Joseph’s suffering and glory – all stories of human weakness and death turned to strength and life. He could have traced the same themes in the Exodus, the sacrifices, the bronze serpent, the story of Job, many of the Psalms (16, 22, 69, 116), and prophecies of the Messiah (e.g. Is. 53, Jer. 20, Zech. 3). The Old Testament is all about Jesus.

This story illustrates what Jesus taught in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which is about the rich man’s greed blinding him until it was too late and he died and found himself in torment in Hades (Lk. 16). When the rich man asks if someone might be sent back to warn his five living brothers, Abraham says that they have “Moses and the prophets.” And when the rich man argues that they would be more likely to repent if someone rose from the dead, Abraham says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Lk. 16:31). If you will not believe God’s Word, then you will not believe even if someone rises from the dead (cf. Jn. 11:43-53, Mt. 28:11-15). Believing is seeing.

APPLICATIONS

Cleopas might be the same as “Clopas,” the husband of another Mary (Jn. 19:25), and they may be the two disciples going to Emmaus. Early tradition said that the two disciples may have been Clopas and his son Simeon, who was the second leader of the church in Jerusalem (after James). Another early tradition suggests that this Clopas was the brother of Joseph (father of Jesus), which would make the lack of recognition even more striking: not recognizing his own nephew.

Regardless, there’s a striking echo and reversal of Genesis 3 in this story: whereas two people ate food sinfully and their eyes were “opened” and they became ashamed of their nakedness and afraid (Gen. 3:6-7). Here, in Luke, we have two disciples filled with fear and shame, not seeing clearly, but in the breaking and eating of the bread with Jesus, their eyes are truly opened. While they only see Jesus for a moment, they suddenly see everything very clearly.

This story is one reason why the Reformation tradition has argued for the Word and Sacrament to go together and in that order. Hearing and believing the Word is the prerequisite for seeing and communing with Jesus rightly. But even then, the breaking of bread has a way of revealing what the Word says. What is it about the breaking of the bread? It’s receiving the gifts of God, giving thanks, and sharing them, and so seeing them by faith for what they really are.

Eyes are powerful gifts, but they are not simple mechanisms. Our eyes are loaded with biases and blind spots, prejudices and presuppositions. You need Jesus to show Himself to You in the Word and breaking of bread so that you can see Him crucified and risen, and by seeing Him, see your spouse, your family, your roommate, your neighbors, your job, your everything rightly.

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The Anvil and the Hammers

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INTRODUCTION

This is a message about the trustworthiness of the Scriptures. Many critics have attacked the Word of God over the centuries, and while the Word is still here, they are all gone. It has been well said that the Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.

What I want to do in this message is a little different than our usual pattern. In the first part I want to walk you through a detailed and somewhat didactic treatment of the genealogies of Christ given in Matthew and Luke, harmonizing them. I want to show you the Bible is reliable, in other words. And then after that, I want to do what all sermons should do, which is to proclaim Christ.

THE TEXT

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren . . .” (Matthew 1:1–17).

“And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph . . .” (Luke 3:23–24).

SUMMARY OF THE PROBLEM

These genealogies are different, which is why it is a common solution for people to say that one of them must be for Mary, and the other one is for Joseph. The problem is that both genealogies terminate with Joseph (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23), which then creates the new problem of why the genealogies are different. How can one person have two different family trees? So where are they different and why? Unbelievers, of course, can simply say that the accounts here are hopelessly corrupt—but that option is not open to us.

SOME RANDOM BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Matthew is clearly working from written records (he mentions a book), and he starts with Abraham. Luke traces the Lord’s ancestry all the way back to Adam. Luke is probably dedicating this book to Theophilus ben Annas, who was the high priest from 37 to 41 A.D. He was the son of Annas, and the brother-in-law to Caiaphas—the term excellentwas one that was applied to kings and high priests. This means that great care would have been taken with genealogical claims, which the Jews took very seriously. Now Matthew and Luke run in parallel from Abraham to David, and then they diverge—Matthew goes through Solomon and Luke through Nathan (1 Chron. 3:5). They converge later in Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, and then part ways again until they come back together with Joseph. So how is Scripture not in error when it gives us Joseph’s lineage in two different ways?

Genealogical records were public, housed in the Temple, and available to any serious inquirer. The patrician households of David and Zadok also kept independent records. Matthew and Luke would have had access to these records, and it is worth remembering that others would have been able to come and check on their work as well.

Why does Matthew have three groups of fourteen names? One reason is that 14 is the numerological value of the name David. The three-fold repetition emphasizes the descent from David. But that is not the only reason for some of the omissions.

CURSES AND OMMISSIONS 

Matthew removes three kings from his list, jumping from Jehoram to Uzziah. He does this because of Elijah’s curse.

“‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free” (1 Kings 21:21, NKJV).

Matthew does this out to the fourth generation (Ex. 20:3-6). And also he later drops the wicked king Jehoakim (2 Kings 23:36-24:7)—doing this, I believe, in response to Jeremiah’s curse.

“Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost” (Jeremiah 36:30).

THE COMPLICATED PART

But omissions, while different, do not mess up a genealogy the same way different stirps do. (A stirp is a line of people descending from one ancestor.)

Matthew says that Shealtiel was the son of Jeconiah, and Luke says he was the son of Neri, and Shealtiel sure looks like the same man, the father of Zerubbabel in both places. How to explain this? Jeremiah, the prophet who cursed Jehoiakim, also cursed his son Jeconiah. And notice the first words.

“Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30).

This next part is pieced together with the aid of some extrabiblical history. But we need to figure something out because there is a place in Scripture that says that Jeconiah had one son, Zedekiah, but then in the next verse it says he also had seven sons (1 Chron. 3:16-17). What about that?

So I take it that Zedekiah died young, thus fulfilling the prophetic curse. Then Jeconiah in Babylon married a woman named Tamar, granddaughter of King Josiah. Scripture calls Jeconiah a captive here (1 Chron. 3:17). Tamar had been married before to a man named Neri, and her oldest was Shealtiel, who came into Jeconiah’s line by adoption.

But wait. We are not done. Who was the father of Zerubbabel? Matthew and Luke agree that it is Shealtiel, but we read elsewhere that it was Shealtiel’s brother, Pedaiah (1 Chron. 3:19). This is likely the result of a levirate marriage—Shealtiel dying without issue, and his brother sired an heir for his deceased brother.

One last thing, speaking of levirate marriage. Matthew says that Joseph’s father was Jacob and Luke says that his father was Heli. According to a second century source (Sextus Julius Africanus), this was the result of another levirate union. Heli died without issue, and so his brother Jacob raised up seed for him—who was Joseph.

THAT YOU MIGHT BELIEVE

God’s Word is perfect. Without that perfect Word, we cannot have confidence in the perfection of the Christ who is proclaimed to us. With that perfect Word, we can see that God is in absolute control of every detail of human history, and is able to weave it all together in such a way as to make plain that the Messiah of Israel, the Christ over all, was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus was descended (in part) from the line of Ahab, of the tribe of Ephraim—thus fulfilling the stupendous promises made to Joseph through Jacob and Moses (Gen. 48:3ff; Dt. 33:13ff). He was Messiah ben Joseph. Jesus was descended (in part) from Levi, in that Mary was a Zadokite (a relative of Elizabeth, recall). And He was also Messiah ben David, of the tribe of Judah as attested in multiple places. So God promised a Savior for the world, and He also, by many different means, identified Him for us clearly. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

The source for most of this is Jesus: The Incarnation of the Word by David Mitchell (Campbell Publications, 2021).

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Epiphany: Simeon (Profiles in Christmas #5)

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THE TEXT

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. 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. 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, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation
Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. 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 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:25–35).

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