Reading for Today:

• Deuteronomy 3:1 Chapter 3 1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Edrei. –4:49
• Psalms 36:7-12 7 How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. 8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; And thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. 9 For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light shall we see light. 10 Oh continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee, And thy righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. 12 There are the workers of iniquity fallen: They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise. Psalm 37 `A Psalm' of David.
• Proverbs 12:7 7 The wicked are overthrown, and are not; But the house of the righteous shall stand.
• Luke 1:1-20 Chapter 1 1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, 2 even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning wer eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, 3 it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 that thou mightest know the certainty concerning the things wherein thou wast instructed. 5 There was in the days of Herod, king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abijah: and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were `now' well stricken in years. 8 Now it came to pass, while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, 9 according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of altar of incense. 12 And Zacharias was troubled when he saw `him', and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall be turn unto the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient `to walk' in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared `for him'. 18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak unto thee, and to bring thee these good tidings. 20 And behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou believedst not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

Notes:

Deuteronomy 3:11 an iron bedstead. The bedstead may actually have been a coffin, which would have been large enough to also hold tomb objects. The size of the “bedstead,” 13.5 by 6 feet, emphasized the largeness of Og, who was a giant (the last of the Rephaim, a race of giants). As God had given Israel victory over the giant Og, so He would give them victory over the giants in the land.

Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add…nor take from. The word that God had given to Israel through Moses was complete and sufficient to direct the people. Thus, this Law, the gift of God at Horeb, could not be supplemented or reduced. Anything that adulterated or contradicted God’s law would not be tolerated (see 12:32; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18, 19).

Luke 1:1 many. Although Luke wrote direct divine revelation inspired by the Holy Spirit, he acknowledged the works of others who had set down in writing events from Christ’s life. All those sources have been long lost, except for the inspired Gospels. Since Matthew and Mark were most likely written before Luke, it has been suggested that either one or both of those may have been among Luke’s sources when he did his research. It is also known that he was personally acquainted with many firsthand witnesses to the events of Christ’s life. And it is possible that some of his sources were word-of-mouth reports. About 60 percent of the material in Mark is repeated in Luke, and Luke seems to follow Mark’s order of events closely. to set in order. Luke proposed to narrate the ministry of Christ in an authoritative, logical, and factual order. those things which have been fulfilled. I.e., the Old Testament messianic promises fulfilled in Christ. among us. I.e., in our generation. This phrase does not mean Luke was personally an eyewitness to the life of Christ.

Luke 1:19 Gabriel. Literally, “strong man of God.” Gabriel also appears in Daniel 8:16 16 And I heard a man's voice between `the banks of' the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. ; 9:21. He is one of only two holy angels whose names are given in Scripture, the other being Michael (Dan. 10:13, 21; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7).

Day 21: Who was the writer Luke?

According to tradition, Luke was a Gentile. The apostle Paul seems to confirm this, distinguishing Luke from those who were “of the circumcision” (Col. 4:11, 14). That would make Luke the only Gentile to pen any books of Scripture. He is responsible for a significant portion of the New Testament, having written both this Gospel and the Book of Acts.

Very little is known about Luke. He almost never included personal details about himself, and nothing definite is known about his background or his conversion. Both Eusebius and Jerome identified him as a native of Antioch (which may explain why so much of the Book of Acts centers on Antioch—see Acts 11:19 19 They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews. –27; 13:1–3; 14:26; 15:22, 23, 30–35; 18:22, 23). Luke was a frequent companion of the apostle Paul, at least from the time of Paul’s Macedonian vision ( Acts 16:9 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There was a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. , 10) right up to the time of Paul’s martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:11).

The apostle Paul referred to Luke as a physician (Col. 4:14). Luke’s interest in medical phenomena is evident in the high profile he gave to Jesus’ healing ministry (e.g., 4:38–40; 5:15–25; 6:17–19; 7:11–15; 8:43–47, 49–56; 9:2, 6, 11; 13:11–13; 14:2–4; 17:12–14; 22:50, 51). In Luke’s day, physicians did not have a unique vocabulary of technical terminology; so when Luke discusses healings and other medical issues, his language is not markedly different from that of the other Gospel writers.

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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