Series: Luke: Following the World Changer (Week 1 of 3)
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
November 2, 2009

Woodrow Kroll: After living for centuries in a world filled with meaninglessness, suddenly the light turns on the Jewish nation. Welcome to the Gospel of Luke. We're going to investigate today on Back to the Bible.

Hi, I'm Woodrow Kroll.

Tami Weissert: And I'm Tami Weissert. We're so glad that you could join us for a brand new study on the Book of Luke.

Now, Dr. Kroll, Luke was not one of the original twelve disciples, so this book, the Book of Luke, is not an eyewitness account.

Woodrow Kroll: That's true. Luke was a Gentile, as you remember. He was a physician. He was well-skilled. He was a man who said, "Look, I have the historical ability, I have the scientific background, I'm going to talk to all of these eyewitnesses, and I will make an orderly account of the things that happened in Jesus' life."

So what we have here is a man who said, "I'm going to talk to eyewitnesses; I'll tell you exactly what they said."

Tami Weissert: And he kind of knew how to flesh out the facts and bring the details to light. And really when you think about it, we're starting at Luke 1 today, the story of John the Baptist; and it kind of plays like a screen play--almost like the opening of a movie.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, it does. You know, you've got that wide scene starting out and it kind of zeros in and gets closer on Zacharias, and then you hear this booming voice from heaven say, "In the days of Herod"-- And that's the way it was.

Tami Weissert: That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, we're going to keep that picture in mind today as we think about the Gospel of Luke and the story of the World Changer--the Person who makes the biggest difference in your life and the lives of everyone else.

We'll do that today on Back to the Bible.

(Break)

The Gospel of Luke is written by a man who was not actually one of the original Twelve--not an eyewitness to the things that Jesus did. He is, however, uniquely qualified to give us an account of the life of the Lord Jesus.

Obviously, Luke was aware of other existing accounts of what Jesus did, the miracles He performed. But what he wanted to do was He wanted to take a fresh approach. He wanted to have a fresh arrangement. He's not presenting new facts; he was just presenting footnotes to those facts. I mean, he's a scientist. He wants to get it all right, and he wants to make sure there is absolutely no question about the validity of this narrative.

Now we're going to begin in Luke 1:1, and I want you to notice this is not an outline. This is a narrative. This is what he says:

"Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed" (Luke 1:1-4, NKJV).

Boy, look at the words there: "orderly account," "certainty." You see, Luke is all about getting the facts, getting them right, footnoting them, double footnoting them; and then making sure that you can believe two thousand years later that these accounts were accurate.

Not an eyewitness, but those people who were eyewitnesses were really clear about being eyewitnesses. For example, let me read something to you (this is John 1). John says of Jesus, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, ESV).

John says, "Hey, God took on flesh, and I saw that flesh. I was there. I saw it."

The apostle Peter claims it this way: he said, "For we did not follow cunningly devised [myths] fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but [we] were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16, NKJV).

"I actually saw it," Peter says. "I saw what Jesus did. I was there. I heard what He did. He talked to me. I had a few difficulties in my life, but I want you to know," says Peter, "I was there. I know what happened."

And in his first epistle, John makes this claim; he says:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life; the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son" (1 John 1:1-3, ESV).

The reason I'm making such a point of this is there are so many writers in the New Testament who say, "Look, I saw it happen, I touched with my hands, I heard with my ears; I'm telling you exactly what the truth is."

That's important because now, two thousand years later, there are people who did not see, did not hear, could not touch, and think they know better than these eyewitnesses what's true and what isn't true.

To deny the truth of what Luke says betrays (A) bias, or (B) stupidity.

You cannot get around the fact that this is a man who wants to write to us and make sure, two thousand years later, we have all the facts; and we can trust those facts.

Well, let's see what he says about these people (I read through verse 4), Luke 1:5:

"There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife [one] was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense" (Luke 1:5-10, NKJV).

Now, let me stop there. First of all, we meet the wonderful couple here. Zacharias is a priest. His wife, Elizabeth, is also in the family of Aaron. And, as a result of that, what we have here is we have a person (man and woman) who is individually and collectively walking blamelessly before God; that is to say, they're living righteously.

God doesn't expect us to be sinless; He just expects us to be blameless. He says to Abraham, "Walk before me and be blameless" (see Genesis 17:1). Well, these people are trying to live in righteousness; and there's a problem. And the problem is this: Elizabeth who's getting up in years, and so is her husband, Zacharias--Elizabeth doesn't have a baby. They have no children, and she's barren; she can't have children.

These people are living in pain, and the pain is that having children is not just an option in this part of the world. It's not just "it would be nice to have children"; you were expected to have children in order to carry on the name, to carry on the inheritance, to be full and complete. And for Elizabeth to be barren was the worst possible thing that could happen to her.

What I want you to see, though, is these people were walking through pain and they're living righteously. They're living blamelessly before God, and they're still having a tough time in life. Now you can have a lot of people tell you, "If you are one of the King's kids, everything is going to go fine for you. You'll never be poor again. You'll never get sick again." And none of that is true--evidenced by how many people were living righteously in God's Word (Job is another good example) and yet they were living in pain.

Here's the promise of God (Psalm 23):

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness [now watch:] for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:1-4, NKJV).

On the heels of saying, "He leads us in the paths of righteousness," the next phrase says, "I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Don't confuse righteous living with never having another problem.

This couple is living in pain. They don't have any children. But then something unique happens. An angel of the Lord appears to Zacharias and kind of gives him a "save-the-date" message (you know how you can have a wedding and you send out a little card in advance: "Save this date"). Well, look at this, verse 11:

"Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him [Well, that's pretty common!] But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb'" (Luke 1:11-15, NKJV).

"Save the date. Your wife, your barren wife, will have a son. You'll call him John, and he's going to change a lot of things in this world." This is a little too much for Zacharias to believe. I mean, first of all, Gabriel shows up. (It never happened to me either. Laughter). And then he has a wife that's beyond the time of bearing children, and suddenly this announcement is made.

And look at his unbelief here. He says in verse 18, "Zacharias said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.' And the angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time'" (Luke 1:18-20, NKJV).

You see, there's a penalty to be paid for unbelief--even if it's probably legitimate unbelief. Our response to what God tells us in His Word is always to say, "I don't understand, but I do believe."

Well he becomes mute--stays mute until John is born--and sometimes silence is a better teacher than words (isn't that true?). Well, the announcement has been made, but the real headlines are still coming.

I want to come back in just a minute and look at the headlines beginning at verse 26 in this passage--look at the most important headlines in Hebrew history. All that coming up in just a minute here on Back to the Bible.

Tami Weissert: You're listening to Back to the Bible with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll.

Hi, Tami Weissert here. Now isn't Luke's orderly account amazing? His detailed writings tell us so much about Christ. So keep listening. And to help you soak in this study even more, why not order Dr. Kroll's new study guide. It's called Luke: Glory to God in the Highest.

Now it's just a great addition to all we are learning in this series. Let me tell you a little more about it. First of all, Dr. Kroll wanted this study guide to be convenient. That's why we've included the scripture passages in the lessons. That way you can just grab it and go.

Now each lesson starts with a Bible passage followed by background details and biblical insight, then questions, important questions--the type that help you consider and then apply God's Word to your life. So remember, Luke: Glory to God in the Highest, Dr. Kroll's latest study guide. To order it right now, you can go to backtothebible.org. Or we'd love it if you'd call us. The number is 1-800-759-2425. Now, let's get back to our study.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, right in the middle of chapter 1 which is basically about Elizabeth and Zacharias and the promise that God's going to give them a son, everything changes very rapidly. Look at verse 26. It says, "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary" (Luke 1:26-27, NKJV).

Now, you know, we've been talking about one family and an unexpected pregnancy, and suddenly this man Luke changes gears entirely and talks about another family and another unexpected pregnancy. But what I want you to know is his research is impeccable.

Look at this: He says the actual month of Elizabeth's pregnancy when this takes place. He gives the angel's name; he just doesn't say an angel came. He tells us what angel comes. He even tells us the region of the country where all of this takes place. It's not Judaea. It's not Peraea. It's not Samaria. It's Galilee. He's even more specific than that. He tells us the exact village. He comes to the village of Nazareth.

Now what I want you to see here is: There's no guesswork here--he's not making this up. This is not your original fictional account of anything. He is giving details and footnotes and footnotes to footnotes so that you and I know we're reading the real stuff here.

Well, notice in verse 27 he comes to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Joseph is in the lineage of David (he's a part of David's line) and the virgin's name was Mary. Very specific information, isn't it?--husband's name, husband's lineage, Mary's name--all that the kind of detail you want if you're a great researcher.

Verse 28, Mary was chosen by God to make the incarnation a reality. Verse 28 says, "And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!' But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was" (Luke 1:28-29, NKJV).

All right, so now we've had an encounter with the angel and Zacharias, this is an encounter with the angel and Mary. He calls her the "highly favored one." That's an expression used only here in the New Testament. It's an expression that talks about how wonderful this woman was.

By the way, some of you are familiar with the expression "full of grace." You'll notice that's not in the text here. It's in the Latin Vulgate rendering. It's not supported by most manuscripts. So when you talk about Mary, she's "highly favored." It does not say in God's Word, she's "full of grace."

But the big news isn't about Mary anyway. The big news is what's going to happen to Mary. Verse 31, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. [And] He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:31-33, NKJV).

Now please don't miss this: Mary was a wonderful woman. The Bible does not indicate Mary was sinless, it doesn't indicate that her parents were sinless. It does indicate God favored her. God put His grace on her, and God does that for good reason.

But notice very quickly, in the announcement, it turns from Mary the mother to Jesus the Son, because this is not an announcement about the virgin Mary. This is an announcement about the Savior of the world. And it says there in verse 32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David." This is all about Jesus.

I think we do Jesus a disservice when we take this announcement and make it about the mother who is the one to bear the Savior rather than the Savior Himself.

Now notice, both Mary and Zacharias had some questions here. She doesn't understand how this can be. Verse 34, "Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know a man?'" (Luke 1:34, NKJV).

"I'm a virgin. How can it be that a virgin can bring forth a son? You explain that to me. You know, I had biology 101. These things don't happen."

Now I want you to notice the difference between Zacharias' unbelief and Mary's unbelief. Zacharias had a question back there in verse 18, "How shall I know this?" But his was a question of disbelief. Mary's question here, verse 34, "How can this be since I don't know a man?" was a question of procedure, you know. "I believe it can happen. I don't understand how it can happen."

Well, the barrenness of either Elizabeth or the virginity of Mary is never a problem for God. The good news is that there's going to be a Baby here, and let's find out about that Baby. He says, verse 37:

"'For with God nothing will be impossible.' Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe [that's Elizabeth's baby] leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:37-41, NKJV).

Now John is an unusual baby, I'll give you that--filled with the Holy Spirit right from his mother's womb, the greatest man ever born of woman. The first gymnast in the Bible (laughter). You moms talk about a power kick, we're talking about maybe a somersault here in the mother's womb. And this is a baby that is filled with the Spirit of God. The mother is filled with the Spirit of God. Only good things can come from a situation like this.

Well, let's see what those good things are. Verse 42:

"Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! [This is Elizabeth talking to Mary.] But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her'" (Luke 1:42-45, NKJV).

And what follows beginning at verse 46 there down to verse 55 is what we call "The Magnificat." We get that word from the first words in the original Latin for this poem. It's a lyric poem very similar to Hannah's poem thanking the Lord God when God said, "I'm going to give a son to you" (see 1 Samuel 2:1-10).

Well, there's a birth in this chapter as well. Look down at verse 57:

"Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. So it [came] was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, 'No; he shall be called John.' But they said to her, 'There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.' So they made signs to his father--what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, 'His name is John.' [And don't miss this:] So they all marveled" (Luke 1:57-62, NKJV).

Not that he hadn't learned sign language yet at this point; they marveled that he and his wife, apparently with no discussion, both had decided to name this baby John. Not a very customary thing. You always named the baby after the father or someone in the family line. But the angel had already told Elizabeth and Zacharias, "You call this boy John"; and there's a good reason for that.

Well, if you want the real story of the birth of the Lord Jesus, there it is right there. I mean, stop listening to your friends, stop watching variations on the Discovery Channel of what this guy believes or that guy believes. If you want to read the facts, read the facts: the facts are right here.

The fact is that Luke presented all the information about the World Changer directly as it was told to him by people who actually witnessed all of this. And he said, "I'm going to write it down so in the 21st century you can read and you can believe." If you want to know the truth, right here is God's truth.

Well, I'll be back in just a minute and we'll wrap up our study for today.

(Break)

Tami Weissert: You're listening to Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll, here on Back to the Bible.

Hi, this is Tami Weissert. I hope you are excited and inspired by our study today. This series in Luke lasts three weeks. That's 15 complete studies and I hope you'll be able to catch all of them. But if that's just not possible, we have the complete series on CD or DVD; you just need to order it. That way, you can take it in and review it whenever and wherever you want.

I'll give you our 800 number in a moment, but first, I want to remind you that the printed study guide for Luke is also available. This is a great stand-alone study, but it's also a good companion to the Luke series. So give us a call and ask about our current Luke series on CD or DVD and about Dr. Kroll's printed study guide called Luke: Glory to God in the Highest. Now get your pen; here's the phone number to call. Again, this is for our Luke series on CD or DVD and for the Luke study guide. Here's the phone number: It's 1-800-759-2425.

Well, Dr. Kroll, today's study was really good, and we looked at Mary and what really struck me about her was her attitude through the whole thing. And when it says, "Let it be to me according to your word," that had to be really hard to say; yet she was just open and submissive and humble and said, "OK, Lord, whatever you have for me, I'm there." How do we get that?

Woodrow Kroll: Yeah, you know, Luke really is the "Gospel of Women." There are tons of women mentioned--their stories--and interestingly enough, I think Mary is the queen of these stories, of course. But the stories all have kind of the same resonance to them.

These are women who don't have a whole lot going for them. They live in a Roman Empire that doesn't recognize any rights for women, and yet they have this incredible faith that when God says something, God is actually going to do it. And we can see that in Mary.

We can also see it in Elizabeth today, and I think basically what we need to do is come to the kind of intimacy with God that these two women obviously had, that will allow us to say, "You know what? I don't have to understand it. If God says it, I trust it." And when we get to that point, suddenly we're going to see things and understand things that a skeptic will never be able to see and understand.

Tami Weissert: And oddly enough in my own life, I've found that when I'm in a situation where I don't really know how to handle or turn, I'm really more submissive in those sometimes than in situations where I kind of think I know some of the facts.

Woodrow Kroll: We're always better off when we're not so sure that we're sure.

Tami Weissert: Exactly. Now today, John the Baptist, and tomorrow we turn to Jesus.

Woodrow Kroll: We do, indeed. This is the preliminary story. This is the introduction in the Book. Tomorrow, "There is born to you this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." OK, tomorrow's not Christmas, but I want you to be thinking Christmas because we're going to the Christmas story tomorrow in our study of the Gospel of Luke.

Thanks for dropping by here today. Thanks to all of you for being a part of our study group here as well, and for you at home: Join us again tomorrow, won't you? God bless you. I'm Woodrow Kroll. Have a good and godly day.