Day 298: Luke 4-6

(The previous post covered the beginning of Luke's Gospel Account: specifically the circumstances surrounding Jesus' and John the Baptist's conception, birth, and development into a Rabbi.)

Luke 4
¹ And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness

(Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.)

² during forty days, being tempted of the devil. And he did eat nothing in those days: and when they were completed, he hungered.

(The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted/tested of the devil. Jesus was there forty days having eaten nothing. Jesus hungered, which showed that He definitely was a man.)

³ And the devil said unto him, if thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it become bread.

(The devil gave Jesus an if/then statement.)

⁴ And Jesus answered unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.

(Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.)

⁵ And he led him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
⁶ And the devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
⁷ If thou therefore wilt worship before me, it shall all be thine.

(The devil offered Jesus power if Jesus worshipped him.)

⁸ And Jesus answered and said unto him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

(Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13.)

⁹ And he led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
¹⁰ for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to guard thee:
¹¹ and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone.

(The devil quoted scripture: Psalm 91:11-12. Satan has no truth in him (John 8:44). If he can quote scripture and have no truth in him it must mean that merely quoting scripture is not necessarily truth. Satan's intention was to destroy Jesus. This was not truth.)

¹² And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God.

(Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16.)

¹³ And when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him for a season.

(Jesus was tempted to eat, take authority, and tempt God. Jesus' response to learning about these three areas that He could be tempted in was to: fast, serve, and trust God. Notice also, Adam began in the garden with his bride and ended up in the wilderness because of eating the forbidden fruit, not serving Eve, and not trusting God. Jesus went into the wilderness and undid all three areas that Adam fell in so that He could end up in the garden with His Bride.)

¹⁴ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and a fame went out concerning him through all the region round about.
¹⁵ And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.

(It was "custom" for Jesus to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath and read. Jesus was accepted by the people as a Jewish Rabbi.)

¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written,

(Jesus was brought the Book of Isaiah.)

¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised,
¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

(Jesus read from what we have numbered Isaiah 61:1-2a. Jesus stopped reading and closed the book halfway through verse 2 which was only half of this specific prophecy (verses 1-3) and a sentence fragment.)

²⁰ And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.
²¹ And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears.

(Jesus said that that day this scripture had been fulfilled. The rest of verse 2 and all of verse 3 in Isaiah 61 were intentionally not read by Jesus because they were not fulfilled that day.)

²² And all bare him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth: and they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

(Notice, the "words of grace" were the influence Jesus was imparting to those who were present.)

²³ And he said unto them, Doubtless ye will say unto me this parable, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in thine own country.

(In John 4:46-50, Jesus' second miracle occurred when He was entering into Nazareth prior to this chapter. A nobleman from Capernaum wanted Jesus to go to Capernaum to heal his son. Instead, Jesus spoke the word and the nobleman found out his son was healed about the same time Jesus spoke the word. The people of Nazareth had heard about this miracle that was done in Capernaum.)

²⁴ And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable in his own country.

(Notice, the previous two verses were Jesus stating His premise (what) and His reason (why). Jesus' premise was that they would want Him to do miracles in Nazareth and His reason why He would not be able to was because of their unbelief because they were familiar with Jesus. People who were not familiar with Jesus would have more faith, and miracles would occur.

In the New Testament, a sermon consisted of five sentences. The first two sentences were the speaker's premise and reason. The next three sentences were the speaker's support which came from outside himself. Jesus stated His premise and His reason. Would He state His three supports from scripture?)

²⁵ But of a truth I say unto you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
²⁶ and unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

(Jesus' first support came from 1 Kings 17. The heaven was shut up for three and a half years and there was famine just as there will be for the second half (three and a half years) of the Tribulation.)

²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

(Jesus second support came from 2 Kings 5. Naaman the Syrian was the leper cleansed by Elisha.)

²⁸ And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things;
²⁹ and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.

(Jesus was rejected in Nazareth, His home town. In fact, they did not give Jesus the opportunity to state a third support! They realized Jesus was stating His inability to do a miracle was because of their unbelief. Their pride limited Jesus!)

³⁰ But he passing through the midst of them went his way.
³¹ And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath day:
³² and they were astonished at his teaching; for his word was with authority.

(Those in Capernaum who heard Jesus teach were astonished at His Doctrine because His word was with authority. Jesus was a Semikah Rabbi: He could widen Doctrine.)

³³ And in the synagogue there was a man, that had a spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice,
³⁴ Ah! what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
³⁵ And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no hurt.

(The demon stated Jesus was the Holy One of God, and Jesus told the demon to be silent and come out. Jesus did this by faith and made a statement where the object of the spiritual warfare was the subject of the statement.)

³⁶ And amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
³⁷ And there went forth a rumor concerning him into every place of the region round about.

(The fame of Jesus spread in response to Him healing a man with an unclean spirit. Jesus was in Galilee, the "Harvard" of Israel.)

³⁸ And he rose up from the synagogue, and entered into the house of Simon. And Simon's wife's mother was holden with a great fever; and they besought him for her.

(Simon (Peter) was married.)

³⁹ And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she rose up and ministered unto them.

(Simon's mother-in-law was healed and she ministered to them.)

⁴⁰ And when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
⁴¹ And demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them not to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

(Jesus healed many at Capernaum which appeared to be Peter's hometown.)

⁴² And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place: and the multitudes sought after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them.
⁴³ But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent.
⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.




Luke 5
¹ Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;
² and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
³ And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the boat.

(Jesus taught from Peter's ship in Galilee.)

⁴ And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
⁵ And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets.
⁶ And when they had done this, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking;

(Jesus told Peter to let down the nets in spite of the fact that they had already caught nothing. Peter obeyed anyway and their net broke because of the multitude of the fish.)

⁷ and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

(Two boats began sinking because of the weight of the fish.)

⁸ But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
⁹ For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken;
¹⁰ and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

(James and John were business partners with Peter.)

¹¹ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him.

(They left all and followed Jesus. They were teenagers and left the boats to their father.)

¹² And it came to pass, while he was in one of the cities, behold, a man full of leprosy: and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
¹³ And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him.
¹⁴ And he charged him to tell no man: but go thy way, and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

(Jesus healed a leper and commanded him to keep the Law.)

¹⁵ But so much the more went abroad the report concerning him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities.
¹⁶ But he withdrew himself in the deserts, and prayed.
¹⁷ And it came to pass on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

("Doctors of the law" were teachers, specifically Torah teachers.)

¹⁸ And behold, men bring on a bed a man that was palsied: and they sought to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
¹⁹ And not finding by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
²⁰ And seeing their faith, he said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
²² But Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered and said unto them, Why reason ye in your hearts?

(Jesus had the power to see peoples' thought process.)

²³ Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?
²⁴ But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins (he said unto him that was palsied), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thy house.
²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his house, glorifying God.
²⁶ And amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God; and they were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.

(Jesus healed a paralytic and demonstrated His power to forgive sins. The reason He did this healing was to teach: "But that ye may know...")

²⁷ And after these things he went forth, and beheld a publican, named Levi, sitting at the place of toll, and said unto him, Follow me.

(Jesus called Levi (Matthew) to discipleship.)

²⁸ And he forsook all, and rose up and followed him.
²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house: and there was a great multitude of publicans and of others that were sitting at meat with them.

(Matthew had a feast for Jesus.)

³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with the publicans and sinners?
³¹ And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a physician; but they that are sick.
³² I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

(Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus did not have to call the righteous. The righteous have already responded to "the call.")

³³ And they said unto him, The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink.
³⁴ And Jesus said unto them, Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
³⁵ But the days will come; and when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast in those days.

(Jesus indirectly referred to Himself as the bridegroom.)

³⁶ And he spake also a parable unto them: No man rendeth a piece from a new garment and putteth it upon an old garment; else he will rend the new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old.
³⁷ And no man putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will perish.
³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wine-skins.
³⁹ And no man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is good.

(The wineskins were people. The wine was Doctrine. People of the Old Covenant would burst if they tried to contain the Doctrine of the New Covenant. Jesus was "growing" the Doctrine of that time, the people would have to "grow" with it.)




Luke 6
¹ Now it came to pass on a sabbath, that he was going through the grainfields; and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.

(Jesus' disciples plucked corn and ate them on the Sabbath.)

² But certain of the Pharisees said, Why do ye that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day?

(A certain Pharisee asked why they broke the Law.)

³ And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read even this, what David did, when he was hungry, he, and they that were with him;
⁴ how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests alone?
⁵ And he said unto them, The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.

(Jesus reminded the Pharisee of David and his men eating the priests showbread (1 Samuel 21:3-6). The Pharisees exalted David. Jesus was first making the Pharisee aware of his possible hypocrisy: exalting David and persecuting the disciples for doing what appeared to be the same thing.)

⁶ And it came to pass on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man there, and his right hand was withered.
⁷ And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath; that they might find how to accuse him.
⁸ But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man that had his hand withered, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.

(Jesus knew the thoughts of those who tried to accuse Him. Jesus must have been able to objectively see these thought processes or He could have been wrong about this.)

⁹ And Jesus said unto them, I ask you, Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to destroy it?
¹⁰ And he looked round about on them all, and said unto him, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored.

(Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The Law guided the person's actions on the Sabbath, which was to do good. For six days, individuals could do whatever they wanted to do as long as it did not violate the Law. On the Sabbath, the individual could only do what the Law told him to do, which was good. This was the point the Pharisee didn't understand when he accused Jesus' disciples of violating the Law by picking grain on the Sabbath.)

¹¹ But they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

(The Pharisees plotted against Jesus.)

¹² And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God.

(Jesus prayed all night to God.)

(Verses 13-16: The Twelve Disciples.)

¹³ And when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles:
¹⁴ Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew,
¹⁵ and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
¹⁶ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor;

(All of them, except Judas, were from near Galilee. From this point on we will refer to the twelve as Disciples and all other followers as disciples.)

¹⁷ and he came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
¹⁸ and they that were troubled with unclean spirits were healed.
¹⁹ And all the multitude sought to touch him; for power came forth from him, and healed them all.

(Verses 20-49: the Sermon on the Plain. Though similar in Doctrine, this was a different sermon than the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.)

²⁰ And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed are ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
²² Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

(Rejoice in suffering because your Reward is in heaven.)

²³ Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

(That portion sounded like a shorter version of Matthew 5. Matthew 6 dealt with Reward: here and in heaven.)

²⁴ But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
²⁵ Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you, ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets.

(This sounded like a shorter version of Matthew 6.)

²⁷ But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you,

(Love your enemies.)

²⁸ bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.
²⁹ To him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and from him that taketh away thy cloak withhold not thy coat also.
³⁰ Give to every one that asketh thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
³¹ And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

(Verse 31 has famously been referred to as "the golden rule.")

³² And if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for even sinners love those that love them.
³³ And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for even sinners do the same.
³⁴ And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.
³⁵ But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.

(Despairing in this verse came from the Greek word apelpizō which meant "to fully expect." Jesus gave the definition of love: "to give a value and expect nothing in return from the person you gave to.")

³⁶ Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
³⁷ And judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released:
³⁸ give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.

(Jesus said to "judge not." Jesus also said this in Matthew 7:1. Some people try to say this actually meant Jesus wanted us to judge and that He was showing us the right way to judge. Judging meant to assess a value and directly equal out Justice. We are not supposed to determine a value on people or directly equal out Justice.)

³⁹ And he spake also a parable unto them, Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit?
⁴⁰ The disciple is not above his teacher: but every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher.

(A person can only grow to the level of their teacher. A disciple/student ought to respect his teacher and recognize that they cannot out grow their teacher. This is why it is always important for a person to have someone in their life that is more spiritually mature than them. This will ensure they always have someone to help them grow.)

⁴¹ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
⁴² Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

(Verses 41-42 covered Jesus teaching about contrastive thinking. We ought to first find where we are wrong before we help a brother find where they are wrong. Notice, fixing ourselves does not qualify us to judge others. It qualifies us to help others because we got experience solving the problem on ourselves first.)

⁴³ For there is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that bringeth forth good fruit.
⁴⁴ For each tree is known by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

(Trees being known by their fruit was an example of the principle of causality.)

⁴⁵ The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

(The heart is where your actual beliefs are held and everything that you believe comes through (and is planted in) the heart. Your beliefs are the cause of your actions. Whether the treasure we bring forth is good or evil, it comes from the heart.)

⁴⁶ And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
⁴⁷ Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well builded.

(Hearing and doing the words of Christ will liken you to a wise man with a strong foundation. The rock is the deepest level, the how/why. Notice, bad circumstances come against the person who has a right how/why, and they survive the circumstances.)

⁴⁹ But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.

(Even the foolish man heard the words of Christ but did not do them. The foolish man heard the what, but he did not build deep enough, just on the earth/sand and not deeper to the rock. This man only built his faith on the what and not the how/why. Building your house on the rock is doing the Word of God...doing is the how/why. When bad circumstances occurred to this superficial believer, they were not able to remain profitable and they became unprofitable. Both people heard the Word of God (what) and had bad circumstances. The one who survived the bad circumstances also had the how/why, they DID the Word of God. The conclusion was to have integrity (soundness): SAY (what) and DO (how/why) ought to match. This was the same way the Sermon on the Mount culminated in Matthew 7.)

(This post covered Jesus calling His Disciples, healing people, growing in fame, and teaching according to principles.)

Day 299