Beyoung Human Understanding

Luke 1:28-38

To ask the impossible of someone I will not do, and I believe it would be impossible for anyone to grasp the magnitude of what is happening to this young girl Mary.  This we know about her from the Scriptures; she was of the line of King David, and yet was a poor peasant girl from a small village and the Scripture does not give us the names of her parents.  The years of captivity had removed any luster of being from the line of David, and yet the prophet Isaiah prophecies these words hundreds of years earlier; “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

 What you and I would regard as a child, Mary would have fit that picture, a Jewish girl could be married by age 12 and six months, so it seems clear that Mary could have been as young as 14 years when she gave birth to our Lord.  Patricia Chadwick gives us this insight; “Though she was young, and probably poor, Mary had something priceless inside: she was a woman of faith who loved God deeply, having an obedient spirit. Have you ever wondered what kind of woman God would choose to carry His Son? She was chosen to love and nurture Him as her firstborn and raise Him in the knowledge of God.”

Doctor Luke, in the book of Acts chapter 13, gives us this information that after God had removed Saul from being the king, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.  Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.”  Both Joseph and Mary were of the line of David!

So when you see this greeting from Gabriel it is very special, “Greeting, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”  Now she was frightened at both the appearance of Gabriel and the message, and I am amazed at the courage of this young lady.  Picking up the story in verses 30-33, “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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.”

We read this at the Christmas season, we hear it preached many times but the magnitude of the message to a 12 ½ to 13 year old girl is beyond my grasp, but listen to Mary, “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”  (Luke 1:34 ESV)  Listen to Gabriel, “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”  (Luke 1:35-37 ESV)

Now, if you have not been impressed with this very young lady, hold on to your seat; “And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.  (Luke 1:38)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

God's Messenger

Luke 1:26-27

When one begins a study of these verses the subject matter is so great it is easy to read past verse 26 to get to the wonderful story of the Virgin Mary, but before doing so let’s look at the angel Gabriel.  Gabriel had at one time this in common with you and I; he like all the angels had free will.   It was all-good until a mighty angel named Lucifer, whose name means, "Light Bearer" chose to rebel against God’s authority.  Another thing the angels have in common with you and I is they also are created beings, but in the day of rebellion, a war broke out in heaven and they were cast out of heaven with Lucifer, who is known by these names; the great dragon, that ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.  (Note: this battle can be found in Revelation 12.)  You may also look at the letter of Jude verse six, “And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.” 

On that day of battle, I believe it took place before man was created, the angels, all of them lost their free will, and the ones cast out with Satan and the ones that were loyal to God were under the authority of the one they had chosen.  And for me that information makes verse 26 of great interest; “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.”  If you study the Scripture Gabriel is God’s messenger for big events, and the birth of the Messiah is the biggest of events! 

His message is to the Virgin Mary, who is betrothed to a man named Joseph who is of the house of David, and that should bring up some questions for many of us.  What is betrothed from a Biblical view; “The term "betrothal" in Jewish law must not be understood in its modern sense; that is, the agreement of a man and a woman to marry, by which the parties are not, however, definitely bound, but which may be broken or dissolved without formal divorce.  When the agreement had been entered into, it was definite and binding upon both groom and bride, who were considered as man and wife in all legal and religious aspects, except that of actual cohabitation.” (Jewish Encyclopedia)  Both the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke give the genealogy of Jesus Christ going back to King David and the reason this is of great importance is God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 God’s promise of establishing the son of David’s throne and his kingdom forever.

Now look to the promise God is speaking to this very young virgin through His messenger Gabriel: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33) 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Common sense when things are not Common

Luke 1:18-25

There is much to learn from these seven verses, and first and foremost is when
God sent Gabriel with a message to Zachariah, a wise person would listen and receive it by faith.  The danger in using common sense when things are not common is where Zachariah finds himself.  And this is his reply to the angel; “How shall I know this?  For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”  Unbelief in the messenger and the message is not acceptable to God or to Gabriel and we would be wise to read Gabriel’s reply: “And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”  (Luke 1:19-20 ESV)

I’m not sure if Zachariah had a following, but most priests and rabbi’s did and this was the big moment, as we stated earlier, a once in a life time for Zachariah and the people were wondering why is he staying so long, and when he comes out he cannot talk and they believe he has seen a vision.

 You will have to pardon me as we jump down a few verses to Luke 1:34-38, because this thought rushed into my thinker and I must share it with you.  Six months later Gabriel is sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin named Mary and gave her the word from God, she was also fearful and ask an important question; “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Then Gabriel explains and listen to Mary’s faith; “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”  Is that not the heart action our Lord Jesus Christ is looking for in all who follow Him?  

Do you recall Moses coming out of Egypt and God let him in on what was going to happen?  "Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. "Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since my name is in him…” (Exodus 23:20-21)  First, it is clear God’s messenger and His message is to be acted on by faith, and that is precisely what Moses did, and the people of promise all agreed to do as God commanded, but when things did not agree with them they rebelled.

If you enjoy a happy ending you’re going to like this; for when Zachariah’s time was up he returned home and Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,  “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”  (Luke 1:25 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Words mean Things

This morning, my friend Herb Whitehouse was having breakfast at our home and I was sharing a verse in Proverbs that had jumped off the page at me.  It is Proverbs 8:12, “I, Wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion.”

Herb, ask me if I would read that again, and after doing so this was his comment; “I can’t put my mind around that” and I knew precisely what he was saying, for that is the reason it jumped off the page.  We both had a definition of Shrewdness that had a connotation of the person who is shrewd as being evil.  He left to go paint a house and Jan and I went to New Braunfels to move boxes at Kids Club across the street from the Counseling Center.  When we returned I began to explore the word Shrewd, and how it is used in Scripture, these are my findings.

Shrewd

Defined by Webster

Shrewd: having or showing an ability to understand things and to make good judgments: mentally sharp or clever.

Jesus words on the subject of Shrewdness; Matthew 10:16, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Luke 16:8-9, "And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”

The word Prudent is used with the same meaning as Shrewd.  Hear these words from Proverbs 18:15, “The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”

Proverbs 12:23, “A prudent man conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims folly.”

The word Astute is used with the same meaning as Shrewd.  Hear these words from Psalms 18:25-26, “With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute.”

2 Samuel 22:26-27, "With the kind You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the perverted You show Yourself astute.”

The Bible also deals with the ungodly being shrewd in more than one place: Psalms 83:3 is an example, “They make shrewd plans against Your people, And conspire together against Your treasured ones.”  Job 5:12-13 is another example, "He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success. "He captures the wise by their own shrewdness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.”

Now in closing let me share that Herb was a college professor of history, and I am an uneducated Texas boy who often needs the dictionary, but we both had been taught a wrong concept of the word Shrewd.  Words mean things and as followers of Christ we need to make sure we understand what is being stated.  “I, Wisdom, share a home with shrewdness and have knowledge and discretion.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com

It’s hard for a non-Jew to grasp

Luke 1:8-17

Yesterday, we looked into the 24 divisions of the priest as to when they served at the Temple and it was Zechariah’s group’s time and he was picked by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.  What a lucky day for Zechariah, wrong, as I’ve stated many times luck is by definition an act or action of chance rather than through the control of God who is all knowing and ever present.  

Outside in the outer court, or it was also referred to as the great court, were a multitude of the people praying at the hour of incense.  If you look at a diagram of the Temple to the west in front of the veil that separated the holy place from the most holy place was the altar of incense.  Daily a priest was selected by the casting of “lots”, now this was once only for the priest and some never got picked. This is a once in a lifetime assignment, the priest would take burning coals from the brazen altar in the temple court, and he would take the coals to the altar of incense and put incense upon the coals.

It’s hard for a non-Jew to grasp what is taking place at the Temple, inside is Zechariah at the altar of incense and outside is the multitude of worshipers praying at this very special time.  The men were in a different place and the women in another and outside there is a wall separating the court of the Gentiles.  Inside where only priest can go, Zechariah has an appointment he was not aware of, but before the foundation of the world God had set that day, the hour, and down to the minute in His appointment book.  In verse 11 it states: “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.”  Verse twelve tells the reader that Zechariah is alarmed and filled with fear, and the angel told him not to be afraid, and then he told Zechariah his prayers had been answered.  As one who prays, I’m sure this thought came into Zechariah’s mind, which prayer?   But maybe there was not time for thoughts for the angel said; “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been 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 before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”  (Luke 1:13-17 ESV)

From fear to believing the impossible, this is the spot the angel finds Zechariah in, he has moved from fear to I’m sure I missed what you said.  His wife is also from the priestly line and she is well past the age of childbearing and has endured her neighbor’s belief that she was cursed by God, for that was the belief when a woman was unable to have children.  The angel who later identifies himself as Gabriel, his name means mighty man of God, gave Zechariah not only the child’s name but also his purpose, he is “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

They prayed for a male Child

Luke 1:5-7

In these three verses we find two very different men, one is a seeker of power and authority, the other a priest, Dr. Luke tells us the following: “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord.”  Verse five begins in this way; “In the days of Herod, king of Judea”, and that leaves this writer wondering what were the days of Herod like?  We have crucial details of Herod’s life that are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.  You will find if you choose to investigate Josephus’ writings these facts: “Herod was the son of Antipater, was appointed governor of Coele – Syria, and advanced from one position to another until made king of an extensive territory, in which Judea was part of.  He had these characteristics: He was enterprising, keen of intellect, builder of the second temple, but bloodthirsty and cruel.”  (Page 1371 footnote 1579 of the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible)  What a contrast between these two men, one a priest who has one wife who is also like her husband righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord, do you grasp the magnitude of that statement?  The other man is very enterprising, and intelligent, a great builder, and yet full of fear and anger, a very cruel and bloodthirsty man.

I like you may be wondering what is the division of Abijah, this may help; Shmuel Safrai a founding member of the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, gives this insight: “During the Second Temple period, the twenty-four priestly divisions served in the temple at Jerusalem in a rotation system. A list of priestly divisions can be found in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18, which is usually dated by scholars to the fifth century B.C.E. There is no mention there, however, of any fixed order of service. Only in post-biblical traditions is it mentioned that the priestly divisions served according to a weekly rotation system.

The priests themselves lived not only in Jerusalem but also in other settlements in the land of Israel. When it was “time for the division to go up [to Jerusalem]” (Mishnah, Ta’anit 4:2), the priests left their homes, went up to Jerusalem for a week, and afterwards returned to their homes in Judea or Galilee.”  And Wikipedia had this to add; “A descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, a chief of one of the twenty-four orders into which the priesthood was divided by David  (1 Chr. 24:10).  The order of Abijah was one of those that did not return from the Captivity (Ezra 2:36–39; Nehemiah 7:39–42; 12:1).

This writer would be remiss if Elizabeth was not addressed as to her heritage, for she also was from the line of Aaron.  This couple had prayed and prayed for a child, and it was for a male child, but as the Scripture states they were both advanced in years, way beyond the time of having a child.  Is it not a wonderful thing that our Creator is not limited by time, and in that He works outside of what we earth critters are controlled by, He can and may change the rules we live by when it meets His purpose.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

God's heart was for all to come to Repentance

Isaiah 66:18-24

Today, as I end my thoughts of the book of Isaiah, my prayer is first and foremost that this uneducated student of the Scripture did not error in my thoughts put to paper.  And in that prayer, I also pray that you the reader will not take my word for anything but will run to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to guide you into all truth.  If you had a problem with Isaiah’s prophesy you may not want to read these final verses, but my hope is you not only will but also it will make you alert to the soon return of our LORD.

From the beginning of creation the heart of God has been for all men to seek and to worship the only true God, the one who declared to Moses when sent by Him to the people of Israel who were slaves in Egypt, and Moses asked, who am I to tell them who sent me?  And God said in Exodus 3:14, tell them “I Am” sent you and it is always present tense, so God is not confined by any of His creation, such as time; He has been to the front and end of time and what we call past is as the present and what we call future is also present for our Creator.

Do you recall Abram being called by God from the land of his relatives and even the house of his dad to a land God would show him, and God promised He would make of Abram a great nation.  Often, we quote Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Our great and mighty Father God’s plan wanted the whole world to see His might and love for mankind, by the favor he showered on His chosen people.  Their independent spirit of looking to self and to other nations gave you and I the understanding that God’s love would not allow His people to chase after the foolishness of pagan nations, and often they chose the curses of God, and not the blessings He desired for them.  Some refer to this and the law given to Moses as plan “A” and Christ coming to earth as plan “B” but that does not hold water as we examine Scripture.  Before God created the world His plan was to send His Son, His only Son to earth, to take on flesh and live a pure and sinless life, for He did not have the sins of man passed down from Adam, for His Father was God.

Listen and ponder 1 Peter 1:19-21, “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.  For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”  Do you recall the apostle Peter’s sermon at Pentecost where he stated in Acts 2:23-24, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”

God’s heart from the beginning was for all to come to repentance, for none to perish and the Jewish people to bring the good news of “I AM” to all people.  And in verse 19 we see the remnant of God’s people who survive the judgment do just that.  And out of the nations will come people chosen by God before the foundation of the earth to serve our Father as priests and Levites.  And all mankind will come and worship our great and mighty God.  The last verse of Isaiah is a description of the outcome of the wicked.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice