The Saviour is Coming.
| 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." (Luke1:32-33) |
Luke was not a disciple, he was a Greek convert to Christianity who set out to write an orderly account of the life of Christ.
The chapter, apart from the greeting and introduction, has the following key moments:
- The Birth of John the Baptist is announced to Zechariah who doesn't believe at first and is struck dumb ("muted"). He goes home and Elizabeth falls pregnant.
- The angel then visits Mary and announces that she is going to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit and will give birth to the Messiah. Mary responds with faith.
- Mary goes to visit her aunt Elizabeth and baby John leaps in her womb. Mary sings the "Magnificat" and spends time with Elizabeth but returns home when Elizabeth's time draws near.
- John is born, Zechariah regains his speech and sings the "Benedictus".
- We're told that John grew up in the wilderness as a Nazarene. (He was probably a member of an ascetic monastic community called "the Qumran Community" who, incidentally, copied and collected scrolls of the Old Testament and were probably responsible for the famous Dead Sea Scrolls)
At the heart of this beautiful chapter is the angel's description of the Messiah.
-He will be great - without equal actually
-Son of the Most High - if we've seen Him we've seen the Father
-The throne of His Father David - the one we've hoped for
-Reign over the House of Jacob forever - He'll conquer death
-His Kingdom will never end - His victory is certain.
This is the hope of Christmas and it points us to the victory of Easter!
