Devotions from Luke’s Account of Jesus Christ.

 

 

                             Introduction

Luke 1:1-4

Luke was a doctor by profession, and he came in contact with the Apostle Paul as he travelled around preaching, and for some of the time, he attached himself to his party travelling with them. Luke was not one of the twelve apostles, but he would have known them very well, and no doubt found out all he could about the events of the Lord’s sojourn on earth…..

Being a doctor, he was very interested in the “how” of things and events, and possibly would have spent much time with Mary the mother of Jesus as well. He felt he should write these things down for the benefit of others, and so he addressed and sent this account to a friend of his, Theophilus. He would have not only interviewed Mary, but other members of the group who had moved around the countryside watching and listening to Jesus as He performed His many miracles and the listened to the teachings He gave.

But being a methodical man, he started right at the very beginning in telling the story of how John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah came to be born….a most unusual man with a miraculous beginning.

Luke writes his account so clear, Knowing that others would want to hear,

How all these things then came about, So they are known without a doubt!

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                             The Fore-runner.

Luke 1:5-25

The Old Testament  prophets told of how that before the promised Messiah would come, there would be one who would announce His arrival who would come in the same  power that Elijah had (Malachi 4:5). We have this clearly stated in Matthew 17:10-13 as to who this person was. It is truly wonderful that God has not left us in any doubt how all these things came about….

The priesthood at that time was such that the main priests would leave their homes and go to Jerusalem to serve in the temple for so many days at a time, and then return home to tend their fields and gardens. So we meet Zacharias serving in the temple for his appointed period. His wife Elisabeth was at home seeing to things….both of them were getting on in years and they had never had any children.

As Zacharias went about his daily duties on this, an ordinary day in the temple with people praying outside, he was suddenly aware of an angel standing beside the altar. He felt afraid at this sight, and when the angel spoke his announcement was even more amazing….”Your prayers have been heard and you will have a child that you are to call John”. The angel then gave further instructions as to how the child was to be brought up ….Zachariah was dumbfounded and said, “How will I know this? We are both too old!”

“You will become dumb and not able to speak until this happens”, and then disappeared.

The people waiting outside for Zachariah to come out and continue with the temple rites, wondered why he was taking so long, and when he did come before them, he could only beckon with his hand and mime that he couldn’t speak.

So many momentous events in our lives happen on a day that starts out just like any ordinary day….how well prepared are we to hear God speak to us in some way through bad news of some sort? How well do we know Him so that we can cope with these changes of direction that may come suddenly in our lives? Let’s make sure that we cultivate our faith and trust by learning to know Him better from His Word..

John came to announce God’s well loved Son, Who came to earth, the Holy One,

His aged parents  had much to learn, About this child  who would people turn.

***             ***             ***

                             Mary’s Visitor

Luke 1:26-38

The time for the tide to turn in human events on this world had come. We are clearly told here how this would happen, and it started with a visit from one of God’s highest angels to a teenage girl in Nazareth . We wonder what she was doing when Gabriel appeared to her…was it first thing in the morning while she was contemplating the things that God had done to Israel in the past? Or was it in the evening when the day’s work was done and her family was preparing for bed?

We are not given any indication what her family was like, but we can assume that it must have been a godly family for them to accept Mary’s news calmly. Just imagine what we would think if our teenage daughter came and told us she had seen an angel and that she was going to become pregnant with the Messiah that all Israel was waiting for!

Mary asked how this would happen and took the news from Gabriel quietly saying, “May it be so according to Your word”. We wonder how much the implications of being pregnant before actually being married sunk in to Mary at this point. We can be very thankful that the details we are given by Luke make it very clear how this came about….. “the power of the Almighty overshadowed her” he wrote delicately. The angel then told her that her elderly cousin was already pregnant, and she set off to visit her almost immediately.

Perhaps her parents felt this would be the best thing for her to do. Meantime her fiancé heard in some way that Mary was pregnant, and was minded to call the engagement off, but then he too had a heavenly visitor who told him that this child was indeed the Son of God, and that Mary had not been unfaithful to him in any way. The angel continued in giving Joseph more instructions, and saying that all this was a fulfilment of Scripture  ( Isaiah 9: 6-7; Matthew 1:18-24). So when Mary returned from her visit to her cousin, they were married and the care of Mary now fell on Joseph.

He too, must have been a special person to have been entrusted by God to have His Son in the family.

Mary was a godly girl, Who never hesitated in life’s whirl,

When faced with this, God’s greatest task,  Agreed straightway, no questions asked.

***             ***             ***

                     The Beginning of the New Era.

Luke 1:39-56

When Mary arrived at the house of Elisabeth and Zacharias, Elisabeth felt immediately the confirmation that this was no ordinary pregnancy that Mary was having….as soon as she heard Mary’s greeting her baby leapt in her womb…..

We have these two godly women greeting each other….one an older mature woman past normal childbearing years, and the other a teenager embarking on the greatest event of her life both carrying promised sons.. There was no doubt in Elisabeth’s mind as to who the child was that Mary was having, and this would have been an encouragement to Mary that she hadn’t just dreamed the whole thing. Mary was steeped in the Scriptures and the words just burst from her as she responded to Elisabeth’s greeting…”My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour!”

Mary was under no illusion that she was any better than anyone else…she knew she needed a Saviour, but she also knew the One Who was going to provide that Saviour and the privilege she was having in playing a part in that. The challenge to each one of us is, do we know our need of a Saviour and have we taken advantage of the offer that is free to all mankind? Jesus Christ has the answer to all of mankind’s problems, but the sad thing is that people just don’t want to listen to Him!

Mary stayed with Elisabeth and Zacharias for three months and we assume that she stayed until the birth of John and then returned to her parent’s house where she went through the marriage ceremony with Joseph who then took on the care of her. The next sight we have of Mary is that she and Joseph were going to travel to Bethlehem just as the baby’s birth was imminent.

These two babies were of God’s plan, In bringing salvation to wicked man,

These  mothers two were part of this, In bringing to man God’s greatest bliss.

***             ***             ***

                     Birth of the First Baby.

Luke 1: 57-80

       Elisabeth’s full time came and her baby boy was born safely. She insisted the his name was to be “John” and none of her relatives agreed. So they asked Zacharias what he wanted the boy to be named….

He called for writing gear, and wrote down “His name is John!” Immediately he could speak again!

He began to praise God and to quote Scripture, saying that this child would grow up to be a preacher of righteousness who would turn many back to God. All the friends and neighbours could see through this that this was no ordinary child, and they respected him as such. John indeed proved to be no ordinary man….he had different ways, living a loner’s life out in the desert, wearing just a rough leather garment and eating locusts and honey from the wild bees. He lived like this for thirty years, and then came into the towns and villages preaching his message of the need for repentance in the light of God’s Coming One (John 1:6-7).

His preaching was powerful and many who heard him were convicted of their sin and asked to be baptised by him to show their sincerity. He knew his job was to tell of the Coming One, who was in fact already around. One day he met Jesus and said to those nearby, “Look, this is the Lamb of God Who will take away the sin of the world!”  (John 1:29). Then as Jesus became more well known as a teacher and preacher, John said of Him, “He must increase but I must decrease”. John recognised that his work was done, and that he had accomplished what God had sent him to do.

John the Baptist was a mighty man, Preaching throughout all the land,

Telling that people must repent, Around the places that he went.

***             ***             ***

                 The Arrival of God’s Promised One.  BS4Y

Luke 2:1-7; (Matthew 2:1-23)

The old Testament prophecies had said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and  yet Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth, many  miles to the north. How would this come about? Even unbelieving rulers are moved by God to perform His purposes, and we see this happening here….

All the population of Israel had received notice from the Roman Caesar  that they were to return to their birthplace and register for a census. Joseph was born in Bethlehem, so he and Mary packed up and prepared for the long trip on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem. We are all familiar with the pictures of Mary riding on a donkey and Joseph walking beside here, but we must remember that Mary was a fit young woman, and that she would have walked a good part of the way if not all the way. The Bible doesn’t tell us how they actually travelled, only that they got there. There were obviously many travellers reaching Bethlehem  for the same purpose and all the accommodation was full when they arrived.

Matthew and Luke give us the accounts of the birth, while the other two Gospels present Jesus to us as a grown man beginning His ministry. While some might say that the Bible is contradicting itself, yet we can see how these two accounts dovetail together perfectly to give us the full picture. Matthew shows us how the Old Testament prophecies are all fulfilled in this Child, with three  mentions of entirely different places that God’s Son would come from…Bethlehem, Egypt and Nazareth  (Matthew 2:1-6, 14-15,23). Matthew tells of the wise men from the east (please note there is no mention of how many wise men there were!), and we can see how these three types of gifts that they brought would have provided the means for them to stay in Egypt. Luke gives more intimate details of how the Baby was born and how Mary wrapped him in the clothes she had brought with her, and how He was put into a cattle feeding trough (manger) for a bed….note that He was NOT born in the manger as so many people, even preachers, say!

Jesus Christ the Highest One, Came to earth, God’s well loved Son,

Took on Him  the lowliest place , So man could reach the Father’s face.

***             ***             ***

                 The Announcement of Christ’s Birth

Luke 2:8-20

God was not going to allow the most important event in the history of man to pass unnoticed. A group of shepherds were with their flock outside that night, and suddenly the night sky lit up with a great unearthly light, and the sound of the most beautiful music was heard…..

We can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for them….no wonder they were frightened! A heavenly Being appeared from the sky telling them not to be afraid, but to go and find the Baby, God’s Promised One, in Bethlehem….they would know the right one because he would be sleeping in a cattle trough. It began to dawn on them that this was really happening, and they realised there was a multitude of angels in the sky all praising God….they could hear the words of their song clearly…”Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward man”. Then it all began to fade and darkness fell upon the scene once more.

The shepherds hurried into the town to see if they could find this Child they had been told about….we wonder what Mary and Joseph thought when this group of shepherds finally found them in the cattle house and told them what they had just seen and heard. It seems that as they searched for the Child they would have told everyone they asked what for, and why, they were looking for this Baby. Everyone who heard this news wondered about it. In a country town as Bethlehem was, news travels fast and it was soon known that a special Child had been born in their midst.

We can imagine how the shepherds talked as they went back to their sheep! We are told here that they continued praising and glorifying God for these events and for the fact they were involved in it!

Jesus Christ was born that night, Born in weakness, not in might,

Announced to lowly men with  sheep, While most  unknowing were fast asleep.

***             ***             ***

                             The Baby’s Dedication.

Luke 2:21-39

All baby boys in the Jewish culture were required by the law to be circumcised when eight days old, so this was duly done and the name of Jesus given to Him (Matt 1:21). Then at the time of Mary’s purification according to the law, they took their precious Child to  the temple and offered the customary sacrifice for this  (Leviticus 12:2-8)…                  

There were still devout people in the land at this time who felt by the Spirit of God, that something great was about to happen. Such a one was Simeon, an old man who was waiting for God’s promised Messiah to come. At the same time that Mary and Joseph were in the temple to bring their offerings for the birth of their Baby, Simeon came in. He saw them there, and the Holy Spirit prompted him to go over to them, and he just knew that this was the Child he had been waiting for. He took him up in his arms and blessed God for the privilege of seeing this Child, and felt that now he could die in peace knowing the time had come.

There was another person, an elderly godly lady, who came to the temple every day. She was moved to go over when she saw this little group of people, and probably heard what Simeon said, and she too gave thanks and praise to God, and told all she knew about this Child having come at last.

The challenge for us is….are we so in touch with the Lord that we can recognise the signs around us as momentous times get closer? Are we waiting for His return with the same fervour and expectancy  that Simeon and Anna had? We have been told to “Watch!” (Matthew 27:42-44). This world has nothing to offer us, but there is everything waiting for us in the next….let’s make sure that our eyes aren’t so clouded over with busyness that we forget that the best is yet to be!

Jesus Christ had come at last, As was promised  in the past,

Those who waited for God’s One,  Knew this baby was God’s Son.

***             ***             ***

                         The Boyhood Days of Jesus.

Luke 2:40-52

     We are told practically nothing of the boyhood days of Jesus, but can you imagine what it would have been like to have a child that was always obedient and helpful? Who always did His jobs without complaining or trying to dodge them? Who never squabbled with His siblings, and could always be trusted to look after the others and do what was right?

It must have been a shock to Mary’s system to have normal boys to bring up after such a good child that Jesus was! We can’t imagine what the attitude of the rest of the family was to their eldest brother, and wonder if they tried to annoy Him, or take advantage of His goodness, or maybe just be plain jealous of Him!

But we do have this one account of Him when He was twelve years old. The whole family made the long journey to Jerusalem as their custom was once a year, to sacrifice to the Lord. There was obviously a whole group from Nazareth that went along together, and Mary and Joseph assumed that He was with the other young ones as perhaps they raced ahead. But they couldn’t find Him that evening at the end of their first day’s journey….this was most unlike Him to not turn up!

We have the account of how they went back looking for Him and after three days they found Him in the temple sitting with all the religious people there asking and answering questions. The men there were amazed at His understanding. Little did they know they were speaking and listening to their Creator!!

We see the humility of Jesus as He went back with Mary and Joseph and remained subject to them once more, We have the beautiful comment in the last verse where it says that He grew in favour with God and man as He grew into mature manhood.

Jesus Christ, the perfect child, Was indeed both meek and mild,

Growing through the teenage years, With no sign  of tantrum tears!

***             ***             ***

                             John’s Ministry.

Luke 3:1-20

Luke picks up the story of John again, and we see here why he was referred to as John the Baptist. His preaching brought about conviction to those who heard him and he baptised them in water to show they had truly repented. We also see that he required them to be sincere in their profession and didn’t just baptise anyone who asked for it….

The religious leaders went to hear his preaching and when they saw the people repenting and being baptised, they wanted to be too. But John didn’t mince matters with what he said to them… “O generation of vipers”, he thundered, “Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

“What shall we do then?” the people asked.

“Live the life and help those in need,” was the answer.

“What about us?” the notorious tax collectors asked, and were told to be honest in their collecting

“What about us then?” the soldiers asked, only to be told to not wrongly accuse anyone and to be content with their wages!

The people began to murmur whether he was the promised Messiah, and John told them clearly that he wasn’t….there was One coming shortly who was mightier than he. But John’s time of preaching was coming to an end, and Herod the Jewish ruler could stand his truth no longer….John told him he had no business to take his brother’s wife, and this cut Herod to the heart, so he put him in prison to shut him up. But his wife never forgave John and didn’t forget it either  (Mark 6:17-28).

John the Baptist preached God’s Word, Until the region all around had heard,

He told the truth to one and all, Which led to prison and his fall.

***             ***             ***

                        Jesus, God’s Obedient Son.

Luke 3:21-23;   Matthew 3:13-17

Luke says very little about the baptism of Jesus, but Matthew gives a bit more detail. John knew Who Jesus was and that He was the sinless Son of God, and he felt unworthy to perform the rite of baptism on Him….

But Jesus insisted that John baptise Him, a public show that He was the righteous One from God.  God the Father was watching this, and gave His blessing on it by speaking with an audible voice from Heaven…. “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased”. A second confirmation came when people watching saw the Spirit of God come from heaven and rest upon Him in the manner in which a dove alights, circling around before coming to rest.

This was not the only time that God spoke from Heaven in a voice that could be heard physically….once  again after the Transfiguration He spoke aloud and told those listening that this was His beloved Son and to hear what He had to say  (Matthew 17:5).

So the public ministry of our Lord began after thirty years of silence….from a human point of view He was at His peak of maturity and strength, and ready to continue the work His Father had sent Him to do on earth. Let us make sure that we too, hear what He says to us through His Word.

Jesus Christ, God’s obedient Son, He was the Messiah, the Holy One

Now to begin His earth’s career, His words and deeds all seen so clear.

***             ***             ***

                    The Temptation…..His First Test

Luke 4:1-4

We read here how Satan tried his best to deflect our Lord from doing His Father’s work. This is always Satan’s aim, especially after a believer has had a great uplifting experience. If we can be tripped up in some way, whether through pride or disappointments, Satan is there to add his bit…..

Jesus was led by the Spirit into a lonely barren place for forty days, and He prepared Himself there, alone with His Father, for the next three years. Forty is mentioned in many places in the Bible and it is always in connection with testing and/or preparation…for example, the forty years wandering in the desert for Israel after leaving Egypt, and the forty days of confirmation seeing the Lord after the resurrection.

So now our Lord had been without food for forty days and was feeling weak and vulnerable (so Satan thought), so he came to Him with this suggestion, “If You are really the Son of God, make these stones into bread!”

He was attacking Him from His physical needs point of view, but it was a waste of time…Jesus replied by saying, “It is written….” This is our shield and armour when Satan attacks us in the physical realm, we have the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16) to use when we can fall back on God’s grace and the knowledge that He will see us through whatever the trial is in health, financial or family problems (2 Corinthians 12: 7-19).

Jesus Christ though God’s own Son, Was still attacked by the evil one,

He used the Might  of God’s Holy Word, His soul to strengthen and to gird.

***             ***             ***

                  The Temptation….the Second Test

Luke 4:-5-8

Satan had tried the first time to deflect the Lord from His purpose and failed. Never let us underestimate Satan’s persistence….we may feel we have overcome the test in the physical realm, but see how he continued his attack on the Lord, and it will be no less for us….

This time he attacked the natural human desire for excellence and fame…Satan said, “I will give You all the kingdoms of the world if You will only worship me!” We might think this was an empty promise, but Satan indeed has the power of all the principalities of darkness behind him  (Ephesians 2:2; 6:12). Once again, Jesus answered with Scripture and reminded him that it is only God who is to be worshipped.

This is one of the tests that Satan can trip each one of us up in…we may not have or even desire, fame on a world-wide stage, but each of us has a circle of friends and acquaintances that we like to shine amongst. We must remember to keep ourselves humble before God and if He raises us up to a position of leadership, we are to remember that it is His work, not ours., and that we are all dispensable!  (Romans 12:3).

Satan is very persistent indeed, To him we must never give time or take heed,

Let’s keep ourselves humble before our Lord, Keeping ourselves steeped in His Word.

***             ***             ***

                       The Temptation….the Third Test

Luke 4:-9-13

Satan was dealt with for the second temptation, but he came back for a third time, tackling Jesus from  both a spiritual and physical point of view this time…he whispered, “Go and jump off the top of the temple….You know that God won’t allow anything bad to happen to You, for it is written that  His angels will protect You!”

What Satan said was true, but it was not God’s will. Sometimes the temptations we get WILL be true and good, but we have to discern whether it is God’s will for us at that time and place.

Jesus said to Satan this time, “It is written, ‘You are not to tempt the Lord your God’ ”. We must be steeped in the Word of God and learn to use it skilfully. Or perhaps you are a young Christian and only know one verse of Scripture…..hang onto that and use it. One powerful verse to memorise and use is, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin!”  (I John 1:7b). It may seem to be a very basic verse, but it will clear your mind of the temptation to do wrong or to step out of God’s will.

Satan was vanquished for this time, but notice what Luke says in verse 13…Satan left Him for a SEASON…it isn’t recorded any other times that Satan came back to harass Him in the same way, but we are to be ever mindful that Satan will continually tempt and harass us in many different ways, seeking to trip us up. This is when we are to use the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:12-17).

This whole experience left our Lord feeling physically weak, and Matthew tells us that this was the time that God sent His angels to strengthen Him….not if He had shown off as Satan tempted the last time. God will never leave His people struggling for ever….there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. If you are in a struggle at the moment, hang onto that verse that says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b) .

God gives strength when that’s what we need, As to His Word we cling and take heed,

The temptation  we’re in will surely leave,  As we His Word truly believe.

***             ***             ***

                         Test Passed and the Aftermath.

Luke 4:-14-30

Our Lord had passed this test with flying colours, but that didn’t mean that Satan had left Him. Nor does he ever stop trying to trip us up. These tests that we get will only serve to make us stronger if we have gone through them depending on the Lord, but we can never afford to sit back on our laurels….

We read that Jesus returned from the desert in the power of the Holy Spirit, and went back to His home area of Galilee and surrounding districts where He taught in the synagogues.  But when He taught in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people wouldn’t accept His message….”Who does He think He is?” they muttered, “He’s only the carpenter’s son!” This was Satan’s opportunity again….this time through people, the ones who knew Him the best.

We often find this too, that those we know best are quick to criticise, and in fact that is what Jesus said in this instance…”No prophet is accepted in his own country”.

Satan was standing on the sidelines, and thought, “We’ll get rid of ?Him before He starts His ministry!” and  incited the people to throw Him off the cliff where the town was. They took Him forcibly to the cliff edge, and then suddenly they had no more power over Him….He turned and walked calmly away through the middle of them and they were powerless to touch Him any more. Can you imagine the scene….angry men  calling to get rid of Him, looking after Him with their mouths open as He walked  calmly away!

God will not allow any of His people to be destroyed before their time. We read and hear on TV today  of the lines of Christians taken by the radical people and beheaded , but let us remember that they have not been forsaken by God….it is their time to go to be with Him. They have the promise of a greater reward than those who die in quieter ways  (Revelation 20:4). Up until a very short time ago, we would have thought that this was referring to people of many hundreds of years ago, but now it is happening with frightening regularity in Middle Eastern countries, and the authorities seem powerless to stop it.

Jesus Christ

***             ***             ***

                              The  Work Continues.

Luke 4:-31-44

This first real opposition did not deflect our Lord from His purpose. He continued to preach in the synagogues around the area, and healed the sick as well. The people were amazed, both at His preaching and at the miracles He was able to do….

We see how He was able to heal those with evil spirits in them….these spirits knew Who He was and often addressed Him as the Holy One from God (verses 34, 41). We have the account of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever, and then of all the others who came crowding in to be healed.

As the fame of Him went further afield, people began to follow Him wherever He went, and they begged Him to stay with them so they could have the full benefit of His blessings. But this was not God’s purpose for Him, and He told them that He had to move on and preach and heal in other places.

People often only think of themselves and the benefits they can get from certain situations….we all tend to do this without considering that others also need to share in these. If we are truly following the Lord, our horizons will be wider than this, and we will seek to do as much as we can to spread the good news of the Gospel. We may not be able to go ourselves, but we CAN support those who do go, both financially and in prayer.

Jesus Christ began His task, And people in these blessings basked,

He knew it was the  time to move, To spread around word of God’s love.

***             ***             ***

                                    Fish or Men?

Luke 5:-1-11

It seems that this incident was fairly early in the morning, and yet the people were thronging Jesus even at that early hour. He had been at Peter’s house the previous evening, and Peter along with his partners James and John, had been fishing all night. Now they were on the beach washing their nets….

Jesus got into Peter’s boat and pushed out a little and spoke to the people from there. Sounds carry clearly over the water, especially in the early  morning when all is calm and still, and this was a perfect amphitheatre for hearing every word that Jesus spoke.

Jesus knew that Peter and his friends hadn’t caught anything this night, and He knew their private concerns  and that perhaps they had fears about providing for their families if they followed Him. But He also knew that He wanted these men to follow Him and learn more of Him….these were the ones that His future work depended on. But He wanted them to learn that He could provide all they needed as they followed Him.

When Jesus had finished speaking, he told  them to go out again and throw their nets into the water. Peter knew it was impossible to catch fish in broad daylight, but he did as Jesus said, and to his utter amazement his net was full to overflowing. He had to get his partners to bring the other fishing boat out and help them to bring the catch in to shore.

Peter knew this was an absolute miracle and he fell at Jesus’ feet confessing that he was a sinful man. Upon this confession, Jesus was able to give him the promise that he would be able to catch men in the future for God. We see some of this fulfilled later on when up to three thousand people came to know the Lord in the first preaching session that Peter had. (Acts 2:40-41)

How many times do we doubt what God says in His Word? We have to obey and act on it, then wait to see what He will do. As we do this, God is able to work miracles through our lives….it may not be any great thing, but every little thing done for the Lord counts.

Peter gave his boat to the Lord, From it He preached and taught His Word,

Then Peter saw the miracle of  fish, Left it all, and did God’s wish.

***             ***             ***

                                His Work Continues.

Luke 5:-12-26

We see here a single healing miracle in the person of the man with leprosy, and from there many came to Him to be healed. The man knew his need, and he knew Who could meet that need. He took the humble place at the feet of Jesus and received immediate healing….

Our Lord healed people in many different ways…sometimes He told them to do something and as they obeyed Him they were healed, others He touched  and they were immediately healed (verse 13) and others He just spoke to. Some He healed from a distance (Matthew 8:8-13), some came to Him and others He went to  (Mark 5:36-42). It is the same today. Although He is the only way for people to be spiritually healed, there are many different ways that people come to the realisation of their need and come to Him for that healing and the peace that He gives.

Then we see the faith that these four men had in bringing their paralysed friend to Jesus….they persisted in their quest, even when it seemed impossible to reach Jesus because of the crowd. They went up the outside stairs to the roof, made a hole in it and let the man down on his stretcher in front of Jesus. The first thing He said, “Your sins are forgiven!” He knew it was more important for the man’s soul to be healed than his body.

There Pharisees sitting there in the room watching Him critically, and they started muttering about this statement. But Jesus knew what they were saying and He came straight to the point…. “which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or get up and walk?”

When they all saw the healed man walking and carrying his own stretcher, they were  amazed and glorified God.

It is truly amazing to see the power of God in a person’s life today, and the change in them. We must each one ask ourselves if we have experienced this amazing power in our own lives, and if not, then why not? We have to humble ourselves before God, and confess our sins taking the gift that He offers us, and then we will receive new life in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ still heals today, When we come in His own way,

Heals the soul from sin and death, Giving life and heavenly breath.

***             ***             ***

                    Who Did Jesus Come to Call?

Luke 5:-27-39

In all ages and times there are those who have a desire to find and know God, and others who just brush it all to one side and want nothing to do with Him. So it was here….there were those who seemed to be followers of God but in reality their heart was far from Him…..

As Jesus was moving along, he saw  a tax collector sitting at his booth  whose name was Levi (Matthew)  and He called to him to follow Him. On the surface of reading this it seems a sort of random thing, but we must remember that Jesus knew all about Levi, what he was thinking and his heart’s desires long before this incident. Levi must have had this desire to know more of God, and Jesus knew this, so when He called him, Levi immediately left his job and followed Him.

We read of how Levi made a great feast and invited his fellow tax collectors, along with others of his friends to it. The religious leaders noticed this and muttered to His disciples about the fact that Jesus was eating with “sinners”. We have to be careful that we don’t have the same critical attitude, judging others by their appearance when we don’t know what their heart’s desires are. Jesus hadn’t come to call those who thought they were alright, He had come to call sinners to repentance. There is no-one more hard to convince than a person who is sure that they are right and who doesn’t want to change his mind!

The religious leaders then tried another criticism… “Why do our and John’s disciples fast all the time and Your’s don’t?” they asked Jesus.

He answered in a parable…Do people at a wedding go without while the bridal party is there? But if the party is split up, then people will fast! It’s no use patching an old garment with a new piece of cloth….it won’t last, neither is it any use putting new wine into an old wineskin as it will burst. So you can’t mix the old and the new….it has to be the new put into a new receptacle.

In other words, we can’t patch old ways up….we have to have a complete turn around which is what repentance is….a turning away from the old ways and turning to the new. ( 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:5-17)

Jesus Christ had come to save, Eternal life He freely gave,

Those who knew they had a need, Came to Him in truth and deed.

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                                Criticisms Continue.

Luke 6: 1-11

The Pharisees seemed to be watching Jesus everywhere He went with critical eyes. This time they saw His disciples picking ears of corn from the fields they were passing by one Sabbath day. “You’re breaking the Sabbath day by doing this”, they said. But Jesus countered it by reminding them that when David was hungry he took the priest’s bread for his men…..

Jesus reminded the people that He was Lord of the Sabbath day, and they didn’t like this. Another Sabbath day Jesus went to the local synagogue where there was a man with a withered hand. Again, the religious leaders watched to see if He would heal this man there. He knew what they were thinking and asked if they wouldn’t pull an animal out of the drain on a Sabbath day. He told them that a man was far ahead of an animal (Matthew 12:10-14), and then told the man to stretch out his hand . As he did so, his hand became normal like the other. The religious leaders were so angry at this that they had a meeting to plan how they could get rid of Him.

Jesus knew all this, but it didn’t phase Him…..He continued with His healing work. We will find opposition to any work we try to do for the Lord too….sometimes it even comes from within the church. We must not let this hinder us from doing what we feel the Lord has called us to do…we have to remember that it is His work, not ours, and that He will give the necessary strength to continue.

 Jesus Christ had come to earth, To bring mankind the second birth,

The leaders didn’t like His plan, They did their best to destroy this Man.

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                                Criticisms Continue.

Luke 6: 12-19

We see here how Jesus would spend all night in prayer to His Heavenly Father….if He needed to do this, how much more should we spend more time in prayer! We see here how He had this big decision to make in choosing His twelve disciples….even though He knew all things, yet He didn’t do anything without talking it over with His Father in Heaven first….

There were apparently many people who were following Him at this time, but He chose twelve men  from them to be closest to Him. These were the men He would instruct in His ways, and ultimately leave His work on earth with, for them to continue after He went back to heaven.

Twelve is a very important number in Scripture, and it signifies government or leadership. We see how both Abraham’s sons had twelve princes or leaders of tribes in their families  (Genesis 17:20; 25:16; 49:28; Numbers 1:44).  In the list of the names of these twelve men  Peter, James and John were always mentioned in the first group, and Judas Iscariot (the traitor) was always last. Peter always seemed to be the one who spoke up first, and John is mentioned several times as being the “disciple who Jesus loved”. When something big was happening, Jesus always took Peter, James and John to be with Him.

So we see these twelve men were chosen at this time, and were with Him for the rest of His time on earth. They heard His words, and saw His miracles. What a privilege they had! We can only see and hear these things by reading them in God’s Word and believing them by faith! Yet there is a special blessing for us in doing this….Blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet have believed! (John 20:27-29)

 Jesus Christ chose these twelve men, To see His works so they would gain,

Knowledge of the God above, The One who sent His Son He loved. 

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               The Sermon on the Mount Compressed. (1)

Luke 6: 20-23

Luke compresses into these verses the new philosophy that Jesus had come to give. Matthew took three full chapters to tell us the sermon on the mount as it became known (Matthew 5-7). These ideas were so foreign to people then, and indeed are to us today too….let us look at them and see what Jesus would have us do…

“You are blessed when you realise you are poor”, He began. This is not referring to earthly riches, this is referring to spiritual values….we have to realise how little we know before we can progress to greater things. Those who think they know it all, will never learn any more!

“You are blessed when you are hungry”, He continued. Again, this is referring to the spiritual needs that people have….we can only find all that we need in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, “You are blessed when you weep, for you will laugh”. We have to weep for the sins we have committed, and confess them to God before we can be forgiven. But what joy and relief there is when this is done! We know we belong in God’s family, and that we will one day go to be with Him….we are safe and secure for ever.

One final blessing…”You are blessed when people hate you for My sake, because you will have a great reward in heaven for enduring this!”. You might wonder what your friends will say when they see the change in your life after coming to Christ and you might  think you will have no friends left. In one sense this is true, as the old friends will just drop off, but there will be a whole lot of new friends of like mind that you will find as you go to places where the Christians meet. You will no longer want to frequent the places you used to go to….you will have new aims and desires, you will find that you are an entirely new person!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  This is just the beginning!

 Jesus Christ gives us new life, We leave behind all our old strife,

Who would not want this new way, To be rejoicing every day?

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               The Sermon on the Mount Compressed. (2)

Luke 6: 24-38

The sermon now looks at the flip side for those who refuse to want this new life, and presents the consequences of such a choice…..

“You who rely on your riches now, will find you can’t take it with you!  You will find that though you have plenty on earth now, you will have no satisfaction and nothing in the life to come! You will not be laughing then! Men who speak well of you now, will not be able to help you then!”

The picture painted  is not a good one. So how then is a person to live this new life? It sounds worse and worse….love your enemies and do good to those who are mean to you! Pray good things for them! If someone has stolen from you, give them more! Do the things for them that you would want done to you!  Impossible you might think. Ah, but remember what God has done for you. While you were His enemy, He sent Christ to die for you (Romans 5:8).   This puts the whole thing into an entirely different light.

Then the next few verses reiterate the new concept again…do good to those who hate you, love your enemies hoping for nothing in return. Give to those in need, and God will give back to you…maybe not in kind, but in receiving the satisfaction and joy of knowing you are passing on to others what God has given you. God sees and knows our every motive and action and will not forget what we do for Him.

 God rewards the ones who give, Sees deeds done and new life that’s lived,

As these things we daily sow, This  is what help us to grow.

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                                Which Foundation?

Luke 6: 39-49

The  question is asked here… “Can the blind lead the blind?” We must have a firm foundation ourselves before we can lead others into God’s light.  We have to look at ourselves from an outside point of view and make sure that we aren’t blind with prejudices ourselves before we start criticising others….

How often we see people who are endeavouring to advise others, who are no better off themselves!  It is very easy to see the faults in others, but be blind to our own! Our Lord went on to say that what is in, will come out; a tree will only bear what its variety is. A grape vine will only bear grapes, and a bramble bush will only have brambles on it. What is in the heart of a person is what they will talk and think about!

We can very soon pick whether a person we have just met has any spiritual life or not by the way they speak. But we must not just talk the right talk, we must walk the right walk as well. Jesus then went on to tell a story that illustrated this point…those who truly follow Him have the foundation of their life firmly fixed on God and the storms of life will not shake them, but those who only have opinions to build their life on will find they keep changing their minds, and tragedies that come their way will shake those opinions to the core. This is the difference between having opinions and having convictions…a person building their life on an opinion will easily change their mind, but someone with a conviction will never change…. people are not willing to die for an opinion, but they will die for a conviction!

 Jesus Christ is a foundation sure, One we can build on, perfect, pure,

Storms may come and storms may go, Our house stands firm , in Him we grow.

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                                Miracles Continue.

Luke 7: 1-17

We have here the story of a Roman centurion, a high up general in the Roman army whose servant was very ill. When reading this story, we must remember that our Lord knew all about this man before He even received the message to come…

He knew this man’s heart, and He knew his desires to know the God of Israel. He had even built a synagogue for the Jews in this small seaside town of Capernaum! Now his trusted servant was ill and he was distraught as he got worse. So when he heard that Jesus was in the area, he sent messengers to come and heal him. When we are in trouble, we can always call on the Lord for help. In fact, we have the promise of God to call on Him in the day of trouble, and that He will deliver us so we can glorify Him  (Psalm 50:15).

As the centurion thought about Jesus coming to his house to heal his servant, he began to feel more unworthy, the closer Jesus got. This is how it should be with us too….the more we think of the greatness and goodness of God, the more unworthy we realise we are. Yet the grace of God reaches down to us in our times of extremity!

 Jesus Christ will meet our need, His graciousness is great indeed,

His grace and  mercy knows no bounds, His help is there for us around.

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                                Doubts Allayed.

Luke 7:11- 23

Jesus and His disciples stayed in that area overnight and the next day as they moved away, they passed through a village where a funeral procession was  in progress. Jesus knew that this young man who had died was all that his mother had left…she was a widow who now had no-one to support her….

Once again, we are to remember that this was no chance meeting. Jesus knew before He set out that He would meet these people at this place and time. He knew the need of this woman, and her sorrow in her loss. He went through the crowd, and said to the woman “Stop crying” and touched the bier at the same time. He said, “Young man, get up!” To everyone’s amazement and fear, the dead man sat up and began to talk.

There was no doubt in people’s minds as they saw this miracle… “This is a great Man of God!” they said and gave thanks and praise to God sending the news far and wide around the place.

John the Baptist’s friends went and told him what had happened as he sat languishing in prison. He had been wondering why things had turned out as they had. Had he been mistaken? He had never expected things to be like this, cut off in the midst of his ministry to be put in prison. He had thought maybe, that he could work alongside Jesus as He went about teaching and preaching.

So he sent his friends to ask Jesus, “Are You really the One that was to come? Or should we be looking for another?”

Our Lord didn’t rebuke John for his doubts. He understood them totally. He continued with His miracles of healing while John’s friends looked on, and then told them, “Go back and tell John the things you have seen today. Tell him that all those who aren’t offended by Me will be blessed indeed!”

This message is just as relevant today as it was then for John. When things don’t go right for us, we must never blame God for allowing them. It is through these tough times that we can grow in Him and see how He gets us through them. A plant that never feels the wind blowing will always remain weak and faint, but one that has the wind blowing through it, grows strong and pliant, able to take the gusts as they come. Let’s remember these things, and rather give thanks instead of complaints.

 Jesus knew of all John’s doubts, His loving thoughts to him  reached out,

“Never fear, I am the One, Who God’s work has always done”.

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                                    Sins Forgiven.

Luke 7:24-50

John’s friends went back to him and reported all they had seen and heard of Jesus. We don’t really know any more about John until we read of his death at the instigation of a wicked woman. We might think what a waste, but his job had been finished….he had done what God sent him to do….

Our Lord commended him after his friends left, saying that there was no-one greater as a prophet than John had been, he had laid the foundation of the salvation for mankind that would come through Jesus Christ. What an example for us to follow! Can we say that we have done that which God wants us to do in our life-time? We might think that we aren’t fitted for any great work for God, but all He requires for us is that we are faithful to Him, and humbly walk with Him all the days of our lives   (Micah 6:8). Our Lord put it another way when  He said that we are to “abide in Him”….as we do that He abides in us and brings forth fruit in our lives  (John 15:1-8).

All the people and the tax collectors who heard our Lord speak accepted His Words joyfully, but the religious leaders looked on sourly and criticised everything He did. One of them invited Him to a meal, and while it was in progress, a woman brought in a box of sweet smelling ointment, and stood behind Him weeping. Then she knelt down and washed His feet with her tears, wiped them with her long hair, and rubbed them with the ointment.  The Pharisee was very put out at this because she was a known sinner in the place (and probably uninvited to the meal) and was thinking critical thoughts. Jesus knew what he was thinking, and pointed out his own shortcomings which this woman had supplied. He knew the thoughts of her heart and how she did this out of contrition and desire for God….”Your sins are forgiven”, He said to her;  “Those who have little to be forgiven, love little; but this woman has much to be forgiven and she loves much!”

What a lesson to us! Let us not be critical of those who do seemingly strange things for the Lord, as we don’t know their hearts. God is a God of variety and not all people are squeezed into the same mould. There is only one way to God and that is through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, but God uses many different ways to bring people to Him.

 Jesus Christ knows every heart, He sees their thoughts and knows their part,

He is the truth,  the life, the way, Make sure we come to Him today.

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 The Parable of the Sower.

Luke 8:1-18

We have here how the Lord went through the whole place, teaching and healing. It was not only the men who followed Him, but it was the women that looked after them all….this reminds us that we all have a part to play, some up front and some behind the scenes. One day He told them the now well known story of the farmer who went out to sow his seed…..

Not only did He tell the story, but He gave the meaning as well, so we have no doubt as to what He was teaching them. The seed was all good, and it represented the Word of God. It was the different types of soil that it fell on that represented men’s hearts and the results of the seed falling on it. Just as many people hear the word of God (or know about it), not all respond to it fully. Some people just brush it to one side, and it is as though it landed on the path leaving the birds to swoop down and eat it up…there is no result for the farmer.

Other seed falls on the edge of the field where the soil isn’t tilled properly, and it germinates, springs up and then comes to nothing as the sun scorches it.  These represent the people who  hear the word with gladness, and embrace it, but never follow it through. They agree that it is good and they should do something about it, but nothing ever comes of it. Still no result for the farmer.

Still other falls among the weeds and springs up but then after a while gets choked by the weeds and remains thin yielding no result for the farmer either. This represents people who go to church sometimes when it suits them, but other things crowd it out. They are too busy with business or taken up with sport on Sundays. They may be true Christians, but they are very weak and their testimony is almost nil. No-one can tell from their life that they are a Christian. Again, there is no real fruit for the Lord.

The seed that falls on the good ground, not only springs up and grows, but it is healthy and vibrant and grows to fruition. This is what the farmer is looking for and it is from this soil that he gets his crop. These are the ones who hear the Word, accept it and act upon it. They confess their sins to the Lord, read His Word and meet with God’s people regularly, growing in the things that matter. These are the ones who bring joy to the Farmer, as they praise and glorify Him.

Jesus went on to say that these are the ones whose light is seen by all, and they in turn can bring light to others. He warned those listening to be careful with what they were hearing….those who accepted it and acted on it would gain much more, but those who rejected or ignored it would lose what they seemed to have once they were in eternity. And eternity is a long, long time!

 Jesus Christ told many a tale, Each with meaning that will never fail,

Let us take heed how these we hear, Take hold and keep them ever near.

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                            Peace, Perfect Peace.

Luke 8: 19-25

This first incident mentioned here, causes some people to think that the Lord was unfeeling and brushing His mother to one side. But it doesn’t say that….listen carefully to what IS said….

His mother and brothers wanted to see Him about something, but the crowd was so thick that they couldn’t get near Him. He was told that they were there wanting to see Him, but He stretched out His hand towards the crowd, saying that those who heard His word and responded to it were all His family, all as important to Him as any earthly relationship. It doesn’t say that He ignored His mother’s request or that He didn’t make time for them. It merely records the fact that He said that ALL people are equally important to Him (Matthew 12:46-50) .

The next incident tells how He wanted to cross the lake. He knew what was going to happen before they left, but lay down in the stern of the boat and fell asleep. No doubt His body was weary with all that He had been giving out to the crowds….this shows His true humanity. While the disciples were manning the boat, the wind got up viciously and these seasoned seamen became afraid that they wouldn’t make it when the boat began to take in water.

They woke Jesus up and said, “We’re not going to make it!” He stood up and they heard Him say above the roar and whistle of the wind, “Peace, be still!”  Not only did the wind stop suddenly but the water was completely flat instantly. The wind stopping they could understand, but the complete calm of the lake was something that they couldn’t take in! This was more scary than the raging storm had been, and although they thought they knew Jesus and had seen His many miracles, this manifestation of His power over nature was something they hadn’t experienced…. “Who is this Man?” they said.

This Man was none other than God Himself in human form, the Creator of heaven and earth   (Hebrews 1:2).  This is the Man who men despise and mock today, using His name lightly as a swear word. Let us never treat Him or His word lightly, but seek to follow and reverence Him as our Saviour always. His power is the same today, and as we go through life’s storms, He can bring peace and calm in every situation if we will only look to Him.

 Jesus Christ the One from above, The One who came to earth in love,

The One who calms the storms of life, Bringing peace in times of strife.

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                              Freed from Bondage.

Luke 8:26-39

They had arrived on the other shore, still wondering from what they had seen and experienced on the way over. It was no mere coincidence that they had come to this place. Our Lord knew this man was there, in complete and utter bondage to these evil spirits that were in him….

As they approached the town of Gadara, a man came running to meet them from the local cemetery. They saw that he was naked, unkempt and wild looking. Matthew tells us that there were two men together, and they were both demon possessed and living in the tombs  (Matthew 8:28). However, Luke just majors on one of them. These men were so fierce that no matter how they were chained up to keep them under control, they could just break free, and then they would wander around the place terrifying everyone.

They saw Jesus and the disciples coming in the distance, and ran up to them. They fell on the ground before Him and cried out saying, “What have we to do with You, Son of God most high? Don’t torment us!” It is amazing that those who were afflicted in this way, always knew and acknowledged Who Jesus was, while the so called religious men didn’t!

Jesus asked, “What is your name?”   One of them said “Legion” because there were many demons in him.

We have a glimpse of the demon world here, when they said “Don’t send us out into nothing”, so He gave them permission to go into the herd of pigs that were feeding nearby. The herd that had been feeding peacefully there suddenly became uncontrollable, and tore down the slope into the sea where they were all drowned. It has been said that these “dumb” animals couldn’t bear what the men had put up with all this time.

The pig keepers went into the town and told what had happened, and when the people went out to investigate, they saw the wild man sitting peacefully at the feet of Jesus wearing clothes and listening to him talking. Instead of being glad this had happened, they were afraid, and told Jesus to leave, they didn’t want Him there. They blamed Him for losing their livelihood which they shouldn’t have had in any case as pigs were forbidden in the Jewish culture.

Those today who turn to the Lord in sincerity and truth will know a peace that they have never known before, and their old mates will wonder what has happened to them! The Lord gave this man a job to do….”Go back home and tell everyone what has happened to you!” There was no-one else in that place who could do this, and sometimes we will find ourselves the only one in a work place or other situation who will live a life of truth and honesty….may we always do this.

 Jesus Christ gives peace today, When people turn and go His way,

His peace in them will  surely show, All around  will see and know.

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                                    Amazing Things!

Luke 8:40-56

The above incident was a one off visit to this place, especially so these so-called mad-men could be healed and then carry on telling the marvellous things that God had done for them. Now Jesus returned to where He had left from and the people were waiting there for Him….

We now have the story of Jairus whose daughter lay dying. He pushed through the crowd and fell down at the feet of Jesus begging Him to come and heal her before it was too late. As He began to go, He suddenly stopped. “Who touched Me?” He asked.

“Master”, said Peter, “How can You ask who touched You when there are so many people here pushing around?”

“No!” Jesus insisted, “I know someone has touched Me for healing as I can feel it”.

A woman came before Him in fear and trembling, and fell on the ground in front of Him. “I did” she said, “I have suffered with this problem for twelve years, and I touched your coat and I know I am healed!”

“Go in peace”, Jesus said, “Your faith has made you whole!” Of all the people who were touching Jesus in that crowd, it was only that one woman who was healed at that time. She had a need and knew it and He was the only One who could heal her. What a picture of each of us with the need to have our sins forgiven! He is the only One who can do this, but we have to be like this woman and come to Him. It doesn’t happen automatically, it has to be a conscious personal decision, a reaching out to Him to meet that need.

Meantime, Jairus would have been waiting impatiently, hoping they wouldn’t be too late. But alas, one of his servants came rushing up saying his daughter had just died, it was too late! Jesus knew this would happen. Nothing is ever too late for Him, and in this case it only served to show His power over death. “Don’t weep, she is only asleep”, he said as He got there, but the crowd didn’t believe Him, and mocked.

Jesus calmly went into the house, and taking Peter, James and John with Him, as well as Jairus and his wife, put everyone else out of the room where the girl lay. He picked up her hand as it lay there lifeless and said, “Maid, arise!” Immediately, the girl’s spirit came back to her body, and she sat up. We can imagine the surprise and joy that filled her parents’ hearts as they saw this happen!

“Give her something to eat”, He said, “and don’t go making a big thing of this around the place”. We don’t know why He told some people to go and tell what great things He had done for them and why others were told to keep it quiet. This girl was not to be made much of or to be bombarded with questions. It was enough that Jesus was in their midst and available to be found by those who needed Him. This is the same for us today…He has promised that those who seek Him will find Him  (Matthew 7:7-8).

 Jesus Christ, the same today, He is the Truth, the only Way,

We must come in all our needs, He will change our minds and deeds.

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                              The Twelve Sent  Out .

Luke 9:1-10

The Lord knew that His disciples would need some practical experience of their own if they were to continue His work when He was gone from them. So he told them to go out and preach and heal the sick. They were to take nothing with them….

They weren’t to have any things that would hinder their travels. So often when we go to do a work for the Lord, we get bogged down with gear..,.when He is with us, we only need to depend on Him! We don’t need all the fancy gear to keep people’s attention when we speak. He has given us eye contact, and actions, and when we rely solely on Him, He will give  us the people’s attention!

The disciples went out for the designated time, and God was with them working through them. The authorities heard what was going on and how people were saying it was just like the days of the old prophets. Herod heard all this and his conscience began to work when some were saying that perhaps John the Baptist had come back to life! He knew he should never have had John beheaded, and he was curious to see Jesus for himself. Not because he felt any need, but it was just sheer curiosity  (Luke 23:8). Our Lord was not here on earth to perform miraculous deeds for show, but to meet people’s deep spiritual needs as well as to heal their diseases. We don’t need to entertain people, we are here to feed them spiritually and to teach them the things that matter.

Our Lord made a point of meeting those with these needs, but He never made a point of meeting with Herod, until the fateful time of His trial in Jerusalem. The apostles came back to Him and gave a joyful report of all that they had been able to do. Jesus saw to it that they were taken aside for a few days respite before resuming their work with Him again. We don’t need to feel guilty about taking time off ….there is no point in working until we drop, and rest and recreation are just as necessary for the spiritual worker as for the manual labourer.

 We must do the work of God, Following where our Lord has trod,

Relying on Him who gives us strength, He will see us through the length.

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                            Use What You Have!

Luke 9:11-17

The time came to resume work, and the people weren’t slow to find where Jesus and His disciples were. It was a long and busy day, and the afternoon was growing later and later. The disciples came to Jesus and said it was time for the people to be sent away to find somewhere to stay for the night and get food….

But Jesus knew what He was going to do….it was another lesson to the disciples on how He could provide. “You give them something to eat!” He said. How often we expect the next person to do what is needed instead of getting to and doing it ourselves! “We haven’t enough food!” they said, “We’ve only got a small amount”. Jesus turned to them and said, “Use what you have!”

How often we need to be told to do just that! We feel our limitations, but we are to remember that little is much when God is in it. Another thing to notice is that Jesus told the disciples to do things….He delegated the job of making the people sit down, and then of passing around the food. He could have miraculously just put the food in each of their hands, but He didn’t….He made the disciples part of this miracle. This is the way He still works today…He CAN just provide for His people, but He often, if not nearly always, makes others of His people part of the work He is doing. They pray, and God answers. He receives more glory this way than if everything just fell out of the sky as it were. It is through this way, that His people can see His hand working in their affairs. This is why we are told to pray for one another….it is not that Gold doesn’t know the need, but He makes others a part of what He is doing!

The people were told to sit down in groups of fifties, and then Jesus gave thanks for the little amount that was there. He broke it into pieces, and passed it around. Miraculously, it just kept coming and coming. It didn’t stop until everyone had been fed. Not only that, but each disciple picked up a basket full of the left-overs!

This miracle made a great impact on the disciples, because each of the Gospel writers mentions this event. But there the similarity ends. Luke doesn’t mention the Lord telling the disciples to go across the lake or the fact that He sent the people home while they did that. Nor the crossing of the lake and the storm where Peter attempted to walk on the water  (Matthew 14:21-32).

Jesus Christ knows what to do, He gives others parts to do,

It’s not to be a one man band, When He’s at work by His mighty Hand.

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                              Who am I ?

Luke 9:18-27

We so often find it hard to verbalise and actually say the things that are closest to our heart. This was the case here…..the disciples were alone with Jesus in a quiet place and He was praying to His Father. He turned to His disciples and asked “Who do the people say that I am?”

Another reference to this question phrases it thus…“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”  (Matthew 16:13). They replied that people were wondering whether He was one of the old prophets or if He was John the Baptist come back to life. Then He said, “But Who do YOU say that I am?”  He was not an ordinary man, and His disciples knew this. He also knew that they knew it, but He wanted to hear them say it. We may all know we do a good job at certain things, but it is nice to hear it appreciated….on the flip side, let us be sure we let those near to us how much we appreciate what they do for us or around us, whether it be at home or at work.

Peter said this time, “You are the Christ from God”. It was after this confession that He told them not to talk about that aspect of His work, because of how things were going to work out for Him. He had already spoken other times of how He would suffer at the hands of the authorities, but although He told them this more than once, it didn’t seem to really sink in. They only heard what they wanted to hear! No wonder he said many times, “Those who have ears, let them hear!” We are all like this at times….let us make sure we examine some unpalatable principle or news thoroughly, and not push it to the back of our minds trying to forget it!

Then He went on to say that those who wanted to follow Him had to learn to deny themselves and take up their cross every day. “What is the point of gaining everything this world has to offer and then to lose your own soul at the end of it all?” He asked. We would do well to remember this principle, and to go in for the things of God. They are eternal and will go with us into the next life. What we gain in this world will all be left behind, and we will have to stand before God one day empty-handed. This is one of the things that we are not push into the back of our mind, but to look at it and examine it and then make an informed choice. Do we really want to face God and suffer His rejection? This is what Jesus said here….”those who are ashamed of Me and My Words here on earth, I will be ashamed of in that future day!”

In other words, are we covered by the blood of Christ? Have we taken this gift that He offers us or have we turned away from it? As one young man said when presented with this choice….”There’s really no option is there?” and he took the gift of salvation for himself. His life was cut tragically short twenty years later, but he was ready to meet his Maker.

 Jesus Christ gives us the choice, Of praising Him with heart and voice,

Or turning from His gift of grace, Where we will never see His face.

***             ***             ***

                              The Heavenly Sight.

Luke 9:28-36

Peter, James and John had a wonderful experience that none of the other disciples saw. They went to the quiet place up the mountain with Jesus while He prayed. What they saw there this time, they never forgot (2 Peter 1:16-18) …..

As He continued in prayer to His heavenly Father, His whole form changed gradually. He grew brighter and brighter and His clothes became glistening white with a holy light emanating from within His whole being. The three disciples were worn out with all the goings on of the day, the crowds pressing in on them and the activities, and they had fallen asleep while Jesus was praying. They awoke with a start, and saw the light that came from the Lord….not only that, but there were two others with Him. Peter and the others knew instinctively that these two were Moses and Elijah, and they heard them talking together about His coming death at Jerusalem.

Peter blurted out the first thing that came into his mind…  “Master, we’ll make three shelters for you all”. The mountain became swathed in a thick cloud, and they were afraid as it came down around them. Then they heard the Voice of God speaking…. “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!”

Suddenly it was all gone!. Jesus was there alone again and once more His familiar self. They stayed there for the rest of the night, and never told anyone at that time of what they had seen and heard. But they never forgot that experience.

Sometimes we have holy experiences that are better not spoken about….they are something between us and our God alone. Other people would not understand, and they might think you are setting yourself up as something special. Or they might think that they have missed out and God is not with them in the same way. We have to remember that we are all different with different needs and that God speaks to us all in different ways. Just because we don’t have the same experiences  as others doesn’t mean that God is not with us. In fact, Jesus told Thomas that those who don’t see or hear these things but believe them by faith are more blessed  (John 20:29).  It was said of Abraham that he was blessed because of his faith in God  (Galatians 3:6-6).

 As Peter went with Jesus that night, He had a glimpse of heaven’s  light,

Surrounding them all, they heard God say, “This is My Son, follow His way”.

***             ***             ***

                             Those Most Important.

Luke 9:37-50

They came down from this mountain top experience into the hustle and bustle of working with people again. A man with an only son, called out to Jesus to heal him….this young person was demon possessed and had dreadful seizures….

“I brought him to Your disciples, and they couldn’t do anything for him”, the father said. “Bring him here”, Jesus said, and when the young man came near, he had another violent seizure. But Jesus calmly rebuked the demon which then left him healed and calm and sound of mind. Everyone was amazed, including the disciples who hadn’t been able to do  anything for him.

Jesus again told His disciples then, that He was going to be delivered into the hands of wicked men, but it didn’t sink into their minds. They couldn’t comprehend what they were hearing, and were too afraid to ask Him. They were more concerned as to who would be the greatest in this coming kingdom that they thought He was going to set up on earth.

Here they were, walking and talking with the Creator of all the earth for these years, and they still had the mind set that He had come to set up an earthly kingdom! This shows how careful we have to be that our preconceived ideas don’t take away the truths that God wants us to learn. Our minds race ahead of what we have been told, and we think we know what we haven’t heard! No wonder our Lord told the people so many times, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus picked up a little child and put him down in front of them all. “See this child here?” He asked, “Those who are humble like little children (who leave the decisions to their fathers), are the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven”.

John answered this comment on another tack, “Lord, we saw someone else casting out demons and we told him to stop doing it because he isn’t one of us!”

Jesus merely said, “Don’t stop him. Those who aren’t against us are for us”.

 Jesus Christ is Lord of all, Teaching those who heed His call,

We must do all that He tells us, Take it in and do as He pleases.

***             ***             ***

                              Time Drawing Near.

Luke 9:51-62

The time was fast approaching that the great work of salvation should be completed, and our Lord steadfastly set His mind to travel towards Jerusalem. They came to Samaritan village and it was time to stay overnight, but these people didn’t want Him….

James and John took a dim view of this, and asked Him why He didn’t call fire down from heaven to destroy them! Jesus told them it wasn’t His job to destroy people but to save them. So they carried on to another village to stay. Different ones met Him on the way and had great ideas of following with Him, but there was always something to hinder them. So often we get fired up with great ideas after hearing an inspiring speaker, but it is more important to follow steadily along with what we know.

We should have the aim of doing what we are already doing, but doing it better and with more enthusiasm. To encourage others is one of the greatest things we can do….to recognise the potential they have and to try to channel it in the right direction.

Some of these people had lame excuses for not following immediately (or valid reasons depending on their point of view) …”I’ll come after my father has died” and “I need to go home and say goodbye to my family”. But Jesus pointed out that it’s no good going where you will have second thoughts or where others will try to talk you out of your resolve. Once we know the call of God to a certain work, we must keep going. A person who is always changing their mind is of no value to anyone.

 Christ had His  mind set on its course, Which came from Heaven as  its source,

To bring salvation to men  was His aim, For this is why to earth He came.

***             ***             ***

                               Others  Sent Out.

Luke 10:1-20

The work was great, and time was short. The Lord appointed seventy other people to go out and preach ahead of where He would  pass through, giving them instructions for their trip. He knew the dangers they would encounter and encouraged them to travel lightly depending on the Lord to supply their needs….

This was a real challenge to these people…their job was to tell people that God’s kingdom was near…those who received them and took them in would listen to what they said. Those who turned against the message they preached, could not expect the blessing of God. He named some of the places where His message wasn’t accepted and said that their judgement was certain.

His messengers were given the power to heal the sick, and  He told them that if they were rejected, it was really Him they were rejecting. So as we tell others the message of the Bible, if it is refused, then it is God that is being refused.

These people fulfilled their commission and came back to Him rejoicing in what they had seen and been able to do. But Jesus told them that this was not the most important thing in life for them…it was the fact that they had come to know God as their Father, and that their sins were forgiven and their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life  (Revelation 20:12, 15)

Time is short, the work is great, For some already, it is too late,

God is gracious, calling all, It is for us to heed His call.

***             ***             ***

                                    Be Neighbourly.

Luke 10:21-37

We see in this passage the principle that God works on. It is not the most important or famous that He uses, it is those who feel their weakness and depend on Him who He can use the most. Even in this story that He told, it was the one who was despised (a Samaritan) who did the work of God in helping the  battered man….

There was a lawyer there in the crowd listening, and he now tried to trip Jesus up with his questions. As so often happens, it backfired onto himself.

“How do I get to heaven?” was his question.

“What does the law say?” Jesus asked.

He quoted the first part…”You are to love the Lord Your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself!”

“Right!” Jesus said, “If you do this you will get to heaven!”

“Well, who is my neighbour?” the man persisted.

Then Jesus told the well known story of the Good Samaritan and how this man who was despised in the Jews’ eyes, did what the religious men refused to do.

“Now”, said Jesus, “Who do you think was the real neighbour to this man?”

The answer was obvious….the Samaritan.

“Well, you go and do the same”, said Jesus.

We don’t know the background to this man who asked these questions. But our Lord did know. And He would have touched a raw spot in this man’s life with this story. So often we stand to one side thinking self righteous thoughts, when we are more at fault ourselves!

 Jesus Christ knows all our needs, He sees us all in all our deeds,

‘Twould do us well to think about, Our own shortfalls, before we shout!

***             ***             ***

                                Learning to Listen!

Luke 10:38-42

In this passage we are introduced to a family who all loved the Lord. It seems that the two sisters and their brother were living together in perhaps the family home and that Martha the oldest, was in charge…..

We aren’t told very much about this family, and the only other places they are mentioned is in John 11:1-45 and 12:1-11. But we DO know that they had a very special relationship with Jesus…  Martha loved to have Him come and stay, and Mary loved to listen to Him and we read that Jesus loved them as a family  (John 11:5). What a wonderful relationship they had with Him, God’s beloved Son! We too can have this relationship, but it is not in the way that they did….theirs was a physical friendship of being able to see Him as a Person, to hear Him speak, to entertain Him and have Him stay with them overnight.

On this occasion here, Martha was busy serving the Lord in the way she knew best. She was bustling around getting the meal ready, trying to have everything perfect, and there was Mary just sitting down listening to what Jesus was talking about and not helping at all! She began to feel a bit put out as she was left out of the conversation, and she went to Jesus and asked Him to tell Mary to get up and give her a hand. But His answer was not what she expected…. “Martha, Martha, you are too worried about the things that are here today and gone tomorrow, but Mary has chosen to hear the things that will last, and not be taken away from her”.

This was Martha’s gift, the gift of entertaining, and she was using it for her Lord. But she was too taken up with it, to listen to what He was saying. We can be like this too, in being too busy with the Lord’s work to spend time to really listen to Him, to hear what He wants us to know. So often the Lord wants us to remember to BE, not as much as to DO. He wants our hearts and minds, not just our hands….let’s remember to put first things first around the right way!

Jesus Christ will come to stay, With His people every day,

When we  make the time for Him, He’ll give us joy up to the brim!

***             ***             ***

                                 God, Our Father.

Luke 11:1-2a

The disciples must have thought that Jesus was ALWAYS praying, and indeed He was. He was in constant communion with His Father. After He had finished praying one day, they went to Him and asked Him to teach them to pray like that….

We too, feel the need to pray in a manner that is acceptable to God. But we must remember that what our Lord gave to His disciples that day is only a pattern prayer, and not meant to be a rote prayer like a lucky charm or something of that sort.. Let’s look at it briefly (whole books could be written about the Lord’s Prayer, so this is extremely brief!)

It starts off with “Our Father”….is God REALLY “our Father”? Unless He is, this prayer won’t mean much to us. If He isn’t, He can be and will gladly be, upon the realisation of being a sinner in His sight, and confession of this. God will always hear the prayer of a contrite sinner  (Psalm 34:18; 51:17), but He cannot hear the prayer of a person who is proud in his own self righteousness. Our sins get in the way between us and Him   Isaiah 59:1-2).

Jesus continued….  “Hallowed (holy) is Your name”. How much do we realise the holiness of God? He tells us that the best we can do, our greatest righteousness, is but as “filthy rags” in His sight!  (Isaiah 64:6). It makes us feel that way too, the more we think about His holiness…Isaiah’s reaction, godly man that he was, when had his vision of God was, “Woe is me! I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips!”  (Isaiah 6:5). God’s eyes are too pure to look at anything evil (Habbakuk 1:13). So we need to realise that we have to be cleansed by the blood of His Son before we can even talk to Him! (1 John 1:7, 9). Then we have the responsibility to live holy lives before Him….He says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”….(1 Peter 1:15-16)

 God our Father, will be our all, When we on Him contritely call,

Realise His greatest holiness, Before our souls He will fully bless.

***             ***             ***

                                 God’s Kingdom.

Luke 11:2b

When we know that God is our Father, and how far short we fall of  His holiness, then we can pray for His kingdom to come. We know that this is not necessarily an earthly kingdom (this is what held the disciples up, they kept expecting deliverance from the Roman oppressors), but it is actually His spiritual kingdom that we are to pray about…..

This kingdom is within each believer (chapter 17:20-21)…we are told that unless we are born again, we can’t be in the kingdom of God! (John 3:3).  It is very sad to think of all the people who routinely recite this prayer without even having made a start towards the Kingdom of God!

Then they go on to say, “Your will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven!” God’s will on earth starts with each individual person. Until we respond positively to God’s will, we are just saying a lie to pray this phrase! God’s will is that each person on earth will be saved. That is why He sent His own beloved Son to earth to make payment for man’s individual sins….God is not willing that ANY should perish! (2 Peter 3:9)  Can we imagine a place where God’s will is done ALL the time by ALL people and Beings? This is what heaven is like.

It is IMPOSSIBLE for any sinner or sin to be in Heaven. Satan lost his position the moment he said, “I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:12-15), and He was thrown out along with all those who followed him. Jesus said He saw him go…”I looked and saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!” (chapter 10:18). One day all those who have come to know the Lord Jesus will be in this place for eternity….it is beyond our imagination!

 Jesus Christ has done His best, For all mankind to  eternally be blest,

We must each take what He’ll give, So in His presence we can live.

***             ***             ***

                                    Our Needs.

Luke 11:3-4

This prayer starts off with worship to God and recognition of Who He is and His character….He is the Creator and Giver of all things according as He sees fit. So all our prayers should start off with this aspect….God is the Greatest and most Awesome and we are honoured greatly in being able to approach Him at all…..

We have seen  that this is only possible through the blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8). After thinking about this aspect, we can then go on to present our needs. As with all humans, our first thought is ourselves and our physical needs, and God makes allowances for this by showing us we need to ask Him for these….   “Give us this day, our daily bread”. We need to acknowledge our dependence on Him for our very existence.

Then we are to go on to ask for our spiritual needs….  “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12-15). It is made abundantly clear that if we don’t forgive others, so God cannot forgive us….we cannot come to Him in prayer with an unforgiving heart towards others. Yet how often we do this!

In the final phrase of this prayer we realise our limitations and weaknesses in the way we are prone to sin. It is only in God’s strength that we can stand against the evil one as he comes with his temptations trying to make us fall yet again! He will never leave us alone, and attacks us through other people, through our own evil desires and weaknesses of the flesh, and then accuses us to the Father for our weaknesses.

So we are shown that we should pray to be kept in and through all his temptations, remembering that we will not be tempted more than we are able to stand  (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). We also need to exercise common sense and not go to places or put ourselves into situations where we will be tempted, and where we could fall, and then do something we will regret for the rest of our lives. God will do His part, but we also have to do ours.

 God provides for all our needs, But we must follow in our deeds,

Not to go or do anything, That will no  glory to Him bring.

***             ***             ***

                         Asking and Receiving.

Luke 11:5-13

Our Lord followed on His instructions about praying with a story…He always used everyday illustrations to emphasis His points that He was trying to teach the people….

If they had an urgent need and went to a friend of theirs asking for provisions for another friend at an inconvenient time, would that friend refuse them? Even if he was in bed and settled for the night, yet he would get up and give what was needed, Jesus said. How much more would God as the Heavenly Father give His children their needs? Notice it is not their “wants”, but their “needs”. We have this wonderful promise to ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, and knock and it will be opened to us. There are many more verses about asking and receiving, and in fact many books have been written about this topic.

Jesus told His disciples to ask in His Name, and He will do it, but notice in the same passage, He says that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments!  (John 14:13-15) There are always conditions to His promises, and these conditions depend on our attitudes….our relationship with God  has to be a two-way thing. If we turn our backs on God in disobedience, then He will quietly wait in the wings as it were, until we come back and confess ours sins to Him.

Notice too, that He says that if we abide in Him, and His words abide in us then we can ask what we want and expect to get it   BUT if we are abiding in Him, we will only want what He wants for us! That is the difference!  We also have this same thought in the Old Testament….Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart  (Psalm 37:4). As we delight ourselves in Him, so our desires will become His desires for us. What a difference this makes!

These things concern our own needs. We cannot necessarily ask for others. Each person has to ask for themselves. Certainly we can pray for others, in fact, we are told to do this (1 Thessalonians 5:25; 1 Timothy 2:1).

 Jesus Christ is Giver of All, He gives to His own when on Him they call,

Trusting in Him to give them the best, They are of all most certainly blest.

***             ***             ***

                                  Whose Work?

Luke 11:14-26

The next incident we read about is that of our Lord healing a person with and evil spirit. We aren’t told anything really about this person (we presume it was a man) except that he was dumb and not able to speak, but once the demon was gone from him, he was normal….

This is an illustration of how those who once were held in the chains of sin are able to praise God when they come to know Him….a wonderful release! Where they were once barely able to use the name of God except as a swear word, now they can openly speak of Him. Those who saw this release for this person wondered how He was able to do this and some even said that He did it by the power of Satan. Still others asked if He would give them a sign from heaven to prove what power He was using!

Our Lord pointed out that if Satan was casting out his own demons, he wouldn’t be able to stand, but that He (Jesus)  was indeed doing the work of God in being able to do this. He said that these things are not to be taken lightly, and if by any chance someone WAS able to get rid of demons, unless they had something better to replace them with in that person’s life, then the last state of that person would be worse than the first. We don’t really understand the full import of the system of demons within people, we only see the end result. We know that if a person turns to the Lord and confesses their sins, that  He will come into their life and fill it with joy and peace as they read His Word and seek to follow His ways.

This doesn’t mean that Satan won’t still try to attack them….he will. But we are not on our own in this battle and are told about the weapons we can use to keep him at bay in the Bible  (Ephesians 6:10-18)….this is another reason to keep reading it and becoming familiar with it.

 Jesus Christ is mightiest of all, And  we on Him always can call,

His weapons are there for us to use, We have all to gain and naught to lose.

***             ***             ***

                                    Signs Given.

Luke 11:27-36

As the crowds continued to throng around Jesus and the disciples, one woman was moved to call out blessings on the mother of Jesus. But once again, our Lord pointed out that it was the spiritual relationship with God that was far more important and lasting than earthly relationships  (Matthew 12:46-50)….

As usual in any gathering, there are those who agree and those who disagree….here we have this woman who obviously thought His teaching was good, but there were others who kept calling out to be shown a sign. We wonder where their mentality was that the signs of healing that He was doing were not enough to convince them!

Our Lord pointed out that He was the fulfilment of many things that happened in the Old Testament times…Jonah was a prophetic sign to the people of his day in that he was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, and so He would be three days and nights in the bowels of the earth before rising again in resurrection (Matthew 12:39-41). Just as Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh, so He, Jesus, was preaching to the people of His day. Nineveh repented and would condemn those who didn’t repent at His preaching at this time.

Then there was the Queen of Sheba who travelled many miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon, yet here they were with a greater wisdom than Solomon’s in their midst and questioning what He was saying!

Lights aren’t meant to be hidden, they have to be out in the open to be of any use, He said, and here He was, the Light of the World, present with them to deliver them from the spiritual darkness they were in (John 8:12). As they followed His teaching, so they in turn would become smaller lights to show others the way.

 Jesus Christ is the Light to all, Those who will heed His loving call,

Things eternal are more to be treasured, For their worth can never be measured.

***             ***             ***

                                    Straight Talk.

Luke 11:37-53

Our Lord was invited to a meal by a Pharisee and sat down to eat without first doing the ceremonial washing that was customary. The host was surprised at this omission and the Lord, knowing what he was thinking, began to point a few facts out to him…..

He said, “Look, you Pharisees are very concerned about outward appearances and this ceremonial cleansing, but it is far more important to clean up your inward thoughts and desires….you worry about the wrong things! This is foolish thinking…God knows what is within as well as what others can see! It is far more important to give to those in need rather than give your tithe because it is expected….both are necessary! Not only that, you expect recognition from others because of your position….you are actually no better than unmarked graves that people walk over!”

One of the lawyers there, having heard what He said to the Pharisees, then spoke up, “Master, You are reproaching us too!”

“That’s right”, He said, “You put heavy burdens on those who come to you, and don’t have any compassion for how they might pay them. Your ancestors killed the prophets and you build fancy tombstones for them, but God sees all that you do. Right from the beginning, from the time of Abel, He has not forgotten any of those who died doing their job. Yes, I say to you, woe to you because you have taken away the key of knowledge and have hindered those who want to find out these things!”

This straight bit of talking made them very angry and they began to bring up more controversial things, hoping to catch Him out in His answers so they could accuse Him to the authorities.

There was no way they could catch Him out in what He said, because He knew all things. We have to be careful we don’t get ourselves into pointless arguments with those who are against us….the only way is to stick to what the Bible says. Once we start to answer them on their level, we could very well be put to the worse. God’s Word will answer for us if we use it wisely…..all the more reason to get to know it well!

 Jesus Christ told them so straight, How they fell short of Heaven’s gate,

They could not answer what He said, They did not know,  nor His ways tread.

***             ***             ***

                                    Warnings.

Luke 12  :1-12

Our Lord spoke primarily to His disciples, and here we read of how the people were gathered so thickly to hear and see Him, that they were treading on top of each other! This day, He spoke first of all about the Pharisees….

“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”, He said. Leaven is known for its spreading properties, and the way it will permeate the whole lump of dough that it is in. Leaven is also used in the Bible as a type of sin, so here He is saying to be careful of teaching that is not entirely based on Scripture. Some teachings appeal to the old nature of man and can run rampant through whole communities of churches causing havoc and splits, and there is nothing that Satan likes better than this.

Jesus reminds His listeners that everything they say and do is seen by God, and will ultimately be shown openly, so we are to be careful how we behave. Persecutions that others can do to us are bad enough, but it is far worse to allow the evil one to control our actions which will take us to hell in the end.

“Remember”, He said, “That God sees and knows everything…he even takes notice of the common little sparrow dying, and has all the hairs on your head numbered! But you are more value than  the common birds to God! Those who come to know Me, I will take them to God  and to His angels, but if you deny knowing Me here on earth, you will be denied before God in the time to come.”

This is serious stuff to hear, and it does us well to be reminded of these things. God’s forgiveness is there for all who will turn to Him  (1 John 1:9) , but if we refuse the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts, then this can never be forgiven and there is no hope for us.

We read how the Holy Spirit is always there to bring things to our remembrance, and we are not to worry what to say in sticky situations because He will prompt us when the time comes  (John 14:26).

 Jesus Christ will always lead, It’s up to us His way to heed,

He is there for all our need, We must obey in word and deed!

***             ***             ***

                                 The Rich Fool.

Luke 12  :13-21

This is a very well known parable, but have we ever taken any notice of what sparked this story off? A man in the crowd wanted Jesus to arbitrate in a property dispute with his brother. In this man’s mind, his request was a perfectly logical one, but as so often happens when we only see our own point of view, it was turned back onto him as our Lord pointed a few facts out to him….

“Beware of being covetous (or greedy),” Jesus said, “These things are not the most important in our lives….listen to this story…..”

So often we only have our mind set on physical things and forget those things which are most important, the things which are eternal. The man in the story had  had a particularly prosperous year and was going to expand his business interests, then enjoy the fruit of his labour….how many people today are like this!

We have to realise and remember that this life is only the beginning of an eternity somewhere….either with the Lord in His realm, or with Satan in darkness and pain for ever. The trouble is that we do not comprehend the fact that there IS life after death! This was the case of the man in this story, and that night he dropped dead….all those works  and plans for nothing!

We see what God called him…”You fool!” It is amazing that the decisions we make concerning these things on earth are going to be carried through into eternity. This thought is also brought out in the Old Testament….The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God!” or as some translations put it, The fool has said in his heart, “No God for me!” Both statements are equally true, they are foolish in the extreme and lead to eternal destruction….not a destruction that we understand on earth where once a thing is destroyed it has gone….God’s sense of destruction is one that NEVER ends…it is a continuing destruction. We can see from this how important it is to take the time to think these things through and then to make the right decision for eternity!

 Jesus Christ has done His best, To see that man can be wholly blest,

For this He came to live on earth, So we can have the second birth!

***             ***             ***

                                    God’s Provision.

Luke 12  :22-34

Our Lord continued with His talk, this time to His disciples….”Don’t spend your whole life only thinking about the things of this earth….there is so much more to life than this….”

We are not to worry about providing for our needs…this doesn’t mean that we do nothing about this, but we are not to worry about it…do what we can and leave the rest to God!  Look at the birds….always busy and they have enough!  We are better than they are!

We can’t alter our physique at all, we can’t grow taller than we are….be satisfied and do what we can for the Lord!  If we can’t change our appearance, we can at least change our attitudes as we consider what God has done for us.

Take note of the flowers of the field….God gives them their beauty and bright colours, and so He gives us our needs every day. We mustn’t keep our minds fastened on the temporal things of earth, but spend time thinking about the things of God by reading His Word. God knows our needs and He will provide them.

We are to put first things first in our lives, and bring our cares and worries to Him in prayer, and then give thanks for the answers we get  (Philippians 4:6-7). This is the way to live a peaceful and happy life on earth and then to move on to be with the Lord for eternity. What a blessed prospect this is!

So the moral of it all is to aim at building up a treasure in heaven rather than build an empire on earth, because where our treasure is, is where our heart also is!

 Jesus Christ provides for all, Those who heed His loving call,

Leave our worries and do our best, This is the way we are truly blest!

***             ***             ***

                         Be Ready and Watchful.

Luke 12 : 35-59

The stage is set for this whole passage in the first verse…Be ready and have your lights burning! Be waiting for your Lord continually! No matter what hour of the day or night, make sure you are ready and won’t be caught unawares!

Peter wanted to know if this warning was just for them, the disciples, or if it was for everyone. So Jesus then told another story about the job of a steward left in charge of the master’s affairs. If the steward was faithful and kept all the books up to date and treated the rest of the staff fairly, then he would have nothing to fear. But if he got slack and let things run down, then when the master came back there would be a day of reckoning.

We have this warning clear and plain…those who have much, more will be required of them. In other words those who have privileges also have responsibilities. Whatever we own must be used wisely and well, and looked after.

What lay ahead for our Lord was continually on His mind, and He said here that it was like a baptism, something that would encompass His whole Being. As a result of this sacrifice of His, there would be division in the earth among people….those who would be for Him and those who would be against Him, even in families.

We can often predict the weather by looking at the signs in the sky and the direction of the wind, and how much more important it is to read the signs of our actions and realise the consequences of them. So we go back to the verse at the beginning….Make provision for what is coming and be ready and waiting!

 Jesus Christ has put in place, All we need to see His face,

The rest is for each person left, To be honoured or bereft

***             ***             ***

                               Time and Chance.

Luke 13  : 1-22

The news came through about those who Pilate had had executed. Jesus used this as an example of how repentance is available to all, and unless we take advantage of this, there are consequences from all sorts of disasters. So we must always be ready…….

He then told the story of the fig tree that didn’t bear any fruit, and how the gardener was ready to cut it down, it was of no use to him. But it was given a second chance. So often we are given second chances too….let’s make sure we take advantage of them. Then we read the story of the woman with this disease, and how she was healed while she was at the synagogue. The ruler of the synagogue was very annoyed that this miracle was done on the Sabbath Day, but Jesus pointed out that they would look after their animals on the Sabbath day, and wasn’t this woman worth more than an animal?

This made those who were against Him feel ashamed of themselves. He went on to say that the Kingdom of God was going to have small beginnings, but that it would grow into something really big that would benefit many people, just like a great tree growing from a small seed, or a bit of leaven in a lump of dough

 Jesus Christ used stories to show what He taught, The people could listen or treat it for naught,

But consequences follow whate’er we decide,  Make the right choice and in Christ abide.

***             ***             ***

                                    Consequences.

Luke 13:23-35

At this time, a person asked the question, “Lord are there only a few that get saved?” Our Lord answered this question with a straight answer using the picture of the two gates, the narrow one and the wide one which He had used once before (Matthew 7:13-14)….

We think of that popular song that says, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”. Our Lord here takes up this thought of everyone wanting to go to heaven, but He points out that it is one thing for us to want to do this, but the main point is, Does God know us? We are to prepare for this journey while we have the time on earth, or there will come a time when it is too late. There will be nothing sadder for people than to hear God say to them “Go away, I don’t know you!”

He goes on to tell of the weeping and regrets that people will have when they realise it is too late for them. It seems that those in a lost eternity can see on the other side those who are in the kingdom of God enjoying the blessings that God has for them. This is also indicated in the story of the beggar who went to heaven and the rich man in the torments of hell (chapter 16:19-31).

    Jesus was told that Herod was trying to find Him to kill Him, and He said to go and tell “That fox” that it wasn’t time yet. He wept over the city of Jerusalem as He got closer to it, thinking of the prophets who had been killed there in past times, and how the people on the whole wouldn’t accept His message. “How I want you to come to Me, but you won’t”, was His cry.

As we think of these things, let’s make sure that we won’t hear those fateful words in the time to come, “Depart from Me, I never knew you!” Remember that the invitation is still open, “Come to Me and I will give you rest!” (Matthew 11:28)

 Jesus Christ still calls today, “Come to Me, I am the Way”,

Heaven’s rest will be secure, Peace and joy will be assured.

***             ***             ***

                                       Come!

Luke 14:1-24

The religious leaders seemed to be watching Jesus like a cat watching a mouse….they were all there to criticise everything that He did. We can so often fall into this trap of criticism too…let us remember that this does nothing to build up, but is very catching. Our job is to build up with encouragement, not tear down with criticism!

So it was on this particular Sabbath day, one of the Pharisees had asked Jesus home for the meal. One of those at the table had a bad case of dropsy. We are told that even though they were watching to see what He would do, they kept their mouths shut when He asked the question…”Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”

Our Lord never missed an opportunity to do good…He healed the man and then began to tell them some stories….

“You don’t want to always try to get the better deal…start off low and see if you get invited to a higher place! Remember that pride comes before a fall!” We could all do well to remember this piece of advice.

“Always do good to those who can’t repay you”, He went on, “Don’t overlook those who are weak and disadvantaged”. He then went on to tell the story of the man making a big feast and the invited guests all turning him down with very weak excuses. Everything was prepared and there were no guests, so he sent his servants out to bring in all those he could find…strangers, beggars and sick.

We can see that this story shows that those of God’s earthly people who refused His heavenly invitation, would have their places filled by others from other nations (the Gentiles). We see that since the religious Jews  thought they knew it all, they missed out in the end as the Gospel then went out among all the surrounding people. God’s kingdom is open to ALL people of the world…it is the “whosoever” who can take advantage of this invitation now!

 Jesus Christ has died for all, Throughout the world now goes His call,

Come to Me and be fulfilled, I’ll give you peace, your fears be stilled.

***             ***             ***

                                  Challenging!

Luke 14:25-35

The crowds continued to follow the Lord as He travelled on His way up to Jerusalem. He had told the story of the ones who refused the invitation to go to the feast, and pointed out that once that opportunity was gone, there was no second one. Now He challenges the crowd to see how genuine they really are….

Those who want to follow Christ must be definite in their decision and single minded in this purpose. It is no use wobbling in and out of what you believe. We are told that a person who tries to follow two ways is unstable in everything that he does    (Matthew 6:24; James 1:6-8). We must put the things of God first in our life….in fact that is the first commandment that Moses gave the people of Israel…”You must have no other gods before Me”  (Exodus 20:3). This is all part of being self controlled….family must come second and other interests after that. We have to put aside other things that we might want to do….this is part of the cross that we are told to pick up daily.

Jesus then points out that we have to count the cost BEFORE we begin any project and the Christian life is just the same. We have to put it first in our lives. We don’t build a house without first estimating the cost and whether we can afford it or not, and if we are not prepared to put God first, there is no point in even starting. But there is the cost of leaving Him out of your life to take into consideration on the other hand.

Which life style are you going to choose? Are we going to be like a flavoursome salt or are we just going to be white stuff put on the food with no flavour? These are serious matters to think about, and we cannot afford to ignore them.

 Jesus Christ must be first in our life, Ahead even of husband or wife,

The choice is there for all to make,  Death or life to choose to take.

***             ***             ***

                                Lost and Found.

Luke 15:1-32

This chapter has the three stories of lost things …the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. In each case there is the searching or waiting owner, the finding of the lost thing and the great rejoicing when it is found….

We can understand the owner rejoicing over the lost thing being found, but we don’t appreciate the fact that when a lost sinner comes to repentance, there is great rejoicing in heaven over that person coming to the Lord! This is another glimpse of the heavenly realm, and shows us again that the angels are intensely interested in human affairs. In the story of the lost sheep and coin, the owner went looking for it until it was found; in the story of the lost son, it was the father who kept looking and waiting for him to return home.

In the story of the wayward and rebellious son, we see ourselves in relation to God. Many of us had refused God’s call, and gone on to live a wasted life (as far as He is concerned) but when we come to the end of ourselves we turn to Him. We can understand the rejoicing on the father’s part, and also the pouting on the part of the other son who felt it was all so unfair of his father. We have to take care that we don’t behave in our thinking towards others like the older son did. He was still sinner in many different ways…no-one on this earth is sinless!

We have to remember that God’s grace extends to us all in the same way….ALL sin is sin in God’s eyes. There is no such thing as little sin and big sin…we so often brush off an exaggeration as nothing much, but it is still sin….it is not the exact truth! We are all guilty of these things, and we all need God’s grace to enjoy His presence. The older son forgot that he still had his inheritance intact, and he could have put a party on any time he wanted to. We must remember that we have all the things of God to enjoy all the time  (Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 3:16) …the day to day annoyances of life on earth are nothing, and must be brushed aside.

 Jesus Christ has paid it all, We just need to heed His call,

Come to Him as a lost soul, He will willingly make us whole!

***             ***             ***

                                    Faithful or Not?

Luke 16:1-13

We may not understand totally what the characters in this next story did, but the point of it is very clear. We see that this steward had acted foolishly and lost his job as a result…..

He went around his masters debtors and  made them his friends, and then felt that he had covered his bases for his future. Even if we can’t understand the way this man did things, yet his master commended him for it. Our Lord pointed out that those who are faithful in small matters will be faithful in more important things. What an encouragement to each of us…the thing to remember is that we are not called to be successful in the sight of the world, but we are called to be faithful in the sight of God.

We have to be responsible in the physical things we own and have, to show that we can be responsible in the spiritual things of life. It’s no use having an untidy house and yard that others in the street can see, and then expect people to listen to our Christian witness. Our Lord gives another word of warning….we cannot have a foot in two camps….we have to be whole hearted in the things of God and single minded in His Word. The Bible lays down clearly how we are to live our lives before others, and this is what counts louder than words.

 God’s word lays it down clear and plain, What to do and things to gain,

Be faithful in little as well as in much, And God will bless all that we touch.

***             ***             ***

                                    Warning for All..

Luke 16:14-31

The  Pharisees heard what He was teaching and they made fun of what He was saying. He knew this and went on to tell them that their ideas were all wrong….

“You might think what you are doing is right”, He said, “but God knows your hearts!” We might wonder why this little bit about divorcing one’s spouse is inserted here, but our Lord knew their hearts and perhaps it was for one specific person this was said. We see that He clearly said that it wasn’t right to remarry.

Certainly the next story is for all of us to learn from as we have this glimpse into the eternal state and what goes on there. One thing to note here is that the main character in this story is named making us realise that this is not just a parable….it concerned real people. In fact they are still experiencing the states that are described here.

What do we notice about these two men? On earth one was poor and needy while the other one had everything his heart could desire, and he never lifted a finger to help the poor man beneath his table. One had everything and one had nothing, but both died, and their positions were reversed. The beggar (Lazarus) was carried by the angels to Abraham’s lap where he was comforted. The rich man died and found himself in hell and great torment. The rich man could see Lazarus with Abraham in  the distance, but we are not told that the poor man could see the rich man in hell. He could talk to Abraham but that was no comfort to him, especially when Abraham said that there was a great gulf fixed between them and there was no way he (the rich man) could get out of hell.

The point is that the rich man in hell wanted more than anything to have his brothers warned not to come to this place of torment, but he was told that if they didn’t listen to God’s Word in this life, they would  not listen to anyone who said they had been there end would therefore end up there with him. No one would believe a person if they said  they had come back from hell to warn them not to go there!

 Jesus Christ warns one and all, To not despise God’s loving call,

This life is given to confess our sins, Then we eternal life can win.

***             ***             ***

                                 Further Warnings.

Luke 17  : 1-10

The  Lord continues to warn His disciples…”You WILL be offended at times and also offend others yourself,” He said, “But if you ARE offended, make sure you don’t continue to hold a grudge…forgive that person! And what’s more, make sure you don’t offend or stumble one who is young in the faith.” This has happened to so many young in the faith, and they have left almost immediately only to lead a wasted life before they come back to the Lord later in life…..

The disciples felt their lack of faith, and asked to have it increased. We know that we must have faith in God to believe that He exists in the first place (Hebrews 11:6), and that faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8), but we must exercise and use that gift for it to increase. Faith is something that grows as we experience God’s dealings with us as we walk with Him…..it starts off very small like a tiny mustard seed, and grows into something great through the years. The Lord will often show His great power in miraculous ways to a young believer to  give him confidence in this new faith, but then hard times WILL come, and that is when we must exercise our faith and say we KNOW God is there in the midst of this trouble with us. We have experienced Him before, and walk ahead in faith that He is with us now!

We have to learn that what God says is true, and believe it….we cannot twist God’s arm as it were, to get what we want, we have to accept what He gives. This is faith in action!

 God gives freely to all in love,  Yet  sends trials to fix our minds above,

Faith will grow as on Him we muse, Remember this there’s naught to lose.

***             ***             ***

                                      Gratitude.

Luke 17:11-19

Our Lord was on His last mission trip, on the way to Jerusalem….he passed through many areas on the way. At one village, he met ten lepers but they kept their distance as they asked if He would  have mercy on them.  They were the out casts of society, no-one else wanted anything to do with them in case they caught the dread disease too…

We aren’t told whether He touched them or not, it seems that He merely told them to go and show themselves to the priests and as they went, they were healed. We can imagine how they must have felt as they realised they could now go back to their homes and families and live normal lives again! But only one of them went back to Jesus to say “Thankyou”, and he wasn’t even a Jewish man, he was a despised Samaritan. His life was renewed and given back to him and he was truly grateful and gave thanks to our Lord and glory to God.

This was only ten percent of those lepers who gave thanks for his healing…it makes us wonder today if there is even ten percent of the world population who have turned to the Lord and taken advantage of the spiritual healing He has offered!

These lepers were outcasts of society and normal life….we as sinners are outcasts of heaven and will never see it while remaining that way. The lepers had a desperate need to be healed, and so have we as sinners. There was no-one else who could do anything for them, or who was willing to, but our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is the same with us….He alone can heal us of our sin. They called out to Him, and He told them what to do….as they obeyed and went they were healed. What a wonderful picture of our state! As we call out to Him in all our sin, He tells us to repent and confess it to Him and He will forgive us and we will be healed and able to live a life for Him! If we obey Him, He will heal us. What a wonderful picture this is! The point is….have we done this? If not, why not? If we have let’s give Him all the thanks, praise and glory just as this Samaritan man did.

 Jesus Christ the Healer of all, Gives us life when on Him we call,

Our need is met as we obey, O come to Him this very day!

***             ***             ***

                                    Further Warnings.

Luke 17:20-37

People have always wanted to see into the future, and the religious leaders now demanded of Jesus when God’s kingdom would come. But what they imagined God’s kingdom to be like and what it actually IS like were two different things….

They imagined that it was an earthly kingdom, going to be set up after the manner of kingdoms that they were familiar with. But Jesus told them that it wasn’t like that, it was a kingdom that had to start in the heart of people…”You can’t see it”, Jesus said, “It is within you!” He carried on telling them that things were going to get worse in this world, and that in fact He was going to suffer many things and be rejected by them, the leaders. Life was going to appear to carry on the same as usual but one day judgement is going to come.

We can see this happening in our day and age….it seems that nothing is going to change (except to get worse) in spite of people calling for change all the time. “Remember what it was like for Lot”. Jesus said, “And for Noah too, one day God’s judgement came and destroyed all those who didn’t believe! And it is going to be the same again.”

We have to take heed to these words today as much as the people in the time of Jesus, more so because we are closer to that time of reckoning. God can only stand so much and one day His patience with mankind will come to an end….no-one knows when that day will be. Two people will be working together and one will suddenly disappear…it pays for us each one to be ready ahead of time. Just as no-one can predict when or where the next earthquake will come, so  no-one can predict when God’s judgement will fall on this earth for the last time. This is why it is so important to be prepared ahead of time, and make sure we are part of God’s kingdom  NOW!

 Jesus Christ has warned us all, We must prepare and heed His call,

Seek God’s Kingdom and you will find, Lest we miss out and are left behind!

***             ***             ***

                                    Take Notice.

Luke 18:1-17

The Lord tells a couple of parables in this passage….the first one was about a judge who made all the rules….he took no notice of anyone else at all. But there was a woman with a desperate need and she kept asking him to intercede on her behalf….

He couldn’t really be bothered, but because of her constant pleas, he did what she asked. In the same way, God will hear His people’s cries, and answer their prayers. Then we have the story of the two men praying in the temple. Notice who the self righteous Pharisee was praying to….himself! The other man who knew his need cried out to God for mercy and received it. The Pharisee felt no need of God’s mercy, he was good enough he thought.

Which category do we fall into? The one who felt no need wouldn’t get any when the time of reckoning came, whereas the other man would. We are told in the Old Testament that God will never despise those with a broken and contrite spirit who call out to Him (Psalm 34:18; 51:17). How wonderful to know that there is an “out” for us when we feel in desperate need of God’s mercy! We know too, that when we confess our sin to God, He will forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness  (1 John 1:9).

The final incident in our passage concerns the mothers who wanted our Lord to touch their little ones in blessing. How wonderful to be have been physically touched by the God of heaven!  We wonder if those children remembered this when they were adults. As far as the disciples were concerned, this was just wasting the Master’s time, and they tried to send them off. But nothing like this was ever a waste of time in the eyes of Jesus….how thankful we can be that He made time for these little ones! Not only that but He said that if people don’t come to Him in the faith and trust that a little child has, they won’t receive the blessings He has to give.

 Jesus Christ loves the little ones, He makes the time for all who come,

We must have the faith and trust,  For He is good and right and just!

***             ***             ***

                              The Eternal Question.

Luke 18:18-30

The question that has bothered thinking people down through the ages comes to light here… “What must I do to have eternal life?” This man had come to the right Person to ask this question but he had the biggest snag to the answer….himself!

Jesus pointed him to the law which he already knew and had kept religiously all his life… “I’ve done all that”, he said, yet he still felt a lack in his life. He had already found that  all the money in the world couldn’t buy him his salvation nor peace of mind. He had done all the law, and could buy anything he wanted and still there was a lack in his life. But it was his money that ultimately came between him and God because when he was faced with the decision with what to do with it, he wasn’t prepared to do it. “Sell what you have and give it to the poor”, Jesus said, “And then come and follow Me!”

This man wasn’t prepared to do this, and he went away sorrowful. Notice that our Lord didn’t run after him and make the condition any easier….He let him go. Jesus knew what was holding this man back, he loved his money more than he was prepared to love God. It is not wrong to have money or possessions, but we must hold them lightly and not put them first in our lives. After all, everything that we have has been given to us by God and we are to use them for His glory when we can.

Our Lord continued by saying that a person can’t depend on money to get into God’s Kingdom. Peter then said, “Well, we have left everything and followed You!” and Jesus replied saying that anyone who leaves everything for Him will not only gain in this world, but will gain everlasting life.

There are many different ways of looking at this, and each person has to be convinced in his own mind that what he is doing is really for the sake of the Gospel and not just bumming around being irresponsible.

 Jesus Christ calls some to go, Some to reap and some to sow,

Let us each be sure in mind, Before we leave our all behind.

***             ***             ***

                               How Blind Are We?

Luke 18:31-43

The Lord was on His way to Jerusalem where He would ultimately be betrayed and crucified on the cross….He continually told the disciples that this was going to happen, but they were so fixated on their own ideas of His kingdom that none of what He said sunk in. We are told that they didn’t understand what He was talking about….

We have to be careful that we aren’t like this too. We are so surrounded by the world and its ideas that we are blind to the spiritual truths that are in the Scriptures….we need to be like this man they came to who was sitting begging near Jericho. He knew he was blind. He knew He needed the Lord to perform a miracle to make him see. He cried out to Jesus for mercy. He admitted his need, and had faith that the Lord could help him. He received his sight, gave thanks and glory to God and followed Jesus.

This needs to be the sequence for those who don’t know the Lord….we have to admit we have a need, we have to call on God for mercy, we then have to give Him thanks and praise and follow Him. It may not happen immediately, but as we read His Word the Bible we will grow into His ways and in understanding more what it is all about. It takes a lifetime of following to learn God’s ways….we will have bad times of doubts and fears, but remember this….God is faithful. He will forgive us the countless times we fail Him when we confess our shortcomings and sin.

For those who have been on the road for a long time, it also pays to not be blind in preconceived ideas, but to search the Scriptures to see if what we think is right. We have to be humble enough to ask God to enlighten our eyes to see the truth. If God says we are not to know a certain thing or time, then we are not to try to make events and other things fit our ideas. We have to learn to accept that God knows more than we do and leave Him to work things out!

 Jesus Christ can heal the blind, Teach us things and bring to mind,

What we need to know and see what’s true, Learn His ways and then it do.

***             ***             ***

                                    Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

This is the story of a man who turned to the Lord with all his heart and showed it to everyone who knew him. Zacchaeus was a man who was greedy and dishonest in his business dealings, and although he had gained much financially this way, yet he wasn’t a happy man….    

He heard of this teacher Jesus, and wanted to see Him for himself, but he was such a short little fellow that he couldn’t see above the heads of the people in front of him..  So the next tie Jesus was near, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a tree where he sat hidden among the leaves, but with a good view. Imagine his surprise and maybe embarrassment when Jesus stopped under where he was hidden and said “Zacchaeus, come down, I want to stay at your house today!”  That visit was the beginning of a new life for Zacchaeus….he was never the same again after having Jesus at his house.

Notice these things about Zachaeus…..

He was important in the community

He was rich , but  classed as a sinner (probably dishonest in his dealings) by those who knew him.

He had everything as far as the world was concerned, but nothing as far as God was concerned.

He badly wanted to see Jesus

Jesus knew all about him….what he wanted and what he needed.

People wondered why Jesus bothered with him!

Their conversation is not recorded apart from after the visit….notice what Zacchaeus now called Him….  “Lord”.  He was now prepared to use his money for the benefit of others and to deal honestly. What a difference! This same difference can be seen in people today when they come to know Jesus as Lord. In fact, if there is o difference in people when they say these things, then they have never really met Jesus at all. We cannot truly know Him without it showing in our life….we need a heat knowledge, not just a head knowledge!

 Jesus Christ makes you anew, Others see the difference in you,

In all you do and all you say, Seeking to live in all His way.

***             ***             ***

                                    Working Well.

Luke 19:11-27

The people were under the impression that God’s kingdom was about to appear on earth, so our Lord told another story to illustrate what was actually going to happen….

A certain nobleman went to a far off country to take another kingdom and called his servants to him before he left. He gave them each  money telling them to trade with it while he was away. When he returned, he called them to give an account of how they did….the first one had gained ten pounds, the second one five and the third one had done nothing with his….he just returned it as it was. The picture here is plain to see…the nobleman represented our Lord leaving His people behind to carry on with His work, giving them each the ability to do this. We know how the people of the early church got on and can also see how many churches have sprung up all over the world in the days since then….these are likened to the man two who traded with what they had a gained a profit.

The challenge to us is…which person are we like? The ones who used what they were given for the Master’s use or like the third man who just presented himself back before His Lord with his one talent in his hand? We have all been given gifts and talents of different sorts….are we using them for the glory of God, or just for our own glory and benefit? We might just shrug our shoulders and think we haven’t got any specific gifting, but we have been given a list of things that we are all capable of….perhaps the gift of prophecy, ministry or teaching might  not  be in our league, but we are all capable of being kind and cheerful to others, to show love and do what is good; doing our everyday jobs well, being patient and helping others (Romans 12.:6-17)

 Jesus Christ gives gifts to all, The ones He loves and then will call,

It’s up to us to use them well, In all our ways the Good News tell.

***             ***             ***

                            Hosanna in the Highest!

Luke 19:28-48

We see in this passage how Jesus presented Himself to the people of Jerusalem as their king…not as they expected, coming into the city on a white horse that was thirsty for battle and a company of soldiers all brandishing swords ready to vanquish the hated Romans…..

Instead He came as a lowly carpenter with a band of men from all walks of life, mostly uneducated men used to working with their hands. Here He was riding on a donkey, and a borrowed one at that. The people surrounding Him all gave Him praise, recognising for once that He was God’s servant King , giving Him the praise that was due to His name. Notice that they were singing the same song that the angels had sung at His birth…. “Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord, peace and glory in the highest!”

The kingdom He had come to set up was an eternal, all embracing kingdom, one that was open to all people of the earth. As He approached the city of Jerusalem, He wept over it, seeing the wider picture of its future as it rejected Him as its king.

He went into the temple, and for the second time, He stormed through it sending off those who were making merchandise of their animals and wares in its courts, buying and selling. The first time was at the beginning of His ministry  (John 2:13-17) when he cleansed it but the people didn’t understand or take notice and soon reverted to their old ways.

How much do we understand of the holiness of God as we come into His presence gathering together to praise and worship Him? Do we show by our appearance and demeanour a reverence for His presence? Too often we come into the place of worship chattering like a lot of birds, wearing our everyday clothes when we gather together to worship our Saviour. Surely He deserves more respect than that! If we were going to meet a high dignitary, we would show respect of their position by dressing  in our best….how much more the King of Heaven?

 Jesus Christ came in lowly guise, Showing meekness though so wise,

We must be cleansed heart and mind, If we would all His blessings find!

***             ***             ***

                                Christ’s Authority.

Luke 20: 1-19

The religious leaders in Jerusalem were against Jesus all the way, and now He was back in the city and they wanted Him out of the temple where He was teaching the people. “What is Your authority to do this?” they demanded….

They were asking the wrong person when they asked this! Jesus knew how to shut them up and He immediately asked if the baptism of John was from God or not. They refused to answer this because if they said from heaven, He would ask why they hadn’t believed him, and if they said from men all the people would rise up against them. So they said they didn’t know. So He said He wouldn’t tell them then by Whose authority He was preaching….He knew they wouldn’t believe Him anyway!

He then told them a parable for which the meaning was very obvious….it was about a man who planted a vineyard and left his servants to look after it while he went away. Whenever he sent a messenger to see how things were going, the servants refuse to listen and beat them, treating them shamefully. So in the end the man sent his son, and they killed him so they could take the vineyard for themselves. Jesus then asked the question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those wicked servants? He will destroy them and give the vineyard to others who will do his bidding”.

“Surely not!” said those who were listening, including the religious leaders.

“What do you think of the Scriptures that say ‘The Stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner…whoever falls on the Stone will broken, but if it falls on them they will be ground to powder?’ “

The religious leaders knew what this verse meant (Psalm 118:22-23) and they also knew that He had spoken this parable against them….this made them more determined than ever to get rid of Him and His teachings.

They were convicted by God’s Word and yet they refused it…..this is a real challenge to us. How many times have we been convicted and yet done nothing about whatever the thing is? If you are in this position, now is the time to stop and think this through and confess the problem to God, and become cleansed and forgiven (1 John 1:9)….a load will fall off you and you will be able to rejoice anew!

 Jesus Christ knows all things, He knows  why you cannot sing,

Why not confess the sin that binds, Release for e’er what holds your mind?

***             ***             ***

                                    Testing Jesus.

Luke 20: 20-47

The religious leaders were desperate to get rid of Jesus and His teachings, so they sent out men who pretended to be genuine questioners to try to catch Him out in what He said, so they would have a lawful case against Him before the judge….

The first thing they asked Him was: “Is it lawful to pay tax to the Romans or not?”

He took a coin and held it up….”Whose image is on this coin?” He asked.

“Caesar’s”, they answered.

“Then give Caesar what belongs to him and to God what belongs to Him!” He said.

They couldn’t fault His answer, so they took another tack, and told the mythical story of  a man who died leaving his wife childless, and how each of his six brothers (according to Moses’ law) did the same with the same woman.

“Now,” they demanded, “Whose wife will she be in the resurrection ?….she was married to the whole seven of them!”

“That is how you view it from here”, Jesus said, “But you don’t understand that those who go to heaven are not married, but are like the angels of God….God is not the God of the dead, but of living people!”

The questioners knew they were beaten, and gave up their interrogation. Jesus asked them a final question, and then answered it Himself… “How is it that they say that Christ is David’s Son? David referred to Him as ‘Lord’, when he said ‘The Lord said to my Lord, You sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool’ (Psalm 110:1)…if David called Him Lord, how is it that He is his son?”

The people were speechless at this. Jesus then turned to them and said, “Beware of the scribes who love to be important…they don’t know as much as they think they do!”

This is also a warning to us today….we are not to believe everything we hear, but are to check things out against the Scriptures (Acts 17:19-12). They are to be our guideline because God’s Word is the truth! (John 17:17)

 Jesus Christ, the truth and way, Is what we need every day,

We fall so short of all that’s right, We daily need His help and might.

***             ***             ***

                                Things to Come.

Luke 21: 1-38

Our Lord was still in the temple when He spoke these things. He watched as the people were throwing in their money offerings here, and saw how the rich men were making a show as they gave their offering. Then a poor widow came along and put in her offering of two mites….

A mite was the smallest coin value there was…two of them made up a farthing (a quarter of a penny), and most people would have felt it was too little to give. But this woman gave it, as it was all she had in the house at that time. Our Lord commended her for her gift and said it meant more than all the riches of the wealthy as they still had plenty left over. We are never to think that the little we have, is too little to give to God. After all, God doesn’t need our money! But He does want our heart and our allegiance to Him.

The rest of the chapter is devoted to the future events that were to come upon the people….as always, people are curious about the future. But there was nothing good in the forecast that Jesus gave them at that time! Things were only going to get worse. Not only were there going to be great natural disasters like earthquakes and diseases, but people were going to become more and more evil. Those who followed the Lord would only get persecuted more and more, but He would give them the right words to speak when the time came.

Not only would these things come upon the people of the earth, but there would be signs in the skies; the sun, moon and stars would be out of kilter, with strange things happening there. He warned them of the disasters that would overtake the city of Jerusalem, and we know that this came to pass in the first century after His death and resurrection. But there is yet more to be fulfilled in the days that lie ahead of us…His final words that apply to us today, is that we be watchful and ready for His return, that we may recognise the signs when they come.

We see how He taught in the temple during the daytime, and went out into the Mount of Olives each night where He prayed to His Father and gathered strength for what lay ahead.

 Jesus Christ gives strength to His own, As He once stood before His Father alone,

We need have no fear of what lies ahead,  He is with us for ever, we have nothing to dread. 

***             ***             ***

                                    Setting the Scene.

Luke 22: 1-5

The religious leaders were desperate to stop Jesus teaching the people. Not only did they not like His preaching, but they felt threatened by the things He was teaching. But how to do it was the question, they were afraid of upsetting the people who held Him in such high regard….

Little did they know that all that was to come was part of God’s great plan of salvation. It was all foretold by the Old Testament prophets, and we see how the stage was being set. Jesus and His disciples were now in Jerusalem for this Passover and it was time to prepare for it. The religious leaders had it all fall into their lap as it were, when Judas hatched this scheme to get more money for his coffers. He would sell the Master to them for thirty pieces of silver, and surely the Master wouldn’t allow Himself to be taken by them! After all, he had seen Him just walk through the angry mob at Nazareth when they tried to push Him over the  cliff there! (chapter 4:16, 28-30) The Master would escape, and he, Judas, would have this money for himself! So Judas went to the priests and made this agreement…they were to give him the money and he would take them to where Jesus was when it was all quiet at night.

Judas thought this was his scheme, but he didn’t realise that Satan was behind it all. Ever since Jesus Christ was born into this world, Satan had been trying to foil God’s plan of salvation, by causing His premature death, starting with King Herod who killed all the baby boys at His birth. But now it was God’s time for His plan of salvation to be brought to fruition. So the scene was set, the money was paid and Judas was prepared to betray his Master, little realising that he was fulfilling prophecy from the Old Testament  ( Psalm 41:9; Zechariah 11:12).

Jesus knew His Father’s plan, Of how and when He would save man,

The time was ripe and things were set, So man’s great need could then be met.

***             ***             ***

                                The Last Passover.

Luke 22:6-34

The disciples wanted to know where to prepare for the Passover, and Jesus gave them instructions how to find the room that was available to them. They made everything ready and the time came for Him to sit down with them…..

Little did the disciples know when they sat down at the Passover table that night, that this was an historic occasion and the end of a major era!  This was the last time they would ever celebrate a Passover with their Lord and indeed, ever again. They had their normal Passover supper, and then at the end of that, the Lord took the bread again, giving thanks to His Father for it, and then saying a strange thing to His disciples….  “This is My body which is broken for you…do this in remembrance of Me.”

Then He took the cup of wine saying that it was the New Testament in His blood which was shed for them. They must have wondered whatever He meant at that time….later on it all became clear. The next thing He said really got them all wondering….”One of you is going to betray Me!”

They began to look around the table and ask who would do such a thing! We wonder what Judas’ thoughts were at this time! But they completely misunderstood what He was meaning and began to argue amongst themselves who was the most important in the group.

“You’ve got it all wrong”, He said, “If you want to be a great person among your brothers, you must learn to serve them. You’ve been with Me through all these hard times, and I will give you a Kingdom in a time to come. Peter, Satan has wanted to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, that later on you will be able to strengthen your brothers”.

Peter then made his famous statement…. “Lord, I’ll go with you right to the end!”

To which the Lord replied, “Peter, you don’t know what you are talking about….before the night is finished you will deny knowing Me three times. You will remember this when you hear the rooster crow!”

 As the group sat down to eat, They little knew what lay ahead,

They would all be scattered far, And their Master would be lying dead.

***             ***             ***

                                    His Final Words.

Luke 22:35-

The final words of our Lord to His disciples that night that are recorded by Luke are a warning to be prepared for any emergency…. “Take your purse and your sword with you”, He said as they left the upper room…..

Luke, of course wasn’t with them at this time, but John as the “beloved” disciple was, and he records those precious chapters in his Gospel of the last words of our Lord (John 14-17).  “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me”, He started off with, going on to tell them of the promised Comforter who was going to come to be with them when He was gone. We still don’t know  how much of what He was saying really sunk into their minds, of how this was a farewell speech in a way, before His crucifixion which He knew was coming but which they were still unaware of. He went on to talk about being the True Vine of which they were the branches, and how they were to abide in Him through obedience and service. He also told them to ask in His Name, and they would receive their requests….everything hinged on them believing what He was telling them.

Then we have the beautiful prayer He prayed for His disciples who were His friends, praying that they would be kept from the evil one who would seek to devour them, of how they were not part of the world although they were in the world. How much we can identify with this prayer for them! He ended up by asking His Father that these, His people, would be with Him in the time to come. He also identified the true meaning of eternal life….that they might know God the Father and Himself, Jesus Christ, whom the Father had sent. What a comfort these chapters have been down through the centuries for God’s people!

 Jesus Christ

***             ***             ***

                             The Dreadful Prospect

Luke 22  : 37-54

Our Lord had just told His disciples to be prepared for dark times that were imminent, and to be sure to have their sword with them, but they didn’t understand what He was talking about …. “We’ve got two swords here!” they said. He said, “It’s time to go”, and they left the upper room and went to the Mount of Olives where He loved to go to talk with His Father….

When they came to their usual place, He told them to wait there and to pray for strength to not be tempted. He beckoned to Peter, James and John to go with Him a little further. He began to be in great agony, raying out loud to Hi Father to remove what was coming ahead from Him, but always finishing with the  words, “Not My will but Thine be done”. But there was no other way, but to go forward, there was no other way for mans sin to be atoned for but by the death of the only sinless human being ever born.

His agony over the prospect taking the sin of the world on Himself was so great, that an angel appeared from heaven to strengthen Him. We have no concept of the agony that He felt at this time, to take the filth of the sin of the world on Him was more than He could bear, yet He was willing to do His Father’s will in this. He knew there was no other way. The agony was so great that great drops of blood oozed out of Him like beads of sweat.

Twice He went back to Peter, James and John , and found them asleep through sheer weariness (Mark 14:32-42) . The third time He went back to them, He told them to stay asleep, He had finished praying. He knew that the time had come.

Sure enough, there was a disturbance further down the hill, and a troop of men were coming up with lanterns, being led by Judas! What a traitor! He could have backed out even then, but he continued up the hill, taking them to the spot he knew so well from other times. He went forwards to Jesus, and said “Hail Master”, and kissed Him, the prearranged signal. Peter drew his sword and lashed out, swiping off the ear of one of the men. Luke is the only Gospel writer that mentions that Jesus touched the man’s ear and put it back, leaving not a mark….no evidence of an attack on the soldiers. So they arrested Him and moved off down the hill to the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance to see what was going to happen.

 Jesus Christ bore  untold agony, To take my sin away from me,

I have no idea of what it cost, To save me from being eternally lost.

***             ***             ***

                                    The Trial.

Luke 22 : 55-71

Luke majors on Peter first and how his  big words now came to naught….we have to be so careful that we don‘t fall into the same trap. We don’t really know our own hearts, and need to pray continually that we will remain faithful to the Lord…..

It was a cold night, and John, who had gone along with Peter, and who knew the place where they were, took him inside where the fire was. It was there that one of the serving girls saw him and said she was sure he was one of  Jesus’ followers “Not me! I don’t know Him!” said :Peter boldly. Twice more this was said to him, and twice more he said the same thing. At the third time he heard a rooster crowing, and he remembered what Jesus had said. Not only that, at that moment, Jesus turned and looked at Peter  catching his eye. Peter was filled with remorse and went out into the cold and dark, and wept bitterly.

The so-called trial continued while this was going on. The religious leaders tried to get witnesses to defeat Him, but they didn’t agree among themselves. The soldiers took advantage of this time to start mocking Him, spitting on Him and even pulling His whiskers out! We cannot begin to imagine the shame and the pain that was His at this time.

It was getting daylight by this time, and the ones interrogating Him asked if He really was the Son of God. He replied that even if He said He was they wouldn’t believe Him!

Jesus Christ saw the wider view, Of Peter’s boasting and  failure too,

He knew all things that lay ahead, Yet He went meekly where He was led.

***             ***             ***

                                    The Trial.

Luke 23 : 1-25

The religious leaders could see they now had their prisoner with enough evidence (they thought) against Him to get rid of Him for ever. How mistaken they were! They had no idea that what they were doing was all part of God’s great plan of salvation for them and the fulfilment of prophecy….

They sent Him off to Pilate to get him to make  the decision to crucify this prisoner, but :Pilate was reluctant to do this….he knew deep down in his heart that this Man before him was innocent. His next move was to send Jesus to Herod to see what he would do with Him. Herod too refused to condemn Him, but saw the opportunity to have some “fun” with this prisoner. His soldiers began to mock Him, Herod put a royal robe on Him, and then pretended that He was the king of the Jews. But he too, knew there was nothing worthy of death in Him, so he sent Him back to Pilate.

He wanted to set Him free but the people said “You won’t be Caesar’s friend if you do that!”  It had been a long  night, and Pilate was getting sick and tired of the whole thing, so he called for a basin of water and washed his hands in it saying he was innocent of the blood of this just man (Matthew 27:22-25). We sometimes find ourselves in a situation like this too when popular opinion  goes against what we know to be right….the challenge is, how much do we stick to our convictions or do we go along with what others want or say?

In Pilate’s case, not only did he agree to let the religious leaders have their way, but he let a guilty man go free in the place of the innocent one sent off for execution!

 The people sentenced the Sinless One, They mocked Him and made of Him much fun,

His pain was deep, they cared not a jot, “Crucify Him!” they shouted a lot!

***             ***             ***

                                    The Crucifixion.

Luke 23:26-43

It was the custom for the prisoner to carry his own cross, but in the case of Jesus, He was so beaten and weak through loss of blood, that it was too much for Him, so they grabbed a man out of the crowd to carry it for Him….

There were two other prisoners taking their own crosses out to the spot at the same time. The crowd of people were following and the womenfolk who loved the Lord were also there, weeping out loud as they saw Him stumbling along. But His thought was of them and He turned and told them that there was worse than this going to come on the whole city of Jerusalem.

As they came to the place of execution, the three crosses had the prisoners nailed to them and then put into the ground. Modern film makers have visualised this as tying their arms and legs to the cross, but this is watering down the truth….the trouble is those who watch these films are beginning to think that this is all it was. But the reality was much worse than that, and we cannot even begin to imagine the physical pain and agony that it caused, but worse than this was the spiritual pain that our Lord was even now beginning to bear. Yet He prayed to His Father to forgive them for what they were doing. Then we have the statement that was again a fulfilment of prophecy …they parted my garments and cast lots for them  (Psalm 22:18).  Each of the Gospel writers mentions this happening, and John tells us that they said his robe was too good to tear, and this is why they cast lots for it (John 19:23-24).

Luke gives us the full account of the two thieves that were crucified with Him…how they both began to mock Him about His claims to being the Messiah. But then one changed his mind and rebuked the other one saying they deserved what they were getting but that Jesus was an innocent person. Somehow God touched his thinking at that critical time, and he turned to Jesus and said “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom”. He acknowledged he was a sinner, and he called Jesus “Lord”…these two confessions were enough to admit him also into God’s Kingdom. What a comfort this event has been to many down through the years! It bears out the truth of the verse that says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This man was still conscious, and able to think clearly even in his drastic situation. We cannot count on this for ourselves; this is why it is so important to turn to Christ while we still have the strength to do so….we have no guarantee of tomorrow!

 The thief as he turned to Christ was  saved, The way to Him was already paved,

Confessing his sin and calling Him “Lord”, He reaped eternity’s reward.

***             ***             ***

                                    Christ’s Words.

Luke 23: 34-46

Our Lord uttered such comforting words while He was in this most dire state…each of the Gospel writers mentions different ones….

His first words were as He was being nailed to the cross … “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing!” (verse 34)

Taking care of His mother, He said to her, “Woman, here is your son” and to John, “Here is your mother” (John 19:26-27).

“Today you will be with Me in paradise” (verse 43)  to the repentant thief.

At the ninth hour, He cried out “My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46).

To fulfil Scripture, He said, “I’m thirsty” and they gave Him vinegar to drink  (John 19:28).

“Father into Your hands I commend My Spirit”  (verse 46)

“It is finished!” as He died  (John 19:30).

It is hard to see in which order they came, but these are the seven times that He uttered a sentence and each is full of meaning. Total forgiveness for those of His enemies; thinking of His mother’s welfare as the eldest son in the family…notice that He commended her to John rather than to any of His earthly brothers in the family…perhaps they weren’t present at the cross.

Salvation was available at the time it was being bought, and it began with this criminal beside Him there. Then there was the weight and filth of the sin of the world put upon Him and He felt the absence of His Father who could not bear to look upon it…we cannot comprehend the awfulness of this. For these three hours (from the sixth hour until the ninth hour) He suffered an eternity without His Father who is outside of time  (2 Peter 3:8).

He had refused the first offer of vinegar to dull the pain (verse 36), but now He was given it for His thirst after suffering the fires of hell. He had now completed the work His Father gave Him to do, and was ready to meet Him as He commended His Spirit to Him. Even though the Father turned away from Him during this time, we are told that God was in Him reconciling the world to Himself  (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)….it cost the Father the same as it cost the Son. For any who have seen the suffering of a loved one, they know the pain of  being unable to alleviate it.

 God in Christ taking man’s sin, Is more than we can ever take in,

Yet His word says  this is so, To pay the penalty we all owe.

***             ***             ***

                                    The Aftermath.

Luke 23: 47-56

It was all over, but there were still things to do. All those who were at the scene watching what was happening gradually began to move away. The Roman centurion on guard heard the rumble and felt the ground move under him with an earthquake, and was convicted by what he had seen and heard, and said “Truly this was the Son of God!”

People started to drift away, and His friends stood a distance away still watching. Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a man of some standing and who had not agreed with the sentence or trial at all, went to Pilate and asked if he could take the body of Jesus away. Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had seen Jesus at night and received those wonderful words about needing to be born again (John 3:1-21), went with him and had enough spices and cloth to wrap the body in, and together they took it to the sepulchre that Joseph had prepared for himself. This was a fulfilment of the ancient prophecy of Isaiah when he said that God’s servant would make His grave with the wicked (the thieves) and with the rich in His death  (Isaiah 53:9).

The womenfolk who had been watching everything that was going on, followed and saw what Nicodemus and Joseph had done, and where they had put Him. They went back home and got together the spices and ointments that were needed for a proper burial, and then rested over the Sabbath Day. We can imagine the conversation during that time, going over and over the events of the day…they would have felt worn out and yet not able to sleep all that well.

 It seemed that all this day was lost, They didn’t know what this had cost,

But this was all part of God’s plan, For redeeming sinful man.

***             ***             ***

                          The Resurrected Christ.

Luke 24:1-12

The events of this particular morning are a bit hard to put in the right order, as each Gospel writer remembers different things. But they all say how the women were up before daybreak gathering what they needed to fix the body of Jesus up properly……

It was no problem for them to get up so early as they probably hadn’t slept all that well. Besides, the ground was still grumbling away with after shocks from the earthquake of the day of the crucifixion. Matthew tells us that God’s angel came from heaven  with another great aftershock, and rolled the stone away from the door and sat on it. He was brighter than lightning, and was wearing glistening white clothes, and the soldiers guarding the tomb fell down as though they were dead. When they picked themselves up, they left the site and went to report what had happened to the chief priests (Matthew 28:1-4, 11-15).

By this time the women had arrived, chattering among themselves and wondering how they would get the stone rolled away. They found the tomb was open and went inside to look and saw what they thought was a young man sitting there who told them to go back to the city and tell the disciples they were to go back to Galilee and meet Jesus there.(Mark 16:3-8). Luke tells us they saw two bright shining men there who told them that Jesus was risen.

John tells us how Mary got there ahead of the others and when she saw the tomb was empty, she immediately ran back to tell Peter and John that the grave was empty. They then ran to check this out with Mary following again behind them. John doesn’t mention what the other women had done, but Mary had obviously still waited at the empty tomb weeping  and wondering what had happened to Jesus. As she bent down and looked inside the tomb yet again, she saw two angels sitting where the body had been. As she turned around and looked behind her, she saw another Man standing there. Half blinded by her tears, she thought He must have been a gardener working there and asked where His body was. As Jesus spoke her name, she recognised Him and fell at His feet (John 20:1-18), and then went back and told everyone else what she had found.

 Jesus Christ was risen indeed, Mary’s tale they did not heed,

She had seen her risen Lord, And told them all with one accord.

***             ***             ***

                          The Strangest Journey.

Luke 24:13-32

Two of the friends of Jesus then left Jerusalem and were sadly walking back to their home in Emmaus. We can imagine what their conversation was… “How could all this have happened?” The events of the past couple of days were uppermost in their minds as they walked along….

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they barely noticed the third person catch up with them and fall into step with them. “Why are you looking so sad?” He wanted to know.

“Are you only a stranger here?” they asked, “Haven’t you heard about the execution that the Romans did  in the city a couple of days ago?”

When he asked what things they were talking about, it all poured out from them. How this innocent Man, Jesus Christ, had been crucified. He was the One they had expected to bring freedom to Israel., and now He was dead. But now some of the women had been to the tomb that morning and said that He was alive….His body wasn’t in the tomb!

Then He gave them the most wonderful Bible Study that has ever been given…He started at the prophetic writings which they would have been familiar with, and showed them how these all related to the coming Messiah, and how He would have to suffer to redeem man’s sin. By this time, they were nearly home and they asked Him to come and stay with them.

When they sat down to the meal, He picked the loaf up, and gave thanks for it before they started eating. Suddenly they realised Who it was they had been in company with…was it His scarred hands they saw, or was it His familiar prayer they recognised? As they looked across the table at each other, His place was empty. He had disappeared! They forgot their meal, grabbed a few things and headed off back to Jerusalem as quickly as they could to tell the others what had happened.

“Why didn’t we know Him sooner?” they asked each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the way?”

How often we don’t recognise that the Lord is walking with us when we are involved in things….He has said that He will never leave us or forsake us and yet we bumble along in our own strength without asking His advice about what we are doing! Whenever He seems far away, guess who it is who had moved? Our walk with Him all depends on us and on our choices and decisions….let us see that we walk closely with Him in ball our ways. He hasn’t changed or left us, He is still with us!

 Jesus Christ walked with these two, As they talked and were sad too, 

 In giving of thanks, they knew Him then, And hurried back to tell all the men.

***             ***             ***

                                    The Reunion.

Luke 24: 33-49

When they arrived back at Jerusalem they found the eleven disciples all together talking excitedly … “the Lord is risen” they said, “and Peter has seen Him!” So they added their bit of news, and as they talked, suddenly, there He was with them. He had just appeared!

The conversation stopped dead, and they were all dreadfully afraid, thinking they were looking at a ghost. “It really is Me!” He said, “Look at the marks in My hands and feet….feel Me, I have My body! Have you something for Me to eat?”

“Don’t you remember the things that I told you before?” He asked after eating. And then He began to give them a wonderful talk on the Old Testament scripture prophecies concerning Himself. As they listened they began to understand things they had never seen before. Then He gave them the promise of having God’s Holy Spirit with them for the work and days ahead.

As we read this account of Luke’s we don’t find any mention of the time back in Galilee….Matthew tells us that the angels (and the Lord Himself) told them to go back there  (Matthew 28:7,10) and He would meet them there.

John tells us about Thomas’ unbelief of the resurrection, and how they were in Jerusalem for at least another week before going back home and how he was convinced in the end that Jesus was really alive again (John 20:24-29). Then they went back to their home area and Peter, tired of all this inactivity, said that he was going to go back fishing  (John 21). We have this wonderful account of the opportunity Peter had of publicly confessing to Jesus that he did in fact love Him, three times….this made up for his triple denials during the night of the trial.

Jesus Christ met His people again, Taught them much while He remained,

Then led them  to His fav’rite place, He left them to no more see His face.

***             ***             ***

                       The Epilogue…Another Era.

Luke 24: 50-52

    It seemed like the end of the story, which indeed it was, but another glorious time of His power was about to open up to them in a way that they had never imagined. He was gone, yet He was still with each of them in a way they had never known before….

After meeting Him in Galilee and the fishing episode, they went back to Jerusalem and met with Him again there. He told them many wonderful things, teaching them things they had never seen or understood before. One day, He led them to one of His favourite places, the Mount of Olives, and told them yet again to stay in Jerusalem until they had received the gift of His Holy Spirit who would strengthen and empower them to continue the preaching work that He was giving them to do around the world. While He was talking with them, an amazing thing happened….He began to rise up from the ground and as they watched in amazement He went further and further up into the sky until He was beyond the clouds!

They were left there, gazing up into the sky when they became aware of two men standing there wearing bright white clothing. “Why are you gazing up into the sky?” they asked, “This same Jesus that you have just seen go up into the clouds will come again one day in the same way”.   (Acts 1:4-11) This was more than a promise, it is the fact that God’s people are still waiting for….He hasn’t told us how many years between then and the time when it will happen, He just tells us all to “Watch and wait!”

 Jesus Christ will come again,  And He will o’er His people reign,

In might and power and righteousness, With  all His people who are  so blest!

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