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Chapter 1: What is the Luke Christmas challenge?
What's going on guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce. And in today's episode, this is the first of 24 back to back to back podcast episodes for the Luke Christmas challenge. The whole month of December, we were reading a chapter of Luke every day on the podcast, whether you're watching or listening verse by verse breakdowns.
So by Christmas Eve, you will have read the entire book of Luke. It's amazing. And guys, if you go to our ministry website, jesusinthestreet.org slash Luke, you can actually download a PDF for free or you can put it in your photos and it's just a calendar with the days and you can check off that you read Luke for yourself and that you watched or listened to the episodes here.
But basically what we're going to do is we're going to read through each chapter of Luke verse by verse and we're going to break it down. What's going on in Luke? What's the context? What is happening? We're going to do it. Before we get into it, guys, visit JesusInTheStreet.com to get you some lovely merch and some hoodies for the holiday season. Now, let's get into it. Now, this is beautiful.
Chapter 2: Who is the author of the book of Luke?
We need to understand the author of the book of Luke is Luke, okay? And he is a doctor. Now, we're going to find out what exactly, why he's writing it, what is his purpose of, what's going on in Luke, and then we're going to break down the substance of it, okay? So let's read the first couple of verses here. He says, Okay, so we learned a couple things here.
In the first two verses, Luke is mentioning the prior accounts of Jesus Christ, particularly the book of Matthew and the book of Mark. And he's saying, look, the reason I'm writing this book myself, Luke here, he acknowledges that Matthew and Mark have written accounts. But he says, look, I'm about to write the most comprehensive gospel that we have on account.
I'm going to write from the announcement of John the Baptist, from the announcement that that Elizabeth and Zacharias get from the angel Gabriel up until Jesus's ascension. He's writing the most comprehensive gospel that we read today. And then we have to understand what's going on in Luke.
Chapter 3: What makes the Gospel of Luke unique?
is one of the most interesting when it comes to the roles of women, children, and social outcasts concerning people and Jesus. It's one of the most interesting Gospels when it comes to prayer. There are seven different references of Jesus and prayer throughout this Gospel. This is also one of the most emphasizing Gospels on the Holy Spirit and joy.
It has a huge emphasis on preaching the good news as well. It's so interesting in the book of Luke, the term good news referring to the gospel, preaching the gospel is used 10 times in the book of Luke, where it's only used once in every other gospel. And then that term is also used in the book of Acts like over 15 times.
And a lot of people read the book of Luke and then immediately the book of Acts because they flow right together. I mean, you've got Jesus' ascension and then boom, Acts 1. It's such a beautiful flowing of Luke from a gospel to Acts. I think it's beautiful. But we have to understand what we're about to read here when we read Luke.
Chapter 4: What is the significance of Zechariah's role as a priest?
We're about to read a lot of interesting things about the life of Jesus. Okay, so this is what Luke's saying. He's like, look, I'm writing this to give you a comprehensive gospel to understand the life of Jesus here, is what he says. Here we go in verse 5. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah.
And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in their years. OK, so we need to understand something here really quick context.
Again, this is going to be important to understanding stuff. Zacharias was a priest back in this time period. There were about 20,000 priests that existed. OK, there were a whole lot of priests. So it is they. So the reason that they cast it a lot to find out who would serve on which days is because they had 20,000 priests.
OK, so we see that in verse eight says now while he was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on duty. Verse nine, according to the custom of the priesthood. He was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside of the hour of incense.
OK, so there was a lot that casted to find out who was going to burn the incense, who was going to do the offering of the Lord, because there were literally 20,000 priests that existed. OK, and this lot, if you got chosen to be the person to burn the incense. This was like a maybe. Not every priest was promised this. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, okay?
So the fact that Zacharias got chosen to burn the incense, this is like the biggest day of Zacharias' entire life, is that he gets to stand before the Lord in the presence of the Lord and offer something to Him, okay? Not everyone got to do this, and... If we understand here, 20,000 priests, priests have done this before him. There's probably a thing where Zacharias is nervous.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I just have to put myself in his shoes. Maybe he asked other priests what happened when you burned the offering. Maybe he's talking to them and going, hey, what happens when you go in here? What happens when you offer the burnt incense? What's going on? But the fact that he got chosen to offer the burnt incense to the Lord is a big deal, okay? And
Here's the thing about the incense. The incense was offered to God on a golden altar every morning and every evening of every day. It was a part of the law of Moses as we read in Exodus and Leviticus. And there were three different lots that were casted for this. The first and second lot were important. But they weren't like the big roll.
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Chapter 5: What was the angel Gabriel's message to Zechariah?
The first lot was cast to see who cleansed the altar and prepped the fire. The second lot was cast to see who would kill the morning sacrifice and sprinkle the altar, golden candlestick, and the altar of incense. But the third lot that was casted, the one that Zacharias won, the important one, was the person who offered the incense. one who would actually go before the presence of the Lord.
And this was the most privileged duty that anyone could ever get. Again, we need to emphasize this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a priest in this time period to get to do this for the Lord. So this is important. Alright, we just have to understand here. Imagine Zacharias asking other priests what exactly went down when they went before the Lord and offered the burnt incense.
And then he's praying and he opens his eyes and then there's an angel of the Lord standing before him. All right. This again isn't normal. He's probably like, they didn't tell me that this happened. This is not common. And it says, Zechariah, fear fell upon him, all right? We have to understand, an angel appearing before someone wasn't this like romantic, beautiful thing, all right?
This was a supernatural being that no human being has comprehension in their brain to understand that's standing before him. And he's probably freaking out. It says that fear fell upon him. And just like any other angel has to say to any other human being that comes in contact with him is do not be afraid. He says, do not be afraid, Zechariah.
For your prayer has been heard and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. And we have a lot to learn from this really quick. But let's let's let me emphasize something really quick. He says, do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard.
Anytime a priest would go into into offer the burnt incense to the Lord, they would often pray for Israel at the time. They would often pray for the people of Israel and they would oftentimes have a prayer list, but it would be particularly memorized in their brain.
And Zachariah, having this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, is probably thinking about that prayer in his brain that he was wanting to pray for Elizabeth to have a child. They're advanced in years. They're old. And Elizabeth's barren. She physically, in the physical realm, in this earthly realm, would be written off. You can't have kids.
So in the back of his mind, before Zechariah's going in, he's probably thinking, oh man, this is important to me. But because it's a civil duty as a priest, he probably thought, man, this is selfish of me to bring up in the presence of the Lord. So he's probably only praying on behalf of Israel. So for the angel Gabriel to be like, hey, yeah, the Lord's answered your prayer.
You're going to have a son. He's probably a little bit confused because he's in there praying on behalf of Israel. He says, your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth.
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Chapter 6: How does God respond to our prayers?
And this is living proof that even though it was a long time of prayer being offered up to the Lord for a child on behalf of Zachariah and Elizabeth, it shows that he actually does extend his love and care to his children. He cares about the desires on their heart. He cares about the desires on your heart. And so it's easy for us to become complacent and not get an immediate answer from God.
But this is living proof that man, God does care about what we pray for and he will give us an answer here. He says in verse 15, for he will be great before the Lord. He must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.
The reference to not drinking wine or strong drink is just in reference to a Nazarite vow that from an early age that John the Baptist is going to be set apart.
before people that he has a duty to prepare the way for the messiah and he will turn many of the children of the is of israel to the lord their god and he will go before him in spirit and power of elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready for the lord a prepared people so again here we go
He's being consecrated, set apart early. God has destined a role for John the Baptist, has given him a name before he's even been like conceived. And he says, look, he's got a role for the Messiah. This is going to be powerful. It's going to be amazing. Okay. And he's going to prepare the way. And Zacharias says something crazy here. He says, how shall I know this?
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Chapter 7: What does the Nazarite vow signify for John the Baptist?
For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. He questions the angel Gabriel, but he questions him out of doubt because he is looking at it from a carnal perspective of saying, man, I'm old in years. My wife's old in years. There's no way we can have a kid. He's looking at it from a carnal mind and he questions God in doubt. And the angel says, I am Gabriel.
I stand in the presence of God and I was sent here to speak to you and bring you this good news. So where Zachariah is feeding his doubt by reminding himself of a carnal perspective, Gabriel reminds him who he is and what authority he stands on. Gabriel says, I'm an angel of the Lord and I stand in the presence of God. I came here on behalf of the Lord to tell you that he's a promise keeper.
He's going to answer this. And then he says, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place because you do not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. So the punishment for Zachariah having disbelief is the fact that he can't enjoy the promise of God.
Just because Zachariah had unbelief, that doesn't mean that he took away God's promise because God is a promise keeper. But Zachariah didn't get to enjoy the longevity of anticipating this blessing from God because he gets punished for his unbelief. And this is this is so crazy in verse 21. It says the people were waiting for Zachariah and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.
Because normally the priests going in and out of the temple was clockwork around the same time period. And normally, if it took a little bit longer than normal, the people get worried because they thought maybe they messed up in the ritual. God struck them down because they did something incorrect. So they were a little bit worried.
But Zechariah walked out and he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. Zechariah came out and the people were relieved and they knew because he was mute that he had some encounter with the Lord in there.
But man, what a beautiful comfort to know, man. Zacharias didn't die. He didn't mess up like in the presence of the Lord to be struck down out of the ritual. But man, he encountered the Lord and it was beautiful.
Verse 24, after these days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, thus the Lord has done for me in these days when he looked upon me to take away my reproach among the people. So Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. They walk out in action what God had promised them. They're in a covenant relationship. Elizabeth conceives John.
It says that she hid herself. Now, we need to understand this. Elizabeth didn't hide herself because she was embarrassed of her pregnancy. The phrase she kept herself hidden was saying she hid herself for five months with the Lord. She wanted to be in secret for the Lord to just bathe and thank the Lord for this blessing and thank the Lord for him being a promise keeper and hearing her prayers.
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Chapter 8: What was Zechariah's response to the angel's message?
When it says that she was greatly troubled at the sight, trying to discern where she was going, and the angel says, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. The angel Gabriel is complimenting Mary for her righteousness and faithfulness to God. She has been chosen because of her righteousness and faithfulness.
And he actually, because Mary is a woman of the word, she recognizes that the angel Gabriel is quoting Isaiah 7. When he says, behold, you will conceive in your room and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. So she knows unmistakably what is going down here. This isn't just some normal Jesus. This is the Messiah that they're talking about. She understands this.
And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin? Now we need to understand something. Mary asks the very same question that Zacharias asked, but why isn't Mary punished for her question? Zacharias asked out of a heart posture of unbelief. Mary was a woman of the word. She understood what was going on in this conversation with Gabriel.
Her question came out of a logical understanding. She goes, how can this be because I'm a virgin? She goes, how can I bear a son if I'm not married yet? How does that work? This is a logical question. She's abiding by the law. She's not going to commit adultery. The Lord's not going to tell her to go out of the law that he set before mankind. So she's asking out of a logical understanding.
How can this happen if I'm not married yet? How is this going to work? This is why she isn't punished. She's thinking well here and honoring the Lord. The angel answered her in verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God.
That term in verse 35, where it says the power of the most high will overshadow you. You see this in Exodus. It's called the Shekinah glory, but it's basically this visible cloud of the presence of God that would hover over a place or hover over someone like Moses to show that, man, this is ordained by God. This is a beautiful thing that is orchestrated by God.
And so the angel Gabriel is saying, no, this is a God thing. This is going to happen. And the glory of the Lord will protect you, will be over you, will overshadow you. The child will be born. He will be holy, the son of God. Jesus Christ will be the son of God. He is the son of God. Verse 36, and behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son.
And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. So he's saying, look, I'm going to even take it up a notch. I'm going to show you the proof and the pudding here. You're not the only one I've approached. He says, I actually approached Elizabeth, one of your relatives, and you know her. She's not able to have children in the physical realm. But guess what?
God has chosen her to bear a child, John the Baptist. who's actually going to prepare the way for the Messiah that you're going to bear. And not only that, but he's answered their prayers of wanting a child. Verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.
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