Luke 1-4

Notes from Dr. Chuck Missler's commentary on the Book of Luke

Zechariah's Song illustrates 4 basic ideas:
1. Exaltation and the reason why God should be praised: Luke 1:68
2. The deliverance of Israel through their Messiah: Luke 1:69-75
3. Messiah is Israel's horn of salvation: Luke 1:69 (horn = power)
4. Mentioning of the covenant sworn between God and Abraham: Genesis 22 shows Abraham offering his son. Jesus died on the Cross at the same site, aka where God also offered His Son.

Book of Ruth: Contains lots of gems and parallels between Jesus, Israel, and the Gentiles
- Explains how Bethelhem became the city of David
- Naomi is a type of Israel, who was away from her land. Through Boaz, Naomi was returned to her land
- Ruth was gentile who became the gentile wife of the kinsman redeemer
- Through Ruth, Naomi met the kinsman redeemer, Boaz, whose mother was Rahab the Harlot
- Boaz played the role of the kinsman redeemer for both Naomi and Ruth
- Ruth learned the ways of the kinsman redeemer through Naomi

Genealogy of Jesus:
- In Jeremiah 22:30, we see that God placed a blood curse on the royal line of David. So, how could Jesus come from the royal blood line, if it was cursed? Through virgin birth! Jesus therefore comes through the legal line of David, through Joseph, but not through the blood line, and hence His virgin birth through Mary!

- The Hebrew of these names have meaning. Using the Hebrew meaning of these names, starting with Adam, we get a message: "Man is appointed mortal sorrow. Blessed God should come down teaching that God's death shall bring the despairing comfort and rest." That is, a summary of the Christian Gospel tucked away in the genealogy in the Torah!

- Luke follows the genealogy through David's second son (different from Matthew's perspective), which ultimately leads to Heli. Heli has only one daughter, Mary. It was a Jewish custom back then for a son-less father to adopt his son-in-law as his own son for inheritance, which here, Heli adopted Joseph as his son through Joseph's marriage to Heli's only daughter, Mary.

Luke 4 Background Reading:
Isaiah 14:12-17
The origin of Satan and his ambition: worship
Ephesians 6:10-18
The Armor of God

Brief Comparison between the 4 Books of Gospel:
1. Matthew

- Focuses on Jesus as the messiah, Jesus as a Jew, and Jesus as the coming King, the royal line of Judah

- Genealogy was written from the point of legality

- Focuses on what Jesus said

- Ends with Jesus' resurrection
2. Mark:

- Focuses in Jesus as a suffering servant

- Focuses on what Jesus did

- Ends with Jesus' ascension
3. Luke:

- Focuses on Jesus as the son of man, emphasizing Jesus' humanity and prayers

- Genealogy is written from the view of the blood line

- Focuses on how Jesus felt

- Ends with the promise of the Spirit

- Its "sequel" is the Book of Acts, which is a straightforward, investigative narrative
4. John:

- Focuses on Jesus as the son of God

- Focuses on who Jesus actually was

- Ends with promise of Jesus' return

- Its "sequel" is the Book of Revelation

All human governance has been built on 1 of 3 false foundations:
1. The bread basis, relying only on the physical
2. The false religion basis, emphasizing a spectacular experience
3. The compromise basis