Category: Uncategorized

Luke 4:3 “And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

   The devil never accepts reality. Always it is a questioning of truth with him. He will not make any statement without some admixture of lie. And why? Lies are his tools, and even his own sad comfort. He has fooled himself into thinking he is wise because he rejects God’s truth. He here questions the identity of the Lord Jesus, hoping to produce a fleshly response.

Heavenly Father, we will live in Your truth. We know You are always true and faithful. You have no need to lie to anyone. You have nothing to fear from the truth. And, in Christ, neither do we. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:2 “being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.”

   Adam and Eve were tempted once, and that is all it took for the devil’s schemes. Jesus endures here forty days of the devil doing his worst. Forty days without food is the maximum for even the hardiest of human beings. The devil still found occasion to tempt the Lord Jesus. Having failed through the forty days, he would not give up. But he had more than met his match in Christ. Shortly, this chance for him would come to an end.

Heavenly Father, we praise You for Jesus! Thank You so much for Him! He is our Lord, our Savior, our Master. Never shall we ever be able to praise You enough for Him. It is for His sake that we live and breathe and serve You every day. It is for His sake that we are persecuted, yet endure with joy. It is for His sake that the new world You shall make will be so wonderful. He is worthy! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 4:1 “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,”

   This is one of many verses that help us to understand the operations of the Godhead. Though Jesus is the Eternal Son of God, He operates here by the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit. This is not a contradiction to the Lordship of Chris, but a confirmation of it. It shows the cooperation of the Persons of the Trinity in the work that the Son had been given to do.

Heavenly Father, though we will not ever understand it all, we thank You for relating Your nature to us. It is so comforting to know the Comforter! And by Him we know and understand You and the Son. Your plan is worthy of our adoration. You are our praise all day long! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:38 ” the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

   What does it mean here to say that Adam was the son of God? We are all the offspring of God in the sense that we are His created beings. But, like Adam, we are not the son of God in the way that Christ is. Adam was God’s son only in the sense that God created Him directly, without having progeny from others like the rest of us. But, Jesus is God’s only begotten Son. In other words, Jesus is of the same kind. We are created offspring, but we are only of similar kind. We are like God in some of our aspects, but we are not the same.

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us life and breath. We are always Yours and will trust in You. We owe everything to You and will praise You for all that You are and do. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:37 “the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,”

   I have always found it quite interesting that Methuselah was the son of Enoch. Enoch, of all the men in history, was one of the closest to the LORD. He walked with God and communed with Him to such an extent that God one day simply took him away from this earthly plain. It is then very appropriate for Methuselah to be his son. Methuselah means, ‘when he dies, there shall be an outpouring’ which refers to the flood. Though there is some debate on this meaning, and its significance, it is not debated that Methuselah died the year of the flood. Thus, there seems to be a significant tie between his age, the longest recorded, and the timing of the flood.

Heavenly Father, You do everything well, and in the right time. We know we can trust You to always know what is next. We will trust to the prophecy You have given us in Your Word. We know it is true, and that Jesus is coming back to this earth. We praise You for Your wisdom, mercy, and truth. You deserve the glory! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:36 “the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,”

   Semitic peoples were the descendants of Shem. Shem was one of just three men who were called upon to repopulate earth after the flood. Due to the Biblical record of this event and our three main ancestors, many have tried to support racism from the Biblical account. This effort is a practice in stupidity. Shem and his brothers were not different in race, that would be absurd. To suggest that some difference in kind among humanity has occurred since then is equally absurd. Indeed, the term ‘racism’ identifies only a belief, which is espoused by weak minds and hearts. There is really no such thing, as we are all of the same race.
   The Bible identifies for us tribes, peoples, tongues, and nations. These four words indicate political, cultural, geographical, and linguistic groupings. To make it say otherwise is to foist upon the text an imagined meaning.

Heavenly Father, thank You for creating humanity! Though we have done evil in Your sight, You have saved us. Your Son makes it possible for each of us to be Man as he was intended to be. We can once again live in communion with the God of Eternity. And we love You so much, dear Father! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:35 “the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,”

   We don’t know much about this group of early ancestors of Christ. They come between Noah and Abraham. In the time of Peleg the earth was divided. This most likely refers to the confusion of languages at the tower of Babel. Though it could refer to some other significant event.

Heavenly Father, Your peace is so precious to us! You have given us satisfaction in the midst of this world of evil, sickness, and death. Joy is possible because of Your will. You have made the path for hope. Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:34 “the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,”

   In just this short span of generations a shift in the course of humanity was affected. And why? Because of the work of the LORD Almighty in the life of a man of faith. Abram was just another step in the line, but his reliance on the God of his distant ancestors changed him. And that is the key for all of the generations of man, allowing the Almighty One to intersect with us and control our destiny.

Heavenly Father, it us not we who change our future, but You. You are the Great Change Agent. You bring about the differences that make our lives significant. Only You know what difference a day can make. Only You know the significance of a moment. We will trust to Your our yesterdays, our tomorrows, and our now. They are all Yours anyway! Thank You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:33 “the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,”

   Notice now the short lineage between David and Judah. We sometimes obfuscate the timeline of Christ by failing to calculate in our mind’s eye the length of the lineage from David to Christ as compared to the length of this portion. Though Judah is still a popular moniker today, the man behind it was not perfect, as were none of the physical ancestors of Christ. But, this is what contributes to the stunning authenticity of the Divine record. It is altogether apropos that persons in the line of Christ were guilty sinners in need of the salvation His cross-work provided.

Heavenly Father, thank You for clarity! You have given us the plain record of Your Son. You have not hidden it, but have given us abundant and adamant evidence of Him and His incarnation. We will never cease to praise You for Your amazing plan. You have beautifully woven together the fabric of history according to Your own will and way. All glory to You! In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.

Luke 3:32 “the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,”

   Imagine the stories the David heard as a boy. To hear the story of Ruth told by one of her descendants was surely a treat. This genealogy helps us to understand how much that the Scripture is the history of Jesus, more than just the history of the Jews.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word! It is a book like no other, and it reads us as we read it. Thank You for making it available to us! We praise You for Your wisdom. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray and praise You, Amen.