March 13, 2011
Turn back to Luke 2 just for a moment. These precious words that have been brought before us already come at the birth of our Lord. But I want to bring up a contrast. In v.9, while the shepherds were guarding the sheep, “the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.” Compare this to v. 14, which we read earlier: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” We have glory in both verses: in v. 9, it’s the glory of God; in v. 14, it’s glory to God. The angels ascribed glory to God, Who is all-glorious. The glory of the Lord: what does that mean? It refers to all the characteristics that magnify Him. It is His radiance, His magnificence, and it made the shepherds afraid. Then—as the shepherds gazed on—the voices of the heavenly hosts ascribed glory to Him honour and blessing. This is our privilege: to come into the presence of the One Who deserves all glory, and give Him glory because of who He is and what He has done.
Hymn 366 We are little children, very young indeed
Prayer
We are continuing with the story of David.
1 Samuel 19
V. 1: Just as he was in the last chapter, Saul was still very angry about David, and wanted to kill him. This time, he told Jonathan and the servant to kill him.
V. 2: Saul’s and Jonathan’s affections for David were very different. Saul wanted to kill David, but Jonathan loved him. Remember, David is a picture of the Lord Jesus. When He was here, the Lord asked, “What think ye of Christ?” We each should answer this question. Do we delight in the Lord Jesus as Jonathan delighted in David? A good example of such a person was Mary Magdalene: the Lord cast out seven demons out of her, and because of this she loved Him very much. But there were also the Pharisees, who hated the Lord and wanted to kill him, just as Saul hated David.
Vv. 3 - 5: Jonathan told David that he was going to talk to Saul about his behaviour. When Jonathan talked to Saul, he reminded him of all the great slaughters that David had wrought for Israel. Similarly, we can memorize portions of the Bible and then share what the Lord has done for us with others. Jonathan talked to Saul because of his love for David and what David had done for Israel.
Vv. 6 - 11: Once Jonathan reminded Saul of what David had done for Israel, Saul said that he would not try to kill David. David came back to the palace and there was peace … but not for long. Saul again sent David out to battle and he had a great victory. Then the evil spirit came back upon Saul. David was asked to play the harp for Saul, and while he was playing, Saul tried to pin him to the wall with the javelin. However, David slipped out and escaped to his own house.
Then Saul sent some of his servants to watch David’s house. Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” David fled out one of their windows and Michal put a statue in David’s bed, so that it would look as if David was in bed. In the the morning, Saul sent men to get David. Michal told the servants that David was sick and in bed, but Saul wanted them to bring him anyway. When the servants went into the room, they found the statue. It wasn’t very honest on Michal’s part. However, while Michal was stalling the servants, David was on his way to Samuel’s house in Ramah. Saul sent men to Ramah, but the Lord saved David each time. We can clearly see the Lord’s protection in David life.
May we each have a love for the Lord, just like Jonathan had for David.
Luke 3:1-14
The first part of this chapter is all that we hear of John’s ministry in Luke. Socially, things were out of order (both religiously and politically), so John was in the wilderness; refusing to take part in the world.
He called people to be baptized. Today, we recognise baptism as a step onto Christian ground. What John was doing was different; his was a baptism of repentance. This prepared the people to accept Jesus as the Messiah. John’s job was to get them ready.
John was a prophet. Prophets sometimes tell the future; but, by definition, a prophet is someone who brings God’s message for that certain time. He’s someone that brings the consciences of the people in touch with God.
Acts 19:1-5. John’s baptism was in anticipation of the Cross. In this passage, Jesus has already died and risen again; these people were then baptized in His name.
As Christians, we baptize people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (which we get from Matthew 28:19); but in Acts 19:5, these people were baptized in (or ‘to’ in Darby) the name of the Lord Jesus. Mr. Kelley suggests that we baptize unto the Lord Jesus, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. If you weren’t baptized this way, it doesn’t void the baptism; but it’s nice to do it correctly. Baptism is very important; it puts us on Christian ground. Romans 6:3 tells us that we have been buried with Christ; put into death, symbolically, and raised again. There was a man once, many years ago, who wanted to take his place at the Lord’s table, but hadn’t been baptized. Because he refused to be baptized, and was therefore not on Christian ground, the brothers had to deny his request.
John was a prophet, but he had been prophesied about. Isaiah 40:3 foretells his coming. He didn’t pretend to be anyone great, but called himself a ‘voice, crying in the wilderness’ (quoting Isaiah). His job was to point people to the Lord, and it wasn’t always easy. There were mountains to level, valleys to fill, curves to straighten, and places to smooth. Everyone would have an excuse why they couldn’t accept the Lord; and John would have to conquer each, and make the way plain. And he didn’t just single out the Jews, he saw past the cross to the day of ‘whosoever’, when ‘all flesh’ would see God’s salvation. This is grace. John wasn’t up there saying, “Moses, on Mount.Sinai, was told…”. No, he picked up people were he found them, and had a message for each. Where did he get his message? V.2 tells us that it was the word of God.
Up to V.6 gives us the setting, and Vv.7-9 gives us John’s short message. We don’t hear how he got his crowd - V.7 says there was a multitude - but we know God was working and there was a response. Earlier God worked by special heralds, and here He worked by a man.
John’s message wasn’t very complementary. He told the people that they weren’t right with the Lord, and that there would be consequences. He told them that they had to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance; that they had to change their ways. This didn’t save them, but it showed that they had truly repented. We should respect the boldness of John. He was given a word, and he gave it out, and God blessed it.
Hymn 221 - Draw me nearer
Prayer