READING IN LUKE 1
READING IN LUKE 1
This gospel gives the manner of the appearance of God’s grace in the world. We have to note the kind of persons we meet in the opening chapter. We do not get here, as in Matthew, the opposition of man. Matthew and Luke present the birth of the Lord and the circumstances of His infancy, and a comparison of the two accounts will serve to emphasise the point of view given in Luke. In Matthew the birth of Christ elicits what is in the heart of man; Herod seeks to destroy the young Child. This is a dark picture. In Luke we get the bright side. Certain persons are brought forward who are already the subjects of divine grace; a prepared scene for the introduction of Christ. Zacharias is engaged in a most exalted service, offering incense to God. He and Elizabeth, his wife, walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. The priesthood and the temple are owned.
The opening chapters of this gospel may be connected with the end of Malachi. The remnant that feared the Lord, spoken of by that prophet, reappear here.
The truth is, that God had arranged a set of conditions which should enhance the entrance of His grace, in the birth of Christ, into this world. What we see here is not only the Lord’s birth as a fact by itself, but God was intervening for the deliverance and blessing of man, and He would do this in a manner calculated to gain man’s confidence. He comes in in connection with certain ones in whom beautiful traits of His grace appeared. Humanity [p. 2] is seen, not in its bad features, but as the subject of God’s grace; and humanity is, as it were, accredited with what His grace has wrought. These bright traits are not to be found in man naturally, of course: in John’s gospel we learn that he is utterly reprobate, and so has to be born again. If there is to be anything for God, it must be divinely produced, and this applies to those we are introduced to here in Luke. But here the power that produces what pleases God in man is not the point, but that these divinely formed traits were actually found here in men.
If you are to gain a man’s confidence in approaching him in grace, you have to give him to understand that you fully recognise all that is commendable. This is an unvarying principle with God, and we see it in the epistles.
Ques Would you say that in the law God approached man from the other side?
Ans. Then it was a question of discovering to man what he was by nature; “by law is the knowledge of sin”. Sin by the commandment became exceeding sinful. But here God is approaching man in grace, and so commendable things in him are prominent.
In Matthew a different set of circumstances appears in connection with the Lord’s appearance in manhood. Gentiles are in search of Him, and speak of Him to Herod. The king of the Jews was born, and this brought out a murderous spirit in Herod. The spirit of Athaliah 2 Kings 11 was present. She sought to destroy the seed royal. Matthew presents this side of things, and there can be no doubt that in Mark we may trace the spirit of Jezebel in opposition to Christ. She sought to destroy the prophets of the Lord. The Pharisees and Herodians took counsel how they might destroy Christ, Mark 3:6. Mark gives us the Prophet, but Luke presents the [p. 3] Man in whom God has intervened; hence in the genealogy given the human line is what appears, not the royal line, as in Matthew. It is traced back to God. God’s work in man, or, rather, the fruits of it, is seen in connection with this line; and when the Lord should come into manhood there was a little circle of this line marked by the blessed fruits of grace in connection with whom He appeared. All was morally necessary, and so divinely prepared. In this respect the Lord came into a congenial atmosphere. Becoming man, the Lord was on man’s side toward God. But there were liabilities on man, and Christ takes up all and removes them in His death. But coming into manhood. He was connected with all that God had produced in man previously; and then, being a divine Person, Christ is great enough to be a Mediator between God and man. In all the circumstances of His birth there was nothing calculated to antagonise man’s heart; on the contrary, everything to establish confidence was there. God approached man in a Babe; wondrous grace and condescension! Elihu said to Job, “I also am formed out of the clay. Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid”.
Ques Why is John the baptist given such a large place?
Ans. The Spirit makes prominent the character of John’s parents and the circumstances of his birth. We have to seek to get at the significance of this. The same is true of Mary; the Spirit would show the character of her through whom the Son of God came into the world. The Spirit of God guards the Person of Christ in every way; “that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”, chapter 1: 35. In the cherubim in the tabernacle we have the indication, that from the moment of the Lord’s birth the Father was taking care of Him. The cherubim of glory shadowed the [p. 4] mercy-seat. Under the mercy-seat was the testimony, and the wings of the cherubim were stretched over all. “The cherubim of glory” have reference to the Father’s affections; before any priestly hands were stretched forth to care for the ark the Father’s infinite interest and vigilance were evident. The angel’s word to Mary, quoted above, was a guard to the Lord’s Person. The cherubim’s wings point to divine power in protection. When Herod would slay the young Child, the Father protected Him.
While the truth of the Lord’s Person shines in Luke, and is guarded, yet, as in the type in Exodus 25, what is immediately before the mind of the Spirit is that there should be a meeting place between God and man; “there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat”. The meeting place is in Christ.