“The Geographical Setting” (Like 3:26b-3a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2026 8:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus: “The Geographical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                 Reference:  Luke 3:2b-3a

            Message of the verses:  “the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.  And he came into all the district around the Jordan,”

            I think that one thing we can learn about all that we have been looking at as I started looking at the book of Luke, is that God does things His ways, and it probably is not how things would be done if they were done by humans.  So one could hardly have envisioned a less auspicious location for the beginning of a public ministry of John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias, than the wilderness.  Like I said that God does things His ways, and you can be sure that they are perfect in the way He always does them, even though we don’t always understand it.  So surely the forerunner of the Messiah would be expected to make a dramatic appearance at the temple, or at least somewhere in Jerusalem.  There was no more barren, desolate region in Israel than the wilderness of Judea.  This wilderness stretched from the hill country of Judah on the west to the shores of the Dead Sea on the east, and extended north into the Jordan River valley. John MacArthur writes “According to one writer,

“It is difficult to describe adequately the foreboding desolation and howling barrenness along the shores of the Dead Sea….If there could be fixed in one’s mind the image of the almost-painful sterility of the Sahara or of Death Vallen, and then multiply that by a factor of four or more, one might come close to capturing the geographical reality to which he is exposed along the shores of the Dead Sea. (Barry, J. Beitzel, The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands [Chicago: Moody, 1985], 41).

            “It was in that harsh, unforgiving environment that John grew to manhood.  Since his parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth ‘were both advanced in years’ when he was born (Luke 1:7), John may have been orphaned at a young age, and then moved to the wilderness after the death of his parents.  Despite the claims of some, however, there is no evidence that John ever lived at the famous religious community of Qumran, which was located in that region (cf. Bock, Luke 1:9:50, 198). That John’s entire ministry was spent in the district around the Jordan (cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28; 3:23, 26; 10:40) in no way diminished his enormous popularity (cf. Matt. 3:5; Mark 1:5).”

(cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; John 1:28; 3:23, 26; 10:40)

“6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

“13 ¶  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.”

“28  These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

“23  John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized”

“26  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.’”

“40  He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.”

(cf. Matt. 3:5; Mark 1:5)

“5  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,”

“5  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

            “The phrase The word of God came to John does not imply that God revealed Scripture to him. Instead, the use of the more specific term rhema (word) as opposed to the more general term logos (cf. 5:1) suggests that Jon’s call to a prophetic ministry is in view here (cf. Jer. 1:1-2; Ezek. 1:3; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Mic. 1:1; Zech. 1:1; Hag. 1:1).  After years of isolation, John suddenly, dramatically stepped onto the public stage.”  These verses are all pretty much the same as they show the calling of each of the prophets listed.

            “The location of John’s ministry was a rebuke to the religious establishment, located primarily in Jerusalem.  That John ministered in the wilderness symbolized God’s disdain not only for Gentile idolatry, but also for hypocritical Jewish legalism.   John kept his distance from both, remaining untouched and unpolluted by either.  It also symbolized John’s attack on the establishment (Matt. 3:7-12), and the necessity for truth seekers to leave it (Matt. 3:5-6).

(Matt. 3:7-12)

“7 ¶  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11  "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’”

(Matt. 3:5-6)

“5  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

“Finally, like the Messiah he heralded, John was humble.  He did not minister in the temple, or a royal palace, but in the humblest of circumstances (cf. Matt. 11:8).”

(cf. Matt. 11:8)

“8  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.”

“That illustrates the truth that God chooses the humble and the lowly (1 Cor. 1:26-29).”

(1 Cor. 1:26-29)

“26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

“As the Jews had to be purged in the wilderness after they had left Egypt before entering the Promised Land, they would also be required to return to the wilderness again to be cleansed, baptized by John to prepare their hearts to receive Messiah’s kingdom.”

4/19/2026 9:10 PM

 

 

PT-3 “The Historical Setting” (Luke 3:1-2a)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2026 10:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: PT-3 “The Historical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Luke 3:1-2a

            Message of the verses:  “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philp was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Tachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,”

            I will pick up from MacArthur’s commentary from where I left off last night: “Further, after his removal from office five of Annas’s sons and one of his grandsons served as high priest, as did his son-in-law Caiaphas, who held the office from A.D. 18-36.  Since high priests were appointed and deposed at the whim of the Romans, Caiaphas’s unusually long tenure testifies to his skill as a politician.  His ruthless determination to preserve his own status and power can be seen in his proposal that Jesus be executed (John 11:49-50)—an unwitting prophetic prediction of the atoning nature of His death (vv.51-52).

(John 11:49-50)

“49  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. 50  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.’”

(vv.51-52)

“51  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

            “Annas was proud, ambitious, and notoriously greedy.  A major source of his income came from the temple.  He received a share of the proceeds from the sale of sacrificial animals; only those for sale at the temple (for exorbitant prices) would be approved as an offering.  Annas also got a cut of the fees the money changers charged to exchange foreign currency (only Jewish money could be used to pay the temple tax; cf. John 2:14.”

(cf. John 2:14)

“14  In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.”

“So notorious was his greed that the outer courts of the temple, where the business was conducted, became known as the Bazaar of Annas (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974], 1:371-72).  Annas and Caiphas especially hated Jesus because He twice disrupted their temple business operations (John 2:13-16; Matt. 21:12-13).”

(John 2:13-16; Matt. 21:12-13)

“13  The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14  In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15  And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16  And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’”

“12 ¶  And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13  He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.’”

            “These two wretched individuals, as greedy and corrupt as the pagans they despised, exercised tremendous control over the people of Israel.  Their rule was especially obvious, since they corrupted their God-ordained authority (cf. Matt. 23:1-3).”

(cf. Matt. 23:1-3)

“1 ¶  Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3  so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.”

“The epitome of their wickedness came during the mock trial of Jesus, in which they played the leading roles.

            “It was into the world of these seven men that John and Jesus came proclaiming the word of God.  Four of them, Pilate, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas, would play important roles in the unfolding drama of the Lord’s life, ministry, and death.  All of them symbolized the moral and spiritual darkness that the Light of the world (John 8:12) came to dispel.”

(John 8:12)

12 ¶  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at what is going on in our world today it causes me to be angry and want justice for those who are causing the problems, both in our country and also what is going on in the Middle East. I know that I would be much better off to just pray about it and let the Lord work out all the details, and I would then not get angry over it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  My wife is experiencing pain in her left side for a few weeks now with no relief, and so I pray that this would be resolved, as we pray about it.

4/19/2026 10:38 AM

 

 

 

PT-2 “The Historical Setting” (Luke 3:1-2a)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2026 7:23 PM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: PT-2 “The Historical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Luke 3:1-2a

            Message of the verses:  “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philp was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Tachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,”

            This morning I ended up with writing about Pilate’s dealings with Jesus and with others too, and now this evening I begin to write about Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, who was the tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis.  These two were members of the notorious Herod family, sons of Herod the Great, not sure why he was called great, perhaps because he was a great loser??  So when Herrod died in 4 B.C., his domain was then divided among three of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip.  Archelaus proved to be such and inept and brutal ruler that he was deposed in A.D.6 and then his territory which was Judea, Samaria, and Idumea was placed under the rule of Roman governors, something that was written about in this mornings SD, showing that Pilate was the fifth of those governors.  The Herod in view here is Antipas, who ruled Galilee from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39.  He is the Herod referred to in the Gospels’ account of Jesus, ministry.  It was Antipas who imprisoned, and executed John the Baptist.  (See Luke 3:20 and then Luke 9:9 to see this.) It was Antipas who played a role in the unjust trial of Jesus as seen in Luke 23:7-12).

            John MacArthur writes that “Antipas’s brother Philip ruled the region of Ituraea and Tachonitis (northeast Galilee) from  4 B.C. to A.D. 34.  Philip has been considered the best of the Herodian rulers.”  I have just thought of a story that I think goes along with this last statement that I would like to share with you.  The story was told by Erin Lutzer former Pastor at the Moody Church in Chicago for a long time.  He tells about a very evil man who had a brother who died and the surviving brother came to Pastor Lutzer and ask him to do the funeral of his brother.  I don’t really remember why they were so evil or how old the brother was when he died.  This made Lutzer think about this for a while, especially when the surviving brother said that he must say something good about his brother at his funeral.  Ok this was a very difficult decision and it seems to me that he would receive money for doing this, something that Lutzer could use for a project he was involved in.  He took the job of preaching at the funeral, and he began to tell all of the evil things that this man had done, and he did this for a while. He ended with the statement that compared to this diseased brother he was very good compared to his brother, so he did have something good to say about the dead brother.

            “Little is known of the third local ruler mentioned by Luke, Lysanias, the tetrarch of Abilene (Northwest Damascus).  Rejecters of biblical inerrancy used to charge Luke with an historical blunder, claiming that the only Lysanias known to history had died years earlier in 36 B.C.  Inscriptions have been found, however, that indicate another Lysanias had ruled during the reign of Tiberius (Darrel L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 283).

            “Moving from the secular to the religious realm, Luke placed the outset of John’s ministry in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, suggesting that in some sense they held the office jointly.  Although no longer officially the high priest, Annas was nonetheless the most powerful figure in the Jewish religious establishment.  He had been the high priest from A.D. 6 to A.D. 15, when he was removed from office by Valerius Gratus, Pilate’s predecessor as governor. He could still properly be referred to as high priest (Acts 3:6), in much the same way that former presidents of the United States are still referred to as president after they leave office.  Annas’s title, however, was more than a mere courtesy.  Many  Jews, resentful of Romans’ meddling in their religious affairs, still considered him to be the true high priest (especially since according to the Mosaic law high priests served for life; cf. Num. 35:25).” However this man was not truly a Jewish high priest because he was not of the blood line of where the high priest’s came from in Israel.  “As Leon Morris notes, ‘There is little doubt but that…the astute old man at the head of the family exercised a good deal of authority.  He was in all probably the real power in the land, whatever the legal technicalities’ (The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary of the New testament [Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1979], 749).”

            I will stop here with not a whole lot in order to finish this but I like to do my Spiritual Diaries in the morning where I will attempt to finish this section, but tomorrow is Sunday morning, and I leave for our Church services early.

4/18/2026 8:02 PM

 

PT-1 “The Historical Setting” (Luke 3:1-2a)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/18/2026 10:18 AM

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: PT-1 “The Historical Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                   Reference:  Luke 3:1-2a

            Message of the verses:  “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philp was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Tachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,”

            As we begin this third chapter of Luke, he includes seven individuals, five Gentiles and two Jews, in providing the background for the ministries of John and Jesus.  Now his purpose in introducing them was not to provide an exact chronology, but rather a general historical context.  Now the first name he mentions is Tiberius Caesar, illustrates that fact, because there are two plausible ways of determining the fifteenth year of his reign.  There are some who argue that Tiberius’s reign as emperor began at the death of his illustrious predecessor Augustus Caesar, Rome’s first emperor, now we looked at him when we studied Luke 2:1 earlier in this study of Luke.  Now since Augustus died on August 19, A.D. 14, that would mean John’s ministry began in A.D. 29.  “The more traditional view counts the fifteen years not from Augustus’s death in A.D. 14, but from A.D. 11, when Tiberius became his co-regent.  John’s ministry would then have commenced in A.D. 26.”

            He goes on to write “While it is impossible to be dogmatic, the latter view best harmonizes with the chronology of the New Testament (cf. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, s.v., “Chronology of the New Testament’; Lewis A. Foster, ‘The Chronology of the New Testament’ in Frank E. Gaebelein, ).ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 1 [Grand Rapids; Zondervan 1979].  There are also several specific arguments in favor of starting the fifteen years in A.D. 11 when Tiberius became co-regent.”

            I realize that this is technical things that MacArthur is writing, but I suppose that is one of the reasons that I enjoy his commentaries.  He goes on to write “First, he reference to the co-regency of Annas and Caiaphas as high priests (see the discussion below) suggests that Luke may also have had the co-regency of Augustus and Tiberius in mind.

            “Second, according to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus, Herod the Great began building the temple in 19 B.C. In John 2:20, the Jewish leaders said to Jesus, who was in Jerusalem for the Passover, that the temple had been under construction for forty-six years.  That would make the date of the Passover A.D. 27, which in turn places the start of Jesus’ public ministry late in A.D. 26.

            “Finally, according to Luke 3:23, Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His public ministry.  Since He was born shortly before the death of Herod in 4 B.C., Jesus would have been about thirty in A.D. 26. 

            “Moving from the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire to the highest-ranking local Roman authority, Luke next introduced Pontius Pilate, who had been appointed the fifth governor of Judea by Tiberius in A.D.  26 and remained until he was removed from office in A.D. 36.  The Gospels and extrabiblical sources portray Pilate as proud, arrogant, and cynical (cf. John 18:38), and also weak and vacillating.”

(cf. John 18:38)

“38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him.”

Notice the highlighted portion and one can wonder what, since Pilate had the Son of God who knows everything why he asked the question but did not stay around for the answer.

“As governor, Pilate displayed insensitivity and brutality (cf. Luke 13:1).”

(cf. Luke 13:1)

“1 ¶  There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”

“Reversing the policy of the earlier governors, Pilate marched his troops into Jerusalem carrying standards bearing images that the Jews viewed as idolatrous.  Outraged, many protested heatedly against what they saw as a sacrilege.  Pilate ignored their protests and ordered them, on pain of death, to stop bothering him.  But they called his bluff and dared him to carry out his threat.  Unwilling to massacre so many people, Pilate removed the offending standards. The story reveals his poor judgment, stubbornness, arrogance, and vacillating weakness.  Pilate also engaged the Jews when he took money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct to bring water to Jerusalem.  In the ensuing riots, his soldiers beat and slaughtered many of the protesters.”  As I look at the writing from MacArthur about Pilate it reminds me of a story that MacArthur wrote about that happened after Pilate died, from committing suicide when his body was thrown into the Tiber River.  Now some say that when his body was thrown into the Tiber River that it caused supernatural disturbances, leading it to be moved to Vienna (France) and eventually near Lucerne, Switzerland.  These are stories and not sure that they are true, but it is known that Pilate was the man that went along with the Jews to have Jesus killed, and must have had some very bad mental effects on him, so it is no wonder he committed suicide.

            “Ironically, the incident that finally triggered Pilate’s removal from office involved not the Jews, but their hated rivals the Samaritans.  A group of them decided to climb Mount Gerizim in search of golden objects Moses had supposedly hidden on its summit.  Mistakenly thinking the Samaritans were insurrectionists, Pilate ordered his troops to attack them, and many were killed.  The Samaritans complained about Pilate’s brutality to his immediate superior, the governor of Syria.  He removed Pilate from office and ordered him to Rome to be judged by Tiberius, but Tiberius died before Pilate reached Rome.  At that point, Pilate disappeared from history.  Some accounts claim that he was banished, others that he was executed, still other that he committed suicide.”

Spiritual Meaning for my Life Today:  God is in control as I can see from my study of Luke how He brought different people to be a part of the birth of His Son, godly people and now His ministry will shortly begin something that I am thankful to continue to read and study about it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to bring revival to me so that my life will be pleasing to God, as right now things are seemingly not well with what is going on.

4/18/2026 11:20 AM

“Intro to Luke 3:1-6”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/17/2026 7:57 PM

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  “Intro to Luke 3:1-6”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                    Reference:  Luke 3:1-6

            Message of the verses:  “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!

5 ‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,

AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE LOWERED;

THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT,

AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH;

6 AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD!’”

            I try to make a point when I take my walk during the day to listen to the sermons by John MacArthur that go along with the verses that I will be studying in order to write my Spiritual Diaries each day.  I did this in the afternoon while walking and all MacArthur got through were the first three verses of Luke 3, so it looks like I will have to be listening tomorrow to get through all of these verses.  I will quote from MacArthur’s introduction to these verses for my evening Spiritual Diary.

            “In chapters 1 and 2 of his gospel, Luke recorded the birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.  As chapter 3 opens, eighteen years have passed since the last historical event recorded by Luke, the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple (2:41-51).  The public ministries of the Baptist and Jesus are about to begin.

            “For thirty years each had lived in seclusion.  John ‘lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel’ (1:80).  Jesus loved in the obscure, out of the way off the beaten path village of Nazareth, where ‘He continued in subjection’ to His parents (2:51).  Only a select few, those who were looking for the consolation and redemption of Israel (2:25, 38), knew the true identities of John and Jesus.  Of that small group many, such as Zacharias, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, and Joseph, had most likely died by this time and gone on to glory.  The angels who announced their births had long since returned to heaven.  But the three decades of silence were about to end.  The beginning of John the Baptist’s public ministry would also mark the end of an even longer silence—the four centuries of prophetic silence since the time of the last prophet, Malachi (about 430 B. C.).

            “As the curtain rose on the ministries of John and Jesus, Israel was shrouded in deep darkness.  It was the bleakest of times politically.  The nation chafed under the oppressive rule of pagan idolaters.  Israel, God’s covenant nation, was now part of a minor providence in a backwater region of the mighty Roman Empire.  It was also the darkest of times spiritually. The Jewish people were crushed under the heavy burden of an apostate, legalistic, hypocritical religion dominated by corrupt, wicked spiritual leaders (cf. Matt. 23:1-33).  Israel had not realized the promises of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants; they possessed neither the land promised by the former, nor the kingdom promised by the latter.  Engulfed in legalism, hypocrisy, and external ritual, the nation also failed to experience the New covenant blessings promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 37:26.”  Now let me just add one more prophet to those two and that would be Daniel, and what I mostly am referring to is the 9^th chapter of Daniel where we see the very famous 490 year prophecy which will end with seven years left on it when we get to the 19^th chapter of Luke where Jesus offers Himself as their Messiah and they reject Him, so what we now have is seven years left on that prophecy which when that begins will begin the last seven years of history as we know it now, for at the end of that time the Lord Jesus will return to planet earth with His saints who will help Him rule in the Millennial Kingdom.

            “The Old Testament closed with the promise of Messiah’s coming (Mal. 3:1; 4:2), and throughout the ensuring centuries of political and religious darkness the Jewish people had clung to that hope.  But before Messiah’s ministry began, His forerunner was to appear to prepare the way for Him Years earlier John the Baptist’s father, Zacharias, had prophesied concerning him, ‘And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways’ (Luke 1:76; cf. Mal. 3:1).  Thus John, the first prophet in more than 400 years, appeared on center stage to introduce the main character of the story, the Lord Jesus Christ.  His task was twofold: to prepare the people for the Messiah, and to present the Messiah to the people.

            “Like any good historian, Luke understood the importance of placing his historical account in its proper context.  In this passage he gave four settings that provide the backdrop for the ministries of John and Jesus:  the historical, geographical, theological, and prophetical settings.”

            So now we have the outline that we will be following as we look into these verses from Luke chapter three.  I have to say that I’m learning much from the gospel of Luke and have a great deal of respect for Luke as he writes this gospel. 

4/17/2026 8:55 PM

 

 

 

“The Adult Years in Nazareth” (Luke 2:52)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/17/2026 9:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  “The Adult Years in Nazareth”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                      Reference:  Luke 2:52

            Message of the verse:  “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

            Yesterday, while I was on my walk I was able to listen to the last of three sermons that John MacArthur preached on the previous verses from Luke that we spent several days looking at, and I have to say that I learned many things from the SD’s that I wrote on those verses and the sermons that I listened too.  Thinking about the conception of Jesus and then fast forwarding to the time when He turned 12 years old and was then able to go to the temple, staying there and listening to the teachers shows that Jesus began to become the Man that God planned for Him to become as His heart and mind were beginning to open to what He was called to do, and then in today’s verse “that He continued to increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”  Now this summary statement reveals all that is known about the eighteen years Jesus spent in Nazareth from the age of  twelve to the beginning of His public ministry which began at the age of thirty. “23  Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,” (Luke 3:23).  MacArthur writes increasing translates a form of the verb prokoto, which means ‘to progress’ or ‘to advance.’  In the unfathomable mystery of the incarnation, when Jesus ‘emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and [was] made in the likeness of men’ (Phil. 2:7), and was ‘found in appearance as a man’ (v.8), He was subject to the normal process of human growth and development.  Jesus grew in wisdom as His intellectual grasp of divine truth increased, physically in stature, and spiritually in favor with God, strengthened by His victories over the assaults of temptation (Heb. 4:15).”  “15  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  “The reference to His finding favor with man describes His increasing social maturity and the respect He commanded.”

            John MacArthur proposes a question that is well worth our thinking about what the answerer would be:  “The question arises as to why Jesus needed to live all those years, instead of simply coming to earth, dying as a substitute for sin, rising from the dead, and ascending back to heaven.”  Now you can think about this question and then figure out what you think the answer is, because there are good reasons as to why Jesus had to come as a baby, grow up under the care of Joseph and Mary for thirty years before He began His ministry which would end in His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, staying on earth for 40 day before returning to heaven.  Now MacArthur writes “The answer is that He had to live a perfectly righteous life and ‘fulfill all righteousness’ (Matt. 3:15) and thus prove to be the perfect sacrifice to take the place of sinners (1 Peter 3:18).” “18 ¶  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” “Only then could His righteousness be imputed to believers and their sins placed on Him.  When Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that God made ‘Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,’ he expressed both aspects of Christ’s substitionary atonement.  Not only did Jesus bear believers’ sins, God also imputed His righteousness to them.  To put it another way, God treated Christ as if He had lived believers’ sinful lives, and believers as if they had lived his perfectly righteous life.  Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life from childhood through adulthood, so that His righteous life could be imputed to believers.  Salvation comes only to those who do not have a ‘righteousness of [their] own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith’ (Phil. 3:9).

            “It was not without purpose that the Holy Spirit-inspired account of the Savior’s life in the four Gospels included only this episode from the years between His birth and the launch of His public ministry.  This brief narrative, bookended by two sweeping summary statements, reveals Jesus Christ as the Son of God, whose perfectly sinless life qualified Him to be the only acceptable sacrifice for sin (1 Peter 1:18-19), both having believers’ sins imputed to Him and providing a righteous life to be imputed to them.”

(1 Peter 1:18-19)

“18  knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19  but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Spiritual Meaning for My Life Today:  I am thankful to be able to study this section of Scripture that shows Jesus as a child of twelve years old, as this give to me tremendous insight into His life while on planet earth, and it is my hope that the Holy Spirit of God will use these last SD’s to bring someone or many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am trusting that the Lord will continue to use the Spiritual Diaries that I write to send the Gospel around the world, so that it would bring glory to My Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

4/17/2026 9:50 AM

PT-4 “The Incident At Twelve” (Luke 2:41-51)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/16/2026 6:10 PM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-4 “The Incident At Twelve”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 2:41-51

            Message of the verses:  “⁴¹ His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He was twelve years old, they went up there according to the custom of the feast; ⁴³ and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days required, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but His parents were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Instead, they thought that He was somewhere in the caravan, and they went a day’s journey; and then they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ And when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for Him. ⁴⁶ Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When Joseph and Mary saw Him, they were bewildered; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You!” ⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ And yet they on their part did not understand the statement which He had ^[made to them. ⁵¹ And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued to be subject to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”

            I would like to be able to finish this section in this evenings Spiritual Diary, and then in tomorrow mornings SD do the last section in this second chapter of Luke.  I believe that this section that we have been looking at is one of the great sections found in the Gospels.  I will begin with quoting more of what MacArthur wrote in this section, along with giving comments that I have too.

            “It was Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God above all else that infuriated His Jewish opponents and led to His execution.  In John 5:17, Jesus defended His healing of a crippled man on the Sabbath by saying, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’’ The Jewish authorities were outraged, and as John noted in verse 18: ‘For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.’  In John 10:36, they accused Him of blasphemy for calling Himself the Son of God.’   At Christ’s mock trial it was His affirmation that He was the Son of God that gave the Sanhedrin the excuse to declare Him guilty of blasphemy and thus deserving of death (Matt. 26:63-66).  After Pilate pronounced Jesus innocent ‘the Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God’ (John 19:7).  And when Jesus was on the cross, they mocked His claim to be the Son of God (Matt. 27:40, 43).

            “The reason Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God infuriated the Jewish leaders is that such a claim, as they understood perfectly, was a claim to deity, to full equality with God.  The title Son of God describes Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, God incarnate.  The full, rich meaning the title Son of God is not evident from the English concept of sonship.  In Jewish culture ‘son’ denoted more than just a male offspring.  A young underage child was considered a boy; only when that boy had become an adult was  he a son in the fullest sense.  It was then that he became equal to his father under the law and in terms of adult responsibility, and received the privileges his father had reserved for him.  ‘Son,’ in this more technical sense, came to mean ‘equal to’ or ‘one with.’

            “There are a number of examples in Scripture where ‘son’ identifies a person’s nature.  Barnabas’s name means ‘son of encouragement.  Jesus called James and John ‘Sons of thunder’ (Mark 3:17), identifying them with that term because of their bombastic personalities.  Similarly, He described some people as ‘son[s] of hell’ Matt. 23:15 because they had the characteristics of those who are hell bound.  In much the same way, both Judas (John 17:12) and the Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3) are called sons of perdition or destruction (the same Greek word is used to describe both individuals), identifying them with their eternal destiny.  Ephesians 2:2 calls unbelievers ‘sons of disobedience,’ while Matthew 13:38 describes them as ‘sons of the evil one’ (cf. John 8:44).  Luke 16:8 and John 12:36 call believers ‘sons of light;’ and Luke 20:36 calls them ‘sons of the resurrection.’’

            “Son’ in the above examples does not refer to origin, but to nature.  The term is used to refer to Jesus Christ to establish His being of the same essence and nature, with the same rights and privileges, as God Himself.  As noted above, the Jewish leaders understood perfectly that by claiming to be the Son of God, Jesus was claiming deity and full equality with the Father.

            “Some might argue that the terms ‘only begotten’ (monogenes; John 1:14, 18, 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9) and ‘firstborn’ (Prototokos; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:5) indicate that Jesus came into existence, and thus was not God from all eternity.  But neither of those terms refer to origin.  Monogenes means ‘one of a kind,’ and distinguishes Jesus as the unique Son of God from believers, who are sons of God in a different sense (cf. 1 John 3:2).” 

(1 John 3:2)

“2  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

“The Bible calls Isaac Abraham’s monogenes (Heb. 11:17), even though Isaac was neither Abraham’s oldest son nor his only son, because he alone was the son of the covenant (Gen. 21:12; cf. Rom. 9:7).  Prototokos, when used of Christ , does not refer to chronology, but to preeminence.  Both Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5 call Jesus the ‘firstborn from the dead,’ because of all who will ever be resurrected, He is the preeminent one.  In Exodus 4:22, God refers to Israel as His firstborn; though Israel was not the first nation to come into existence chronologically, she was the first among the nations in preeminence.

            “To argue that the terms ‘firstborn’ and ‘only begotten’ mean that Jesus was a created being is contradictory.  Jesus could not be both the ‘only begotten’ and the ‘first begotten.’  Nor could He be the creator of the universe (Col. 1:16) if He Himself were a created being.

            “Joseph and Mary did not fully understand the profound statement which Jesus had made to them.  They understood that He was the Messiah, the Son of David, conceived in a virgin’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But the full meaning of His divine sonship eluded them.  This would not be the last time that His followers would fail to grasp what Jesus was saying (cf. Luke 9:44-45; 18:34; John 10:6; 12:16).

            “But the time for Jesus to leave His parents’ authority had not yet arrived, so He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them.  His relationship with His heavenly Father did not yet abrogate His responsibility to obey His earthly parents.  His obedience to the fifth commandment was an essential part of Jesus’ perfect obedience to the law of God.

            “Here was the first fulfillment of Simeon’s warning to Mary in 2:35, as she treasured all these things in her heart.  She had much to think about as she pondered Jesus’ amazing reply.  Mary had to realize that her Son was her Savior, and she would have to exchange her parental authority over Him for His divine authority over her.  The sword would pierce her heart again later in her last appearance in Luke’s gospel (8:19-21), when Jesus distanced Himself from His human relationship with her and His siblings (cf. 11:27-28).  Ultimately, the sword would pierce Mary’s heart as she watched her Son suffer and die on the cross.”

            This section of Luke’s gospel has brought much meaning to me as I studied it by not only reading from MacArthur’s commentary but also listening to around three hours of his sermons on this section.  We have one shorter section to look at, and then move onto the third chapter of Luke’s gospel and Lord willing will do it in tomorrow morning’s SD.

4/16/2026 6:55 PM