EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/12/2026
7:08 PM
My
Worship Time “Focus: PT-3 “Luke the Physician and
Historian”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Luke
1:1-3a
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things
that have been accomplished among us, 2
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word have delivered them to us, 3 it
seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past,”
(ESV)
I desire to continue and hope to
finish this section from the very early part of the book of Luke in this
evening’s SD.
The first thing I want to talk about
this evening is about Luke’s reason for referring to his sources and that was
actually two-fold. First, it establishes
his history as a legitimate, reliable account.
Luke was a very careful historian who used credible methods of research
and writing, and based his content on the firsthand accounts of
eyewitnesses. Then second. Luke’s use of
those sources places his gospel squarely in the orthodox tradition. His volume was not a bizarre, different,
heretical gospel but Luke’s account was consistent with the teaching of the
apostles (Acts. 2:42) and with those of eyewitnesses and especially the other
Spirit-inspired gospel writers (cf. John 20:30-31; 21:24-25).”
(Acts. 2:42)
“42 ¶ And they devoted themselves to the apostles
’teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
(cf. John 20:30-31; 21:24-25)
“30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence
of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name.”
24 This is the disciple who is bearing witness
about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his
testimony is true. 25 Now there are also
many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I
suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be
written.”
Now to let my readers know this next
paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary I will probably quote it but there are a
great deal of verses that he references and I don’t think that I will quote all
of those verses, but leave it up to the readers to look them up. I will quote some of them.
“In writing his gospel Luke utilized
the source material handed down to him by those who from the
beginning were eyewitnesses. These
same men (one definite article in the Greek text modifies both groups) later
became servants (cf. 1 Cor. 3:5-9; 4:1; 2 Cor 3:6) of the word (a
synonym for the gospel [cf. 5:1; 8:11-13; Acts 6:4; 8:4, 14, 25; 10:36; 11:1,
19; 14:5, 7, 44; 14:25; 15:7; 16:6, 32; 17:11; 18:5; 19:10). They observed Jesus’ ministry firsthand and
used that knowledge to faithfully preach the gospel. God preserved and transmitted the truth
through them until He inspired four specific writers to record it in the New
Testament. Eyewitnesses were the most
significant sources who handed down (a technical term denoting the
passing on of authoritative truth) the true information upon which Luke’s
account was based. That Luke was not an
eyewitness himself makes it evident that he was not an apostle, since one
qualification of apostleship was to have witnessed the resurrected Christ (Acts
1:20-21; cf. Luke 24:45-48; John 20:19-29; 1 Cor. 9:1; 1 John 1:1-3). Like Mark, he was not himself one of their
number, but was a companion of some of the apostles (most notably Paul).”
(Acts 1:20-21; cf. Luke 24:45-48; John
20:19-29; 1 Cor. 9:1; 1 John 1:1-3).
20 "For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
"’May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’;
and "’Let another take his office.’21 So one of the men who have accompanied us
during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
“45 Then he opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures, 46 and said to them,
"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day
rise from the dead, 47 and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are
witnesses of these things.”
“19 ¶ On the evening of that day, the first day of
the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands
and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them
and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." 24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the
Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen
the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the
nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into
his side, I will never believe.” 26 ¶ Eight days later, his disciples were inside
again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and
stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here,
and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not
disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas
answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus
said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.’”
“1 ¶ Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not
seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?”
“1 ¶ That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have
touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen
it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the
Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim
also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
“Now since Luke had access to this wealth of firsthand,
eyewitness testimony, it was fitting for him to write his account. Now the phrase having investigated
everything carefully from the beginning further marks Luke as an
accomplished and accurate historian.
Luke’s careful and thorough research gave him a precise understanding of
the life of Jesus Christ and ministry.
As a result, he was uniquely qualified to write this gospel narrative
under the Spirit’s inspiration.
MacArthur concludes this section by
writing “Luke’s acknowledgement of his use of source material must not be
misconstrued as a disclaimer of divine inspiration for his gospel. The experiences, vocabularies, or writing style of the Bible’s human
authors; their unique traits are indelibly stamped on all the books of
Scripture. The Spirit used Luke’s
knowledge, gave him additional information, guided his selection of material,
and controlled every word so that he wrote exactly what god wanted
written. (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-13; 2 Tim.
3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21). Therefore, his original
account is infallibly and inerrantly true.”
(cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-13; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2
Peter 1:20-21)
“12 Now we have received not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things
freely given us by God. 13 And we impart
this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting
spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.”
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness,”
“20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of
Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will
of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit
2/12/2026
8:01 PM
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