Luke 1:1-25 (NKJV)

1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us,
2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,
3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus,
4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,
9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
18 And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years."
19 And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.
20 "But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time."
21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple.
22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
23 And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house.
24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying,
25 "Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."

6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

Those were the last words of God to his people through his prophet Malachi, the name Malachi meaning My Messenger. The final thing he told them was that he would surely send them Elijah the Prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. But when? How Long O Lord before that day?

400 years were to pass before Israel got an answer to that question. 400 years is a long time. 400 years ago the United States didn't even exist, the Pilgrims had yet to land on Plymouth Rock. If you remember that, perhaps you'll begin to appreciate just how amazing and awe inspiring what happened to Zacharias in the temple really was.

Suddenly, after that long silence, without warning, an angel of the Lord, a Malak in Hebrew - Messenger, appears to him and announces that he will have a son and that this son will be the long awaited Elijah who was prophesied to come. Not only is Zacharias to have the son that his wife and he longed for now in his old age, he is to have the son that Israel was supposed to be looking for, the prophet in the spirit and power of Elijah who would prepare the people for the coming of the coming of the Lord. The Elijah who would prepare the nation for the Long-awaited Messiah, Immanuel as Isaiah 7:14 calls Him, the Name Meaning "God with Us" in Hebrew.

These passages then, tell us the story of that incredible moment in History when the period of silence between the Old and New Testaments was broken, and the time was now at hand for the coming of the Prophet who was to appear just before the long-awaited Messiah came to dwell with his people.

2) But before we talk more about that, let's back up a little and spend some time looking at the introduction, to the Gospel given to us in Luke 1:1-4. That little introduction is important, because it tells us much about what the writer, Luke, intended when he wrote his Gospel account.

Notice I said Luke was the writer of the Gospel account, not the Author. The Author of this and all other scripture is God. As the verse you will be memorizing this week, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God" Luke wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

This doesn't mean that he was used like some sort of Robot, but rather that God used all of Luke's own skills, and character, their education, and vocabulary and peculiarities of expression to create the Scripture. Luke could give the results of his own investigations, but ultimately what he wrote was a product of the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and every word of it was the inerrant and inspired Word of God.

Luke himself, although not an Apostle, was an early gentile convert of Paul. He accompanied Paul on his travels, and is mentioned both in Acts, which Luke also wrote, and in the Letters of Paul.

In his investigation he spoke with the eyewitnesses to the events he speaks of, and traveled to the places were they occurred. His historical detail is meticulous, and when Luke says for instance, that such and such a man ruled over such and such a place at such and such a time, inevitably subsequent archaeology has proved him right. Luke was a doctor by profession, and his scientific and medical bent is evident in the way he wrote. No other Gospel writer spent as much time recording details, especially ones related to the curing of diseases.

The Most Excellent Theophilus he is writing to is probably a pseudonym for some Christian gentile in a high position, this is probably a dedication to him, as the Gospel was obviously intended for wider readership. But why is he writing? That his readers – and that includes all of you – might know: the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. As he says in verse 4.

This gospel account that Luke wrote is no work of fiction, no book of the bible begins with "once upon a time." It is a true and inspired account or narrative of the events of the life of Jesus Christ.

Christianity is a religion built on facts. In that it is quite unlike all of the man made religions, with their contradictions and speculations. The job of the faithful minister, is the same as that of the Apostles, he tells the people the facts. But these are not dull facts. These are the most important and exciting facts imaginable. In fact if the fact that Son of God came down to earth, and lived for you, and died for you, and rose again for you isn't exciting to you, what on earth is?

No, the great facts of the Gospel aren't dull, but admittedly the way they are sometimes dealt with, or even totally ignored in the church, can be. Dorothy Sayers, the British Mystery writer and Christian apologist, once said that the gospel was so important and exciting that it took years of theological education and diligent training in order for ministers of the Church of England to make it truly dull.

She also wrote of what a crime making the gospel bland and inoffensive by pulling its teeth and making it a religion of "be nice" platitudes is; "Not Herod, not Caiaphas, not Pilate, not Judas ever contrived to fasten upon Jesus Christ the reproach of insipidity; that final indignity was left for pious hands to inflict. To make of His story something that could neither startle, nor shock, nor terrify, nor excite, nor inspire a living soul is to crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame."

The point then, that Luke is making in his introduction, is that this account of his, is simply a faithful, orderly recounting of the facts. It's design is to make known, to those who have heard or been instructed in the basics of the gospel a full account of what actually happened. That was becoming a necessary as the Gospel went throughout the gentile world and of course as the Apostles themselves got older. Eventually the day would come when all the eyewitness themselves had gone on to glory, but their sure testimony would live on in writing. And that testimony provides a sure, rock-solid God-inspired foundation for your belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we go through this Gospel account of Luke then, let us make it a settled maxim of our faith to trust every word of it implicitly, for these are the Promises of God, and let us beware of doubt. May you daily cry out to Christ in your prayer what that father cried out so long ago with tears: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"