“The angel answered, ‘“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
~ Luke 1:35
Hi James and Ellen,
Why do you think that Luke sent letters to Theophilus? No one really seems to know who this Theophilus was who Luke sent two letters. Your grandpaa believes that Theophilus was a gentile Christ-follower and that he and Luke were probably good friends. The letters that Luke sent to Theophilus are now known as the Luke Book and the Acts Book. The Acts Book is about the beginning of an emerging global community of Christ-follower guys and gals. The Luke Book is about the Man Himself Who was the catalyst behind a paradigm belief change from a people group – who were the Jews who had been especially chosen by God to be His specially chosen guys and gals, to a belief paradigm that allows for any guy, gal or kid from any ethnic background – who has been specially elected by God, to accept as absolute truth what this incarnate man did through His tormented suffering and shed blood on a cross on which He was crudely and cruelly hung on and nailed to. Luke 1 has Luke – who was an esteemed doctor, introducing John – who would become known as John the Baptist, Jesus – Who was God the Son, and the dad and ma of both John and Jesus to Theophilus – who Luke refers to as being the most excellent in his letter to him. John’s dad’s name was Zechariah. John’s ma’s name was Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest. Zechariah and Elizabeth – in God’s standing, were a good and upright couple who faithfully and blamelessly observed His regulations – which was the Jewish or Mosaic Law that He had passed on to Moses on Mount Sinai. Zechariah and Elizabeth were quite old when John was born. While Zechariah was doing his assigned temple duty – which he had been selected by lot to do, of burning incense inside the temple – which was in the city of Jerusalem, a God sent angel – whose name was Gabriel, told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to have a kid and that they were to name the kid John. Because Zechariah was an old guy, Zechariah had trouble believing Gabriel when this God sent angel told him that he and Elizabeth – who was also old, and because he and Elizabeth had never had any kids, would actually have a kid soon born to them. Because Zechariah doubted a God sent messenger’s good news message for him, God took away Zechariah’s ability to speak.
Six months after Elizabeth became pregnant, a relative from the town of Nazareth – a town that was located in the Galilean region, visited Elizabeth – who lived in the Judean region’s hill country. Elizabeth’s visitor was Mary. Mary needed to walk for several days to get from where she lived to where Elizabeth lived. Before Mary left the town of Nazareth to make the long, dangerous walk to where Elizabeth lived – which was probably not far from the city of Jerusalem, Mary had Gabriel visit her. Mary – who may not have been any older than fifteen years old, had been pledged to marry a guy by the name of Joseph. Gabriel had been God sent to tell Mary that she was going to have a kid – even though she was a virgin and not married. God – through Gabriel, told Mary to name her kid Jesus. Verse 35 is Gabriel’s answer to Mary’s expressed uncertainty of how her role in history was going to unfold, “The angel answered, ‘“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Gabriel also told Mary that one of her relatives – who was Elizabeth, was already six months pregnant. Gabriel knew that Mary knew that Elizabeth not only had never had any kids but that she was already old. Gabriel reminded Mary that nothing was impossible for God to do so . . . your grandpaa thinks that Mary when she realized that she was actually pregnant and after she told Joseph that she was pregnant, left to make the long, treacherous hike to spend time with Elizabeth. When Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s house, John – who was not yet born, did a joy flip inside of his ma. Elizabeth had God – as God the Spirit, tell her to bless Mary and the kid who would be born to Mary. After spending three months with Elizabeth and probably just days before John was born, Mary headed back to her home in the town of Nazareth.
The day about 2,000 years ago when a ma who was a Jew was to hcircumcised and the day that she would give her kid his name was eight days after her kid was born. Elizabeth’s family expected her to name her kid after the kid’s dad but Elizabeth insisted that her kid’s name was to be John. When Zechariah was asked for a name for his kid, Zechariah – using hand motions, asked for a writing tablet. When Zechariah wrote the name of John on the writing tablet, Zechariah immediately was able to speak again. The news about the kid who had been born to Zechariah and Elizabeth as well as the news about Zechariah’s ability to speak again was passed on from town to town – leaving the guys, gals and kids who lived in the Judean region wondering. Because Zechariah and Elizabeth were old when John was born, they probably died when John was still a rather young guy. John grew up having a strong spirit of faith. John made the desert region his home. John became the voice in the wilderness that announced the coming of God – as God the Son, to the guys, gals and kids who God – as God the Father, has specially elected to be saved to glory in Him for eternity. A little over 2,000 years ago – when two very special kids were born – one to an old lady and the other to a teenager, planet Earth was rocked. The birth of those two little kids – especially the birth of Jesus, is still affecting history today. Because Luke wanted Theophilus to know some of the history behind these two kids, now you get to know, too. No other kid has ever been born on planet Earth like these two little kids.
Luke 1 (869)