Luke 1:1-17

1 Many biographies of the life of our blessed Lord were composed during the lifetime of those who had known Him. Luke had exceptional opportunities for such a work and proposes to write an account which would be accurate and consecutive. Being trained as a gentile, and writing to one, he would naturally fall in line with the spirit's design to cover an aspect of His life which supplements Matthew's King and Mark's Servant and John's Son. He presented Him as God's ideal Mall. He carefully checked all the material by first hand evidence. His historical references have all been found to be exact. We may rest assured that all the facts have been fully confirmed.

3 The expression "from the very first" may also be rendered "from above", as when the curtain of the temple was rent from the top (Mat_27:51). It would then signify that this account was a special revelation from heaven. This is true, but it is not the point in this passage. Though inspired from above, the evidence here given is rather the human side. The expression contains the Greek element ana up, which also means back, or anew (Joh_3:3; Joh_3:7). Paul could not possibly mean that the Jews who hated him had a revelation of him "from above", but, rather, they knew him "from the very first" (Act_26:5). So here, Luke could not follow "from above". In space, the expression means "from above"; in time, "from the very first", or "anew".

5 This is Herod the Great, father of Herod Antipas (Luk_3:1) and grandfather of Herod Agrippa I. (Act_12:1) and great grandfather of Agrippa II. (Act_25:13).

5 Zacharias means "Jehovah remembers" and Elizabeth signifies "what God swears". Jehovah is now about to remember what He has sworn to do for His people Israel. The result of their union is John, "Jehovah is gracious".

5 The routine or "course" of Abia, or Abijah, was the eighth of the twenty-four into which Aaron's descendants were divided (1Ch_24:10). Each ministered in the temple for a week".

13 We are not told what was Zacharias' petition because it was always the greatest desire of any man to have a son, and he, though just and blameless' had been denied this divine favor.

14 We have here a marvelous characterization of John the baptist and his career. His name indicates the return of Jehovah's favor to Israel in sending them the greatest of all the prophets after His long silence. The honor of being his parents will bring joy beyond the possession of many sons.

15 It is implied that John will not be great in the eyes of the world. He had none of the marks of earthly rank or power. His robes were rude, his food forbidding, his palace a place in the wilderness. The high priests were clothed in glorious garments and dwelt in Jehovah's temple, yet were contemptible in His sight. Greatness in God's sight involves meanness in the sight of men.

15 John seems to have been a perpetual Nazarite, at least in the matter or wine. (Of the Nazarites an account is given in the sixth chapter of Numbers.) This involved a lonely and consecrated life until his public ministry. The Spirit of God came on the prophets occasionally,

but John was filled with holy Spirit before his birth. What an equipment for his marvelous ministry!

15 Nazarite is from Hebrew nahzar, to sequester, and has no connection with Nazareth, which means a scion. Our Lord, who is presented to us in Luke's account as "the Man Whose name is the Sprout" (Zec_6:12) was called a Nazarene, or Nazarean, being an inhabitant of Nazareth. He was not a Nazarite.

17 The last of the prophets promised that Elijah should return (Mal_4:5-6). Lo! I send you Elijah the prophet Before the great and fearful day of Jehovah comes And he restores the heart of the fathers to the sons, And the heart of the sons to their fathers, Lest I should come and smite the earth to its doom. John the baptist was not Elijah, but came with the same spirit and power. He was capable of performing the same work. When the scribes objected, saying that Elijah must come first, the Lord acknowledged the fact (Mat_17:10). Hence he is probably one of the two witnesses (Rev_11:3-12) who come just before the kingdom is established. Meanwhile, had the nation been able to receive it, his work could have been done by John the baptist.