A 5-day per week study.
March 18 – Reading Luke 3:21-38
Read and believe in Jesus.
“The heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him…” Luke 3:21
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The Gospel according to Luke 3:21-38
In the last study, we saw John the Baptist “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Many came to him, were baptized, and with repentant hearts asked how they could bear the fruits of repentance. From religious leaders to tax collectors and soldiers, they came, and John told them. And while they were there, he preached the good news of the coming Messiah and his own unworthiness.
Before John was arrested by Tetrarch Herod for incest and adultery with Herod’s brother’s wife (and a few other sins), John also (reluctantly, according to Matthew 3:13-15) baptized Jesus “to fulfill all righteousness.”
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Vss. 21-23a.
At Jesus’ “righteous” baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Him “in bodily form,” like a dove. And a Voice (of God) came from Heaven, saying, “You are my beloved Son, with You I am well pleased.” Jesus heard the voice, an affirmation from His Father. John saw the dove descending on Jesus and took it as the sign he’d been promised that “this was the Messiah.” He then began pointing to Jesus as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29-34)
This was when Jesus began His ministry. he was about thirty years of age.
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Vss. 23b-38
Here, Luke inserts another of his factual reports, a genealogy of Jesus. These are the passages we typically skim through, if at all. But there are some interesting things to see.
Unlike Matthew’s genealogy, Luke begins and ends with Jesus. Son of God, AND born of man (Adam).
He starts with “Jesus being the supposed son of Joseph, who was the son of Heli. It should actually say, son-in-law of Heli, for this is the lineage of Jesus ON MARY’S SIDE. Her line also leads back through King David, but through his son, Nathan, not Solomon. This is important because, just before the fall of Jerusalem under the last king of Judah, God said NO MORE KINGS IN THIS LINE would rule Israel (Jeremiah 22:24-30 – read this for yourself.), and yet the Messiah would be King, a descendant of David. And so the true blood line DOES come down through David (as God promised him), but through a different son.
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And so, God the Father proclaimed Jesus His “beloved Son,” and Jesus’ genealogy back to the beginning also proclaims Jesus as “the Son of God.”
Morning Meditations 