919
THE KING’S BUSINESS
dan (ch. 4:1, R. V.) and that He “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee” (ch. 4:14). Luke alone tells us that He, Jesus, was “praying” when the Holy Spirit' de scended upon Him. It is also as we pray that the Holy Spirit descends upon - us (Luke 11:13; Acts 4:31; John 4:10). It was one of the greatest moments of the world’s, history as Jesus stood there pray ing.. The silence of ages was broken. God was well pleased that He had at last found One both fit and willing to take man’s place. He spoke aloud from the rent heavens (cf. Mark 1:10, R. y .), “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” But alas! the world is not pleased at all with the One with whom God is so well pleased. Tuesday, October 12. Luke 3 :23-38. The genealogy here given of Jesus Christ ¡5 ; the real, human genealogy of Christ through His actual mother Mary, while the genealogy given in Matthew I is His legal and royal genealogy through His adopted father Joseph. We will not go into that at length here, because we did so in the June number, page 497. It is true it says in verse 23, Joseph (not Mary), the son of Heli, (more accurately translated, “Joseph of Heli,” the words “the son” are not found in the Greek). The explanation of this is that according to the uniform Jewish usage the name of a woman would not appear in the genealogical line, so Joseph’s name is substituted and he/was “the son {in law ) of Heli.” Luke traces our Lord’s descent not merely to Abraham as is done in Mat thew, the gospel for the Jews, but to Adam; for Luke is the gospel for all mankind. Wednesday, October 13. Luke 4:1, 2. The moment of loftiest exaltation and clearest testimony is immediately succeed ed by Satan’s fiercest assault; the baptism with the Spirit by the repeated temptations of “the lust of the flesh,” “the lust of the eyes,” and “the vain-glory of life” (cf. 1 John 2:16, R. V.). Note well that it was
second “in” (or, “with”) in this statement should be omitted; it is not in the original~ as is indicated by its being in italics in our English versions. Its unwarranted inser tion has suggested to some commentators the possibility of interpreting these precious words to mean two baptisms, one “in the Holy Spirit” now, the other “in the fire (of judgment)” (as in the next verse) in the future. The Greek makes this grammatical ly impossible. It is one two-fold baptism; “in the Spirit (wind),” vivifying, energiz ing, “and. fire," revealing (1 Cor. 3:13), re fining (Isa. 4:4; Zech. 13:9; Mai. 3:1-3), consuming (filthiness and, scum, Ezek. 24: 9-11), illuminating, making to glow and melting (Jer. 23:29), imparting energy. The fulfillment of these words we find in the “wind” and “fire” of Acts 2 :2-4. John is the baptizer in water, Jesus Himself is the greater Baptizer, “in the Holy Spirit and fire.” This is just the baptism the church and the individual needs today. Jesus is also the greater separator of men, gathering “the wheat into His garner,” burning “the chaff” , “with:unquenchable fire.” Are you wheat or chaff ? Monday, October 11. Lube 3:18-22. We have already studied the two inci dents here recorded in our meditations upon the fuller accounts given in Matthew and Mark. But let us stop again to think of Jesus, Himself the Baptizer “in the Holy Spirit and fire,” coming to John to be bap tized in water. Could anything make more plain the great importance in His' sight of water baptism? When Jesus had thus hum bled Himself to take the sinner’s place (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21, R. V.), though conscious of absolute sinlessness, God the Father gave Him the two-fold testimony, the visible dove and the audible voice (cf. Phil. 2:8, 9; Luke 9:31-35). The dove was not a sign to Himself alone, but to John as well (John 1:33). This was Jesus’ own bap tism in the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38). The next thing we read of Him is that He “full of the Holy Spirit” returned from the Jor
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online