Pastor Bell and I start a series through the Gospel of Luke soon, so I will share some thoughts in this blog, as I make my way through this Gospel account.
(Luke 1:1-4 ESV)-[1:1] Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, [2] just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, [3] it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, [4] that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Luke 1:1-4 – A few words regarding the inspiration of Scripture. To say the Bible is inspired by God means that it has God as its ultimate Author and that God caused everything He wanted in the Books to be written. It does not mean that the individual writers were mindless recording devices.
Read carefully what Luke says in verces 1-4 regarding how he came to know for certain the things about Jesus, even though he was not with Jesus to see them for himself. He says in verse 3 “it seemed good to me”. Note that he does not say “God spoke to me”,or “God led me to write”, “God told me what to put to paper” … .
The Book of Luke is a work of the Holy Spirit to us regarding the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. But He did not zap Luke with an understanding of events. He did not dictate what Luke should write. Luke does not say that he received visions, although some of the authors of Bible Books did. He refers to no dreams, although there are plenty of them in the Bible as well. Luke heard no voices that came to him from heaven. Other authors did. What Luke did have was a good work ethic and an inquisitive mind. And the mind that God had given him, he used to write a true account of the Son of God. And God saw to it that nothing was written that was not accurate, that was not supposed to be there, and that was the mere opinion of a mere man.
Luke compared the various accounts of the life of Christ and some of them would have been a certain amount of nonsense. But Luke’s account was not. He studied hard, worked well, and came up with the document we call the Gospel according to Luke. And behind all of Luke’s research and investigative journalism was God ensuring, by His divine providence, that what Luke wrote was precisely what He wanted.
Getting a message from God does not mean that we will hear voices or have dreams or write without the solid use of our minds. It means that God will use all these very ordinary things to produce a very extraordinary volume that will, until the Lord returns, be used by God to lead countless thousands to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What a God.
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