Today we are going to take a break from The miracles of Jesus and take a quick look at a study someone requested.
I was asked about the interpretations Of Luke 11 and how it pertains That Jesus Did not come to replace the Old Testament but to Fulfill it. I am sure they meant to fulfill the law not the Old Testament. We still need the Old Testament to study to complete the works of Jesus. The 1st thing we will need to do is go read Luke chapter 11.
A lot goes on in this chapter. It starts with the Lord’s prayer in verse 2. In my opinion the Lord’s prayer is an outline of how we should pray, though often we repeat it word for word, I do believe it was to set up to how we should pray.
1 Acknowledge God
2 Ask for His will in our life
3 Ask for provisions
4 Ask for forgiveness and forgive those who are indebted to us
5 Protect us from temptation and evil.
From these things there is a lot to be prayed about, and every prayer might be different from day to day as life changes for us.
Verses 5-13 demonstrate how we should live our lives pertaining to others needs and our own deeds. In verse 9 Jesus says And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Many times we often go without because we did not ask, seek or knock to those who are closest to us or other Christians. Notice this verse did not point to heaven when doing those things but to those around us. Then Verse 13 says If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Not we see the correlation of us being evil that can still give god gifts, how much greater is it that God can give us. If we are to be God/Heaven oriented, we need to let our actions parallel God’s actions. We lack here on Earth for 2 reasons, we do not ask, seek or knock to those to help, and or we do not approach God in the manner we should to ask, seek and knock for Him to provide. (Go back to the Lord’s prayer template.)
Verses 14-26 Jesus goes on about a kingdom divided amongst itself falls. We cannot serve both the worldy ideas and Heavenly Ideas. Jesus clearly states that either you are for me or against me. There is no middle ground here. If we are redeemed of God but do not continue in His footsteps the Bible clearly states we will be inhabited by seven more wicked spirits than what was in us before we were redeemed. Jesus is starting to get real with the way He is speaking with he Disciples.
Verses 29-36 Jesus talks about it being an evil generation. He goes on how Jonas was a sign of old and now a new sign (Jesus) is for this new generation. He goes on talking about whoever lights a candle does not hide it but puts it out for everyone to see.
Verses 37-52 Jesus starts to rebuke the Pharisees and the Lawyers and their ways.
So how does this tie into the question at hand that Jesus came not to replace the Old Testament/Law but to fulfill it?
Let’s look at these scriptures.
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
When we read Luke 11 we can see that most people especially the Pharisees and even the disciples are still stuck on the old testament law. John 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. Jesus is the Word, He is the fulfillment of the law walking right in their midst. The old law even points to the fulfillment with the prophesy of the messiah to come from the prophets. God started to establish the law with Moses in the Ten commandments. When you look at the Ten Commandments, it was not for condemnation for us but rather to show that we are sinners, and we needed redeemed for our sins. While the Pharisees of the current time were so bent on the traditions of the law and the sacrifices and how the tabernacle was to be run, they overlooked the one thing in the old scripture about the coming Messiah, they could not possibly grasp He was right in front of them. Jesus will go on to say what the greatest commandment is.
Matthew 22 (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity (Love) among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
Love in my opinion is the fulfilment of the law. Love fulfills all those pertaining to the law. Jesus is Love!. Because He loves us, we would no longer be subject to the consequences of the law. He did not do away with them for we still need to be held accountable, but when we gave our lives to Jesus he became our accountability for us, He became the sacrifice to fulfill any shortfalls we have. In Luke 11 You can clearly tell He was going after their hearts, He was addressing the absence of love with all their mumblings, accusations, and possibly lack of provision. Traditions can kill love and the power of Christ. Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
John 13 (34) A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. (35) By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Matthew 5 (14) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (15) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
(17) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 07/23/2023 02:58 PM ]
[ posted by Cindy, 07/23/2023 03:04 PM ]
Mike, you have done a great job breaking down the sections of Luke! I have a lot of notes, but some are similar to yours. I will try not to repeat your
points.
A prophecy (prediction, forecast of something to come) was something the ancient Jews used like a measuring stick to determine if the truth was told by someone claiming to be a prophet. If his predictions (prophecies) did not come true or could not be acknowledged, he was abandoned and cast aside because of it.
A lot of the prophecies back then were setting the stage for the arrival of Jesus, patterns of actions and things to come to fruition to prepare for Jesus and the fulfillment of Jesus' work. And it all that had to happen at the appointed time.
When Jesus goes to Nazareth and speaks at the synagogue, I don't think it's a mere coincidence He is handed the book of Isaiah to read from! The Jews have been waiting for their savior to come for hundreds of years. The stories and words of the Torah passed down from generation to generation of what the signs would be. He has been doing miracles all over the place, they have seen and/or heard this.
Jesus says in Luke
4:21 "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears." He is telling them God has sent me to release the captive, God has sent me to recover sight for the blind, God has sent me to free the oppressed. It wasn't just physically, but spiritually also.
Mike is right about the fulfillment being LOVE. God sent His son to save us, to fulfill us from damnation of sin. Who else could possibly love like that? Luke 24:47 states all of us descended from Adam have departed from God. Because of sin.
Only repentance and forgiveness of sins can restore us to to fullness of life that God intended for us. The Old Testament has 12 passages of prophecy that were fulfilled in Jesus' last days...too long to write them all out word for word but I will list them:
Zech 9:9 - Jesus arrives on a donkey- fulfilled in Matt 21:7-9
Zech 11:13 -30 pieces of silver - fulfilled Matt 26:15
Isaiah 53:7 - remains quiet in front of His accusers- fulfilled in Matt 27:14
Isaiah 53:3 - will be rejected- fulfilled in Mark 15:12-13
Isaiah 50:6 - will be mocked and beaten - fulfilled in Matt 27:27-30
Isaiah 52:12 -poured out His life, numbered w/ His transgressor- fulfilled Mark 15:27
Psalms 31:5 - will commit His spirit in Gods hands - fulfilled in Luke 23:46
Exodus 12:46 - like the Passover Lamb, none of His bones broken- fulfilled John 19: 31-33
Zech 12:10 - side will be pierced - fulfilled in John 19:34
Isaiah 53:8 - dying for sins of people - fulfilled in Matt 27:51, 1 Peter 2:24
Isaiah 53:9 -
buried with /by the rich - fulfilled in Matt 27: 57-60
Isaiah 53:11 - will be resurrected - fulfilled in Luke 24: 4-6
Even after all this had happened, there still were Jews (even to this day) that do not believe he is the savior they were waiting for!!! Pretty compelling evidence to me. Jesus was the answer to all of God's promises made in the Law of Moses, prophets and Psalms. Jesus was sent by
God to be our righteousness, deliverance, sight and freedom. Jesus dying and becoming the fulfillment of Moses' Law. We no longer had to sacrifice animals, etc. like the Old Testament rules and laws. We now had a direct line to God individually, not through the temple or religious leaders. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus came to fulfill the previous rules and
regulations and they were now changed to enter us as recipients of Gods kingdom and eternal life by our free will to accept who Jesus is. The Son of God.Luke portrays the Gospel as the unfolding of God's plans. God's work. The Holy Spirit. Jesus' compassion for people. God is always in control and always has been. Luke wants us to be a part of the worldwide spread of salvation thru Jesus. To strengthen us for the challenges and demonstrates that Jesus brings to fulfillment all of God's purposes. Besides just the reconciliation thru Jesus' death, Jesus also won for us the Holy Spirit who teaches us to witness for Him and follow Him to bring us together for God's kingdom.
Lastly, the Lord's prayer. Jesus would not have given His disciples this method of prayer if it had truly not been relevant. I researched a bit about the meaning of
those phrases. Mike is spot on about how he describes the meaning of them. I will add a bit more to
them. Our Father --Father of all of us, not just Jesus Who art in heaven-- we are exalting God above all things, all creation, our future home with Him.
Hallowed be they name-- He is above ALL, we are acknowledging how holy He is and drawing us closer to our relationship with Him.
Thy kingdom come -- He rules over all, we look forward to His coming righteous kingdom
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven -- we work toward the coming kingdom of God by conforming our lives to please God, and carry out His will.
Give us this day our daily bread --our petition to God to provide us with what we need (not what we want). "Daily bread" is the essential need for ever day life. Not just physically, but spiritually as well.
Forgive our trespasses as we forgive our trespassers -- Asking God to show mercy on us for our sins, as
we will also forgive those who sin against us. We are to show mercy as God does.
And lead us not into temptation --temptation is the work of the devil, we know that.We are asking God to protect us from those trials and temptations thrown at us every day. Keep us strong to resist and stand firm in our faith in Him in such trials of temptations whether spiritually or morally.
But deliver us from evil-- We pray not to be held by the clutches of evil by the devil. But if we do, asking God to save us and deliver us from that grasp of temptation from the devil. Rescue us from sin.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Our praise again to God. We are telling God that we now everything is His. Everything belongs to Him. He is in control and deserves the praise and recognition. He has the power of love, mercy, grace, power, and punishment over everything.
[ posted by Cindy, 07/23/2023 03:08 PM ]
Not sure why the program separated so much of the words! Sorry it looks like a hot mess to read.
[ posted by Megan, 07/25/2023 11:05 AM ]
You nailed it Mike, couldn't agree more with you and Mom's comments!!
[ posted by Mike, 07/25/2023 11:26 AM ]
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.