One Verse at a Time

This episode looks at Luke 1:16, “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” John the Baptist acted as a prophet/priest, calling people to repentance and representing them before God. We now, by faith in our ultimate high Priest, Jesus, serve as part of a kingdom of priests calling others away from sin and to Christ. May God grant us grace to do so.

This episode looks at John 1:15, “for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” We praise God for how John is not commended for “success” but rather faithfulness to God’s call. We praise God for how John is set apart from any control by a substance and is controlled by the Spirit alone. We praise God for his work by the Spirit in John even before birth and what that means for infants now. We have so much to rejoice in from this verse!

This episode looks at Luke 1:14, “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.” The people rejoice in God’s kindness to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and this rejoicing should culminate in the one whom John prepares the way for—Jesus. May our rejoicing in the kindness of God to others who are struggling help us lift our eyes to Jesus, the ultimate substance of lasting joy.

This episode looks at Luke 1:13, “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.” God meets Zechariah and Elizabeth’s need personally even as he is working together a worldwide story of his glory. Praise God for his wisdom!

This episode looks at Luke 1:12, “And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.” We need the right kind of fear—the kind of fear that sees God as fear-worthy yet runs to him and not from him. May God help us to fear rightly and believe his word to us.

This episode looks at Luke 1:11, “And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Into silence, God sent his messenger. Into our silence today, we need God’s grace to listen to his message to us contained in the Scriptures.

This episode looks at Luke 1:10, “And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.” Several pieces jump out from this text: 1) We don’t need to pray according to the temple cult because Jesus has given us direct access to God. 2) We want to pray not only out of ritual but with complete hope. 3) We should pray with others as a we encourage one another through prayer.

This episode looks at Luke 1:9, “according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.” When crisis comes, we want to continue faithfully serving God, and we want to bring our requests to him in prayer. May God give us grace to go against our natural inclinations of running away and hiding so that we will turn to him in times of need.

This episode looks at Luke 1:8, “Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty.” We have seen how Zechariah and Elizabeth were walking in righteousness and still did not have a child. Now we transition in the story by seeing Zechariah go back to serving the Lord. May God give us grace to persevere in the midst of trials as we wait upon the Lord. May he help us to trust that he is out for our good even if the best for us is something we never could have envisioned.

This episode looks at Luke 1:7, “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.” The spiritual barrenness of the community had manifested in physical barrenness for Elizabeth, they themselves were righteous before God. We pray from this verse that like he did for Elizabeth God would bring life out of death in our lives today, both physically here and now on earth but ultimately into eternity with him forever.