The origin of John the Baptist

Luke 1,1-25

1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,
2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.
7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.
25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Luke 1, 39-80
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their in most thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah,
60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.
63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.
66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
Zechariah’s Song
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Hello everyone, I am kiki. Chinese name of our second phase of the program is “读经大讲堂”. The English name is “Bible study”.
We will adopt a relaxed also enjoyable learning mode to take you into a new learning world. Each time I will make a personal summary and analysis from the perspective of a learner, and then Sister Ingrid will help me conduct in-depth learning and problem discussions with everybody.
I hope that such an interesting and interactive process can bring new knowledge experience to you all. The following is my interview with sister on related issues. Today is the first lecture on the Gospel of Luke.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!

2.My summary of Luke first-time study:

Well, everybody! Firstly, is still my today’s personal study summary.
This story begins with Luke explaining why he wrote an orderly account about the events surrounding Jesus and John the Baptist.
A priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, both righteous but childless, were promised a son by an angel.
That angel lady said their son, John, would be great in God’s sight, preparing people for the Lord.
Because Zechariah doubted the angel’s message, he lost the ability to speak until the prophecy came true.
Later, Mary, a young woman chosen by God, visited her relative Elizabeth while pregnant with Jesus.
Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, recognized Mary as the mother of the Lord. Mary joyfully praised God, acknowledging His power and blessings for the humble.
He gave birth to John, and when it was time to name him, Zechariah confirmed the name John as instructed by the angel.
Instantly, he could speak again, and he praised God.
He prophesied that John would prepare the way for Jesus, offering knowledge of salvation and forgiveness.
As John grew, he lived in the wilderness, preparing for his role to serve God. Also this story sets the stage for Jesus’ arrival, emphasizing faith, God’s promises, and the fulfillment of prophecies.
Now let Ingrid sister make a go further summary.

3.Sister’s comment from my studying summary:

Hello, in this text we hear about why Luke wrote his Gospel and the origin of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was the last of the prophets, because after him and the death of Jesus Christ came the Holy Spirit down to earth and God spoke directly to his people, not the people of Israel but the newt estamental church.

Before John the Baptist was born, God kept 200 years silence because of the pride of the people of Israel.

For me that is outstanding, that God keeps silence because he is angry about someone’s attitude and I ask myself, if we hear so less of God today, because the people of today became so pride and selfish.

We hear in the text about the parents of John, Zaccharias and Elisabeth. The people said, Elisabeth was unfertile, but for God nothing is impossible, so Elisabeth got John, even both of them were already old.

When Elisabeth was 6 months pregnant, the young Mary, who has been foretold the birth of Jesus Christ came to visit her and stayed for the rest of her pregnancy.

With the greeting of Mary, John was fulfilled with the Holy Spirit, as the angel has foretold.

Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced over the situation, because in that time, all young girls desired to become the mother of the Messias and Mary was blessing herself, that she was elected.

But that is no reason to worship Mary as the queen of heaven, as some churches do. Mary is the mother of the Messias, no less, no more.

We respect her, that she took all that trouble and suffering which carried her ministry with her, but she was a normal woman as we all are.

At the end of her life, she died as we all do and she will resuscitate at the day of the rapture, as we all, who died in Christ will do.

The text ends with the birth of John the Baptist, that he became strong in the spirit and that he lived in the wilderness. We read in the bible, that he eats langosta’s and wild honey there, so he was totally independent from that sinny society of that time.

4. Q list part: base on Luke 1th items:

Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.

1. Who is the author of the Gospel of Luke, and why did he write it?

The Autor of the Gospel of Luke is Luke, a medical doctor and he wrote it to somebody with the name Theophilus for to explain, what happened there through the life of Jesus Christ.

2. What was the promise given to that Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how did they respond?

Zechariah and Elizabeth were promised a son even they were old and the respond was unbelief.

3. Why did Zechariah lose his ability to speak?

Because of his unbelief, God took his ability to speak away.

4. Who was the angel that delivered messages to Zechariah and Mary?

It was the angel, Gabriel. Gabriel is a messenger of God, who we also meet in the book of Daniel.

5. How did Elizabeth and Mary react to their miraculous pregnancies?

They worshiped the Lord.

6. What is the significance of John the Baptist’s mission?

He shall bring the people Israel back to the Lord and prepare the way and the people to the coming for the Messiah.

7. How did Zechariah praise God after John’s birth?

He spoke and praised God.

8. What does Mary’s song reveal about God’s character?

God is full of mercy for us.

9. How did the neighbors and relatives react to John’s birth?

They were surprised and asked themselves, what will be with this child, because the hand of the Lord was with him.

10. What role did the Holy Spirit play in this story?

The Holy Spirit came down on John the Baptist and led him in his ministry.