We are taught that we must become upright people who, in God’s sight, are blameless and fully keep His commandments. “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. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” [(Modern Translation: “When Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and his wife Elizabeth also came from the family of Aaron. They were righteous before God and faithfully kept all the Lord’s commandments and regulations without fault”)] (Luke 1:5–6). While meditating on this passage, I would like to draw out the lessons given to us: (1) The author of Luke’s Gospel, Luke, first wrote to Theophilus about John the Baptist’s parents. The father’s name was “Zechariah” (meaning, “The LORD remembers...
The Word became flesh (8) [John 1:1-4, 9-14] Let me ask the question: When God created Adam and Eve, did God intend for them to be served or to serve? The answer is that God created Adam and Eve for the purpose of serving. So, Adam and Eve must have served well. But in Genesis 3, Eve was deceived by the serpent, the most cunning of the wild beasts (Gen. 3:1). The key to that delusion was “You will be like God”: “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (v. 5). Why did the serpent, Satan, deceive Eve like this? The reason is that Satan himself, a fallen angel and an evil angel, wants to be like the Most High God. Look at Isaiah 14:12-14: “ How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have ...