The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4 – Christogenea on Talkshoe, June 15th, 2012

Last week I gave here an opinion on the genealogies of the Christ. I expressed the belief that the genealogy recorded in Matthew was the descent according to the succession of the throne of David, while the genealogy recorded in Luke was the natural genetic succession – that there were at least two redemptive marriages (in addition to the story of Ruth and Boaz) which are not evident in the incomplete records which we have in our Scriptures. Until firm Scriptural evidence is produced which may convince me otherwise, I shall stand by that opinion.

Before beginning with Luke chapter 4 this evening, I want to illustrate something which further highlights and substantiates my opinions not only concerning the genealogies, but also concerning the life of Mary the mother of Christ, and the children which she had after the birth of Yahshua her first-born (Luke 2:7). I have asserted that James, Joses and Jude, called “the brethren of the Lord” in several places in Scripture, were the children of Mary by a later husband, a man other than Joseph. I have caught some criticism for this assertion – but I still insist that it is correct. James the brother of Christ is called the “son of Alphaios” in three gospels, Matthew (10:3), Mark (2:14, 3:18) and Luke (6:15).

If Joseph dies without any issue, then Christ becomes the legal and lawful heir of the throne of David, and even though His conception occurred before Joseph's death, Yahweh Himself raises up seed for Joseph in the person of the Christ. If, however, the other sons of Mary are the actual physical children of Joseph, the right to the throne is contested. Therefore it is apparent, that Alphaios is another man by whom Mary had children later in life, and there is no blame, challenge or accusation anywhere which may be made.

The final words of Luke chapter 3, which we did not discuss at length when that chapter was discussed here last week, tell us that Adam was the son of God. From Genesis chapter 5: “3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth”. If Adam was the son of God, and if Seth is the likeness and image of Adam, it is therefore evident that all of those born in that same manner and who have descended from Adam are all sons of God. In Deuteronomy chapter 14 we read in part, where it is addressing the children of Israel: “Ye are the children of the LORD your God”. In Acts chapter 17 we see Paul make the point that the Ionians of Athens are also the children of God, where he tells them in verse 28: “...even as some of the poets have said concerning you, ‘For we also are of His offspring.’” Christ too, was a son of God, and He was The Son of God. Yet He also called Himself the “Son of Man”, because in addition to being a man descended from God, He was also God born of man! Now to commence with Luke chapter 4:

1 And filled with the Holy Spirit, Yahshua returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tested for forty days by the False Accuser. And He did not eat anything in those days, and upon their completion He hungered.

The False Accuser, or “devil”, as it is in the King James version. The Codex Bezae has “Satan” here. These first two verses are a summary of Yahshua's trial in the desert. The verses which follow, 3 through 8, describe things which happened during that trial.

Some of my interpretations of the Scriptures have been criticized by Dualists. There seem to be a lot of Dualists in Christian Identity. A Dualist is one who believes, basically, that Yahweh God is in heaven and has influence over His people, while a spiritual and supernaturally powerful Satan is in heaven and has influence over his own people. The Dualists may criticize me for that simplified explanation, however that is basically what they believe.

The Dualists rationalize their position by claiming that Satan is only in the second heaven. There is no Scripture to support such a contention. The Revelation, in chapter 12, tells us that “7 And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his messengers fighting with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his messengers, 8 and they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven. 9 And the great dragon had been cast down, that serpent of old, who is called the False Accuser and the Adversary; he who deceives the whole inhabited earth had been cast into the earth, and his messengers had been cast down with him.” If Satan is in any heaven, the first, the second, the third, then the Revelation is lying. Rather, I believe that the Dualists had better re-examine their Scriptures, because they are denying the Scripture, and they are spouting Catholic nonsense. Satan is here on the earth, and not at all in heaven. Furthermore, this event in the Revelation had to happen in the remote past, since Satan is correlated with “that old serpent”, and that must mean the serpent in the garden of Genesis chapter 3.

Jude tells us in his epistle that the angels who sinned “left their first estate” and are “kept under darkness in everlasting bindings for the judgment of the great day”. Peter tells us in his epistle that “the messengers who had done wrong” were cast “into a pit of darkness ... being kept for judgment”. Therefore none of them could possibly be in “heaven”. However both Jude and Peter explain in their epistles that those who are infiltrating and corrupting Christendom are related to these same original beings who rebelled against God. There are also many other Scriptural witnesses to this fact. Therefore, while every rebellion does indeed have a leader, Satan is not merely a single personal entity. Rather, Satan is collectively all of those descendants of the original rebels, which also includes the descendants of Cain, the Rephaim, Canaan, Esau, and all the rest of our own Adamic race who have race-mixed with them and who do so now. Today they are represented primarily by jews and arabs, but it is apparent, since the angels who sinned also mixed their seed with every kind, as the Enoch literature attests, that Jude's “chains of darkness” and Peter's “pit of darkness” may well be allegories for those dark races of the earth whose existence Yahweh did not take credit for in His creation account which He passed down to us in Genesis. As the apostle John illustrates in the fourth chapter of his first epistle, one is either born of God, or one is born of the world – therefore if one is not a wholly Adamic being, one could not have come from God, but rather from the sins of the world!

From a translation of the Qumran scrolls, The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr. and Edward Cook, on page 247, a translation of 1Q23, fragments 1 and 6, which are unfortunately highly fragmented: “1 [... two hundred] 2 donkeys, two hundred asses, two hund[red ... rams of the] 3 flock, two hundred goats, two hundred [... beast of the] 4 field from every animal, from every [bird ...] 5 [...] for miscegenation [...]”. And in the same source, 4Q531, fragment 2: “1 [...] they defiled [...] 2 [... they begot] giants and monsters [...] 3 [...] they begot, and, behold, all [the earth was corrupted ...] 4 [...] with its blood and by the hand of [...] 5 [giants] which did not suffice for them and [...] 6 [...] and they were seeking to devour many […] 7 [...] 8 the monsters attacked it.” Again, 4Q532, Col. 2 fragments 1-6: “2 [...] flesh [...] 3 al[l ...] monsters [...] will be [...] 4 [...] they would arise [...] lacking in true knowledge [...] because [...] 5 [...] the earth [grew corrupt ...] mighty [...] 6 [...] they were considering [...] 7 [...] from the angels upon [...] 8 [...] in the end it will perish and die [...] 9 [...] they caused great corruption in the [earth ...] 10 [... this did not] suffice to [...] 11 they will be [...]”. While they are quite fragmentary, the general theme of these fragments from what is known as the Book of Giants is readily evident. A very similar version of what is related here is found in 1 Enoch, i.e. chapters 86 and 88. It is highly probable that accounts such as these were the inspiration for the ancient chimera myths of both Greek and Near East mythology. The offspring which resulted from the unions of diverse species are later called bastards, for instance in the Dead Sea Scroll labelled as 4Q204 which is reckoned among the Enoch literature, and their extermination is forecast where it says “Exterminate all the spirits of the bastards and the sons of the Watchers”, which seems to have been speaking prophetically and is speaking of the offspring of the fallen angels. In the end there are sheep, and everything else is a goat destined for the Lake of Fire where are Hell and Death and the False Prophet.

Imagine for a moment that the Dualists are correct, and that there really is a Satan in heaven. It would therefore be imagined that there is a Satan in heaven, and there is God is in heaven, and, if we believe the racial message of the Bible, then we also see a Satanic race on earth, and a Godly race on earth. Now if this is true, if we follow the prayer which Yahshua Christ our God told us to pray, we would pray that things be “on earth as they are in heaven”, and in reality we are only praying to maintain the status quo! This leads to many ridiculous assumptions. In truth, there is no Satan in heaven, but as the Revelation tells us, Satan has indeed been cast out to earth from heaven. Therefore we pray that the parable of the Wheat and the Tares be fulfilled, so that heaven can indeed be restored to earth, because the promise of Scripture is that the Kingdom of God comes here.

3 So the False Accuser said to Him: “If You are a son of Yahweh, speak to this stone that it would become bread.” 4 And Yahshua replied to him, “It is written that ‘not by bread alone shall man live.’”

This is a quote from Deuteronomy 8:1-3, which reflects back to the forty years which the children of Israel spent wandering the desert after the Exodus, where Yahweh states: “1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Here in Luke, the Codices Alexandrinus (A), Bezae (D), and the Majority Text all append the words “but by every word of God”; the text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), and Washingtonensis (W).

5 And bringing Him up he showed Him all of the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in a moment of time,

The Codex Bezae (D) has “all of the kingdoms of the cosmos”, the Codex Washingtonensis (W) “all of the kingdoms of the earth”.

A στιγμή (4743) is “a spot, point...metaphorically a jot, tittle...ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου, in a moment, N.T.” (L & S) and appears only here in the N.T., but once in the LXX at Isa. 29:5, and in a manner much like Luke’s use here, where Brenton translates the word “a moment”. Some say that the phrase should be read here in Luke “at that point (in time)”, and this reading is a possibility, though I do not deem it likely, because στιγμή would hardly be necessary to say that. Luke uses χρόνος (5550) with a pronoun at Acts 1:6 to say “at this time”, and more often uses καιρός (2540) with a pronoun to say “at this time” or “at that time”, i.e. Luke 12:56, 13:1, and 18:30; Acts 12:1 and 19:23. The 9th edition of the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon does say at στιγμή, I., 3. “στιγμῇ καιροῦ, = puncto temporis”, a Latin term meaning a moment or point in time.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and the Majority Text upon which the King James Version is based begin verse 5: “Then the False Accuser bringing Him up to a high mountain showed Him...”; The Codices Bezae (D) and Washingtonensis (W) have “Then bringing Him up to a high mountain he showed Him...”; the text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א) and Vaticanus (B). Matthew chapter 4 does reflect that the False Accuser brought Christ up to a mountain, where it says: “8 Again the False Accuser takes Him to an exceedingly high mountain and shows to Him all the kingdoms of the Society and their splendor”.

6 then the False Accuser said to Him: “I will give to You the authority over all this, and their honor, because to me it was delivered and to whomever I wish I could give it.

The word delivered is from a form of the verb, παραδίδωμι (3860), which is “to give or hand over to another, transmit...to give a city or person into another’s hands...to deliver up, surrender...to give up...to hand down...II. to grant, bestow...to allow...” (Liddell & Scott). Here it is evident that the Adversary, called elsewhere by Christ the “prince of this world” (i.e. John 12:31), is in control of the kingdoms of this world. This world is ruled over by the enemies of Yahweh our God. When Adam accepted Eve in her sin, he also accepted Cain as his son. Just as Joseph was told by the angel to accept the pregnant Mary and therefore Christ became his lawful heir, so it was also with Adam and Cain. The apostle John wrote in his first epistle, at 1 John 5:19 that “We know that we are from of Yahweh and the whole Society lies in the power of the Evil One.” Paul wrote of the “god of this world” at 2 Corinthians 4:4, and he was talking about this same thing. Christ stated, at John 12:31: “Now judgment is of this Society; now the ruler of this Society shall be cast out! ” As soon as Christians accept and act upon the Words of Christ, the rulers of this society shall indeed be cast out! Of course, Christ was speaking prophetically, for at John 14:30 He says “No longer shall I discuss many things with you, for the ruler of Society comes, and he does not have anything in Me!”, and at 16:11 “Then concerning judgment, because the ruler of this Society has been judged.” It is telling, that in ancient Egypt as well as ancient Assyria and elsewhere, the serpent was the symbol of rulership. The definition of παραδίδωμι allows the implication that the Adversary had been allowed to usurp authority originally given to Adam (Genesis 1:28 and 9:1-7), which shall be recovered by the children of Adam through Christ (Daniel 7:27; Revelation 11:15 et al.). Revelation 11:15: “And the seventh messenger sounded the trumpet, and there were great voices in heaven saying 'The Kingdom of the Society of our Prince and of His Anointed has come, and He shall rule for the eternal ages!'” In the end, in Revelation chapters 19 through 21, we see that the fate of all those who stood against Christ, and who are in opposition to God, is to be cast into the Lake of Fire.

7 Therefore if You would worship before me, it shall all be Yours.” 8 And replying Yahshua said to him: “It is written, ‘Yahweh your God you shall worship, and you shall serve Him only.’”

The word for worship, the verb προσκυνέω (4352), may be translated as “make obeisance” and includes the action of prostrating oneself before another.

Yahshua's reply here is apparently a paraphrase referring to Deuteronomy 6:13 or 10:20; where in each place both the Septuagint and the King James Version have “you shall fear” rather than “you shall worship”. Deuteronomy 10:20, from the King James Version: “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.” The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and the Majority Text insert at the beginning of Yahshua’s response: “Withdraw behind Me, Adversary!”, and we therefore see a similar phrase in the King James Version. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), Bezae (D) and Washingtonensis (W).

9 Then he led Him to Jerusalem and stood Him upon the wing of the temple and said to Him: “If You are a son of Yahweh, throw Yourself down from there, 10 for it is written that ‘He commanded His messengers concerning You, to guard You closely’, 11 and that ‘by their hands they shall bear You, lest at any time You may strike Your foot against a stone’.”

Psalm 91: “9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” The next verse, Psalm 91:13, reveals the nature of the devil here, “13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

The Devil (or False Accuser) insists for Christ to prove that he is the Messiah, by testing the oracles of God concerning Him, and of course Christ refuses. If this devil were some supernatural demon spirit, we must imagine that the test would not be necessary at all, since all of the demon spirits which Christ did encounter later in His ministry knew with certainty that He was indeed the Messiah, and they professed as much.

12 And replying Yahshua said to him: “For that it says ‘You shall not tempt Yahweh your God.’”

Deuteronomy 6:16, from the Septuagint: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as ye tempted him in the temptation.”

13 And ending the trial entirely, the False Accuser withdrew from Him until a convenient time.

The word καιρός (2540) is “due measure, proportion, fitness...III. of Time, the right point of time, the proper time or season...” (Liddell & Scott) and therefore here is a “convenient time”. For this same reason, this very verse is discussed by Joseph Thayer in his Greek-English lexicon at the definition for the word ἄχρι (891), which means “until”.

Nowhere in Scripture can it be said with any certainty that evil demon spirits communicate with men unless they are embodied. Whether they have been born into these bodies, or whether they have come to possess the bodies of other individuals - and examples of both cases are clear – is immaterial, they do not interact with the world unless they are embodied. The spirits of the Legion whom Christ cast out of the man had insisted upon entering the swine. The unclean spirit which departs from a man in the parable of Luke 11:24-26 found no rest, and returned to the home (or body) which he had left. The spirits John describes and warns us to test are embodied spirits, where he tells us, in 1 John 4:1: “Beloved, do not have trust in every spirit, but scrutinize whether the spirits are from of Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into Society.”

14 Then Yahshua by the power of the Spirit returned into Galilaia, and a report went out throughout the whole surrounding region concerning Him. 15 And He taught in their assembly halls, being extolled by all.

The Codex Sinaiticus (א) wants the word rendered “surrounding”.

The word συναγωγή (4864), is translated throughout the Christogenea New Testament as “assembly hall”, and not merely transliterated as “synagogue”. The word is an entirely Greek word, a compound word, used by Classical writers such as Plato and Polybius, and it also appears often in the LXX.

Now concerning this entire account which we have seen at the beginning of Luke chapter 4, and which is also told in chapter 4 of Matthew's gospel, there are certainly some aspects of Scripture, New Testament and Old, that can only be explained with an acceptance of the idea of the supernatural power of God, and that His Spirit certainly does have efficacy in the physical world. Neither should we deny the existence of demon spirits as that is attested to in the New Testament as well as in the apocryphal literature. However as the Enoch literature explains, evil spirits proceed from bastards, and not the other way around. The bastards exist first, and they are the source of evil demons.

However there is nothing at all here that suggests that this evil entity which tempts Christ is a mere demon, or spiritual entity. It is just as well an evil person, a devil - as the King James Version translates the word - in that same manner by which Judas Iscariot was a devil, as Christ said when referring to Judas at John 6:70 “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” Judas Iscariot was a devil ostensibly because he had descended from those original devils, the fallen angels of Revelation 12. For that same reason, Herod the Edomite was also described as the red dragon standing in front of the Christ child in order to destroy it. Each of these individuals are a part of that collective Satan which sprung from the original corruption of God's creation. While there are many instances in Scripture where an angel of God appeared to men, there is not one instance in Scripture where demon spirits communicate with men, unless first inhabiting a living being. All throughout Scripture, demon spirits vexed and inhabited men, and in that manner did those demon spirits interact with the world.

16 Then he went into Nazara, where He was raised, and entered, according to custom with Him on the day of the Sabbaths, into the assembly hall and stood up to read.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) has “Nazarat”, the Codex Bezae (D) “Nazared”, and the Codex Washingtonensis (W) “Nazareth”. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א) and Vaticanus (B).

Christ, standing up to read in the assembly hall, must have been recognized by the elders of the place. Every assembly hall had a leader, and an organized structure, as is evident throughout the Book of Acts, and Christ would most likely have been recognized as someone who was qualified to do such reading by those who were charged with running the assembly. This also helps to dispel the notion that Christ spent any significant amount of time away from Nazareth, which Luke also says is “where He was raised”.

17 And a scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed over to Him, and unrolling the scroll He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and a restoration of sight to the blind. To send off the broken with release. 19 To proclaim a year acceptable by Yahweh!”

[It must be noted here, that the grammatical construction of this clause in the Greek of Isaiah 61:2 so well supports my contention concerning the phrase “a presentation acceptable of the Nations”, as I have it at Romans 15:16 in my edition of The Letters of Paul, that I’d surely have cited it in my notes there if I had noticed it soon enough. This verse may be rendered “To proclaim an acceptable year of Yahweh”.]

Here we have a bold proclamation by Christ, that He is indeed the Messiah, since the prophecy of Isaiah which He quotes here concerns the promises of deliverance which Yahweh God made to Israel, that He would be their Saviour and deliver them from the captivity which they had suffered. The Greek sentences of Christ's quotations in this reading are almost exactly identical to the Greek of Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2 from the Septuagint which we have now, but with one small exception: the words rendered "to send off the broken with release", which the King James Version translates here in Luke as "to set at liberty them that are bruised", are from part of Isaiah 58:6. In Isaiah the King James renders the Hebrew “to let the oppressed go free”, but the Greek words of the Septuagint are identical to the phrase as it appears here in the Greek of Luke 4:18. It may be evident, that Christ included the short statement from Isaiah 58, in order to call our attention to one thing: a need for repentance. Isaiah chapter 61 talks about the meek, the broken-hearted, and the mourning, and it promises their restoration. But that chapter alone does not tell us why they are meek, broken-hearted, and mourning. Rather, we must read the chapters leading up to Isaiah chapter 61 in order to understand that. So Christ - I am persuaded - included a short statement from Isaiah chapter 58 in His discourse recorded here in Luke, so that we may read back and see the context in which this message which He gives here is delivered.

From Isaiah chapter 58: “1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [It is the phrase here, “to let the oppressed go free”, as it appears in the Greek of the Septuagint, which Christ included in His quote of Isaiah 61:1-2 here in Luke chapter 4] 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.”

Here we see in Isaiah chapter 58, that the children of Israel were portrayed as fasting, but their fasts were hypocritical and done for their own self-righteousness. The fast which is truly acceptable to Yahweh is that we do without, or be satisfied with less, so that our brethren can be free of our oppression, and that we share our bounty with them. Doing this, we see the subsequent promise in Isaiah 58:9-10: “9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday.”

Isaiah chapter 59 is a promise that Yahweh our God shall avenge us of our enemies if indeed we repent and turn to Him. The first verses proclaim: “1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” The entire last 25 chapters of Isaiah are written to the children of Israel who are in the Assyrian deportations, the final dispersion of true Israel which ended by 676 BC. Isaiah chapter 59 ends with a promise that Yahweh's covenant and Yahweh's spirit shall always be with the seed, the offspring, of the children of Israel: “21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”

Isaiah chapter 60 is a promise of the reconciliation of Israel to Yahweh their God. Verse 16 is highly misunderstood. It reads in the King James Version: “Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.” The promise within this verse is intended for the Germanic peoples, the descendants of dispersed Israel, who would eventually come to dominate modern society as the leading nations of Christendom.

With this context of the repentance of Israel and the subsequent promises of the restoration of Israel understood, Here is Isaiah chapter 61, from which Christ quotes the first two verses in reference to Himself: “1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, [the race of Adam in the garden of God] that he might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. [That we see this among us today proves our identity as Israel.] 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. 8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed shall be known among the Nations, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.”

The promises to Israel here in Isaiah chapter 61 are much like what is seen in Revelation chapter 18, in verse 6, that once Babylon is fallen the children of Israel coming out from the beast system are told to “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” Here in Isaiah chapters 58 through 61, which Christ is quoting in reference to Himself, the children of Israel are encouraged to repent, and it is evident that they, in their captivity, are the poor, the captives, the blind, and the broken whom Christ is referring to. None of this message can ever be applied to anyone except the children of Israel taken into captivity in ancient times. These are the “lost sheep” and here Christ declares Himself to be their Messiah.

20 And rolling the scroll He returned it to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the assembly hall were gazing earnestly at Him.

The people listening were fully aware of the meaning of His declaration, and amazed at His assertions, which He reinforces after His reading where He then speaks to them.

21 Then He began to speak to them, that “Today this writing is fulfilled in your ears!” 22 And all gave witness to Him and wondered at the words of favor which came forth from His mouth, and they said “Is He not a son of Ioseph?” 23 And He said to them, “Surely you shall speak to Me this parable: ‘Physician, heal Yourself! Whatever we have heard happened in Kapharnaoum, do also here in Your fatherland!’” [By “fatherland” here He is referring to Nazareth, the sense of the word being much narrower than how it is usually used today.] 24 Then He said “Verily I say to you, that not one prophet is acceptable in his fatherland.

In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, after the trial in the desert we see what is generally perceived as the selection of the first four apostles and a brief account of the beginning of Christ's ministry in Galilee, where this specific event described here in Luke is not recorded. Luke has some details that the other apostles did not have, and the opposite is also true. One thing which is important to note when reading the balance of this chapter is that here in Luke, Yahshua is perceived as having already known Simon Peter, where he enters his house in 4:38, and therefore the apostles were actually selected before the statement of Christ's at the shores of Galilee, where He tells some of them that He would make them “fishers of men”. The selection of the apostles as it is described in the Gospel of John reflects a very different and more complex perspective on the matter, which the simple and brief accounts in the three synoptic gospels do not describe. Yet the various Gospels do not necessarily contradict one another, but indeed they compliment one another.

There is another and later event, where the ideas related here are repeated, which is recorded in Matthew chapter 13: “53 And it came to pass when Yahshua had finished these parables, He removed from there. 54 And having come into His fatherland He taught them in their assembly hall, so for them to be astonished even to say: 'From where in this man is this wisdom and abilities? 55 Is this not the son of a craftsman? Is not His mother called Mariam and His brothers Iakobos and Ioseph and Simon and Iouda? 56 And are not His sisters all here with us? So from where in this man are all these things?' 57 And they were offended by Him. But Yahshua said to them: 'A prophet is not dishonored except in his own fatherland and household!' 58 And He did not do many works of power there on account of their disbelief.”

Adolf Hitler must have read these words of Christ's and having observed the truth which they bear in his own everyday intercourse, he made the following assessment, which is from Volume 1, Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf (page 166 of the Murphy translation): “Just as in our daily life the so-called man of genius needs a particular occasion, and sometimes indeed a special stimulus, to bring his genius to light, so too in the life of the peoples the race that has genius in it needs the occasion and stimulus to bring that genius to expression. In the monotony and routine of everyday life even persons of significance seem just like the others and do not rise beyond the average level of their fellow-men. But as soon as such men find themselves in a special situation which disconcerts and unbalances the others, the humble person of apparently common qualities reveals traits of genius, often to the amazement of those who have hitherto known him in the small things of everyday life. That is the reason why a prophet only seldom counts for something in his own country.”

25 And in truth I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven had been shut for three years and six months, as a great famine came upon all the land, 26 and to not one of them had Elijah been sent, except to Sarepta of Sidonia to a widow woman. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel with Elisaie the prophet, yet not one of them had been cleansed except Naiman the Syrian.” 28 And they in the assembly hall had all become filled with anger hearing these things.

The events concerning the widow of Zarephath, or here from the Greek, Sarepta, are recorded in 1 Kings chapter 17. It is argued by universalists that this woman must have been an alien, and therefore the grace of God may be extended to aliens. However that is an assumption on their part, and it is not necessarily so. Zarephath may have been “of Sidon”, yet the children of Israel clearly inhabited all of the land of Sidon, which fell by lot to the tribe of Asher (Joshua 19:24-31), even though they did not ever actually expel all of the Canaanites from the land, they did enslave them. Joab, in his census of Israel, went as far as Sidon in order to count the men of Israel (2 Samuel 24:6). The woman in question seemed like a pious woman who recognized Elijah as a man of God (1 Kings 17:18), and there is no proof that she was an alien. The Israelites had already been estranged from Judah and from the House of Yahweh their God at Jerusalem since the days of the divided Kingdom when Jeroboam instituted the cult of the golden calves (1 Kings chapter 12). The story of Naaman the Syrian is told in 2 Kings chapter 5. The Syrians, or Aramaeans, were cousins to the Hebrews being the descendants of that Aram found in Genesis chapter 10, a son of Shem (10:22). What matters in this illustration which Christ makes, is not whether the widow of Sidon – who was most likely an Israelitess – or Naiman the Syrian – who was certainly a Shemite – were Biblically eligible to receive the grace of God. Rather, what matters here is that in the judgement of the people of Judaea they were perceived as ineligible, and therefore the people hated Christ for the illustration which He made. The people of Judaea had become religious exclusivists – they rejected all those who did not practice Judaism no matter their race, yet they accepted aliens who adopted Judaism, no matter what the Word of God had said about them previously. This is especially clear in the acceptance of the Edomites into Judaism which we see in the pages of both the New Testament and Josephus.

29 And rising up, they cast Him out of the city and brought Him unto a brow of the mountain upon which their city was built so as to throw Him down, 30 then he departed passing through the midst of them.

Many see a supernatural event in the departure of Christ from the people here. Rather, it may just as well illustrate the hand of God in the events of man: that no man could lay a hand upon Christ until the time appointed by God. Therefore He was able to simply walk away from them.

It is at this point in Matthew's gospel, in chapter 5 verse 12 and just before Yahshua leaves for Capernaum, that we are old of the arrest of John the Baptist: “12 And having heard that Iohannes had been handed over He [Christ] withdrew into Galilaia. ”

31 Then He descended into Kapharnaoum a city of Galilaia, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths, 32 and they were astonished by His teaching, because His discourse was with authority.

Kapharnaoum was a town on the Sea of Chinnereth, or Galilee. The name means “village of comfort”. Many interpret this word to mean “village of Nahum”, referring to the prophet, however Nahum also means comfort. In his book, Nahum calls himself “the Elkoshite”, however the exact location of Elkosh is unknown. In verse 31, after the word “Galilaia” the Codex Bezae (D) inserts a phrase which would read “by the sea in the districts of Zaboulon and Nephthalim”.

33 And in the assembly hall was a man having a spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out in a great voice: 34 “Hey! What is there with us and with You, Yahshua the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of Yahweh!”

While in the desert the False Accuser, or devil, wanted Christ to prove who He was through a demonstration. Here a demon spirit knows who He is without questioning. There is not one place in Scripture, where it is demonstrable, that demon spirits have any efficacy or can communicate with men in the physical world, unless they are embodied in physical bodies – whether their own or those of others.

35 Then Yahshua chastised him, saying “Be silent, and come out from him!” And the demon throwing him down between them came out from him, not hurting him any. 36 And there came amazement upon all, and they spoke together to one another, saying “What an account this is! For that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they depart!” 37 And a report went out concerning Him into every place in the surrounding area.

The phrase “between them” is literally “into the middle”, for which see Liddell & Scott, μέσος, IV., 1. and 2.

38 Then rising up from the assembly hall He entered into the house of Simon. And the mother-in-law of Simon was stricken with a terrible fever and they enquired of Him concerning her. 39 And standing over her He censured the fever and it left her, then immediately having risen she served them.

Simon here is Simon Peter. In the gospel of Matthew, the statement of Christ to the apostles that he would make them “fishers of men” and the Sermon on the Mount both occurred before Christ healed the mother of Peter, which he describes in Matthew 8:14-15 where it says “14 Then Yahshua coming into the house of Petros saw his mother-in-law stricken and sick with fever. 15 And He grasped her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served Him.” While Mark does not record the Sermon on the Mount, the order of the other events in his gospel corroborates Matthew's order of events.

Here it is evident that Peter has a wife. Paul also alludes to Peter's having been married, at 1 Corinthians 9:5 where he wrote “Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” Cephas is the Hebrew equivalent of the word which gives us the name Peter.

Here it is also evident that – whether either Matthew's or Luke's placement of this event within the time line of the Gospel is correct, Luke accepted that Yahshua Christ knew Simon Peter and his associates before His admonition to them at the shores of Lake Gennesaret, that He would make them “fishers of men”, which is recorded in Luke chapter 5. The encounter at the lake is generally thought by many Christians to be when Christ first met the apostles, however it was not. Rather it was only one of His early discussions with them, and their actual selection is described by John in his gospel, but it is not described in any of the synoptic gospels. When Christ encountered Andrew and Peter fishing at Lake Gennesaret, He already knew them.

40 Then the sun setting, all as many as they had who were sick with various diseases they brought to Him, and He healed each one of them laying the hands upon them.

From Psalm 103: “1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.”

41 And there also came out demons from many, crying aloud and saying that “You are the Son of Yahweh!” And censuring them He did not permit them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A) and the Majority Text have “You are the Christ, the Son”. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), Ephraemi Syri (C), Bezae (D) and Washingtonensis (W).

Again, the demon spirits “knew Him to be the Christ”, but in contrast the accuser in the desert said only “If thou be the Son of God...” as the King James Version has it.

42 Then day coming, departing He went to a desert place, and the crowd sought Him and having come unto Him then they detained Him, for which not to go away from them. 43 But He said to them that “It is necessary for Me to deliver the good message of the Kingdom of Yahweh in other cities also, because for this I have been sent.” 44 And He was proclaiming in the assembly halls of Judaea.

In verse 44, the Codices Alexandrinus (A) and Bezae (D) and the Majority Text all have “in the assembly halls of Galilaia.” The Codex Washingtonensis has “in the assembly halls of the Judaeans.” The text follows the third century papyrus P75, and the Codices Sinaiticus (א) and Vaticanus (B).

It was necessary for Christ “to deliver the good message of the Kingdom of Yahweh”. In another place, he told the people of Judaea that “20 ... The Kingdom of Yahweh does not come along with observation. 21 Nor shall they say ‘Behold, it is here!’ or ‘it is there!’ For behold! The Kingdom of Yahweh is among you!” The people of God are here. The people of God have always been here, ever since Yahweh created Adam in Genesis 2:7. When we finally heed the call, to “Come out from the midst of them and be separated”, then the Kingdom of God shall begin to materialize, right before our very eyes.