Chapter 3
Here's something to speed up your reading; you can skip verses 24 to the end of the chapter. In Matthew, the Savior's genealogy was through Joseph. This one in Luke traces his line through Mary. Joseph's is the royal line showing his right to the throne of David.
In verse 14, the soldiers ask John the Baptist what they should do. He tells them to accuse no man falsely and be satisfied with their wages. The soldiers would make people extort money from them by threatening to arrest them unless they did. John is telling them to stop the extortion and just be happy with the wages they have.
You can understand why the people think he is the Christ, his teachings are so similar to the Savior's.
Luke clears up the Holy Ghost being a dove when it descended on Christ after the baptism. He says the Holy Ghost was in the shape of a body and descended like a dove.
Chapter 4
Joseph Smith clears up some confusion by pointing out that the Savior wasn't tempted for 40 days, but was tempted after his 40 day fast in the wilderness. He also clears up something that makes much more sense. The devil didn't lead the Savior anywhere. The Savior was led by the Spirit and satan came to him after he was at each of the three places talked about. The Savior wouldn't follow satan anywhere. I like that the scriptures say that the Savior was full of the Holy Ghost and and in the power of the Spirit. Each time the Savior is tempted, he replies to satan by citing scripture showing the importance of keeping the Father's words and relying on the authority of the scriptures. In each temptation, the Savior emphasizes the importance of the spirit over ruling the body. Of course this has nothing to do with Hagen Das Bars!
The three temptations show the pattern of how satan tempts us and how the Savior helps us resist those temptations. This is a great quote from President McKay:
"Now, nearly every temptation that comes to you and me comes in one of those forms. Classify them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, every so little maybe, comes to us as (1) a temptation of the appetite; (2) a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; or (3) a gratifying of the passions, or a desire for the riches of the world, or power among men."
Verses 16 to 30 give us a lot more detail of when he went back to Nazareth and couldn't perform miracles there, except for how he escaped their attempt to murder him my miraculously pass right through the midst of them untouched.
I like how the scriptures in this chapter describe the people as amazed and how they marvel at not just his miracles, but his words.
2 comments:
I apologize for not commenting on the earlier chapters. I had a few questions. Luke 3:2 states that "the word of God came unto John..." Was he taught by heavenly messengers or was he inspired by the Holy Ghost while he studied the scriptures? Any thoughts on what that means?
In Luke 3:8 John states that "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." Is this a metaphor or is there some literal meaning to that statement?
I also am thankful for the JST in chapter 4 knowing that the Spirit carried Jesus and not the devil. I understand why the Spirit would carry Jesus to an high mountain because that is where prophets of old received revelation or had visions; however, why did the Spirit carry Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple? Any thoughts?
I'll answer as best I can. We don't know by what means, but John received revelation in some form to prepare him for his ministry. The Jews were still the chosen people in their mind. Now John is saying, repentance and baptism is the gateway to salvation. Their lineage will not qualify them for anything. The pinnacle of the temple was by a very busy highway. To have done angels rescue the Savior in their sight would have immediately created a huge following. But this following would have been based on the miracle and not and act of faith and the witness of the Spirit.
Richard
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