1/14/2019

Luke 1:15, 35, 41, 67, 80

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.

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

⁶⁷ And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

The New Testament is a testimony to the person and work of the Holy Spirit.  These five separate statements to His presence are the first time time-wise in the New  Testament and as they indicate Luke is to be the most important writer describing the activity of God’s Spirit.

1.       It is in Luke 11:13 that makes the Father’s giving the Holy Spirit a signal answer to prayer.  Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit.  He does His works by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as in Acts 1:80, He always acts in obedience to the Spirit.

2.      In Luke and Acts the Holy Spirit is foremost in all of the activity of the progress of Christ’s activity and message.  When the reader looks with attention, it is a plan of the Spirit’s activity that Luke has before him, cf Acts 1:8.

3.      Acts 13:2; 16:6  The Holy Spirit is the director of Missionary activity as these verses indicate.  He determined both who and where.  There is a plain lesson here.  God has always determined who will and who won’t be saved.