Good Sunday evening. 10/2 and 10/8
I guess the first thing of note is that it's not raining. May not sound like much, but it's been a wet week around here.
But I got up kinda early and had some quiet time before church.
But I wasn't watching the time, so I got there late.
The worship in song had already begun. Last week someone was asking me some questions about the choruses we sing these days in church. That led to several days of my trying to voice concerns concerning why we need to cautious in this area.
Unfortunatley , so many don't see this as an issue which is regrettable.
But if so many chorus lyrics speak of living and praying and walking in the Spirit , and we sing them with tremendous energy ,  why then do so many people ,(myself included) struggle with that daily?
The answer to that is in how healthy our prayer life is as well as , how much of Gods Word do we really know.
I guess its good we attend a church that reads and teaches it ALL.

And that brings us to Chap 2 of Luke. I for one am glad to hear this chapter when it's not the holiday season. We even sang a holiday song before we started and I love that. Why does Luke 2 only get read on Dec 25th? And not even the whole chap at that? We sometimes hear about Simeon , but we rarley hear about Anna.
We only did vrs 1-38 today, but what a chap.

Something that I am constantly amazed at, and that is , how inadequate the english language is when it comes to having the Word of God translated into English .
Time and time again this becomes so clear.
Something that was noted that I caught was that the english language has only 3 "tenses" to it , when other languages have at least nine.
That is actually a HUGE point, and a good one at that.
If anyone doesn't think that's important , they are in big error.
Even the simplest of verses get treated wrong. The best place to see how verses get mishandled would be with John 3 :16. People will use this vrs to evangelize unbelievers by making them think , if they "believe "something , they can be saved ,  and they can do this because not many pay attention to the "tenses" in the verse.
The english language does a good enough job at giving a good overview of the original gospel  message and it is more than good enough at bringing lost people to Christ.
But most heresy comes from the areas inbetween what the english says and what the original message or intent was.
I guess that is why heresy is sold so easily. Most people haven't read the Bible thru , and many who do don't bother to look at th original Geek/Hebrew  meaning of words and names and titles.
My point is not that we all don't  need to be greek and Hebrew scholars. But if we are going to go around saying "the Bible says this or that" than you'd better have a pretty good handle on what it's saying. If we don't bother to check, its best not to say anthing.

The reason the point was made, that v 6 can be read two ways along with considering  the "tenses" between the Hebrew & English language even came up briefly, was a good one. One I want to focus on in this post simply because this entire blog is built upon.

And that was, when we read v6 where it says - "the days were accomplished that she would be delivered " it was implied that this could be read two ways.

Now you can be sure, my radar is up and waiting to see how that will be explained. This will be difficult, but I often enjoy putting abstract notions that many people say, into words that can be understood. This allows me to do just that so I'm up for the challenge :-)

The Bible is not like any other book.
Take for example, any other book that takes place in any other era. Let's say like the 1800's or something like that.
Many books and novels center around whatever time period it's in.
There are many books that center around a plot of some sort.
Books have a beginning, middle and an end. Since most books are written and read in the English language, the developments of the story are more clear.

The Bible is about Jesus, cover to cover.
It wasn't written in English.
It doesn't follow the beginning, middle, end format.
It's a continuous ongoing story. It's very active,

Keep in mind as I try to convey this, I'm addressing two different ways to read v6. I haven't lost my place.

Many people read Luke 2 as a stand alone chapter. Now if the Holy Spirit is drawing a person, a surface reading of Luke 2 is more than enough to reveal its truth to anyone to the point where, the one who reads it will repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus.

The hope is, that when someone gets to the point where they do confess their a sinner and acknowledge that Jesus died and rose, to forgive their sin, the hope is that they soon would be reading that Bible, starting from the beginning as it was intended.
In doing so, they will be shown, by God, all that's transpired, over time, to get to the birth of Jesus in Luke 2.
But this takes time, lots of time.

If and when, a new believer does read the Bible straight thru, then maybe, by the time they came to v6 in Luke 2, it might be clearer how, yes indeed..  Everything was in place for God's son to be born. The time was right (accomplished) . Not a detail overlooked. From the cultural advancements made, as to spread the gospel around the world, to the language that was needed to spread it.
Most languages are inadequate to convey the true meaning of God's Word but Hebrew & Greek are more  adequate than many others . With its uses of imagery to the many tenses to various words.

That being said. It seems reasonable that when it says, in v6, that "the days were accomplished" can be viewed as simply stated. Her 9 months of pregnancy were finished.
But it also can be read as, everything was in place for God's son, to be born.
But that second view can ONLY be understood, if the entire Bible is read, starting from the beginning, not skipping anything.

Now, does Luke 2:6 speak of the conditions that the world needed to be in  for God's son being born?
That's debatable.

But be sure of this. God's Word is not filled with mysterious hidden messages.
But it is filled with types & shadows, all pointing to Jesus as risen savior & coming King.
If a church points out any types and shadows, THAT DON'T point us to Jesus only, those are hidden messages, best to be avoided.




I cant do justice, in this post , at conveying all that was said this morning in regards to this chapter.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. A clear and precise gauge anyone can use when discerning the church they attend , is how it is presented to any congregation.
If you have a pastor that brings God's Word to you , week after week with tremendous passion, that truly is a blessing.
But let's not get to carried away there.

Passion can be manufactured.
But a phony kind of passion becomes easier to spot as we come to know our (entire) Bible's better.
For example, if a preacher spends more time, telling YOU what the gospel, can DO for YOU, be careful.  Or if he focuses on YOUR problems and Proof texts his way around the Bible to offer it as solutions to YOUR problems, be careful.
Many church's know that all kinds of people come to