Latest Commentaries

The Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes 1) hosts a lavish banquet in the capital city of Susa, a banquet which lasts half a year for the lords and princes in his kingdom. 

After a day and night of healings and deliverances from demon-possession, Jesus retreats from the crowds in search of solitude. He tells them that He must continue preaching the Kingdom of God in other cities.

Later that evening some people bring Jesus many who were demon-possessed. Jesus frees them from their spiritual bondage and commands the demons to be silent because they knew Him to be the Christ.

Luke records Jesus’s first miracle of physical healing in his Gospel. Jesus heals Simon’s (Peter’s) mother—in-law of a fever. 

While Jesus is teaching in a Capernaum synagogue, a man with an unclean demon begins crying out and identifying Jesus as the Holy One of God. Jesus swiftly rebukes the demon to keep quiet and come out of the man. It does. The crowd’s amazement at Jesus’s authority increases because He not only teaches with authority, He even commands unclean demons and they obey Him. News of this amazing event spread all throughout the district of Galilee. This is the first specific miracle performed by Jesus that is explained in Luke’s gospel. 

Jesus goes to the Galilean town of Capernaum. On the Sabbath He enters a synagogue, where Jesus teaches and those in attendance are amazed at the authority with which He teaches. 

Jesus returns from the temptation in the wilderness and begins teaching at the synagogues in the district of Galilee. The news about Him spreads and He is praised by all.

For the third temptation, the devil takes Jesus to the top of God’s Temple in Jerusalem and tells Him to jump. The devil argues that this will publicly proclaim Jesus’s identity as the Divine Messiah. The devil uses scripture in his attempt to deceive Jesus. Jesus rejects the temptation with another passage from Deuteronomy.

The devil tempts Jesus a second time by offering Him immediate power and glory in exchange for worshiping him. Jesus rebukes the devil to depart and quotes Deuteronomy a second time. 

The devil approaches Jesus with the first of three temptations. He asks Jesus to use His divine powers to turn stones to bread after Christ had fasted forty days and nights in the wilderness. Jesus uses scripture to refute the devil.

Following Jesus’s baptism by John, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness.

The Suzerain (Ruler) God promises to strengthen and regather all of Israel to their homeland. He will have compassion on them and restore them, allowing them to live worthy of their calling.

Zechariah urges the people of Judah to ask the LORD for rain for their crops instead of turning to divination experts. He informs them that God will care for them and give them victory in battle. 

David turns his prayer toward the needs of Israel. He asks for grace and blessing on Jerusalem, that its people would all live obediently before Him, so that their offerings at the altar would reflect an inner reality of humbly seeking to please God.

David understands that God doesn’t care about animal sacrifices and religious performance, if there is no heart behind them. God’s delight cannot be purchased. God desires us to live in humility and obedience toward Him. He wants us to hate sin, and to love and obey Him starting from within our hearts.

David knows that when God creates a new heart, it will redirect his life. He will teach transgressors and sinners the way of God and he will become an effective and impactful worshipper of the Lord God.

Beyond healing and cleansing, David sees that he needs an entirely new heart. His old heart leads him astray. He prays that God would not take away the Holy Spirit from him. His desire is to fully lean on God’s lead in his life, to restore him to joy in walking in His presence.

After searching his heart in the presence of God, David realizes the hopeless condition of his sinful heart and he cries out to God. He knows that he needs to be purified, washed, and healed.

David acknowledges the reality that all sin is ultimately an affront to God. God is the perfect judge. His ways are good and right. David asks for wisdom and truth to be implanted into his heart so that he may live as God desires him to. 

David looks deep into his own heart and is confronted with his own sin. He comes to the realization that he needs more than forgiveness. He needs cleansing in the innermost being.