Luke 06.17-19
01. The Location (Luke 06.17a)
Luke 06.17a “17 Jesus
came down with them and stood on a level place;”
After spending all night in prayer (Luke 06.12), Jesus then called
out of the multitude of disciples that followed Him the Twelve Apostles (Luke 06.13-16, cf. Choosing
The Twelve) who would spend the next few years in close proximity to
our LORD.
There are many people who seem to think that the rest of this
chapter (Luke
06.20-49) is a condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 05.01-07.29.
Yet there are many who believe just the opposite, that Dr. Luke records for us
another account of Jesus teaching that is similar to the Sermon on Mount (Matthew 05.01-07.29). They will point out here that Dr. Luke tells us
that Jesus came down the mountain with His newly appointed Apostles (Luke 06.13-16)
and delivered this account on level ground. But it can be argued that this
level place was just a plateau in the mountains, and that Jesus went up to pray
(Luke 06.12),
called His Apostles (Luke 06.13-16) and then came down to the
plateau. Matthew records for us that Jesus “went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His
disciples came to Him.” (Matthew 05.01) and He began teaching the
Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 05.01-07.29), while Dr. Luke records for
us that Jesus “stood
on a level place” (Luke 06.17). This can be answered easily by
pointing out that Jesus stood while healing the people (Luke 06.17-18), and as was the
custom of the rabbis of the day, He would’ve sat down (Matthew 05.01; Matthew 13.02;
Mark 04.01;
Luke 04.20;
Luke 05.03;
John 08.02)
when it came time to teach (Luke 06.20-49).
I tend to lean towards the thought this is just a condensed
version of the Sermon on the Mount.
02. The Audience (Luke 06.17-19)
Dr. Luke records for us three groups of people who were
present for the Sermon on the Mount. First there were the newly appointed
Apostles, referred to as “them” in Luke 06.17. These Apostles were the chosen twelve
to be the messengers of Jesus. The second group was the “large crowd of His disciples” (Luke 06.17).
These were the ones not chosen to be Apostles, and were at different levels of
knowledge and commitment to their rabbi, Jesus. Some of these would be proven
to be true followers, but most as time went on would desert Him (John 06.66).
The third and final group who were there were “great throng of people from all Judea and
Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” (Luke 06.17).
This group was made up of those who were curious. The Greek word that Dr. Luke
used here for “people”
in Luke
06.17 is (G2992) laov. Dr. Luke primarily uses this Greek word (G2992) laov to describe those people who were inquisitive yet
noncommittal towards Jesus (cf. Luke 07.01; Luke 07.29; Luke 08.47; Luke 09.13; Luke 18.43; Luke 19.48; Luke 20.01; Luke 21.38; Luke 23.35). This third group or
“great throng
of people” were “from all Judea and Jerusalem” (Luke 06.17),
the religious center of Israel. They were also from “the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” (Luke 06.17),
which were two of the most important cities in Phoenicia (Jeremiah 47.04; Joel 03.04;
Matthew
11.21-22; Acts 12.20), just Northwest of the Sea of
Galilee on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in modern day Lebanon.
Luke 06.18-19 Jesus was popular because of His powerful
preaching (even if people didn’t really listen), and the power to heal. Jesus
here is healing people of their sicknesses, as well as casting demons out of
people (Luke
04.31-37, cf. The
Authority of Jesus). Wherever He went “the news about Him was spreading even
farther and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.” (Luke 05.15;
Luke 04.14)
Everywhere that He went, Jesus preached the good news that the Messiah was here
to “PREACH THE
GOSPEL TO THE POOR…TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT
TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE
YEAR OF THE LORD.” (Luke 04.18-19; Isaiah 61.01-02).
Today, pastors and teachers alike are to merely teach the
truth that Jesus taught, not to add our opinions, or to make the Gospel fit for
the post-modern generation.
03. The Righteousness
of the Saints
The theme of the Sermon on the
Mount in Matthew
05.01-07.29 is righteousness. The Greek word that is
used for righteousness is (G1343) dikaiosunh from the root word (G1342)
dikaiov and it means the
character or quality of being right or just. In English it used to be
spelled “rightwiseness” which makes the definition of righteousness all the
more clearer.
Righteousness, when used by Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 05.01-07.29; see also John 16.08; John 16.10) is used of whatever is right or just in itself,
whatever conforms to the revealed will of God.
(cf. Vine, W.E.; Merrill F. Unger (1996-08-28). Vine’s
Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words: With Topical
Index (Kindle Locations 52252-52260). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Paul, writing to the church in
Rome said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For in it the
righteousness (G1343 dikaiosunh) of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS
(G1342 dikaiov) man SHALL LIVE
BY FAITH.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
(Romans
01.16-18).
Paul in Romans 01.17 was quoting from Habakkuk 02.04, which says, “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right
within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”
In the Hebrew “righteous” is (H6662)
qydu tsaddiyq and in the
Greek Septuagint (which is the Old Testament written in Greek in Egypt in about
284bc by
seventy scholars, hence the name “Septuagint” which means “seventy” and usually
abbreviated as LXX), the Greek word for “righteous” in Habakkuk 02.04 is (G1342) dikaiov.
Paul writes in his epistles to the Galatians and Romans “that a man is
not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even
we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in
Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh
will be justified.” (Galatians 02.16) “for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 03.20) because “Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL
THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed
with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are
under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL
THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.”” (Galatians
03.08-10) for “the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now
that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of
God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 03.24-29) “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart
from works of the Law.” (Romans 03.28) “for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” (Galatians 02.21)
Paul mentioned that we are the spiritual descendants of
Abraham (Galatians 03.29),
and James quoting Genesis 15.06 says that
“Scripture
was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM
AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.” (James 02.23)
So according to the New Testament writers, the faith of
Abraham (as well as that of Isaac, Jacob, Job, Enoch and Noah) is the same as
our faith today! All of the early patriarchs of our faith did not have the Law
of Moses, yet they were justified by faith because they placed their faith in
God and not in the polytheistic religious systems that were so prevalent at
their time.
Moses records for us that Enoch “walked with God: and he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 05.24),
a sign of the rapture of believers to come (1Thessalonians 04.13-18). Moses
tells us that Noah “found grace in the eyes of YHWH” and that he “was a just
man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” (Genesis
06.08-09) while Peter says that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” (2Peter 02.05).
Here we have two Godly men, who were not circumcised according to the Law (Leviticus 12.03),
yet they are regarded as righteous faithful men who are mentioned in Hebrews 11.05
and Hebrews
11.07. Notice that the writer of Hebrews has Enoch and Noah bookend
a great verse about faith in Hebrews 11.06.
Abraham came after Enoch and Noah, and it was he who was
the one that God made the covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17.10-17; Acts 07.08).
The sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham was circumcision, and yet
God instituted it after Abraham was called by God to step out in faith and he
left his homeland (Hebrews 11.08-11) and his false pantheistic
idolatrous religion (Joshua 24.02).
Paul tells us that circumcision was supposed to be an
outward sign of the condition of your heart (Deuteronomy 10.16; Deuteronomy
30.06; Jeremiah 04.04; Colossians 02.11) in Romans 02.25-29.
Paul goes on to tells us that Abraham
was made righteous before he was circumcised (Romans 04.09-15)! Paul
tells the Galatians that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
means anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 05.06)
and that “we
maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is
God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of
Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and
the uncircumcised through faith is one.” (Romans 03.28-30). Moses tells us
that when Abram “believed
in YHWH; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15.06)
Moses introduces us to Melchizedek,
who received tithes from the spoils of war by Abram in Genesis 14.01-24.
Moses records for us that Melchizedek was “a priest of God Most High” who met Abram bringing out “bread and wine”, the elements
of communion (Genesis
14.08; Hebrews
05.10; Hebrews
07.01). Again this was all before the Law of Moses was
given, so Melchizedek would have been uncircumcised, not from the tribe of
Levi and a descendant of Aaron (Leviticus 21.16-23)
and was not anointed according to the Law prescribe by Moses (Exodus 29.01-37). Melchizedek
blessed Abram in Genesis 14.19-20, which is
significant because the greater always blesses the lesser, and Abraham is
regarded as the father of our faith (Romans 04.16-25; Galatians
03.01-29)! The writer of Hebrews tells us that
Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate Christ, saying “Jesus has
entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 06.20)
So we see in these Old Testament saints that
they were justified by faith in God before the Law was given, even though they
never saw the fulfillment of the promises of God (Hebrews
11.13-16).
Paul tells us that the Law was given “because of transgressions” (Galatians 03.19)
In order for the Law to be fulfilled, in God’s perfect
timing, He sent His Son to be a man to redeem mankind from sin so that we might
be sons of God (Galatians
04.04-07). Peter tells us that righteousness
comes from God and His Son in that God sent His Son to die for sinners, “To those who
have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ:” (2Peter 01.01)
Next time when we start studying
the Sermon on the Mount/Level, we will see that the word “Blessed” appears. The
Greek word for “Blessed” is (G3107) makariov and it involves
happiness that does not depend on circumstances but on the condition of the
heart no matter what is going on around you. The way that the text is written
is important, because it is not telling us that we should try to put into use
the beatitudes so that we become blessed, but instead it is describing what are
the characteristics of a “blessed” person.
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