Friday 2021.10.22
Today is the Sixth Day of the Biblical Week. It is Preparation Day. Let us finish all our tasks for the week and prepare to rest for the Seventh Day Sabbath which will begin at sunset this evening.
This afternoon my New Testament reading covered chapters 10 and 11 of the Gospel of Luke from the RBV.
Luke chapter 10 verse 21 records the account of our Lord Iesus the Anointed One praising God for revealing His Kingdom to simple, uneducated people, whom he referred to as "babes", and hiding it from those who think of themselves as "learned and intelligent".
- Luke 10:21 RBV
- "At that time Iesus exulted in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have concealed this from the learned and intelligent and have revealed it to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was pleasing in Your presence. . . ."
Note that verse 21 above begins by saying that our Lord Iesus "exulted in the Holy Spirit" when he uttered his praise to God, the Lord of heaven and earth. This reminds me of two earlier instances in the Gospel of Luke where our Lord was described as being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The first is in Luke 3:22 where the Holy Spirit descended upon our Lord in the form of a dove just after he was baptised by John the Baptist. The second instance is in the following chapter, in Luke 4:1, where our Lord was filled with the Holy Spirit when he returned from his baptism at the Jordan River, and was guided by the Spirit as he proceeded to the desert for 40 days of fasting.
- Luke 3:21 - 22 RBV Revised Berkeley Version
- When all the people were being baptised, Iesus too was baptized and, while he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit came down on him, in bodily shape like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son; in you I am well pleased!"
- Luke 4:1 RBV
- Filled with the Holy Spirit, Iesus returned from the Jordan River and for 40 days was guided in the desert by the Spirit, . . .
After the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Iesus to the right hand of His Father, the apostle Peter spoke the following words when preaching the Gospel to the household of Cornelius the Centurion at Caesarea:
- Acts 10: 37-38 KJV
- You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, are you filled and guided by the Holy Spirit? Let us be always filled with the Holy Spirit. Like our Lord Iesus, let us exult in the Holy Spirit and give praise to God our Father in Heaven. Like the Anointed One, let us be guided by the Spirit of God in all we do.
Post Script:
Twelve years ago, in April 2009, I wrote a short devotion on
this passage in Acts chapter 10, entitled, "An Act of God":
