The Incarnation

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0:46 Chalcedon. It's one of the ecumenical councils of the church where the bishops of the church met in 451 and hammered out a precise definition of Christ. Does he have one nature or does he have two natures? Is there one person in Christ or two persons? Does he have one will or two wills? Hmm. Does anybody know? How many wills does Christ have? How many? Come on, just say it. Heretics? Two! You guys are complete heretics. I can't believe you just said that. No?

1:33 Two wills. How many natures are in Christ? Two. That's very much more well-known. The reason I said how many wills is because normally everybody says one. It's like, how could you have two wills in him? No, he was divine. He was a divine person. He had a divine will. And he took on a complete humanity, a body and soul. So he had to have a human will because he has a human soul, a created soul. But yet there's one person, not a human person, but a divine person. One person, two natures. Each nature has a will. But there were some people in the early church who were like, well, he couldn't be divine and human at the same time. And we know he's not human, like in a sense of just anybody. And he's not just completely divine because he's also human. So we're going to say he has a third nature.

2:23 So he has one nature, and it's kind of a mix of divine and human. It's a third new nature. And these people were called monophysites. Mono meaning one. And physis meaning nature. You know, physics. Neophyte means new nature. So one nature. And at the Council of Chalcedon, the bishops met in order to refute monophysitism. And they came up with this really precise definition. And what's also really, they met in November, they met in October of 451, October the 8th. And they met until All Saints Day, November the 1st. Though back then I don't think it was All Saints Day on the calendar at that time. And today, where is Chalcedon? It's known as both Chalcedon and Chalcedon.

3:11 You can say it either way. It's a part of the city of Istanbul now. You know, was Constantinople now Istanbul? Istanbul. You know, they were mighty giants. Okay. And here are three just random facts about that council. You know, they didn't just meet for that reason. They also met to hash out some business in the church. You know, what do we do with people who marry heretics? Do we, I mean, can they marry heretics? And what about priests who become heretics? And what do we do? And so they hammered out all these different things. And here are three of those canons, these rules they came up with. And of course, these could be changed later on down the line. These are disciplinary actions. They stated that any priest or bishop who buys his office, you know, the sin of simony, purchasing your office, are excommunicated.

4:10 It prohibits bishops from engaging in business. So you can't, you know, you can't, like, get into business and, like, start making money. You know, you stay in the, stay in your bishopric. Also, priests could not join the military. You know, do your priests. I mean, you could, you could be a chaplain to military people, but you can't become a soldier. And then monks and nuns, and this is nothing new. This was a, this was a, a further tightening down on the church's discipline at the time. Monks and nuns are forbidden to marry on pain of excommunication. Ooh. That's pretty, pretty strong language. Uh, so monks and, if any of you are monks or nuns, you can't, well, of course, that's a discipline.

5:00 The church can always, can always change that. But just interesting things. Oh, what am I setting this down for? I'm going to pray this. So let's go ahead and begin and go ahead and get out your prayer. And for those of you who weren't here the week before, I have, uh, or who are new to the Bible, Bible study. I have prayers in the back. Okay. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Following the Holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity. The same truly God and truly man, composed of rational soul and body. Consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity.

5:58 And consubstantial with us as to his humanity. Like us in all things but sin. He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity. And in these last days, for us and for our salvation, was born as to his humanity of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, change, division, or separation. The distinction between natures was never abolished by their union. But rather, the character proper to each of the two natures was preserved as they came together in one person.

6:58 Father, we want to glorify you this evening and to give you praise for the most awesome event of the incarnation. Jesus, thank you for answering our suffering, for answering our misery by sharing in it. It is so hard for us to comprehend this awesome mystery. Help us to understand it better. And keep us faithful to it. Lord Jesus Christ, be present now. And let your Holy Spirit bow.

7:49 All hearts and love and truth today, to hear your word and keep your way. Give us the grace to grasp your word, that we may do what we have heard. Instruct us through the scriptures, Lord, as we draw near, O God adored. To God the Father, and the Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one. To you, O blessed Trinity, be praised throughout eternity. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And today's feast day is St. Francis de Sales. The Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland. He wrote one of his most famous devotional works that you guys can read that will really help you in your spiritual life is An Introduction to the Devout Life.

8:48 An Introduction to the Devout Life. And St. John Bosco, later on a priest in the city of Turin, Italy, named his religious order after St. Francis de Sales. And this religious order is known as the Salesians, after Francis of Sales. Francis de Sales. All right, very good. Okay, we got our saint out of the day, out of the way. So tonight, we're covering chapter 18, the Incarnation. St. Irenaeus, I've mentioned before in this study, St. Irenaeus was an early church father. You know, when the Council of Chalcedon talked about the Holy Fathers, whose faith that they are perpetuating, and that they're protecting, and that they're preaching.

9:39 Irenaeus is one of them. Irenaeus talked about the nature of Christ. This was part of his writings when he wrote against the Gnostics. Irenaeus wrote about 180 A.D. And Irenaeus used two Greek words at one point when he was writing against the heresies. Adversus heresis in the Latin title. And the first word is katabasis. And that means to condescend, or to go down, or to lower oneself. And the other word he uses is anabasis. Which means to lift up. To elevate.

10:27 And he used these two words when he was speaking about the Incarnation. About how God the Son, katabasis, he went down and took on our human nature. And this kind of was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God stoops down to our nature. Does Moses keep the Israelites to the type of morality that they originally entered into in the covenant? Or does he give concessions? Concessions. And so, when the people want to follow God, how does God treat them? Does God say, does God say, you know, okay, I'll give you a long earthly life, earthly happiness, earthly goods, lots of kids, faithful wives. This is how I'm going to reward you.

11:18 Or he says, I'm going to reward you in the next life. In the Old Testament, where do the rewards go? Which category? This life. Yeah. It's all about this life. And so, it's like giving a little child, you know, candy. You know, okay, keep, you know, keep being good. Keep following, you know, the way I want to lead you. And so, this is katabasis. And this kind of got fulfilled and came to a climax when God came down and stooped down to our level in the Incarnation. And in the New Covenant, Irenaeus tells us that God wants to anabasis. He wants to elevate us to the divine nature. So, now the promises are primarily in the afterlife. It's, you know, pick up your cross.

12:07 He who loses his life gains his life. Whoa, loses his life. In the Old Testament, you lose your life. That's a punishment. You know, who wants to lose his life? That's not good. So, it's about, you know, so God has come down to our level. He stoops down, but then he still picks us up in the Incarnation. And Christ took on our humanity not just to rid us of guilt and save us of our sin, per se. Because when we're saved, we don't just become perfect human beings. That would be to become like Adam and Eve again. But rather, God lifts us up, takes us higher than Adam and Eve, higher than the angels, and places us right into the heart of the Blessed Trinity, into the divine life. And so, Christ takes on our human nature to allow for us to become partakers of the divine nature.

13:01 And this is the reason, the raison d'etre, the reason for being for the Incarnation. I'm going to open up my Bible here to 2 Peter, chapter 1. 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3. 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3. I'm going to wait just a little bit longer for you guys, I'll have mercy. It's been a while, we've been gone for two weeks. Okay, 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 3. His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion. Through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and power.

14:02 Through these, He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises. So that through them, ding, you may come to share in the divine nature. Wow. After escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. Okay, so we escape from the corruption in the world because of evil desire. We're saved from our sin, but then we share in the divine nature. And this is not like what Mormons believe, that we become gods on par with God, separate from God. You know, and then we begat more gods. And, you know, so there's an infinite regress of created gods. No, it's nothing like that. It's participation.

14:52 Participation. We participate in the divine life. And this is a mystery. We can't fully comprehend it, but we can understand it to a great extent. Okay, so you guys might be wondering, okay, Carson, well, what about the Bible? I mean, I know you're doing church history here. You're pointing to a council. You know, you're giving your interpretation. But what does the Bible have to say? Because, you know, some people will say, well, this is just later developments. The Bible doesn't really say Jesus was God. Or that, you know, it just says that, you know, he was all-powerful or he could perform miracles. You know, being raised from the dead doesn't mean that you're God. Raising people from the dead. Paul and Peter raised people from the dead in Acts. And just being raised from the dead, like Jesus was, doesn't mean you're God.

15:44 That doesn't mean you're God. I mean, Lazarus was raised from the dead. Does that mean he's God? Now, Lazarus wasn't given a new nature like Jesus was, but a human person could be given a new nature. Performing miracles doesn't mean you're God, does it? Because in the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha performed miracles. In fact, they multiplied loaves of bread. And this is one of the reasons why Jesus does this in the New Testament. We saw this. And so, we can read John's Gospel and I can show you how John says that Jesus is God. I can show you guys that. Which I've read from a couple of times already in this class. I want for you guys to listen real carefully to what he has to say here. Okay.

16:36 Real quick, before I get into that, I want for you guys to turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7. This is going to be key to tonight's study. And we've gone over this. We've pondered this passage in 2 Samuel 7. We went over this last semester. 2 Samuel 7 is... I mean, you guys should have a perpetual thumb that just stays right here. Because this covenant that God enters into David, that God forms with David, through the prophet Nathan, is absolutely paramount. It's central to the New Testament. If it weren't for what happens here in 2 Samuel 7, we would not have a New Testament. This is how strong this is.

17:25 This is where God enters into the Davidic covenant with David. Let's look at verse 11. We won't read the whole chapter, though the whole chapter should be read. Verse 11. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord reveals to you... This is Nathan speaking. Nathan is speaking the words of God to David. The Lord reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. The Lord reveals that he will establish a house for you. And so the Lord is going to build a house for David. David wants to build a house for the Lord.

18:13 David wants to build a temple. But the Lord says, no, no. No, I'm going to build a house for you. I'm going to build a kingdom for you, like the house of Bourbon. The house of Habsburg. Verse 12. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you. Okay, listen to that carefully. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, this is the key part. I will raise up. I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name.

19:05 Okay, the immediate context is Solomon, David's son, is going to build the temple, the house, the house of God. It is he who will build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. Guys, forever. His royal throne firm. Not just, you know, for another couple hundred years and then Zedekiah is going to get blinded and, you know, sent off into exile and then we'll have no more kings. No, forever. I will be a father to him and he shall be a son to me. God is going to be a father to Solomon. And Solomon is going to be a son to God. It is a special filial relationship. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements. So if the Davidic kings, the sons of David, the king, you know, if they sin, God's going to chastise them.

20:01 Verse 15. But I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from your predecessor, Saul. Remember, Saul sinned. So he lost his dynasty. So Jonathan would not succeed his father on the throne. Remember that? But with David, no matter how bad his son sinned, it's still going to be someone from his line reigning on the throne. Not because David's holy. Not because Solomon's holy. Not because Rehoboam's holy. Not because any of the Davidic kings are holy and they're just and they deserve this. But it's because of the covenant promise. Not because of human goodness. But because of God's grace. God's being faithful to his covenant. And in the New Testament, St. Paul talks about God being faithful to his covenant. And there's a key phrase that St. Paul uses to talk about God's covenant faithfulness.

20:59 And it's called the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. If you look at it at face value, you're like, oh yeah, the righteousness of God. You know, God's righteous. He's holy. He doesn't sin, right? But that's not what the authors of the Bible meant when they said the righteousness of God. God's righteousness is that he will be faithful to his covenant. He said it. He bound it with an oath. And he's got to fulfill it, guys. And he will be faithful. Let every man be a liar, St. Paul says. But God will be true. Because he cannot deceive nor be deceived. Okay. So we have this promise that when David dies, when he's gone the way of his fathers, God's going to raise up an heir after him. And that this throne is going to be established forever.

21:57 Now we know that in 586 B.C. What happened? The temple's destroyed. Yeah. It's like the Twin Towers going down. The Capitol being demolished. No more Pentagon. No more New York City. No more Los Angeles. It's like, you know, our, it's kind of like if our church was demolished, you know, or if City Hall or the county courthouse was demolished. I mean, this was huge. 586 that happened. And then, what happened to the king? He went into exile and his sons were killed. And, of course, his sons were killed by the king, by Nebuchadnezzar, so that there would be no one to reign after him. But, of course, God preserves a kin to the king. There's still an heir, we find out in Matthew's Gospel.

22:48 There was still this hope. Okay, now here we go. I'm going to go ahead and read from this book. And if you have the challenge of Jesus at home, you can write this down. It's page 110 in this print edition I have from InterVarsity Press. Okay. Here we go. What we now have to do is reflect, admittedly, with early Christian hindsight, on the significance of God's response to David. And N.T. Wright is talking about this precise response that God gave to David through Nathan the prophet. David was offering to build a timber and stone house as a dwelling place for God.

23:49 God's response was that this was secondary. What mattered was that he, God, would build a house for David, consisting ultimately of David's son, who would be God's son. And suggested the Septuagint, Septuagint translation, this son would be known by being raised from the dead. Now, what does he mean by that? Well, he says earlier about, remember what I said, that Yahweh will raise up an heir for you? The crucial verse for this point is in 2 Samuel 7, 12. When David dies, then declares Yahweh, I will raise up your seed after you, who will sit on your throne. The Hebrew for, I will raise up, has no particular connotations at the supposed time of writing of, you know, resurrection.

24:48 But when the Old Testament was translated into Greek, some 200 or 300 years before the time of Jesus, the verse was rendered, and he gives the Greek, he transliterates it. I will resurrect your seed. Not I will raise up your seed, but I will resurrect your seed. On a stay-so. It's kind of like on a basis, you know, to lift up, to resurrect on a stay-so. Read this story now with early Christian eyes. And what do we find? That the temple, for all its huge importance and centrality within Judaism, was after all a signpost to the reality. And the reality was the resurrected son of David, who was the son of God.

25:42 God, in other words, is not ultimately to dwell in a human-built temple, a timber and stone house. God will indeed dwell with his people, allowing his glory and mystery to tabernacle in their midst. But the most appropriate way for him to do this will not be through a building, but through a human being. And the human being in question will be the Messiah, marked out by the resurrection. The temple was an incarnational symbol for Israel. I mean, that's where God dwelt with his people, right? It says in the Old Testament that he tabernacled with them in the tent in the wilderness. And then that glory cloud, the Shekinah glory cloud, went from that tent, that tabernacle, into the temple when it was built by Solomon.

26:37 And this is where God dwelt with his people. And when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., what, according to the Jews, happened to the presence of God? Went into the wailing wall, the weeping wall, the only wall still standing from Herod's temple, the western wall. If you guys were good Jews, you all would have known this, of course, right? But you're not good Jews. So, you're bad Jews. Okay, now I want to turn to one other point. We're prefacing this Bible study. Don't worry, we'll get into it. Here's N.T. Wright on page 120. All of which brings us back full circle to where we began. Jesus' actions during the last week of his life focused on the temple.

27:28 Judaism had two great incarnational symbols, temple and Torah. Jesus seems to have believed it was his vocation to upstage the one and outflank the other. Judaism spoke of the presence of her God in her midst, in the pillar of cloud and fire, in the presence, the Shekinah, in the temple. Jesus acted and spoke as if he thought he were a one-man counter-temple movement. Judaism believed that her God would triumph over the powers of evil within Israel, as well as outside. Jesus spoke of his own coming vindication after meeting the beast in mortal combat. After his meeting the beast in mortal combat. Jesus, too, used the language of the Father sending the sign. The so-called parable of the wicked tenants could just as well be the parable of the sons sent at last.

28:21 His awareness and faith of the one he called Abba, Father, sustained him in his messianic vocation to Israel, and to act as his father's personal agent to her. So we could go on. Approach the incarnation from this angle, and it is no category mistake, but the approximate climax of creation and covenant. Wisdom, God's blueprint for humans, at last herself becomes human. The Shekinah glory turns out to have a human face. The word became flesh, said John, and tabernacled in our midst. John 1, 14. The Greek, eskenosin, often translated simply dwelt, comes from the root skene, tent, or tabernacle.

29:19 John's theology, focused again and again on the temple, and on the way in which Jesus fulfilled its destiny, is after all rooted in the history that we have constructed from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Let's turn there to John's gospel. John is just constantly showing that Jesus is divine, and what happened in the incarnation. And let's look at that. This is in John, chapter 1, verse 14. And the word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us. Right, guys?

30:10 That's my New American Bible translation, and you guys know how much I love it. Just not. What did N.T. Wright just tell us? That the Greek word literally means to tented, or he tabernacled. That's what the word means. It's the same root, skene, or skene. I don't know how to pronounce it. I don't know New Testament Greek pronunciations. But that root, skene, is part of the word eskinosin, which is what John uses here. And he tabernacled among us. And John's using the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the temple in Jerusalem, as his backdrop when he says this. So you're supposed to think, well, it wasn't like an angel specifically tabernacled, or a human being tabernacled, but God himself tabernacled.

31:08 God himself. Let's turn to the end of John chapter 2. The end of John chapter 2. Verse 18. John chapter 2, verse 18. At this, the Jews answered and said to Jesus, what sign can you show us for doing this? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews said, this temple, you know, Herod the Great's temple, has been under construction for 46 years.

32:05 And you will raise it up in three days? But he was speaking about the temple of his body. But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. Namely, John the Apostle, who was like, huh? You know, I mean, the apostles were those Jews. They were the ones who did it. They were like, what are you talking about? Raise your body. And it wasn't until after the event, after the resurrection, that they got it. I mean, we just sit here and we're like, duh, of course he's talking about himself. We all know this. But no, we only know it because they tell us after the event. Okay, destroy this temple. Jesus is now the temple.

32:56 Very incarnational symbol. So this is chapter 18, the incarnation. Let's turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. We read from this this past Sunday in Mass. In Luke chapter 1, verse 1. Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us. Really? Many? Many people have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events. Hmm. Maybe Matthew and Mark, possibly. Just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us.

33:57 So there are eyewitnesses from the beginning and we'll find out that one of them is Mary. This is where Luke gets his infancy narrative from. The ministers of the word have handed them down to us. This is the same, it's the same word as tradition that Paul uses for tradition. It's a different form of the same word. I too have decided after investigating everything accurately anew to write it down in an orderly sequence for you most excellent Theophilus or Theophilus whatever your preferred pronunciation is so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.

34:48 So he's writing it to a Christian who has already received these teachings but and probably Theophilus could either be just a fake name like it's just the name for the reader you know because it means lover of God Theos Philos you know Philadelphia comes from Philos Delphia Delphia means brotherhood so it's a love of the brotherhood philosophy Philosophia love of wisdom so Holy Sophia we have Theophilus or Theophilus the lover of God so all of you people out there who are Christians who are lovers of God I'm writing this to you it could have been a real person named Theophilus who possibly commissioned the writing you know paid for Luke's room and board you know while he wrote this we're going to find out that Luke took I mean he took time to write this gospel this thing is intricate it's orderly it's systematic he uses the Old Testament like nobody's business okay so Luke probably had to have

35:47 somebody to commission his work to take care of him while he was doing this it must have taken him all day every day okay so the first part of this this gospel is amazing it talks really about the historicity of the gospels this is reliable stuff guys this is not made up and he begins in verse 5 immediately with the context the history he says in the days of Herod king of Judea okay he doesn't begin with oh and there just happened to be a priest no he begins with who was the ruler at the time let's be precise Luke we know from apostolic tradition we compare him with somebody who Paul talks about in the New Testament apostolic tradition tells us it's the same person and what was Luke's occupation physician okay so he was he was a doctor and was Luke a Jew no Luke was is the only Gentile author in all of the scriptures Old Testament New Testament so he begins with talking about this side this priest

36:56 named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah his wife was from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth so what tribe were Zechariah and Elizabeth from out of the 12 tribes of Israel or you can even say the 13 tribes yes Levi from the tribe of Levi how do we know this hey he's a priest priests only came from Levi this is why the epistle of the Hebrews talks about Jesus being after the order of Melchizedek because Melchizedek was not from Levi and he was a priest and he was a king at the same time so we have we have this from the tribe of Levi we have Zechariah and Elizabeth okay Zechariah and Elizabeth and so it actually begins with an annunciation to Zechariah Zechariah actually is the first annunciation in the Bible not Mary and where does where does an angel appear to him in the temple his gospel begins inside the temple and who appears Gabriel ding when was the last

38:20 time we heard from Gabriel in the Old Testament I'm going to let you guys I'm going to give you guys some time so you can figure this one out who was it where was Gabriel in the Old Testament while I Daniel sought the meaning of the vision I had seen a man like figure stood before me and on the you lay I heard a human voice that cried out Gabriel explain the vision to this man and then Gabriel gives the revelation to Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 that the exile is not going to be just 70 years but it's going to be 70 weeks 70 times 7 right because a week is 7 and so how many years is the exile going to go for what's 70 times 7 you math whizzes right 490 so ding Gabriel appears again on the scene at the end of the 490 years this is what we're supposed to get from this we're supposed to go oh Gabriel's back again he was gone for 490 years now the end of exile is here he is again okay and then

39:51 Gabriel basically says you know you guys are going to have a son because Elizabeth was barren again they were in there were told specifically that they were righteous and yet she was still barren and remember righteousness for the Jews was not just being morally upright just being a good person it was in keeping the mosaic law keeping the ceremonial observances just right and let's look at verse 21 of Luke 1 Luke chapter 1 verse 21 actually we'll start with verse 19 and the angel said to him in reply I am Gabriel verse 19 who stand before God I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you okay annunciation this good news good news guys where does the term good news come from again here's the old testament being brought back up who's the first person to really start talking about good news in the old testament this is a key phrase how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who

41:13 brings glad tidings announcing peace bearing good news announcing salvation and saying to Zion your God is king what's the good news your God is king that's the gospel that God has become king through his Messiah hark your watchmen raise a cry together they shout for joy for they see directly before their eyes the Lord restoring Zion break out together in song oh ruins of Jerusalem for the Lord comforts his people he redeems Jerusalem redemption restoration kingship good news this is what this term means and he says it's good news verse 20 Luke chapter 1 verse 20 but now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled at their proper time Zechariah was unbelieving so Gabriel gives him the punishment of being speechless until he has to name his son John meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were amazed that he had stayed so long in the sanctuary

42:28 but when he came out he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary he was gesturing to them but remained mute then when his days of late what word do we get from that liturgy liturgy is translated ministry here but this is where we get the term liturgy from it's a public ministry then when his days of liturgy were completed he went home after this time his wife Elizabeth conceived a barren woman conceiving has this happened at all before in salvation history no right we have Sarah Rachel and many others Hannah she went into seclusion for five months saying quote so has the lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others so has the lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit to take away my disgrace before others Genesis 30 23 you don't have to turn there if you don't want to but I'm going to read real quick

43:48 from Genesis 30 23 Luke is alluding to Genesis 30 23 and this is this is a pretty key place in the Old Testament because who was the who was the woman that Jacob who later has name changed to Israel had to work 14 years to get Rachel yeah Rachel that's right and but then did Rachel start having children no Leah's having children and so Rachel has her concubine you know bear children for her and then eventually Rachel finally gives birth this barren Rachel Genesis 30 23 she conceived and bore a son and said God has removed my disgrace actually you can start in verse 22 then God remembered Rachel he heard her prayer and made her fruitful she conceived and bore a son and she said God has removed my disgrace so she named him Joseph meaning may the Lord add another son to this one for me and eventually he does he gives her Benjamin and she dies in childbirth in the Holy Land where she gives birth

45:16 to Benjamin okay so so here we have Elizabeth the disgrace is removed from her and she doesn't bear Joseph she bears John John the Baptist and then the gospel immediately says in verse 26 in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph yeah you see Luke's using literary artistry here you know just as Rachel had Joseph well here's Elizabeth and all of a sudden here Joseph's on the scene you know it's it's kind of you know Jews would be kind of like hey that's that's clever how you just did that yeah to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph now notice that where is the town what is the town named Nazareth this comes from one of the roots of Nazareth is Nezer and Nezer means branch and we're told elsewhere that that this is that he was born there to fulfill the Old Testament what I want to do is I'm going to turn

46:32 to a famous passage in Isaiah I'm going to turn to you can find Isaiah there it is Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1 but a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse like a branch you know a branch shall branch out from the from the stump of Jesse and from his roots shall bud a blossom the spirit of the Lord shall be upon him names the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and so this the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him so this person will be anointed will be the Messiah what does Messiah mean the anointed one and how is this person going to be anointed this this root this branch from the stump of Jesse how is he going to be anointed with oil no with the spirit is going to anoint him and so he's born in Nazareth which means branch so and we have constantly we have these prophecies in the Old Testament about how the the Davidic king the Messiah the anointed one is going to come forth like a branch

47:48 he's called shoot several times in the prophets he's called the shoot the righteous shoot of David okay so it's not without purpose that Luke says that Gabriel went to a town of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of ding the house of David the house of David so this is key of the house of David why? because Jesus has to descend from David somehow to be this king who's going to be raised up from David's loins who's going to build a house not the temple but his own body his resurrected body who's going to build up of the house of David and the virgin's name was yeah you guys Mary and coming to her he said ke cari tomane ke cari tomane how do I know how to transliterate this so quickly I took an entire class on Mary and we were taught all this ke cari tomane it's like he says hail ke cari tomane as if and this is the sentence structure is as if this is

49:10 her name when Mary what happened in 1854 what happened in 1854 that was a monumental event in the life of the church I'll give you guys a hint Pius the ninth yeah Pius the ninth declared dogma the immaculate conception that Mary was conceived without sin at the moment of her conception not it wasn't like later on she was made completely holy there was a debate whether or not she was made completely holy right after she was conceived or at the moment of conception and this dogma this definition resolved that debate I mean the debate was not whether or not she was she was immaculate that wasn't all throughout the centuries in the east what is she known as the pan hagia the all holy is the eastern tradition but the immaculate conception pious names her but what happens four years later in 1858 that is monumental in the life of the church yeah lords in lords france we have this peasant girl named

50:34 bernadette who was so old she should have already made her first communion but she hadn't gone through her classes just to take first communion yet so she was seeking out any priest who would give her instruction to give her first communion she was a peasant girl didn't know anything and she is telling this priest this lady appeared to me and the priest is just unbelieving he's like whatever you're making this up or some demon is appearing to you or something but just leave me alone and one day she comes up to me the lady told me her name finally and he goes well you've been saying it's the what's her name and she goes she said I am the immaculate conception what does immaculate mean I think it means to be clean what does conception mean I don't know do you have any clue as to what this means this has been debated by theologians for centuries and it was just defined dogma four years earlier

51:48 and this little peasant girl says and the priest goes no Mary was immaculately conceived not she is the immaculate conception you know I say I don't say I am born no I was born it happened to me I'm not bad but this is it's this riddle like statement what do you mean I am the immaculate conception almost like it's her name and what scholars have seen is that this private revelation that Mary made to Bernadette in 1858 in Lourdes France oh and what happened in Lourdes why is it famous today why do people by the millions go to Lourdes as a pilgrimage yeah a miraculous spring bubbled up at that source and we have had countless well you can actually count them not countless not infinite but many miracles have occurred because of this spring documented by scientists both ecclesial and secular and so these miracles that happened with the spring that Mary caused to however miraculously appear has

53:01 kind of confirmed this and so people make pilgrimages all the time and people who are quadriplegic or having curable cancer have been completely cured but the immaculate conception the reason that I'm pointing this out to you guys is that scholars have seen that this revelation that Mary gave to Bernadette I am the Immaculate Conception mirrors what Gabriel says Gabriel the sentence structure is like Gabriel says hail Kate Carrie Tomine like it's her name you know like he's addressing her with the title but what's the title Kate Carrie you guys speak Greek right you guys speak New Testament Greek I don't I just admitted to you I've never taken a class on it I just know a lot of it from just reading scholarly works and I kind of you know deduction but hey Carrie Tomine means literally I'm not making this up this isn't my translation this is literally what it means you who have been fully graced

54:08 it's a it's an event that's been fully completed in the past okay you have been fully graced that's literally what this means the form of the word so it's like hail this is your name you have been fully graced and so in 1854 when Pope Pius IX declares this belief that we've always had but declares a dogma he elevates it in a certain sense from what we all believe to know to be true to a precise definition it's the difference between doctrine and dogma it's not like we just believe dogma but everything else is up for grabs when he defines it he uses this verse right here in Luke 1 28 as the basis for his teaching he starts off from this he also ties in you know Genesis 3 15 where God says promises that there will be enmity complete separation between the woman and the serpent there's kind of a fulfillment here you know a bad angel appears to Eve a good angel appears to Mary Eve is sinless

55:25 Mary is sinless Eve ties a knot Mary loosens it this is the way Irenaeus put it he said that what Eve had tied so Mary untied that's a mouthful I don't know I don't know yeah it's just another way of just another way of translating there I mean there are many things in the Bible where I'm like why did they translate it like that and there was really no good reason with all the study I've done I've seen this numerous times it just and this is why and not every translation translates it just perfectly every translation has what we call loose translations yeah I mean this is the Greek manuscript okay verse 29 but she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be then the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary again when angels appear to people they should be afraid because angels no one sees an angel and lives do not be afraid Mary for you have found

56:34 favor with God behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Yeshua Joshua or in Greek Jesus what does Jesus mean what does Jesus mean you guys don't know what Jesus means God saves Yeshua what is Yah what is that the what's that the first part of Yahweh or God God's name and Yeshua means to save or to give salvation Yeshua we're we're not told specifically in scripture whether she's from the house of David but tradition has it that yes she is I mean think about it I mean she and her husband her betrothed were you know normally you were from the same house like you were very or you had the same or of the same lineage I mean you were very closely you were married within your same clan so the early church fathers unanimously believed that she was from the house of David but the scriptures give the genealogy from Joseph so because to a Jew your birthright comes from

58:04 the man not from the woman and even if you adopt somebody the birthright is just as legitimate as whether or not you were actually a blood son so this is why Joseph can adopt Jesus in Matthew's gospel and Jesus has just as much right just even though that Joseph is not his flesh and blood father this is a Jewish way of thinking this is part of the law the way how things work you will name him Jesus God saves okay behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son now look at verse 27 Gabriel is going to a virgin blank to a man betrothed to a man you guys know that today you know you get engaged and you can break it off right I mean it's just a time of discernment you can easily break it off well in New Testament times you had to actually a man had to issue a bill of divorce you had to go to the temple and you had to issue your bill of divorce you had to get divorced because betrothal was different

59:13 than how we see it today okay or being engaged I mean you're bound to that person it's just that you don't live with them and you don't have sexual relations but you're going to because you're bound to them and only a bill of divorce can divide you okay so let's go back two and a half years I'm sorry two years to when I was still engaged to Rebecca my wife but I'm engaged to her and let's say that only a bill of divorce can break us up now we're just I mean it's a done deal we're just we're just waiting for the final wedding per se and you know some old ladies come up from our parish and they they shake her hand and they grab her by the elbow and they say Rebecca you're going to have such beautiful children and Rebecca says what Rebecca says yeah that's great I know I hope I do yeah that's what we're hoping for what does Mary say Gabriel says behold you will conceive in your womb and bear

1:00:18 a son and you shall name him Yeshua Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end and we're going to get to that in just a moment but has Mary respond how can this be for I have not known man you know knowing man means have relations either Mary is really stupid or something else is at hand here I mean what if you said Rebecca you're going to have such great children she says how could this be for I know not man what do you suspect no what's happening here I mean Mary of course you know how you're going to conceive you're betrothed you're just about to engage only build a divorce but yet you say that this can't happen well I believe I've mentioned this before in the scripture study but in the proto evangelion of James that

1:01:25 means that means first gospel or right at the beginning of the gospel proto like a prototype in the proto evangelium of James it's apocryphal it's not inspired scripture it's not canonical but yet we can look to apocryphal writings for authentic stuff I mean just because they have a lot of bad stuff in them doesn't mean don't throw the baby out with the bath water right I mean people who study the Old Testament constantly bring up the book of Jubilees which is apocryphal or the books of Enoch for Enosh and the proteevangelium of James talks about how Mary when Mary was a little girl she made a vow of virginity a vow of virginity proteevangelium of James is probably written about 200 AD but it talks about how Mary made a vow of virginity and that Joseph was an older man who had grown children so they weren't a part of their immediate family you know it's not like they lived with them they

1:02:28 had their own families and that Joseph was an older man he had a previous marriage and that Joseph was betrothed to Mary to be her guardian to take care of her because back then girls it wasn't like you just went to palais royale and became a cashier or you went to H-E-B and became a clerk no back then widows or women true religion is taking care of widows and orphans because widows and orphans were the most defenseless because they didn't have anybody to take care of them because widows didn't just go out and get a job only men worked and so Joseph was her guardian and he was older and he had children from a previous marriage and this is why when Jesus is in his thirties there's no mention of Joseph you know Jesus gives Mary to John to take care of her not to Joseph because Joseph isn't on the scene because he was an older man and he died earlier this is one of the traditions in early Christianity

1:03:34 and so I'm just giving you a little bit of the New Testament history behind these verses Saint Jerome I believe it was him he pointed this out he made this kind of clear he showed how actually there was a person named Helvidius actually I think I told you guys about this and Helvidius was teaching that Jesus' brothers and sisters were from Mary and Mary wasn't a virgin and Jerome had some ugly words for him he said no one knows of what you're teaching this is complete heresy get out of here basically and then he goes in the scriptures and he starts proving from the scriptures Jerome does if Mary has other children other than Jesus they were just legally adopted because they were Joseph's sons from a previous marriage yes and but then later on in the 600s at a council in the 600s this was proclaimed dogma Mary's perpetual virginity that she was a virgin until the day of her death and that

1:04:42 she had and then of course the precursor to this is that she made this vow of virginity and this was not unknown the Essenes took vows of virginity the Essenes this was quite common among them okay let's go ahead and continue what does Gabriel say about Jesus he says he will be great and will be called the son of the most high the son of the most high and he will rule over the house of Jacob the or in other words the kingdom of Israel and of his kingdom there will be no end again there is second Samuel seven there second Samuel seven that promise the Davidic covenant the endless kingdom the son of David the throne of David his father I mean Mary could be like no Joseph well actually no Joseph isn't his father he's his foster father but you know David is that he's going to descend from that somehow and then and the angel said to her in reply the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power

1:05:41 of the most high will you will overshadow you and this is the same word used in the Old Testament of what the God did with the tabernacle he overshadowed he did epischiazo and Mary gave her fiat she gave her in Latin fiat means yes Mary said yes but she didn't say yes she said behold I am the handmaid of the Lord may it be done unto me according to your word then the angel departed from her you know the incarnation was not like it or not you're going to bear a son that would be divine right think about it Mary had to say yes because like God doesn't send us to hell we choose hell we reject him God gives us this choice okay it was Calvin who first came up with the idea of double predestination that God destines people to hell and he destines people to heaven and you're living a Christian life and believing in Jesus are just signs of your predestination but God sends people to hell no that was

1:06:53 condemned at the council of Trent okay we have God gives us a choice and so he did the same thing with Mary he gave her a choice so when angel Gabriel is saying this is going to happen he's not saying like it or not it's going to happen he's awaiting her response and the early church fathers said that all of creation was on its tiptoes just waiting for her to say yes because when Mary says yes the incarnation can occur and our redemption can start so God put our salvation in the hands of a woman men it wasn't just Jesus who saved us but it was also a woman the new Eve Mary who had to say yes in order for the man to save us Mary was cooperating in God's plan of salvation in the same way that Eve participated in our damnation we're not we're not fallen in Eve we're not sons of Eve right we're sons of Adam we fell in Adam and we're anticipated God made her a part of that plan because she served

1:08:08 as this vessel I mean Jesus he was born of a human mother and had he not been God would have had to choose another way I guess Mary visits Elizabeth we've in this chapter 18 we've already seen how the chapter 18 here in your chapter it'll show the typology between 2nd Samuel 6 and Luke chapter 1 and how when Mary visits Elizabeth Luke is using the terminology from 2nd Samuel 6 with the Ark of the Covenant as a backdrop we talked about this last semester so I'm not going to get into those parallels right now but let's look at the canical Mary said my soul I'm using the New American Bible again because this is the one I wish I could go back in time but alas my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord or in other words my soul magnifies the greatness of the Lord so it's known as the Magnificat she magnifies the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness

1:09:19 behold from now on all ages will call me blessed what I want for you guys to do is I want for you to write down right here Psalm 45 18 Psalm 45 18 we're not going to turn back to it Psalm 45 18 talks about the queen mother talks about how the king has many wives but then there's one who stands at his right hand and she came from a foreign land and married the king but wait a minute I thought the queen mother was the mother of the king not his bride well she had to be the bride of the king in order to become the mother of the next king right this is what the psalm is talking about she's talking about this queen mother and of this queen mother there's a parallel here Luke uses with Psalm 45 18 all ages will call me blessed okay I'm too tempted I'm going to turn to it real quick psalm 45 17 sometimes there are different verses of the psalms because sometimes the introductory little part will be

1:10:26 counted as a verse in my bible it is counted as a verse so it would be 18 whereas in yours that introductory part is probably not counted as a verse so it's verse 17 did I say psalm 40 psalm 45 okay psalm 45 psalm 45 verse 18 I will make your name renowned through all generations thus nations shall praise you forever that's speaking of the mother of the king and again we've seen this king terminology over and over and over again right the temple David the father the everlasting throne the kingdom forever this is constant Davidic kingdom so Mary is the mother the queen mother so we look in Luke her canonical or her magnificat has what as its basis what does what is Luke using when he's writing this what's the Old Testament illusion yeah Hannah 1st Samuel chapter 2 1st Samuel chapter 2 Hannah had a son Samuel and she says my heart exalts in the Lord Mary says my soul magnifies the Lord my horn

1:11:53 is exalted in my God I have swallowed up my enemies I rejoice in my victory I'm just going to skip through some of it the bows of the mighty are broken while the tottering gird on strength the well fed hire themselves out for bread while the hungry batten on spoil the barren wife bear seven sons while the mother of many languishes the Lord puts to death and gives life he cast down to the netherworld he raises up again the Lord makes poor and makes rich he humbles he also exalts and if you guys who pray the magnificat in vespers every night such as you sister this sounds familiar right you're like no this is Mary's magnificat just in different words and how does Hannah's canticle or song in first Samuel chapter two what verse does it end with now may God he give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his messiah his anointed so you don't think that maybe Luke had purpose in using this

1:12:58 particular canticle because it ends with what proclaiming the kingship of God's messiah and this is what's happening the kingship of God's messiah is what's happening in Luke one and Luke two and Luke is constantly using first and second Samuel as he teaches we saw that he uses second Samuel chapter six for the new ark typology Mary's the ark of the new covenant he uses second Samuel chapter seven the davidic covenant he's using first Samuel chapter two for the basis of the magnificat here's one other one let's look look at Luke chapter one or actually chapter two Luke chapter two verse fifty two Luke chapter two verse fifty two and Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man I want for you to write down first Samuel chapter two verse twenty six young Samuel was growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the Lord and of men Jesus is not just a new Solomon but he's

1:14:19 a new Samuel right he's a new everything he's a new Adam he's a new Jeremiah a new Elijah a new Elisha he's just new everything I mean the whole testament points to him this is what Luke is showing he's like a new Samuel uses the same words for him okay so we started off Luke with this couple from the tribe of Levi Zechariah and Elizabeth what's the next couple mentioned yeah Joseph and Mary and what tribe are they from no the tribe Judah very good Judah and what's the next couple mentioned in the Bible well they're not really a couple but they're mentioned in a pair yeah Simeon and Anna Simeon and Anna and what tribe is Simeon from actually that scratch that doesn't matter the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before his death the Holy Spirit revealed to him Anna we're told specifically that she's a prophetess so here we have the three categories of people from

1:15:45 the Old Testament we have one priestly couple one kingly couple and one prophetic couple priest king and prophet are being fulfilled all of the prophecies of the Old Testament priest king and prophet are being fulfilled and Anna what tribe is she from is she from Benjamin Judah or Levi you know the three tribes who survived and who came back from exile what tribe was Anna from Asher what's Asher is that one of the twelve tribes yeah we haven't really heard about Asher right I mean we've heard about you know a lot of the other tribes especially Manasseh and Ephraim but not Asher Luke is trying to show that this salvation is not just for those Jews or Benjamin ites or Levites who came back from exile but it's for all twelve tribes including this girl from Asher of course Luke is sparing no words he's trying to show exactly you know Asher this is ding you're supposed to see that this

1:16:53 is one other tribes are going to be involved here but we'll continue next week with more of this but we have to stop right here and if we had another hour and a half can you guys believe an hour and a half just went by you guys are all like yes my butt hurts because his seats are really hard but the but we would go into Matthew but see this chapter talks about and we would look at Luke chapter 2 we would look at the temple more closely we would look at more Old Testament allusions let's go ahead and close in prayer the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen Answer when I call my saving God in my troubles you cleared away show me favor hear my prayer how long will you people mock my honor love what is worthless chase after lies know that the Lord works wonders for the faithful the Lord hears when I call out tremble and do not sin upon your beds ponder in silence offer

1:18:18 fitting sacrifice and trust in the Lord many say may we see better times Lord show us the light of your face but you have given my heart more joy than they have when grain and wine abound in peace I shall both lie down and sleep for you alone Lord make me secure Amen in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen God's love you God's love you God's