Luke chapter 4
Satan tempts Jesus. Jesus begins his public ministry. He is rejected in his hometown. He casts out a demon. He heals many people. His mission is to preach.
SATAN TEMPTS JESUS
VERSE 1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
led by the Spirit. The word “led” is a translation of the New Testament Greek word “ekbelo,” which means “ejected.” The Holy Spirit ejected Jesus into the desert.
In our day, how does the Holy Spirit eject you?
VERSE 2. for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.
for forty days. Jesus fasted for forty days. He was probably accustomed to fasting. People don’t start out in fasting by going forty days. In our day, there are people who have fasted for 40 days. Or more.
Fasting is a natural human impulse. And it is a wonderful companion during our special times of prayer to God.
VERSE 3. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
VERSE 4. Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Gospel of Luke and from the entire Bible.
This verse seems like a command! Would you consider acting on it? More commands of Jesus Christ from the Gospel According to Luke and from the entire Bible.
VERSE 5. The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
VERSE 6. The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.
VERSE 7. If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.”
VERSE 8. Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
VERSE 9. He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,
VERSE 10. for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’
VERSE 11. and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
VERSE 12. Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
This verse seems like a command! Would you consider acting on it? More commands of Jesus Christ from the Gospel According to Luke and from the entire Bible.
VERSE 13. When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.
JESUS BEGINS HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY
VERSE 14. Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.
VERSE 15. He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
JESUS IS REJECTED IN HIS HOMETOWN
VERSE 16. He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
VERSE 17. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
found the place where it was written. The Lord Jesus was familiar with Sacred Scripture. He knew his way around the Bible.
VERSE 18. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed,
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. What was the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ? How did he himself define it? Here are the verses we find in the four gospels.
he has anointed me to preach good news. Right after fasting for forty days, Jesus launches his public ministry. For this launch, he selects a passage from Isaiah chapter 61:
Isaiah 61:1. The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
to the poor. From the first moment of his public ministry, Jesus sides with the poor and oppressed. He does not stand with the the wealthy or “job creators.”
VERSE 19. and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. What was the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ? How did he himself define it? Here are the verses we find in the four gospels.
the acceptable year of the Lord. That is, “This is God’s year to act!” (MSG translation).
When he was in Nazareth, the Lord Jesus announced that it was the acceptable year of the LORD. It was God’s time to act! Read more »
VERSE 20. He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.
VERSE 21. He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
VERSE 22. All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
VERSE 23. He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’ ”
VERSE 24. He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
VERSE 25. But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
VERSE 26. Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
VERSE 27. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
VERSE 28. They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things.
VERSE 29. They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff.
VERSE 30. But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way.
JESUS CASTS OUT A DEMON
VERSE 31. He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. He was teaching them on the Sabbath day,
VERSE 32. and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
VERSE 33. In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
VERSE 34. saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
VERSE 35. Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
VERSE 36. Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
VERSE 37. News about him went out into every place of the surrounding region.
JESUS HEALS SIMON’S MOTHER-IN-LAW
VERSE 38. He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her.
VERSE 39. He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her. Immediately she rose up and served them.
JESUS HEALS MANY PEOPLE
VERSE 40. When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
laid his hands on every one of them. The Lord Jesus placed his hands on them. Individually.
When the Lord Jesus interacts with us, he treats us as individuals.
VERSE 41. Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
crying out. The demons screamed.
THE MISSION OF JESUS IS TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS
VERSE 42. When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them.
VERSE 43. But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.”
MSG translation. Don’t you realize that there are yet other villages where I have to tell the Message of God’s kingdom, that this is the work God sent me to do?”
I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom. What was the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ? How did he himself define it? Here are the verses we find in the four gospels.
For this reason I have been sent. The MSG translation puts it this way:
This is the work God sent me to do.
Jesus says his mission is to preach God’s Kingdom.
In our day, many people say that the Lord Jesus Christ came to die. His destiny was to be the sacrificial Lamb that took away the sins of the world.
However, in this verse, he says his mission is to preach the God’s Kingdom:
I must preach the good news of God’s Kingdom (MSG translation)
VERSE 44. He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
LUKE
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Commands, Spirituality
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.