RE-FIREVAL
LUKES PORTRAYAL OF JESUS
It portrays him as the Son of man, full of compassion for the sinful and the poor.

MORE COMPLETE THAN ANY OTHER GOSPEL
The Biography of Christ is more complete in Luke than in any of the other Gospels. About one half of the material in this book is not in the others. Many of the most important utterances of our Lord, and striking incidents of his life are recorded in this one gospel.

TO WHOM ADDRESSED. To Theophilus, an unknown person. Internal evidence indicates that the book was written especially for the Gentiles. This is inferred from the fact that the writer takes pains to explain Jewish customs and sometimes substitutes Greek names for Hebrew.

PURPOSE. To give a connected and orderly narrative of the life of Christ as seen by eye witnesses,
# Lu 1:1-4

KEY VERSE
# Lu 1:4

Ver. 32. And they said one to another.....] After Christ was gone, being surprised at what happened, that they should not know him all that while; and that as soon as they did, he should disappear, or withdraw himself in this manner:

did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? Concerning himself, his sufferings, death, and resurrection, which are in Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The Scriptures are as a sealed book to men, learned and unlearned; and none so fit to open them as the lion of the tribe of Judah: he did open and explain them to these his disciples, as well as conversed with them about other things, as they traveled together; and his words came with such evidence, power, and sweetness, that they were ravished with them; their minds were irradiated with beams and rays of divine light; their hearts were warmed and glowed within them; they became fervent in spirit, and their affections were raised and fired; they found the word to be as burning fire within them; and they now knew somewhat what it was to be baptized with fire, which is Christ's peculiar office to administer; see #Ps 39:3, Jer 20:9 they seem as it were not only to reflect on these things with wonder and pleasure, but also to charge themselves with want of thought, with inattention and stupidity; since they might have concluded from the uncommon evidence, force, and energy with which his words came to them, who he was, seeing no man could speak as he did, and with such effect as his words had.

Christ as the burnt offering
Lev 1:8-13
8 'Then the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar;
9 'but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
10 'If his offering is of the flocks-- of the sheep or of the goats-- as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish.
11 'He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar.
12 'And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar;
13 'but he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water. Then the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
(NKJ)

The fire must continue burning
Lev 6:12
`And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. (NKJ)

God descendants like fire
Exod 19:18
Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. (NKJ)

Moses in the midst of the fire
Exod 24:17-18
17 The sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
(NKJ)

An offering by fire
Exod 29:18
"And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. (NKJ)

Water before fire
Christ must wash us with his word before we can burn in holiness for his glory.
Exod 30:18-21
18 "You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it,
19 "for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it.
20 "When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water, lest they die.
21 "So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them-- to him and his descendants throughout their generations."
(NKJ)

The fire by night
Exod 40:38
For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (NKJ)

The fire of God
Exod 3:1-5
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3 Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn."
4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."
(NKJ)

Two kinds of fire
A man made fire
Peter warmed himself in the fire
Mark 14:54
But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. (NKJ)

A God given fire
Acts 2:1-4
1 Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (NKJ)

God sets Peter on fire
Peter preaches with holy fire
Acts 2:14
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
(NKJ)

We are ministers of fire
Heb 1:7
And of the angels He says: "Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire." (NKJ)

God is a consuming fire
Heb 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
29 For our God is a consuming fire. (NKJ)

· the fire of love
· the fire of grace
· the fire of mercy
· the fire of protection

Ver. 29. For our God is a consuming fire. Either God personally considered, God in the person of Christ; so the Shechinah, with the Jews, is called a consuming fire {n}. Christ is truly God, and he is our God and Lord; and though he is full of grace and mercy, yet he will appear in great wrath to his enemies, who will not have him to reign over them: or rather God essentially considered; whose God he is, and in what sense, and how he comes to be so, see Gill on "Heb 8:10", what is here said of him, that he is a consuming fire, may be understood of his jealousy in matters of worship, #De 4:23,24, and so carries in it a reason why he is to be served acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. God, and he only, is to be worshipped; and he is to be worshipped in a way suitable to himself; and he has the sole right of fixing the manner of worship, both as to the external and internal parts of it: under the legal dispensation, he was worshipped in a way he then pitched upon, and suitable to it; and under the Gospel dispensation he is to be worshipped in an evangelical way; and he is to have all the glory in every part of worship; and the ordinances of Gospel worship are immovable; nor are they to be altered, or others put in their room, without recurring his displeasure. Moreover, this phrase may be expressive of the preservation of his people, and of the destruction of their enemies, #De 9:1-3. We commonly say, that God out of Christ is a consuming fire; meaning, that God, as an absolute God, is full of wrath and vengeance; and it is a truth, but not the truth of this text; for here it is our God, our covenant God, our God in Christ; not that he is so to the saints, or to them that are in Christ: he is indeed as a wall of fire in his providences, to protect and defend them, and as fire in his word to enlighten and warm them, to guide and direct them, but not a consuming fire to them; this he is to their enemies, who are as thorns, and briers, and stubble before him: and so the Jews interpret #De 4:24 of a fire consuming fire {o}; and observe, that Moses says, thy God, and not our God {p}; but the apostle here uses the latter phrase.