II. 50 Days of Readings on the Holy Spirit: Histories-> Luke
II. The Histories -> The Gospel of Luke
Day 24
Psalm 1
Day 25
Ps 2
One thought as we move into Luke and the Histories is that the Holy Spirit is progressively working to reveal Jesus in fuller and fuller measure to His people.
Why?
It is only in Jesus that the Eternal God perfectly interrelates with mankind. In Him heaven and earth are united together as His Kingdom comes within us; Eternity is forever bound together with the present moment; and in Him the Eternal God is fully and perfectly united with mankind.
After the Spirit in the Pentateuch builds the categories of the Covenant, the Law, the Tabernacle Presence of JHWH and the Promise of New Creation, the Histories begin to center all of these in a Person.
Beginning with Joshua (i.e. Jesus) leading the people of God across the Jordan (i.e. Death) into the Promised Land (i.e. New Creation), then moving to the Judges who bring redemption & salvation from the enemies of the surrounding Fallen Age, the narrative begins focusing on the establishment of an Eternal Kingdom in and through the Messianic King Who will baptize His people with “Water and Fire”, purifying then recreating them to receive His Risen and Glorified Presence, which is Spiritualized after His Death, Resurrection and Ascension (Jn 7:37-39) so that He can literally dwell inside of them through the Spirit (Eph 3:17).
The Prophets and Books of Wisdom will only heighten this reality.
Day 26
Judg 13-15
The birth narrative and life of Samson—“And the Spirit of the LORD...”
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Lk 1:1-25
The birth narrative of John the Baptist
Day 27
I Sam 1-2:11
The birth narrative of Samuel with the Song of Hannah
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Lk 1:26-80
The birth narrative of Jesus, Part I. Songs of Mary & Zacharias
Day 28
Josh 1 & 5
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Lk 2-3
The birth narrative of Jesus, Part II. The Songs of Simeon & Anna
“I indeed baptize you with water; but...
He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Day 29
I Sam 16, 18
The anointing of David
“And the Lord was with him”
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Lk 4
The Temptations->
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit”
Day 30
II Sam 6-7
II Sam 23:1-7
The Ark of the Covenant brought to Jerusalem
The Messianic Seed & The Eternal Kingdom
The Last Words of David
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Lk 6-7
The Sermon on the Plain
The Outworking
Day 31
I Chron 15 (carried into Psalm 105)
[A helpful insight as we move into the Prophets from an early 20th c. figure, Pavel Florensky, who became known as “Russia’s DaVinci” (genius in mathematics, physics, engineering, art, philosophy, and more,), who ultimately went into the priesthood (as all Truth, in his understanding, could only be revealed within Christ’s Body, the Church). Because of this, he ended up being killed in 1937 in a Siberian concentration camp.
At any rate, Florensky says:
Any attempt to be too definite about the Holy Spirit is like trying too hard to develop an underexposed film: The longer you hold it in the solution, the mistier it becomes. [If we focus on the Spirit alone, the picture lacks clarity. If we through the Spirit focus on Jesus, it becomes clearer and clearer.]
Day 32
The Spirit & The Temple:
I Chron 22
I Chron 23:24-32
I Chron 28
The Psalm at the Dedication
The Words to Solomon on the building of the Temple with the “pattern” revealed to him “by the Spirit”
The Renewal of the Levitical Priesthood
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Lk 9
The Confession of Christ
The Predictions of His Passion
Day 33
II Chron 5:1-7:3
The Glory Cloud over the completed Temple
The Prayer of Solomon and the Fire from Heaven
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Lk 11
Prayer, the Holy Spirit & the Kingdom of God
A greater than Solomon & Jonah
Day 34
I Kings 11-12
The Kingdom divided
False Israel formed
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Lk 12, 14
Hypocrisy & the Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (meditate on this)
Transient Possessions; The Eternal Kingdom
[Note: There is no mention of the “spirit” from Lk 13:12-23:45...but the “kingdom” occurs here 25x. i.e. The two are inextricably combined.]
Day 35
I Kings 19, 22
JHWH’s Appearance to Elijah upon Mt. Sinai
The lying spirit to Ahab
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Lk 17:20-25
The Kingdom of God is within you
“Within the heart are unfathomable depths. It is but a small vessel and yet dragons and lions are there, and poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There likewise is God, there are the angels, there life and the Kingdom, there light and the Apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace: all things are there” (43.7).
Lk 18
Prayer, Humility, Riches & the Kingdom of God
Day 36
II Chron 20, 29:1-30:1; 34:1-35:1
Jehoshaphat’s Victory through Praise
Hezekiah’s Renewal
The Discovery of the Book of the Law and Josiah’s final struggle for Renewal
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Lk 22
“This is my Body”
“Not My Will but Thine be done”
Day 37
II Chron 36
The Destruction of Jerusalem
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Lk 23
The Passion
Day 38
Ezra 1
Nehemiah 8-9
Renewal in those “whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord”
Renewal in the Torah, Confession & Worship
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Lk 24
The Resurrection
“Then opened he their understanding (Nous), that they might understand the scriptures”
[The Spirit opening us up to understand the Scriptures as we behold the Risen Christ. The Prophets will only reinforce this]