Luke 1 v 3 & 4. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
As we recommence our “thought for the day”, we do so remembering that the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us in the Gospels as a King. But He does not look like, nor behave as do the Kings of the earth. Although born in poor circumstances, His birth was nevertheless proclaimed with joy by heavenly beings called angels, indicating the uniqueness of the event we celebrate at Christmas.
Now, as we leave the birth narrative behind we want to see how this uncommon King carries out his agenda. And we can do no better than to follow his unfolding story as told by Luke. It is also a great help to know exactly what Luke was trying to do by setting down his record of Jesus of Nazareth . He tells us himself what he was trying to achieve in chapter 1 vs 1-4. He had a friend, Theophilus by name, indicating that he was most probably a gentile, for the name is a Greek name, who was anxious to know whether what he had heard about Jesus was true. Luke thus sets out his account about Jesus and explicitly states that his record is reliable and authoritative because he has taken great pains to go to the original sources. He “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” (v 3).
This is a great blessing for us, for Luke, a physician, trained to observe and sift evidence, assures all Christians for all time through this correspondence with his friend, that everything the Gospels tell us about Jesus is true and it really happened.
Luke takes items of conversation and teaching and also various incidents which occurred and by careful selection weaves together the story of Jesus from the point of view of one gentile writing to another gentile with the aim of showing him what a unique person Jesus was and how he welcomes all who turn to him.
We should be very grateful for Luke 1 vs 1-4, for they assure us we do not believe in myths and fairy tales but rather in objective truths. Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, enough detail is given to us to know Jesus and believe in Him. We should of course remember the Gospels are compressed accounts of the life of Jesus. It is John who reminds us that “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written”. (John 21 v 25).
So, even though we struggle along in life, or feel weak and ignorant about God, when we believe in Jesus we believe in accurately recorded history and in a Saviour who truly came into our world for our sakes. No matter how weak we may feel ourselves to be, this Jesus is our Saviour, even to this very day. He will not fail us.