More by Ryle

Hello All,

I love the simplicity of Ryle.  I am going through his commentary on Luke and I have come across these gleanings that are brief, but edifying.  They are worthy of meditation.

Enjoy.  As always, drop me a line and let me know what you think. 

~Al 

But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 

And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. 

And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. Lk 1:13-18

 

 

We learn, in the third place, the nature of true great greatness.  The angel describes it, when he tells Zacharias that his son "shall be great in the sight of the Lord."

That his son "shall be great in the sight of the Lord." The measure of greatness which is common among men is utterly false and deceptive. Princes and potentates, conquerors and leaders of armies, statesmen and philosophers, artists and authors, —these are the kind of men whom the world calls "great." Such greatness is not recognized among the angels of God. Those who do great things for God, they reckon great. Those who do little for God, they reckon little. They measure and value every man according to the position in which he is likely to stand at the last day.

Let us not be ashamed to make the angels of God our example in this matter. Let us seek for ourselves and our children that true greatness which will be owned and recognized in another world. It is a greatness which is within the reach of all,—of the poor as well as the rich,—of the servant as well as of the master. It does not depend on power or patronage, on money or on friends. It is the free gift of God to all who seek it at the Lord Jesus Christ's hands. It is the portion of all who hear Christ's voice and follow Him, -who fight Christ's battle and do Christ's work in the world. Such may receive little honor in this life. But great shall be their reward at the last day.

 

We learn, in the last place, from these verses, the character of a really great and successful minister of God. The picture is set before us in a striking manner by the Angel's description of John the Baptist. He is one who will "turn hearts," — turn them from ignorance to knowledge, from carelessness to thoughtfulness, from sin to God. —He is one who will "go before the Lord," he will delight in nothing so much as being the messenger and herald of Jesus Christ. He is one who "will make ready a people for the Lord." He will strive to gather out of the world a company of believers, who will be ready to meet the Lord in the day of His appearing.

 

 

We see in this passage, the power of unbelief in a good man.  Righteous and holy as Zacharias was, the announcement of the angel appears to him incredible. He cannot think it possible that an old man like himself should have a son. "Whereby shall I know this?" he says, "for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years."

A well-instructed Jew, like Zacharias, ought not to have raised such a question. No doubt he was well acquainted with the Old Testament Scriptures. He ought to have remembered the wonderful births of Isaac, and Samson, and Samuel in old times. He ought to have remembered that what God has done once, he can do again, and that with Him nothing is impossible. But he forgot all this. He thought of nothing but the arguments of mere human reason and sense. And it often happens in religious matters, that where reason begins, faith ends.

Let us learn wisdom from the fault of Zacharias. It is a fault to which God's people in every age have been sadly liable. The histories of Abraham, and Isaac, and Moses, and Hezekiah, and Jehoshaphat, will all show us that a true believer may sometimes be overtaken by unbelief. It is one of the first corruptions which came into man's heart in the day of the fall, when Eve believed the devil rather than God. It is one of the most deep-rooted sins by which a saint is plagued, and from which he is never entirely freed till he dies. Let us pray daily, "Lord, increase my faith." Let us not doubt that when God says a thing, that thing shall be fulfilled.

----Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St Luke, Rev. J.C. Ryle, 1850