God Is Faithful

“God Is Faithful” – July 20th, 2025

In 1989, my early days of living in Atlanta, when I wanted to gift someone with a Bible, I drove over to Christian Armory in Tucker to browse their extensive selection. Years later, I purchased Bibles and other study materials at http://www.cbd.com/, Christian Book Distributors. These days, I hop on https://www.biblehub.com/ or https://www.biblegateway.com/ to access translations, tools, and even ancient Hebrew and Greek texts. We have it pretty easy in the twenty-first century, where almost anyone in the world with a phone can read or even hear the Bible in their own language, often with multiple translation options. We could spend a lifetime learning about the ways in which the Bible has come to us. It’s fascinating!

And yet, it’s important to know that the Bible did not just drop from the sky. It was compiled by the church, bringing together oral tradition and writings from a large number of authors across a wide span of centuries, cultures, and locations. When we view the Bible as a rulebook, it inevitably leads to private interpretations of a literalist and legalistic kind.

By faith, the church confesses that the Bible is God’s word. Peter Enns, author of one of my most impactful and thought-provoking seminary texts so far, Inspiration and Incarnation, says that “The Bible is ultimately from God and is God’s gift to the church.” He points out that it is up to Christians of each generation to work out what it means for the Bible to be God’s word. When we rely on the Bible, especially the New Testament, as authoritative, within the living church, the body of Christ, there is room for the development of thought and the spirit of inquiry. The Bible is unique in that it is the only book in all of human history in which God speaks incarnately. We believe in the incarnation of Jesus, as in Matthew 1:23 – “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is with us.’” And, in Colossians 2:9 – “For in [Christ Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God. As it is with Christ, so it is with the Bible – the ‘coming together’ of the divine and human sets it apart from all others.” Enns urges us to both embrace and to engage with the Bible in our generation: “A thoroughly encultured Bible, like a thoroughly encultured Jesus, is exactly what God has given the church and should therefore be embraced as is and engaged honestly and without apology (in both senses of the word).”

As we continue our journey through the gospel of Luke, we are going to focus today on God’s faithfulness, a core aspect of God’s nature. We see this demonstrated by God’s unwavering commitment to his covenant promises, God’s providential care, and God’s ultimate purpose for the people of God.

Today we are going to look at five interactions in which we see God’s faithfulness in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke.

God’s faithfulness: Gabriel -> Zechariah

We see God’s faithfulness in the angel Gabriel’s words to Zechariah, in Luke 1:13-17 – “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Zechariah and Elizabeth were both of priestly and Aaronic descent, linking them to one of the two most important families in Israel who had received promises from God. In the Old Testament book of Numbers 18:8, 19, we read, “The Lord spoke to Aaron: I have given you charge of the offerings made to me, all the holy gifts of the Israelites; I have given them to you and your sons as a priestly portion due you in perpetuity … All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I have given to you, together with your sons and daughters, as a perpetual due; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and your descendants as well.” Both “in perpetuity” and “forever” come from the Hebrew word olam which means eternity, everlasting, time out of mind.

God is faithful to fulfill all of God’s promises to God’s people, with lavish, self-giving love. Luke shows us that God has the big picture in mind – this child to be born would be the forerunner of the one who would inaugurate God’s everlasting kingdom reign on earth for the salvation and rescue of the whole world. Simultaneously, Luke shows us that God takes care of individual human concerns as well, like Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s long-awaited desire to become parents!

God’s faithfulness: Gabriel -> Mary

We see God’s faithfulness in the angel Gabriel’s words to Mary in Luke 1:30-33 – “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Here we are told that Jesus is, through his earthly father Joseph, descended from David, the other of the two most important families in Israel who had received promises from God. The prophet Nathan had spoken God’s word to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14 – “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.” Olam – forever – again! This prophecy tells us that the coming king would be David’s offspring. It also says that this descendant of David would somehow also be God’s son! Psalm 2:7-8, which we are told in Acts 4 is a Psalm of David, confirms this: “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.’”

God is faithful to bring his everlasting, forever kingdom rule and reign (that extends to the nations, the ends of the earth) into the present, through the child soon to be born, Jesus, Son of the Most High.

God’s faithfulness: Mary -> Elizabeth

We see God’s faithfulness in Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s naming Mary “the mother of my Lord,” in Luke 1:46-55 – “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.’

God is faithful to reveal, even before he was born, that Jesus is God the Savior, the mighty one, the holy one, the merciful one. By the power of the Holy Spirit, starting with Jesus and continuing through the church, God’s faithfulness is proclaimed and demonstrated from generation to generation through healing (physically, emotionally, and socially); acts of steadfast love, justice, and righteousness; and deliverance of those held captive by evil.

God’s faithfulness: Zechariah -> neighbors and relatives

We see God’s faithfulness in Zechariah’s prophetic words of praise following the birth of his son, John the Baptist, in Luke 1:68-71 – “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.” Zechariah’s poem describes how God, at long last, is finally going to do what he promised many centuries prior.

N. T. Wright helps us to understand Zechariah’s agony and relief pouring out of him – “God’s people had had their fill of hatred and oppression. One evil empire after another had trampled them underfoot; now at last God was going to give them deliverance. We can feel the long years of pain and sorrow, of darkness and death, overshadowing his mind. Nameless enemies are lurking round the corner in his imagination and experience. No doubt it was partly this that had made him question Gabriel’s word in the first place. But we can also feel the long years of quiet prayer and trust. God had promised to send a new David. God had spoken of a prophet who would go ahead to prepare the way. All these things he had known, believed, prayed, and longed for. Now they were all to come true.” God is faithful to help God’s people, even in the face of great trouble, trials, or testing, to rest confidently in the reliability of all of God’s promises.

God’s faithfulness: Angel of the Lord -> shepherds

We see God’s faithfulness most clearly in the birth of God’s anointed, Jesus, in whom the good news of salvation is inaugurated and fulfilled. Notice the angel’s words to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-11 – “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” And pay attention to Simeon’s words as he held baby Jesus in his arms in the Temple in Luke 2:30-32 – “my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

God is faithful to bring good news of great joy for all people, both Jews and Gentiles, and to act on behalf of all people.

So we see throughout the first two chapters of Luke celebration after celebration of God’s faithfulness to keep God’s promises.

If you’ve ever taken a long road trip, you know that sometimes you just need to pull into a rest area and check maps and plans. Sometimes, even with the best tools available, we need some recalibration.

Septuagint

So, let’s have a little rest stop here to talk about something that happened about 270 years before Jesus was born. The Septuagint, also known as the Greek Old Testament, is a translation done in the third century BC by 72 Hebrew translators, six from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. This important translation made the Old Testament more accessible to Jews, especially those from the diaspora who no longer spoke Hebrew. Fast forward 300 years to Luke’s day. The early Christian church used the Septuagint, because Greek was the common language for much of the Roman Empire and of the church.

There is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, vav, that is written as a vertical line or a tent peg. There is one word in Amos 9:12 that in the Septuagint is rendered “Adam,” which means “humankind.” However, in some other translations, the word is rendered “Edom,” referring to Abraham’s son Isaac’s older son, who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob. Remember, the Septuagint translation was made hundreds of years before Jesus by Jewish scholars, not by Christian scholars.

Here is Amos 9:11-12 as it is rendered in the Septuagint – “In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it, and will set up the parts thereof that have been broken down, and will build it up as in the ancient days: that the remnant of [humankind], and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek , saith the Lord who does all these things.”

But if we go to my favorite translation, the NRSV, that phrase in verse 12 is rendered, “the remnant of Edom.” It boils down to whether God’s promise is for all humankind, all people, upon whom the Lord’s name is called, or for those of “Edom” who are called by the Lord’s name.

This is why we talked earlier about the importance of both embracing and engaging with the Bible. How do we know which translation choice conveys God’s intended meaning conveyed to us by Amos? Interestingly, the answer to that question lies in something Luke wrote in Acts, his second book. Luke has left us a huge clue in a speech given by James, who quotes the very same verses from the book of Amos. Listen to what James says in Acts 15:15-17a – “This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; from its ruins I will rebuild it, and I will set it up, so that all other peoples may seek the Lord— even all the Gentiles over whom my name has been called.’” James clearly quoted this passage from the Septuagint. He spoke this in a discussion concerning the first great controversy recorded in the early church, the question of whether God’s promises of old still held. James’s words convey a resounding yes – God’s promises of old held for all humankind, both the Jews and even all the Gentiles who put their faith in Jesus Christ! The apostle Peter had just agreed in Acts 15:11, “we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they [the Gentiles] will.”

How we interpret Scripture matters! It’s crucial to remember that every translation choice is an interpretation. There is no such thing as “a plain reading of Scripture.” Luke speaks much of God’s faithfulness to Israel. If we read “Israel” to be a political or nationalistic word, we will then expect God’s kingdom to be a literal, earthly empire with the literal city of Jerusalem at its center. Remember the Hosanna parade folks gave for Jesus when he entered Jerusalem? They had that kind of empire uppermost in their minds, as they expected Messiah to come and overthrow the Roman Empire and replace it with a literal, earthly empire under King Jesus. And yet, we already know that Jesus did not overthrow the Roman rule over Palestine. Jesus did not establish Yahweh’s political reign over Israel. Numerous New Testament passages speak of the promises of the covenant being fulfilled, but instead of through the descendants of Abraham, this would happen through Jesus and the church.

However, when we read “Israel” as “the people of God,” then we can begin to understand Luke’s intended message. One of the primary features of Luke’s work is an emphasis on God’s faithfulness to the new people of God, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles.

Luke goes on to assure us that God is forever faithful because God is always true to who God is. God does not turn away from us. Jesus says in John 10:9-10, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” And the apostle Paul assures us of God’s faithfulness in Romans 10:12-13, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” God desires that all people would through Jesus enter into and have abundant life!

God does not turn away from people. Sadly, it is we humans who choose to turn away from God. Tragically, some have chosen to cut themselves off from the people of God by rejecting Jesus Christ, God’s own son. Luke provides an example of this in Luke 7:30 when he says that “by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.” God is faithful even when we are not.

Luke shows us that the prophecies of old continue to be fulfilled. In Luke’s understanding of salvation history, there is unity in the story of God and continuity in the people of God from the Old Testament to Jesus Christ and now to the body of Christ, the church. Luke both informs us and invites us to become part of the good news story that continues to spread outward in ever-widening circles.

Whatever you’re dealing with today, God is faithful. God is faithful when we are weak, as we remember precious ones in need of healing and precious ones in need of hope. God is faithful when we are fearful, as we remember precious ones facing uncertainty, deprivation, devastation, or war.

One of my heroes of the faith, missionary and orphanage founder Amy Carmichael, penned this beautiful poem from the bed of pain to which she was literally confined for the last 20 years of her life:

O wind of God, blow through the trees; O birds of God, come sing your song; For now I know the joy that frees, The joy that makes the weakest strong.

The vapors march in shining crowds, High in the trackless roads of air; I look, and lo, unto the clouds, His faithfulness is even there!

Pass foolish fears; the fresh winds blow; O birds of God, come sing with me. My God is faithful this I know; My Father, I have all in Thee.

Whatever season of life you are in, God is faithful! God is faithful at the beginning of life, as we remember precious infants living in wombs and precious infants lost from wombs. God is faithful at the end of life, as we remember precious ones experiencing failing physical and mental capacities and precious ones nearing imminent transitions. Nineteenth century minister, poet, and hymnwriter, Thomas O. Chisholm wrote a poem that has encouraged Christians through the centuries to remember that God is faithful. We are going to close by listening to and / or singing a modern rendition of this beloved hymn, with a few lyrics incorporated by Jason Ingram and Mike Weaver of One Sonic Society. God is faithful!

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