Loosening the Tongue

Luke 1:64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.



64 ἀνεῴχθη δὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ παραχρῆμα καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλάλει εὐλογῶν τὸν θεόν.

Something struck me about this verse today.  I normally read over this pretty quickly.  After all, I'm familiar with the story.  This is one of those times when having to slow down by reading in Greek really helped me.  I got to think about the phrase καὶ ἐλάλει εὐλογῶν τὸν θεόν.

This is a man who was mute for upwards of 9 months after he saw the vision in the temple.  It occurs to me that Elizabeth probably didn't mind having a mute husband while she was pregnant as he couldn't say anything stupid to her.  But that's not my point today.

I am struck by his reaction to regaining his speech.  What is the first thing that he did after he could speak?  He εὐλογῶν τὸν θεόν.  That is a present active participle in the nominative case.  Put it all together and he was "one praising God."  Keep in mind that this is the same God who took away his speech in the first place because of his unbelief.  And yet this is how he reacts.  He doesn't shake his fist at the heavens.  He doesn't say anything banal.  Instead, he uses his regained voice to bless God.

I think that this is also a great image of what happens to someone upon salvation.  We go from being unable to bless God to being able to bless God.  And if we are truly saved and we truly understand what it means to go from bearing righteous condemnation to gracious freedom we cannot help but bless God.

This gives me pause in how I live my life.  I go through the motions very well.  I am disciplined and by most external measures doing pretty well in my walk.  But how much does my heart really bless God?  I am thankful for reminders like this that convict me and remind me of how I was saved from God's righteous wrath.  How else can I react but to bless Him?

He is Worthy

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

9 καὶ ᾄδουσιν ᾠδὴν καινὴν λέγοντες· ἄξιος εἶ λαβεῖν τὸ βιβλίον καὶ ἀνοῖξαι τὰς σφραγῖδας αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐσφάγης καὶ ἠγόρασας τῷ θεῷ ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου ἐκ πάσης φυλῆς καὶ γλώσσης καὶ λαοῦ καὶ ἔθνους 10  καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερεῖς, καὶ βασιλεύσουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

We're starting to get into the visions now.  I don't claim to know what they all mean beyond what John interprets for us, but I do know that there are plenty of doxological passages in here.  This is one of them.  John has a vision of a scroll with seven seals.  The problem is that no one can open the seals.  This grieves John because he desperately wants to know what is in the book.

Fortunately, there is one worthy to open the seals.  He is the one seated on the throne.  Based on the description here, this person can only be Jesus.  Or, if you prefer, King Jesus.

I really don't have any profound truths to draw from this.  I think the proper response is the same as the living creatures and the 24 elders.  All we can do is bow in reverent awe of who He is.  Jesus alone is the one worthy to break the seals.  Jesus alone is able to set us free from our sins.  Jesus is the reigning Lord on His throne right now (see Ephesians).  He is the beginning and the end.  Everything in history points to Him.  Everything in the future points to Him.

Yes, He is worthy of our praise.  In fact, only He is worthy of our praise.  What or who else are you praising?  My list is too long to count sometimes.  Let's give Him the praise only He deserves, amen?

The Only Reaction

Acts 3:8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

8 καὶ ἐξαλλόμενος ἔστη καὶ περιεπάτει καὶ εἰσῆλθεν σὺν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν περιπατῶν καὶ ἁλλόμενος καὶ αἰνῶν τὸν θεόν.

This man was sitting at the temple begging.  He had to beg because he had no means of support.  He had problems with his feet and ankles.  Therefore, he could not work.  I think it's safe to say that he was not educated as a Scribe so he could basically have a cushy desk job.  He had to beg.  Peter did not give him alms, but he did give him the use of his legs and feet.  This verse shows us how he reacted.  He ἐξαλλόμενος or "leaped up."  It's translated "leaping" because it is a participle.  The word ἁλλόμενος used later is the same word minus the εκ prefix.  He was simply leaping rather than "leaping up."

This passage certainly shows the power of God over sickness.  However, I also think that it shows us the proper reaction to contact with God.  The biblical view of man is quite low.  Spiritually-speaking, we are like this man.  We are unable to walk on our own.  We cannot get up.  All we can do is beg for grace.  To those of us who are Christians God in His mercy gave us His grace.

What is your reaction to this?  Do you just take it in stride like nothing happened?  Does it change the way you life your life?  Is your life basically the same, but now you've added Jesus to it so you can punch your ticket to heaven?  Or is your reaction like this paralytic?  Are you effectively leaping and praising?  I'm not saying that your reaction needs to look like this, but in a spiritual sense it should not be far off.

If you don't have some form of "leaping and praising God," then do you really understand what salvation is all about?  I would say no.

Crying Praise

(Luk 19:1 ESV) 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." 

(Luk 19:1 BGT) 40  καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσουσιν, οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν.

You'll notice that the formatting is a bit different today.  I just got BibleWorks 8 last night and plan to use that going forward.

This response comes after the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke His disciples for singing His praises.  Jesus' point seems to be that He is so worthy of praise that if they were silent then the stones would cry out.  In other words, He simply must be praised.

There isn't anything special about the Greek here.  οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν is just a future active indicative construct. In this case it appears to be a future of certainty.  The stones would definitely cry out if the disciples didn't sing Jesus' praises.

Would you get similarly rebuked by anyone today?  Has anyone told you to stop singing Jesus' praises?  Has anyone been offended by your praise and adulation for Jesus?  I'm not saying that you should look for ways to offend people for the sake of offending them.  However, I do wonder if we are too silent in our quest for harmony.

I know that I am guilty of that.  I have a coworker who is not so much so.  He periodically does get rebuked for his passion.  Frankly, that convicts me a little bit.  Shouldn't we be known for our praise of our Lord as much as the disciples were?

Giving Praise Back

Luke 9:10
(10)  On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.

(10)  Καὶ ὑποστρέψαντες οἱ ἀπόστολοι διηγήσαντο αὐτῷ ὅσα ἐποίησαν. καὶ παραλαβὼν αὐτοὺς ὑπεχώρησεν κατ' ἰδίαν εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά.

Every time I read about this I have a sense of the apostles coming back with a mixture of righteous pride and surprise.  The righteous pride is being proud of what God has done.  It is not pride in themselves, but in their God.  Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but that's kind of how I picture it.

I also imagine a little bit of surprise.  They had to have been at least a little bit amazed the first time they were able to cast out a demon or heal someone who was sick.  They had seen Jesus do it, but now they had that authority too as delegated to them by Jesus.

I also think of them like proud children coming to their dad when they do something big.  It could be like riding your bike without training wheels.  Or maybe it's swimming around the pool.  The point is that it is something that dad had encouraged you to do and you were able to do it for the first time.

I take this as something of an imperative for us to offer back praise to God when He answers prayers.  It's so easy to get caught up in what we want next that we may forget that He is the source.  I think that He must appreciate it when we give Him the glory for what He has done in our lives.