Luke 9 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Luke) Free Bible Online

Luke 9

1 - He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

2 - He sent them out to preach God's Kingdom and to heal the sick.

3 - He said to them,"Take nothing for your journey-neither staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats apiece.

4 - Into whatever house you enter, stay there, and depart from there.

5 - As many as don't receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them."

6 - They departed, and went throughout the villages, preaching the Good News, and healing everywhere.

7 - Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him; and he was very perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

8 - and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

9 - Herod said, "John I beheaded, but who is this, about whom I hear such things?" He sought to see him.

10 - The apostles, when they had returned, told him what things they had done.He took them, and withdrew apart to a deserted place of a city called Bethsaida.

11 - But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, and spoke to them of God's Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing.

12 - The day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place."

13 - But he said to them,"You give them something to eat."They said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people."

But He said to them, "You give them [something] to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people."

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14 - For they were about five thousand men.He said to his disciples,"Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each."

15 - They did so, and made them all sit down.

16 - He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17 - They ate, and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

18 - As he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them,"Who do the multitudes say that I am?"

19 - They answered, "'John the Baptizer,' but others say, 'Elijah,' and others, that one of the old prophets is risen again."

20 - He said to them,"But who do you say that I am?"Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

21 - But he warned them, and commanded them to tell this to no one,

22 - saying,"The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up."

23 - He said to all,"If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,and follow me.

24 - For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it.

25 - For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

26 - For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels.

27 - But I tell you the truth: There are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see God's Kingdom."

28 - About eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up onto the mountain to pray.

29 - As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became white and dazzling.

30 - Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah,

31 - who appeared in glory, and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

32 - Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him.

33 - As they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let's make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not knowing what he said.

34 - While he said these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud.

35 - A voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!"

36 - When the voice came, Jesus was found alone. They were silent, and told no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

37 - On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great multitude met him.

38 - Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.

39 - Behold, a spirit takes him, he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams, and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely.

40 - I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn't."

41 - Jesus answered,"Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."

42 - While he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

43 - They were all astonished at the majesty of God.But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples,

44 - "Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men."

45 - But they didn't understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

46 - There arose an argument among them about which of them was the greatest.

47 - Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child, and set him by his side,

48 - and said to them,"Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great."

49 - John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he doesn't follow with us."

50 - Jesus said to him,"Don't forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us."

51 - It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem,

52 - and sent messengers before his face. They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him.

53 - They didn't receive him, because he was traveling with his face set towards Jerusalem.

54 - When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?"

55 - But he turned and rebuked them,"You don't know of what kind of spirit you are.

56 - For the Son of Man didn't come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."They went to another village.

57 - As they went on the way, a certain man said to him, "I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord."

58 - Jesus said to him,"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

59 - He said to another,"Follow me!"But he said, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."

60 - But Jesus said to him,"Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce God's Kingdom."

61 - Another also said, "I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house."

62 - But Jesus said to him,"No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for God's Kingdom."

The Book of Luke

Luke 1:1-4 - Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Luke 2:49 - And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Luke 19:42 - Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

Luke in The New Testament - A Brief Overview

Painting of St. Luke by El Greco - 1605

Introduction to The Gospel of Luke

The Word Gospel. The third book of the English Bible that most of us read from is the Gospel of Luke. Luke is the third of the four gospel writings, yet there is only one gospel about Jesus Christ and there are four different writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word "Gospel" means "good news", and the good news is about Jesus Christ dying on the cross and then 3 days later conquering death and rising from the dead, offering salvation to all mankind, this is the Gospel.

Summary of The Book of Luke

Brief Summary. Jesus was the most perfect man of all men, the perfect Son of God. Completely devoted to everyone, especially the weak. He was the most humble man that ever lived, and not only a servant, but the lowest slave. He completely put others first before He thought of Himself, the Son of man.

Purpose. Luke seems to portray Jesus as an ideal man, very appealing to the Greek culture which exalted reason, philosophy, the human mind, and beauty. Luke's writings were orderly and classical. he mentions that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before He chose His apostles (Luke 6:12-16), unlike the other Gospel accounts. There are also statements in Luke that speak of His purity more clearly, like when the centurion said "certainly this was a righteous man" (Luke 23:47). The other Gospel accounts seem to have a different focus in their portrayal of Christ. Luke also seems to reveal Christianity as a religion for all mankind and not just the Jews. For example, the lineage of Jesus is traced past Abraham all the way back to Adam the first man. Jesus is seen in Luke as a friend of sinners and a savior to anyone who would believe in Him. When considering both of Luke's works it is clear that he traces the origin, heart, and description of the Christian movement from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, to Antioch, to Macedonia, to Achaia, to Ephesus, and finally to Rome, the capital of the world. He examined eyewitnesses, knew personally and had close contact with the main followers of Christ like Mark and James, the brother of the Lord, Paul. Silas (a member of the Jerusalem Church) and no doubt many others.

Audience. Luke addressed his account of the life of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles to a man named Theophilus, yet it possesses a style that would appeal to all intelligent gentiles and would certain appeal to any believer. Theophilus could have been a gentile convert to Christianity who desired to know more of the facts surrounding the life of Jesus Christ, possibly a wealthy contributor to Christianity, no one can say for certain. The name Theophilus means "lover of God" and has been supposed by many to be a euphemism for all lovers of God in Christ.

Authorship. The gospel of Luke does not proclaim who the author is within the document, yet the historical information we have from the first two centuries of the Christian Era was unanimous in concluding that the writer was Luke. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1) as a continuing document, from the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus to Paul's imprisonment and ministry in Rome.

Date. Since the Book of Acts was written while Paul was in Rome, the date of Acts would be around 62 AD, and since the Gospel of Luke was mentioned as a "former 'treatise," Luke must have been written a few years earlier.

Place. It cannot be determined with certainty where the Gospel of Luke was written. Some of the early Church writers said it was written in Achaia. Many think Acts was most likely written in Rome and therefore Luke must have also. One common speculation is that the Gospel of Luke was written in Caesarea Maritima while Paul was in prison there a couple years before his journey to Rome.

The Man Luke. Luke was a gentile (non-Jew) and was not mentioned during the actual life of Jesus, but afterward he became a Christian under the influence of Paul the Apostle. Luke was described by Paul in his letter to the Church in Colossae as "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14). Luke was also mentioned as a companion of Paul on his missionary journeys, and on his third and last missionary journey he said that "only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke must have been an amazing man because he claims in the beginning of his account of the life of Christ that he "investigated everything carefully" (Luke 1 :1- 4). This would mean that he would have spoken with eyewitnesses to the miracles and events surround the ministry of Jesus. He was clearly persuaded by the facts that he was told and became a devoted follower of Christ and a companion of Paul until the end. There can be no doubt that Luke was a gentile believer, even his name "Luke" is a gentiloe name. Also in Colossians 4 it mentions the names Epaphras, Demas and Luke in contrast with those "of the circumcision." It is interesting to note that early Church leaders Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Eusebius mentioned in their writings that Luke was influenced by Paul when he wrote the third Gospel account.

Language. Luke was written in Greek, he was a gentile believer and uses a style similar to other important Greek documents. He uses a popular, non-literary Greek style, omitting Semitic and Latin "barbarisms"; yet, he manifests a rich vocabulary and a high degree of literary artistry, as seen in his ability to sketch the character of an individual in a few graphic strokes of the pen. A noted French philosopher and critic of the Bible called the book of Luke "the most beautiful book ever written."

Historical Trustworthiness. Throughout the history of the Church and especially during the 1800's their has been many targeted attacks on the historical trustworthiness of Luke's writings. As the science of archaeology increased technologically and archaeological discoveries from the first century were being uncovered, Luke's writings were emerged as extremely accurate. Luke has been heralded by many scholars as one of the ablest and most accurate historians of the ancient world.

Outline of the Book of Luke

His Birth, Childhood, Early Ministry - Chapters 1:1-4:13
His Ministry in Galilee - Chapters 4:14-9:50
His Journey to Jerusalem, Ministry - Chapters 9:51-21:38
His Rejection and Death - Chapters 22:1-23:56
His Resurrection and Ascension - Chapter 24:1-53

The Name Jesus In Ancient Hebrew Text
"Yeshua" in First Century Hebrew Text. This is how the name "Jesus" would have been written in ancient Hebrew documents. The four letters or consonants from right to left are Yod, Shin, Vav, Ayin (Y, SH, OO, A). Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name Joshua or Y'shua which means "The LORD or Yahweh is Salvation".

Luke Resources

Outline of the Life of Jesus in Harmony
Simple Map of First Century Israel
Topographical Map of First Century Israel
Map of the Ministry of Jesus
Map of the Roads in Ancient Israel
Map of the Roman Empire