Luke 1:5-25

Joel Miles

November 26, 2023

With a friend, your family or in your small group, discuss the following questions:

1. The way that Luke 1:5 is written indicates that Luke is continuing the story of the Old Testament. How did the OT end? Why is this important for how we understand Luke 1:5?

  2.  Read Luke 1:5-7. In these verses we not only learn that it has been 400 years of waiting for God to fulfill his promises to his people, but             also that there is a righteous couple who is barren. What kind of questions does this cause us to ask about God? In what ways can you         identify with God's people at this time, or Zechariah and Elizabeth?

  3.  Read Luke 1:8-17. According to these verses, who is this child? (compare this again to the end of the OT, specifically Malachi 4). 

  4.  The "prayer" the angel is referring to in verse 13 likely is not Zechariah's prayer for a child (since in verse 19-20 it clearly shows that he               thinks it is almost impossible for God to give him a child). Why do you think this is significant that God is fulfilling the promises of OT by           giving a child to a couple that thinks it is impossible for God to do that?

  5.  What do you long for, but no longer pray for? What do you think is impossible to reverse? How this text speak to that?

  6.  How does this text reveal what the gift of Christmas is truly about? 

  7.  Compare the responses of Zechariah and Elizabeth. What do you notice? How can we be like Elizabeth in our response to God's                       promises and fulfillment? 

 8.  How can we encourage one another to know that God is faithful to his promises, and that he will reverse the pain and ways of our                  world?