The Temple in Luke's Gospel by Andrew De Ville

This is a well written book by Andrew De Ville. It is comprehensive, practical and devotional, drawing attention to many of Luke’s perceptions of not only the temple but of the Lord Jesus Himself.

We are reminded in the overview that “Luke immediately takes us to the temple where we find a priest, Zacharias, offering incense at the altar of incense”. Andrew deals with this priestly man and his wife Elizabeth and their moral suitability. Then considering Anna, he writes “She was in the right place and she occupied her time profitably yet sacrificially. She devotedly served her God in denying herself and engaging in prayer in “the house of prayer” as designated by the Lord Himself (Lk 19.46).”

It is pointed out that only Luke draws attention to the Lord’s visit to the temple as a boy of 12. He writes, “the desires of Christ were to be in the house of God” and that He did what was befitting a boy of 12, “hearing and asking questions”.

In chapter 6, Andrew takes time to give a summary of the three temptations of the Lord before focusing on the reference to the pinnacle of the temple in the third. He suggests that “at the heart of this test was how the Lord would enter the outer court of the temple”. The devil’s suggestion “might appeal to the pride of life but it was certainly not the manner the Lord chose to enter Jerusalem”. The conclusion reached is that “we need to have well-honed spiritual antennae to detect when something is being presented to us amiss.”

In chapter 7 we are reminded that God moves governmentally in His House, dealing with this subject in a most instructive and challenging manner. The latter chapters deal with the Lord’s visits to the temple before His crucifixion, and cover teaching, challenges, doctrine and giving.

This is an excellent book, and full of spiritual matter and will be valuable to every interested believer.