together with

Happy Tuesday, {{first_name| everyone}}!

If you missed yesterday’s introduction to Luke, you can find it here. And if you didn’t see the gift guide we sent out this weekend, click here to check it out.

Today we are looking at how Luke 1-3 is structured like a symphony and how our memory verse this week is the crescendo.

In today’s email…

  • 🙏 God is on the move again

  • 🧎 Make Jesus Lord over ALL your life

  • 📊 Trivia to see if you’re reading closely

MEMORIZE 🧠

And the angel said to them, “____ ___, for behold, _ ______ ___ _____ ____ of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10-11

CONTEXT 📕

Today we’re zooming in on how Luke chapter 2 fits into Luke’s opening chapters and how our memory verse sits at the very heart of it.

Luke 1–3 is a carefully built introduction, almost like a three-movement symphony:

Movement 1: Promise (Luke 1)

Luke begins with two surprising pregnancies — Elizabeth and Mary. He wants you to feel the rising hope of Israel after centuries of silence.

You can hear echoes of the Old Testament everywhere:

  • Elizabeth’s story mirrors Sarah’s

  • Mary’s story mirrors Hannah’s

  • Both sing songs that sound like the Psalms

Message: God is not done. He is moving again, and He’s moving in unexpected places.

Movement 2: Arrival (Luke 2)

Then comes the birth of Jesus, but not how you might expect it. Luke deliberately highlights tension:

  • A census ordered by Caesar Augustus (political pressure and exploitation)

  • A forced journey for a pregnant teenage girl

  • A birth outside normal shelter

  • Shepherds, considered unreliable outcasts, watching the night shift

This is the opposite of a cozy Hallmark Christmas card. It’s a world under strain. And it’s into this strain that the angel appears and announces:

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10–11

Luke puts this moment in the middle of all the hardship so you don’t miss the point: Jesus doesn’t enter a peaceful world - He enters a broken one.

Movement 3: Preparation (Luke 3)

Right after the birth narrative, Luke introduces us to John the Baptist —
the one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord…” (Luke 3:4)

Why does Luke do this?

Because Luke 1–2 is about a promise fulfilled, and Luke 3 is about hearts prepared. Luke wants us to see the pattern clearly:

  1. First, God acts

  2. Then, we respond

And it’s no accident that our memory verses sit between these two movements.

Luke 2:10–11 is the hinge of the story. The announcement of Jesus’ birth is where promise becomes arrival and arrival becomes invitation.

Luke 2:10–11 is the moment where everything comes together:

  • The promises of chapter 1

  • The humble setting of chapter 2

  • The preparation for chapter 3

And the titles the angel gives — Savior, Christ, Lord — are the roadmap for everything that follows.

If Luke 1–3 is the overture, then Luke 2:10–11 is the crescendo. It’s the moment when the heavens finally break their silence and declare that the King has finally come.

APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃‍♂

Just like Luke places Jesus’ birth inside a world of dirt, discomfort and difficulty, find one place of difficulty in your life today and speak Luke 2:10–11 into it.

Not as a cliché or as a shallow reassurance. Proclaim that Jesus enters here. Jesus is Savior here. Jesus is Lord here.

Maybe it’s:

  • A tense relationship

  • Physical and emotional exhaustion

  • Financial pressure you’re carrying silently

  • A big decision you don’t know how to make

  • Weariness you can’t shake

Open your Bible, read Luke 2:10-11 aloud, and place the announcement of the angels directly into that situation.

Tell God the truth about how you’re feeling or what you’re struggling with and ask Him to help you let the good news break into your situation.

🙏 Pray

Father, thank You that the birth of Jesus didn’t happen apart from hardship but right in the middle of it. Teach me to see Your presence not just in the peaceful moments but in the pressured ones too. Amen.

TOGETHER WITH VOICE OF THE MARTYRS

They lost everything for the gospel. Twice.

When Marxist guerrillas overran their Colombian village in March 2024, Luis and Sofia evacuated 30 Christians by boat with only what they could carry.

Their home was destroyed. Their possessions gone. This was the second time in five years they'd lost everything ministering in Colombia's "red zones" — areas controlled by militant groups who oppose the gospel.

But here's what they told front-line workers:

"For me, to die is gain. So what is the worst that can happen? That I gain?"

They're now replanting churches in the red zones, reaching the very guerrillas who opposed them. Click below to read their full story.

TRIVIA 📊

Click one of the answers below. Let’s see how you do…

According to Luke 2:10–11, which three titles does the angel announce about Jesus at His birth?

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ANSWER KEY

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:10-11

Best,

The Malachi Daily team 🙏

Today’s Contributors

Payton is a husband and father in Vero Beach, FL. He serves as the Email Marketing Manager at Faith Driven Entrepreneur and helps Christians master storytelling through his newsletter, Christian Story Lab.

Kieran is a husband and father living in NJ. In addition to Malachi Daily, he writes a personal newsletter about the intersection of faith, fatherhood and entrepreneurship.

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