Do you remember back in the 90s when high school girls’ bangs poofed off the front of their foreheads? Or do you recall when the internet first came out and you couldn’t be online and make a phone call from your landline at the same time? I wouldn’t be shocked if that sounds familiar. After all, it was only 30 years ago.

Just like the gospel of Luke. When Dr. Luke did his thorough research on the life of Jesus, his gospel masterpiece was completed in the 60s A.D., approximately 30 years after the death and resurrection of our Savior. Why does that matter? Because people were still around who remembered what happened. Luke writes, “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word” (1:1,2).

In a modern courtroom, few things matter as much to the judge and jury as the eyewitness testimony of the events, especially when the witnesses (1) agree to the story and (2) have little to gain from their testimony. No wonder Luke listened to every word handed down by the eyewitnesses of the Word made flesh. Despite the pain of persecution, they declared that Jesus lived, died, and rose.

You can be confident that every word Luke wrote is true. This is no story. This is the history of the God who came to this world to save you.