The same day of Jesus’s resurrection, two men are walking to a village called Emmaus when Jesus appears to them. The men don’t recognize Jesus so they begin telling Jesus all that has happened the last couple of days regarding Jesus’s crucifixion and the report of His resurrection by the women.

Jesus responds, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” Then Jesus begins to explain Himself to the men by telling them the Story! “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Later the men say, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So the men go and tell the other disciples, who were hiding from the Jews, that Jesus is alive. While they are sharing the good news, Jesus appears and says, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Doubting Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared. So he says he will not believe unless he sees and touches Jesus’s wounds for himself. Jesus gives Thomas what he thinks he needs in order to believe and then Jesus says, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus appears again to a few disciples while they are fishing. When Peter realizes it is Jesus, he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore to be reunited with his friend and his Savior whom he denied 3 times. However, Jesus still loves Peter despite any past or future failures. So Jesus restores Peter and commissions him to care for His people.

We end the reading with the Lord giving His disciples final instructions. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Tomorrow we end the Gospel Era 🎉 and begin the Church and Missions Eras. Keep reading.

(Luke 24:13-43, Mark 16:12-13, John 20:19-23, Mark 16:14, John 20:24-21:25, Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:44-49)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

That evening, the day before the Sabbath, a prominent man named Joseph asks Pilate for Jesus’s body. Joseph and Nicodemus (the Pharisee who visited Jesus at night (John 3:1-22)) prepare Jesus’s body for burial and place Him in an empty tomb. “And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.” The chief priests and Pharisees place guards out front of the tomb to secure the stone at the entrance of the tomb and to guard it so no one will steal Jesus’s body and claim that He has risen.

The day after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went back to the tomb. There they find the stone rolled away, the guards frozen like dead men, and the tomb empty. Then an angel asks the women, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

“And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”

But Peter and John race to the tomb (with John winning the race as he makes sure to note 😁) and all they find are linen cloths and the handkerchief that was on Jesus’s head folded together in a place by itself. Then the disciples believe and return home.

But Mary stays outside the tomb weeping. Then Jesus appears to Mary and calls her by name and tells her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” So Mary, commissioned by Jesus to deliver the news of His resurrection to the disciples, goes and tells them the words of Jesus.

Meanwhile, the chief priests pay some soldiers to lie and say that His disciples took Jesus’s body during the night. “So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.”

Tomorrow Jesus appears to the disciples. Keep reading.

(Mark 15:42-47, Matthew 27:57-61, Luke 23:50-56, John 19:38-42, Matthew 27:62-66, Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:1-7, Luke 24:1-12, Mark 16:9-11, John 20:1-18, Matthew 28:8-15)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Jesus, being so badly wounded during the scourging, is unable to carry the cross for His crucifixion. So they grab a guy, Simon, a Cyrenian, who is passing by and make him carry it. When they arrive at Golgotha, they hang Jesus on the cross between 2 thieves and place a sign over His head that says,

“THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

They divide His garments and cast lots for them. This is a fulfillment of Scripture (Psalm 22:18). And while Jesus is hanging on the cross, insults after insults are hurled at Him but Jesus responds, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

One of the thieves being crucified taunts Jesus by saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the thief being crucified on the other side of Jesus rebukes his fellow criminal by saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” 🙌 And just like that, one of the criminals went from being a sinful thief to a child of God who will be in heaven for eternity!

Before Jesus dies He ensures that His mother, probably widowed, will be cared for by His beloved disciple, John. “And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” As the elder son, Jesus entrusts his mother to John because His brothers were not believers at this time nor were they present at His crucifixion.

”Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’ Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

”Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this Man was the Son of God!’”

”And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”

“Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken’ (Ps 34:20, Ex 12:46, Num 9:12). And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced’” (Zech 12:10, Rev 1:7).

Tomorrow, Jesus rises from the dead. Keep reading.

(Mark 15:21-24, Matthew 27:32-34, Luke 23:26-31, John 19:17-18, Mark 15:25-32, Matthew 27:35-44, Luke 23:32-43, John 19:19-27, Mark 15:33-41, Matthew 27:45-56, Luke 23:44-49, John 19:28-37)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

While Jesus is standing before Pilate, He is accused of many things, but Jesus remains silent. ”Then Pilate asked Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ He answered him and said, ‘It is as you say.’ So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, ‘I find no fault in this Man.’ But they were the more fierce, saying, ‘He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.’”

When Pilate finds out Jesus is a Galilean he sends Him to Herod. Jesus is silent when He is questioned by Herod. “Then Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other.”

Pilate tells the Jews that he finds no fault in Jesus and neither did Herod for Herod sent Jesus back. Pilate says, “I will therefore chastise Him and release Him.”

“And they all cried out at once, saying, ‘Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas’— who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder…But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.”

”Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.”

But the Story doesn’t end with His crucifixion so keep reading.

(Mark 15:2-5, Matthew 27:11-14, Luke 23:1-12, John 18:28-40, Mark 15:6-15, Matthew 27:15-26, Luke 23:13-25, John 19:1-16, Mark 15:16-20, Matthew 27:27-31, Luke 22:63-65)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

Today Jesus is brought before Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and elders are assembled. They try to get false testimony against Jesus but find none.

”But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” They did not know that Jesus wasn’t talking about the temple building; He was talking about Himself.

So Caiaphas says to Jesus, “‘Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?’ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, ‘I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?’”

“They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death.’ Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?’”

Judas, overwhelmed with guilt, brings the silver back to the priests and elders saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” ”Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.’ And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.’” (There are several possibilities out there on why Matthew said Jeremiah instead of Zechariah: translation issue, Jeremiah spoke the prophecy but Zechariah recorded it, or Matthew is referring to the scrolls of Jeremiah which include the Book of Zechariah. – from Blue Letter Bible)

Tomorrow Jesus goes before Pontius Pilate, the governor. Keep reading.

(Mark 14:53-65, Matthew 26:57-68, Mark 14:66-72, Matthew 26:69-75, Luke 22:54-62, John 18:25-27, Mark 15:1, Matthew 27:1-2, Luke 22:66-71, Matthew 27:3-10)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

“Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.’”

”And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Instead of keeping watch and praying while Jesus was so distressed that He was sweating blood, the disciples went to sleep. When Jesus finds them sleeping He tells them to “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

”And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’”

Then Peter jumps into action and cuts off the right ear of the high priest’s servant. Peter still doesn’t understand that Jesus must die in order for him and anyone else who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior to be redeemed and restored to the Lord. So Jesus tells Peter, “‘Permit even this.’ And He touched the ear of the servant and healed him.” Then Jesus tells them that He could pray to His father, the Lord, and He would provide Him with more than 12 legions of angels to help Him. However, Jesus is obedient and He is willingly going with them in order to fulfill Scripture and God’s plan for salvation.

So “they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.” There Jesus is falsely accused and struck by an officer.

Tomorrow, Jesus is taken to Caiaphas, the high priest. Keep reading.

(John 18:1-2, Mark 14:32-42, Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:39-46, Mark 14:43-52, Matthew 26:47-56, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:3-24)

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Jesus tells His disciples that the world will hate them just as it hated Him and that there will be persecution. As Christ followers, we should not expect less. “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

By grace through faith we are saved; brought from death to life. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). This is why Jesus tells His disciples it is better for them if He goes to be with the Father so He can pour the Spirit out on them. ”However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

”A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” Jesus is going to be crucified but then He will rise from the dead 3 days later defeating death. After 40 more days on earth, Jesus will ascend to be with His Father in heaven. But He will not leave His disciples alone for He will send them the Helper, the Holy Spirit.

”Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

Jesus goes on to pray for His followers as they are sent out for the work of the kingdom of God. “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.”

Keep reading.

(John 15:18-17:26)

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Jesus says where He is going His disciples cannot come and He urges them to love one another. “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd,

And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee’” (Matthew 26:31, Zechariah 13:7).

Peter says that he will never stumble and that he will lay down his life for Jesus. But Jesus responds, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.” See, Jesus knows Peter better than Peter knows Peter. He knows that when the situation gets rough, Peter is going to stumble and deny Him but Jesus still loves him. And Jesus won’t leave Peter in his failure.

Jesus tells His disciples not to be troubled for there are many mansions in His Father’s house. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” It’s hard for our finite minds to understand the Triune God. But the Trinity is God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. They all are God and there is only one God!

Jesus teaches the disciples about the Holy Spirit which He will pour upon them after He ascends to heaven. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” ”But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The Holy Spirit working within the disciples will allow them to produce fruit for the kingdom of God. Jesus tells His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

More from Jesus tomorrow. Keep reading.

(John 13:31-38, Mark 14:27-31, Matthew 26:31-35, Luke 22:31-38, John 14:1-15:17)

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#chronologicalbibleteaching

“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.”

Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples, tells the chief priests that he will betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The Jewish leaders obviously don’t value the life of Jesus as this is the price paid to a master for a slave gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). However, this payment amount was prophesied by Zechariah in the Return Era when the Lord commanded him to pretend to be a shepherd caring for a flock that was doomed for slaughter. The Lord was giving the people a picture of His past judgment on them for their disobedience. In the illustration, Zechariah was paid the insulting amount of 30 pieces of silver. “And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter” (Zechariah 11:13). Later, Scripture will be fulfilled when Judas feels the weight of his actions and throws the money into the temple and the Jewish leaders use the money to buy a field from a potter.

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Jesus then begins washing the feet of His disciples and tells them, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.”

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’”

At the table, Jesus calls out Judas as the betrayer fulfilling Scripture – “He who eats with Me has lifted up his head against Me” (John 13:18, Psalm 41:9). “Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’” “Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.”

Keep reading.

(Mark 14:1-2, Matthew 26:1-5, Luke 22:1-2, Mark 14:10-11, Matthew 26:14-16, Luke 22:3-6, Mark 14:12-16, Matthew 26:17-19, Luke 22:7-13, John 13:1-17, Mark 14:17-26, Matthew 26:20-30, Luke 22:14-30, John 13:18-30)

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Only God, the Father, knows when Jesus will return. Therefore Jesus tells us to be alert bc it is going to come unexpectedly like the days of Noah. “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” To be counted worthy you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. On the day that God pours out His wrath on the whole earth, only those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ will have the strength to stand.

Jesus then gives 2 parables, the ten virgins and the three servants, to describe the kingdom of heaven. Both illustrate that we need to be watchful and prepared for Jesus’s return. In the three servants parable, Jesus makes the point that He wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us. The Lord expects us to use our given time, gifts, and talents to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with others. God could have chosen any way to advance the Gospel but He chose to use us, His disciples. Therefore, do the work of the Lord and He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Jesus explains the final judgment – ”When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’” The righteous will ask when did they do all these things. Jesus will respond, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

But for those on the left hand, who do not belong to Jesus, He will say, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Tomorrow Jesus is betrayed by Judas. Keep reading.

(Mark 13:32-37, Matthew 24:36-51, Luke 21:34-38, Matthew 25:1-46)

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