Then Jesus “went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them.” Jesus’ teaching is unlike worldly teaching. For example, Jesus tells His twelve disciples that the blessed are the poor, hungry, and weeping but woe to the rich, full, and laughing.

He goes on to say ”Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus wants His disciples to be set apart from the pleasures and empty pursuits of this world. He desires for them to keep their gaze on Him no matter what it costs in this world because the “reward is great in heaven.” Nothing we receive on this earth (riches, fame, security, etc.) can come close to touching what is waiting for us in our permanent home in heaven.

Jesus raises the standards for His followers – “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” We are to do good toward all because we are to be a light of the world called to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

It is impossible through our own natural abilities for us to be this light that Jesus, who is the light, is describing. Therefore, Jesus came to live a perfect life and to sacrifice Himself so that anyone who believes in Him will be declared righteous and shine brightly by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus explains that He came not to do away with the Law, that no one but Him can perfectly keep, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets in obedience to His Father and on our behalf. Jesus says, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

He goes on to say, “that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” The scribes and the Pharisees have an outward appearance of righteousness; however, Jesus calls His followers to an inward righteousness of the heart which is only possible through surrendering your life to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

More teaching from Jesus tomorrow, so keep reading.

(Mark 3:7-19, Luke 6:12-16, Matthew 5:1-12, Luke 6:17-26, Matthew 5:13-48, Luke 6:27-36, Matthew 6:1-4)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Over time the Jews added hundreds of man-made laws about what people could not do on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are most concerned with holding everyone to those laws versus showing love and compassion for the people. However, Jesus, who is full of compassion, ignores those man-made laws by “working” on the Sabbath.

First Jesus heals a lame man lying by the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath. When the Jews find out, they seek to kill Him. Jesus tells the religious leaders that He is simply working like His Father works on the Sabbath. Now the Jews are really infuriated because He is not only working but He is also claiming to be God. “Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him.”

However, Jesus does not back down as He continues to claim to be the Son of God – “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner…For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him…he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.’”

Jesus explains that He has a greater witness than John the Baptist, the burning and shining lamp they were willing to listen to for a time. Jesus’s Father, the Lord, is His witness!

However, the Jews refuse to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. Instead they continue in their pursuit to catch Jesus breaking their laws. So later, when Jesus’ disciples are walking through the fields and grab some grain to eat, the Pharisees call them out for working on the Sabbath. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees with a story about King David and the time he unlawfully ate the showbread from the house of God (1 Samuel 2:16). “And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” God gave the Sabbath, a day of rest and worship, for our good because God is good and His intent toward mankind is for mankind to experience His goodness.

We end the reading with Jesus doing… guess what?! Healing a man on the Sabbath in the synagogue. Jesus will not stop doing good works because of the threats of man. But the hard-hearted Pharisees aren’t going to stop their attempts to destroy Jesus, the Son of God – “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.”

Tomorrow Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount. Keep reading.

(John 5:1-47, Mark 2:23-28, Matthew 12:1-8, Luke 6:1-5, Mark 3:1-6, Matthew 12:9-14, Luke 6:6-11, Matthew 12:15-21)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today Jesus is teaching the multitudes from Peter’s boat. When He finishes teaching, Jesus tells Peter to cast the fishing nets and He performs a miracle by filling the nets. Peter is so overwhelmed by the power of Christ that he falls at His knees and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

This is a common response when man encounters God because God’s holiness and our sinfulness are both magnified. But Jesus came to give His life for us so that we can be declared righteous based on His righteousness and commissioned for the work of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus tells Peter, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men”, meaning that God is going to use this fisherman in a mighty way to draw others to Him. We will see the Lord develop Peter over time into a great disciple maker because the God of Peter is the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. He is also the same God of anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Lord will constantly be at work in our lives; growing us to be more like Him and equipping us for the work of the Kingdom.

Jesus further reveals His power when a paralyzed man is lowered from a roof into the home where He is teaching. Jesus tells the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.” The paralyzed man and the people were probably thinking that the man would be of good cheer if Jesus simply healed his physical condition and said “stand and walk”. And Jesus does later tell the man to stand and walk but not before saying that his sins are forgiven. Then the man gets up and walks out of that home. However, Jesus knows we have a need far greater than physical healing. We need to be restored to Jesus’s Father, the Lord, by a final atoning sacrifice and that is why Jesus is here!

The scribes question Jesus in their thoughts by thinking, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Jesus, knowing all thoughts and intentions of everyone, responds to them explaining that He said the paralytic’s sins were forgiven out loud instead of just saying he was healed so “that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.”

Jesus goes on to eat with Matthew, a despised tax collector, and other sinners, which the uptight scribes and Pharisees frown upon. Jesus says to the religious leaders, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” So the sinners eat and drink with Jesus (the bride-groom) while He is here on earth; “But the days will come when the bride-groom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.” 

Jesus knows that His time physically here on earth is short. So He explains with the illustrations of new and old garments and new and old wine skins, that He came to establish a new and better covenant and to form the church where Jews and Gentiles will come together as one (Ephesians 2).

Tomorrow Jesus continues to upset the religious leaders by living out His ministry in a way that pleases God and not man. Keep reading.

(Luke 5:1-11, Mark 1:40-45, Matthew 8:1-4, Luke 5:12-16, Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:1-8, Luke 5:17-26, Mark 2:13-17, Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32, Mark 2:18-22, Matthew 9:14-17, Luke 5:33-39)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ’The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”

Jesus performs His second miracle after a nobleman, who traveled about twenty miles from Capernaum, approaches Him and asks Him to heal his dying boy. Jesus responds to the nobleman, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” However, this desperate dad does not give up. When he asks a second time Jesus responds, “Go your way; your son lives.” And the man believes Jesus, proving that his faith is genuine; and when the nobleman’s household saw that the boy was healed, they too believed in Jesus as the Messiah. 

Afterwards, Jesus travels to Nazareth where He was raised. There He reads in the synagogue from the Book of Isaiah where Isaiah prophesied of His arrival as the One to preach to the poor, heal the broken-hearted, free the captives and oppressed, and give sight to the blind (Isaiah 61:1-2).

The people in His own home church do not believe that Jesus, the carpenter and son of Joseph, is God. Therefore Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.” Jesus then gives them two examples from the past, Elijah and the widow (1 Kings 17) & Elisha and Naaman (2 Kings 5), where God’s chosen people ignored His prophets; therefore, the prophets ministered to Gentiles. When those in the synagogue heard all that Jesus said they “were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.” 

So after being rejected by His own home church, Jesus goes and teaches elsewhere to those who will accept Him. And anyone who encounters Jesus and believes He is the Son of God is welcome into the Kingdom of God.

As Jesus walks by the Sea of Galilee, He calls four fishermen, the brothers Peter (Simon) and Andrew and the brothers James and John, to follow Him. They go to Capernaum where Jesus immediately begins preaching in the synagogue. “And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Jesus not only teaches but He also cast an evil spirit from a man and the people are amazed by His power and authority. “And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.”

After leaving the synagogue, they enter the house of Peter where his mother-in-law is lying sick with a fever. Jesus touches her hand and heals her. And that evening, many come to Jesus who are sick and demon possessed. “Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.”

In the morning, Jesus finds a quiet spot to spend time with His Father in prayer. “And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.’”

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people… Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.”

Jesus’s ministry expands further tomorrow, so keep reading.

(Mark 1:14-15, Matthew 4:12-17, John 4:46-54, Luke 4:16-30, Mark 1:16-20, Matthew 4:18-22, Mark 1:21-28, Luke 4:31-37, Mark 1:29-34, Matthew 8:14-17, Luke 4:38-31, Mark 1:35-39, Luke 4:42-44, Matthew 4:23-25)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today Jesus has two important salvific conversations with two very different types of people, showing that we are all equal in the eyes of the Lord. However, we are not equal to the Lord, as John the Baptist explains to his disciples.

First we meet Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews. Nicodemus sneaks away at night to seek answers from Jesus because he knows that Jesus is a Teacher from God. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God. This statement confuses Nicodemus so Jesus explains that a person has to become a new creation through the belief in Him as Savior and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says that in order for this salvation to be available, He must be lifted up on the cross like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness; for whoever looked to the serpent in faith was saved (Numbers 21:9) just as whoever looks to Jesus Christ as their Savior shall be saved – “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Jesus’ words cut to the heart of Nicodemus and this is not the last we will hear from him. Nicodemus will defend Jesus against accusations from the Pharisees (John 7:50-51) and we will see his presence at Jesus’s burial (John 19:39).

“Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!’”

John’s disciples are concerned because the crowds are now starting to follow Jesus. John the Baptist explains that the whole point of his ministry is to point people to Jesus, the Son of God, and not to himself, a mere man who is also in need of a Savior – “He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth… The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Then Jesus has another important salvific discussion with a Samaritan woman. Their exchange is the longest recorded conversation in the entire New Testament. Remember that the Samaritans date back to when Northern Israel was invaded by the Assyrians. The Jews that intermarried with the Assyrians became known as the Samaritans and they are greatly despised by the Jews who refer to them as half breeds. Any respectable Jew would have nothing to do with a Samaritan. However, Jesus is not influenced by any man made barriers or prejudices. Jesus sees all people as His Father sees all people; broken and in desperate need of a Savior. 

So Jesus, weary from His journey, sits at Jacob’s well in Samaria when a shameful woman comes to the well in the middle of a hot day (unlike the time the other ladies would get water). The woman is surprised that Jesus, being a Jewish male, would speak to a “disgusting” Samaritan woman. She is even more surprised that Jesus knows she had been married five times and is currently living with a man out of wedlock.

Jesus tells her about the living water that He offers which is different from the water at the well. The water that Jesus offers will result in everlasting life. The Samaritan woman says she knows the Messiah is coming and Jesus responds, “I who speak to you am He.” So she drops her water pot and runs to town saying, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 

In the meantime, the disciples return to Jesus with some food but Jesus explains that His food is to do the will of His Father. He tells His disciples to lift their eyes and look at the people coming toward them because of the testimony of one lady – “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” 

“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified.” Then the Samaritans urge Jesus to stay with them, so He stays for two days and many more believed in Jesus as the Savior of the world when they personally encountered Him.

We end the reading on a sad note. John the Baptist is thrown into prison for rebuking Herod for marrying his brother’s wife.

Tomorrow Jesus’s ministry goes into full swing. Keep reading.

(John 3:1-4:45, Luke 3:19-20)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

The Spirit takes Jesus into the wilderness for forty days and nights. Here Satan shows his mode of operation as he tempts Jesus in three ways:

1. Lust of the flesh – Satan tells hungry Jesus to turn the stones to bread. 
2. Pride of life – Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and tells Him to jump off because surely angels would catch the Son of God. 
3. Lust of the eye – Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and says all He sees can be His if Jesus will worship Satan.

Unlike Adam, Jesus does not give into these temptations. Jesus’ success is based on Him appropriating the Word of God with each temptation. “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

When John the Baptist sees Jesus he says, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me. I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.’ And John bore witness, saying, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.’”

Then Jesus connects with His first disciples, two disciples of John the Baptist one of whom is Andrew and the other is most likely John. Andrew finds his brother Simon and tells him they found the Messiah. And the next day Jesus finds Phillip and tells him to follow Him. 

“Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!’ Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ And He said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’”

A couple of days later, Jesus and some of his disciples attend a wedding where the wine runs out. At the request of His mother, Jesus performs His first miracle by turning water to wine and saving the wedding party. “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.”

We end the reading with Jesus visiting the temple in Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover where He found people using the temple for their trade. Jesus, showing zeal for His Father’s house, drives them out and says, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” The Jews ask Jesus for a sign and He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The people are confused because they don’t understand that He is speaking of the temple of His body and not the temple building which took forty-six years to build. Soon Jesus will be crucified and rise from the dead three days later. Afterwards, His disciples, remembering these words, will believe the Scripture and what Jesus had said (Luke 24:7-9).

Tomorrow we meet Nicodemus and a Samaritan woman. Keep reading.

(Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-15, John 1:19-2:25)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today the wise men come to see the Savior saying, “For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him” (Matthew 2:2, Numbers 24:17). And when they arrive at the home, they worship the young Child and give Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, showing that the Lord always goes ahead of us providing for our needs. These gifts will help sustain the family on the journey they will soon take to Egypt.

Now when the ruthless and corrupt King Herod hears of the birth of the Messiah, he feels threatened and plots to kill the Child by ordering that all young males born in Bethlehem and in all its districts be put to death. An angel warns Joseph and tells him to flee to Egypt with his family where they remain until Herod dies (Matthew 2:15, Hosea 11:1). Then Joseph moves his family to Nazareth, a city in the region of Galilee.

When Jesus is twelve years old and his family is in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, Jesus goes to the temple “And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.” Once His parents find Him in the temple, Jesus explains that He is right where He needs to be because He “must be about My Father’s business.” Jesus knows He is sent for a purpose, to save the people from their sins and restore them to His Father; and John the Baptist will prepare the people to receive Him as their Savior.

As prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3), John the Baptist grows up and begins preaching a baptism of repentance in the wilderness of Judea. ”Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, ’There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’”

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.”

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”

Tomorrow Jesus is tempted in the wilderness and we meet the first disciples, so keep reading.

(Matthew 2:1-23, Luke 2:41-52, Mark 1:2-8, Matthew 3:1-12, Luke 3:1-18, Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

When Elizabeth hears the greeting of Mary, John the Baptist leaps with joy in her womb and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth celebrates the arrival of the Lord and Mary for her belief. Mary then sings a beautiful song of praise. After about three months with Elizabeth, Mary returns home to Nazareth in Galilee.

When John the Baptist is born, his dad Zacharias, says, “‘And you child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins. Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”

Jesus is born approximately six months after the birth of John the Baptist. However, when Joseph, who is betrothed to Mary, finds out that Mary was pregnant, he wants to put her away quietly because according to the Law of Moses, Mary could have been stoned to death for being an “adulteress” (Leviticus 20:10). But Joseph, being a just man, desires to protect Mary even during her seemingly unfaithfulness. So the Lord sends an angel to Joseph in a dream and explains to him that Mary’s Son is from God. The angel says they shall call Him Jesus, “For He will save His people from their sins.”

We see God is at work behind the scenes accomplishing His plans as a decree goes out from Caesar Augustus calling for the world to be registered; forcing Joseph and Mary to travel to Joseph’s hometown of Bethlehem where Jesus is born as prophesied by Micah (Micah 5:2). “So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

After His birth, an angel of the Lord appears to shepherds living out in the fields and tells them of the birth of Jesus – “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” In haste the shepherds find Mary and Joseph and the Child lying in the manager. Then they make widely known the birth of Christ and they return praising the Lord for all they have seen and heard.

In accordance with the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12), Jesus is circumcised on the eighth day – “And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” And after the days of Mary’s purification, Jesus is brought to Jerusalem to be presented before the Lord. 

“And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.’”

Simeon says to Mary, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Simeon knows that Jesus was born to save the world; however, the gift of salvation will come at a high cost. Mary will have to watch her own innocent, perfect Son be crucified.

Anna, a widowed prophetess at the temple, gives thanks to the Lord and speaks of Jesus “to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem”. Then after Mary and Joseph perform all things according to the law of the Lord, they return to Nazareth. “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

Tomorrow the wise men visit Jesus and John the Baptist begins his ministry. Keep reading.

(Luke 1:39-80, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-40)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

The Gospel Era comprises four books written about the life of Jesus Christ by four authors to four audiences:

1. Matthew – He was a former tax collector and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. His message is primarily directed to the Jews.
2. Mark – He was a close companion of the apostle Peter and cousin of Barnabas, the famous missionary who traveled with Paul. His audience was the non-Jewish Roman Empire.
3. Luke – He was Greek and the only Gentile writer in the Bible. Luke was a trained physician who traveled with Paul on his second missionary campaign. He wrote to the Gentiles.
4. John – He was a former fisherman and one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He wrote about Jesus Christ to the world.

Before we read the genealogies of Jesus, which shows that He is a descendent of King David, a descendant of Judah, and a descendant of Abraham as promised by the Lord, John tells us that Jesus has existed since the beginning – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

John is letting the reader know that Jesus is the promised Savior from Genesis 3:15 who has been written about all throughout the Scriptures. He is also revealing that Jesus existed before the beginning of creation with the Lord and the Holy Spirit who was hovering over the waters during creation (Genesis 1:2) as part of the trinity, which is the Lord, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ as one.

John says that John the Baptist will come to bear witness of the Light, Jesus Christ, who will very soon arrive on the scene as God in the flesh. John the Baptist’s ministry will point people to Jesus Christ so that they may believe in Him as Lord and Savior and be saved by grace through faith in the Son of God.

“Four hundred years after the last Old Testament book was written, the story of the New Testament begins to unfold, around 6 BC.” The silence is broken when an angel of the Lord appears to the priest Zacharias and tells him that he and his barren wife, Elizabeth, who are well advanced in years, are going to have a son and they shall call him John. John will grow to be John the Baptist and he will live as a Nazarite (Numbers 6). “He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy an angel appears to Elizabeth’s cousin, the young virgin Mary who was betrothed to Joseph, with a message – ”And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary questions how this is possible since she is a virgin. The angel explains, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” So Mary responds, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” 

Tomorrow Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Keep reading.

(Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4, John 1:1-18, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38, Luke 1:5-38)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching