Jesus the Messiah
We now look at Jesus as the Messiah and the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy and type. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was…
The Right Use of the Law (John 7:19-25)
The people are questioning where Jesus’ teachings come from because He teaches differently than what they have heard. Jesus shows them that He is not teaching for His own selfish reasons, but He is seeking God’s glory. He then uses their hatred of Him for healing on the Sabbath day to expose that they are breakers of Moses Law and stand condemned. Moses gave the Law Just as Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Law of God, so…
The Coming of Elijah
The last promise given to the children of Israel was the coming of Elijah. We now read of this promise being fulfilled before Christ begins His ministry. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.…
Satisfied by Jesus (John 4:1-32)
Jesus here meets the Samaritan woman at the well. She comes at a time when no other women are there, indicating that she was probably an outcast of her society. Jesus speaks to those society rejects This woman has been apparently rejected by the women in her society, presumably because of her going from man to man. Also, Jews did not speak to Samaritans. However, Jesus is the Friend of Sinners, so He begins a conversation with her. Jesus speaks…
Living for God’s Glory Alone (Part 2) (John 7:14-18)
Jesus begins to teach in the temple. The people are amazed at His teaching and wonder how He is able to teach this way because He has never set under another teacher. Jesus’ answer gives us a great glimpse into the Christian life and the nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus doctrine is not His but God’s Every person is living for someone, and this includes all religious teachers and preachers from every religion. All men teach what benefits them in…
The Coming of Christ
We now turn to the New Testament. It begins with a genealogy. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.Matthew 1:1 From the very first verse we find that we are going to be learning of Jesus, the Messiah, who is the son of David and Abraham. Matthew is very clearly showing us that Jesus is the Seed of the Woman that we have been waiting for. Now the birth of Jesus…
Living For God’s Glory Alone (Part 1) (John 7:1-13)
Because of Jesus’ blunt teachings, many Jews now hate Jesus and want Him dead. Jesus continues His ministry, and He continues to do so without drawing attention to Himself. His family does not understand this and encourages Him to take a more public approach to His ministry. They do not do this because they support Him; instead, they are doing this because they do not believe that He is doing all of these miracles they are hearing about. Jesus has…
Return From Exile
The children of Israel are in captivity for their sins. God has promised that this captivity will only last for seventy years. At the end of seventy years, the children of Israel return to the Promised Land. Ezra and Nehemiah are the leaders for this effort. Ezra leads in the rebuilding of the temple, and Nehemiah rebuilds the walls. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah…
The End Result: Evangelism
It is interesting to note that Jesus’ commands for evangelism and missions come at the end of His ministry. Also of note is that the end result of the church’s continuance in doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, hospitality, sharing possessions, praise of God, unity, etc. was that people were saved on a daily basis. Added to this is the fact that commands to evangelize are very scarce in the New Testament. What are we to make of this? The…
Esther
While the children of Israel are in captivity, God continues to send prophets to bring them to repentance. Even in the midst of judgment God is still moving among His people. Esther is a great story of God’s redemption, grace, mercy, and sovereignty. Esther is the only book of the Bible that does not mention God at all; however, the story of Esther is about God and His redemption of His people. The King becomes angry with his queen and…
The Reality of Prayer
The early church continued steadfastly in prayer. Prayer was such a vital part of the church that the apostles appointed deacons to care for the widows so that they might give themselves to prayer. Why was prayer such a huge part of the early church? The answer is throughout all of Jesus’ teachings, but we will focus on John 15. All life and power belongs to Jesus We are the branches, Jesus is the vine. Separated from Jesus we are…
The Prophets
Samuel is widely held to be the one who ushered in the era of the prophets. There were prophets before him, but they were largely sporadic until Samuel. Prophets were men who heard from God and spoke to the people for God. They were largely concerned with bringing the people to repentance to avoid the coming judgment of God for their sins. Throughout the years the prophets began to point more and more to a coming Messiah Who would ultimately…