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Part One

Historical Introduction

John 1:15, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

Know from the beginning that Jesus was and is and forever will be the Son of God.

Luke 1:14, "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.

Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,

so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."

Know from the beginning that this is the factual account of the Son of God, that this is the most widely documented life and times in history.

1 John 1:14, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

We write this to make our joy complete."

Know from the beginning that this factual account changes lives. It has changed mine, and it will change yours if you will listen and believe.

Gal 4:45, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."

Know from the beginning that God's timing is always right, and that He sent His Son at just the right moment in human history.

READ Isaiah 52:1353:12

Know from the beginning that the life of the Son of God was predicted for many hundreds of years, and know that He had a destiny of sorrow and a destiny of glory.

Dramatis Personae for the Opening Act

Mary: a young virgin, who is betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter. They are residents of Nazareth, a small town in the hill country of Galilee;

Elizabeth: an older woman of the hill country of Judah, not far from Jerusalem, and Mary's cousin; her husband Zechariah, a priest in the division of Abijah;

Wise men from the East;

Shepherds near Bethlehem;

Gabriel, an angel;

An anonymous angel;

Simeon, a righteous man who waits for the consolation of Israel;

Anna, a prophetess more than a hundred years of age, and a widow for eighty four of those years a very pious woman;

Herod, the king over the Roman province of Judea an evil man full of ambition.

HEROD THE GREAT

Herod in many ways personifies the trouble in Israel at the time of Christ. For a long time, hundreds of years, the Jews had lived under the control of one nation or another, and they longed to be truly autonomous. It seemed like whatever empire had the upper hand in history would rule them.

If it wasn't the Babylonians, then it was the Persians, when the Persians took over. If it wasn't the Persians, it was the Greeks, when Alexander came rumbling through the ancient near east. If it wasn't Alexander, it was the Romans, after the death of Alexander and the disintegration of his empire.

The Jews still understood that they were a holy people, set apart for God. They always remembered that, if nothing else. They rankled under the rule of Rome, and it especially rubbed them wrong that Herod, the so-called Herod the Great had power over them.

Herod was worse than a Gentile; he was a half Jewish Idumaean, a descendant of Esau, a wild desert dwelling type. The Jews considered them with no small amount of prejudice.

To make matters worse, Herod was hardly a model human being. He has been called a monster one who was crafty and cruel, jealous and vain and always quick to seek revenge when wronged.

He came to the throne over the Roman province of Judea through cunning and manipulation of Marc Antony.

He had nine or ten wives. Even the historians lost count after a while.

On the smallest of suspicion he had even his favorite wife, Mariamne, put to death, along with her sons Alexander and Aristobulus.

Even while on his own deathbed, just days before he died he had his own son, his flesh and blood Antipater put to death.

Caesar Augustus was heard to say, "It is better to be Herod's hog than his own son!"

Again at his deathbed he ordered all the principle men in Israel to be rounded up and placed in the local stadium, where they could be surrounded by his soldiers and then slain when he died. The reason: so that there would be great mourning at his death.

It must have been difficult for the Jews to read the Scriptures, and to know that their destiny was so great, and yet have the reality so different.

Understand, however, that this was Divine Judgment on the nation of Israel; that they had neglected their relationship with God, and that the situation was appropriate to their spiritual state. In this case the outward circumstances reflected accurately the inward condition: slavery.

It is no wonder, then, there was a great fascination in the nation of Israel with the prophecies about the Messiah, The one who would come and reestablish the greatness of their kingdom and their people.

A man who would rise up and smite their enemies and make them a free people once again.

From time to time a fairly great and famous man would rise up, and there would be some excitement about the possibility of his being the Messiah.

Of course, things would quiet down when he turned out to be quite human, and the slavery of Israel droned on and on.

After a time there was even a certain amount of cynicism about the whole deal.

The same phenomenon exists today with the fascination about the end times and the return of Christ.

Herod tried bribing the Jews, so that they would like him, and he could view himself as a successful ruler.

Julius Caesar had given Herod a fantastic and truly royal inaugural celebration back in 37 B.C., when Herod took the throne. He always longed for that past glory, when in fact the traditional Roman warning of "sic transit gloria mundi" applied to him more than any other. The bribes came in the form of a building program that was the very rival of Solomon's.

He built monuments and buildings in the Holy Land, and even rebuilt their temple in magnificent fashion, topping it with a golden dome.

• The rebuilding of the Temple was much like the building of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California.

• More was added every year. A higher roof here, an annex there all very magnificent.

• When Herod died, his relatives took over the folly and the never ending program continued until it was finally finished in 66 AD, some 87 years after it was begun.

• It is one of the great ironies of history that it was burned down just four years later when Jerusalem was destroyed.

Other buildings and monuments were undertaken.

• A temple, a forum, and a theatre at Samaria.

• A great Greco-Roman capital, a temple, and port at Caesarea.

• The port was an engineering marvel that even today is remarked upon by the archaeologists who work at the site.

• Luxurious palaces and fortified retreats were built at Masada, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Herodium, which was near Bethlehem.

• In Jerusalem he had baths, a theatre, and a Hippodrome constructed.

• He also promoted Greek and Roman games so that the people might be entertained.

All of these things struck a sour note as any bribe to a slave will. The people really did not want these things. They wanted to be autonomous and free. But in order to be truly free, any people must know God, and that was exactly the problem in Israel.

Herod was the king. The people were unhappy. Their response to his despotism is worthwhile to note.

Jewish Responses To Herod's Rule; The Maccabaean Revolt

Syria had one incredibly evil ruler by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. This man was so evil that he made Herod the Great look like a great humanitarian by comparison. Antiochus was the prototype for the Antichrist of the Tribulation.

In 168 B.C. he desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by setting up an altar to Jupiter Olympus, where he dedicated the use of the Temple to this false God by offering up the flesh of a swine. This was the 'abomination of desolation' of Daniel 11:31, ""His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation."

Antiochus made a furious effort, with the help of the corrupt high priesthood (who helped because of a bribe), to Hellenize the Jews.

The high priest himself, a man by the name of Jason, was power mad, and attempted a coup in Jerusalem when Antiochus was mistakenly reported dead during a military campaign in Egypt.

His brief reign was characterized by violence, but the real violence would begin when Antiochus heard of the coup. He returned to Jerusalem with his army, besieged it, and killed 40,000 Jews upon its capture, and sold at least as many into slavery. Then he went back to Egypt.

Eventually, Antiochus awoke the ire of Rome, and he was arrested and ordered to back off from Egypt or die. He did so, but he made another stop at Jerusalem, where he took out his frustration on the Jews. He entered the city on the Sabbath, and murdered thousands of men in the synagogues, while enslaving the women and children. He defiled the Temple in every way imaginable, and caused the daily ritual system to cease entirely. This meant war.

During this time of great persecution there was a priest by the name of Mattathias. He was an old man of noble blood, and he had retired to a little town west of Jerusalem. There he was commanded to sacrifice on the Pagan altar, and he refused. In fact, he became enraged when a Judean came forward to sacrifice, and he struck the man, overthrew the altar, called upon the faithful to follow him, and fled with his sons into the wilderness.

This was the Maccabaean family. The example of Mattathias was followed by many in various parts of the country. His story was well known, and the idolatOPHE altars were being overthrown, and Jewish worship and culture was being reestablished. The rigorous life of a rebel took its toll on Mattathias, and he died just a year later, in 166 A.D.

The third son of Mattathias, Judas, took over for him in directing the war for independence. He was a man full of energy and clever in the running of the war. He was an expert at guerrilla warfare, attacking at night, and at the most surprising times and places. Encouraged by early success, he became even more bold, and defeated Antiochus' head general, Apollonius, at Bethhoron.

It was only a little while later that Antiochus left Jerusalem and left the government to a man name Lysias. Lysias was a military dunce, and Judas defeated his larger army at Emmaus, and later at Bethsura. Judas was then able to occupy Jerusalem, where he purified the Temple.

Judas continued his triumphs on the military field, and after the battle of Adasa, the Jews had almost won their independence. Almost. Bacchides led another invading army, and this time the Jews were caught unaware. Able to only muster a small group of men, and losing many of those on the night before the battle, Judas was defeated, and died.

All that was gained seemed lost. The patriots were in a state of total disorder, and it was only renewed persecution that brought them together again.

The Jews again looked to the Maccabees, this time Jonathan, the youngest son of Mattathias would be their champion. Jonathan would fight a skillful defensive campaign in the Jordan Valley, and when a new king took the throne in Syria, he gained support, and Israel a fair amount of freedom.

Jonathan was made high priest, and there was peace in the land for some 20 years. Sadly, in 144 B.C. Jonathan fell victim to the treachery of a man by the name of Tryphon, and was imprisoned in Ptolemais, in Galilee. This act left just one Maccabee, Simon.

Simon had all along been a steady military leader, but had left the national leadership to his brothers. Now it was his turn, and he placed himself at the head of the patriot party. After a short while, Tryphon put Jonathan to death, and seized the throne of Syria.

Simon had the wits to make an appeal for the freedom of the Jews to Demetrius, a well known general with connections to Rome.

This appeal was accepted, and once again it seemed as though the Jews would be free.

Although Mattathias had begun the rebellion over the issue of the Jewish religion, after 32 years, the war, and political freedom became the thing. Relationship with God had taken a back seat to military strategy and tactics, and politics. And remember, that no nation can remain free without a relationship with God.

At the time of Simon, in 143 B.C., Israel had apparently won their freedom through military skill and political maneuvering. They had won almost every battle that they had fought for 25 years. They had successfully manipulated the political machines of their foreign occupants.

They had done everything just right, but they had failed in the most important regard: the spiritual life.

Just eight years after the apparent victory of Israel, Simon and two of his sons was murdered by Ptolemaeus, and in 135 B.C. the nation of Israel once again found itself on the brink of slavery.

John Hyrcanus was one of the two living sons of Simon. When he heard of the death of his father, he marched with the army against Jericho. Unfortunately, Ptolemaeus held a trump card: he had Simon's widow, John's mother, captive, and the sabbatical year of the year of Jubilee was just around the corner, so the siege of Jericho failed.

Seeing no further use for the woman, Ptolemaeus had her killed, and then he fled to Philadelphia. Antiochus the sixth (not Epiphanes) then invaded Judea, and besieged Jerusalem, and Hyrcanus and the army was trapped there and placed into a desperate situation.

The Jews caught a break when a truce was granted for the passover feast, and Hyrcanus took the opportunity to bargain with Ptolemaeus. Hyrcanus compromised like crazy in order to gain the freedom of Israel, even going to the extreme of opening David's tomb to pay the tribute demanded by the Syrian General.

He then went to Parthia to bargain further for the freedom of Israel, and through compromise and manipulation was able to establish a treaty that lasted for more than fifty years.

By 30 B.C., the line of the Maccabees had died out with the death of Hyrcanus II, the grandson of Hyrcanus. His granddaughter was Mariamne, who went on to marry Herod the Great.

Now, where were the Pharisees during all this time? Well, they had begun to grasp for political power, so that they might more effectively carry out their mission. At first they were on the side of the Maccabees, but the more the rebels concentrated on the war, the further they got away from strict observance of the Law, and so they earned the wrath of the Pharisees.

Because of the gross compromises of Hyrcanus, and looting of David's tomb, more and more Jews went to the side of the Pharisees. After the death of Hyrcanus I, his daughter became queen, and seeing the handwriting on the wall, she abandoned her political power to Pharisees.

At the time of the birth of Christ, the Romans through Herod held the outward political power, while the Pharisees held it internally. The people found themselves under a double tyranny, and it was a difficult time indeed.

Concluding principles:

• Freedom without a relationship with God is in reality slavery.

• War without a relationship with God is a waste.

• Both slavery and freedom begin in the soul.

• John 8:32, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.""

• Gal 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

THE PHARISEES

The word "Pharisee" is the Greek translation from the Aramaic, and it means to be separated. To the Pharisee, this meant a separation from the influences of the Gentiles on their religion and culture.

We have a very similar thing occurring in our nation today. The Pagan influences in our society are waging war against the marvelous culture and vital relationship with God that our forefathers enjoyed. It is a natural and good response to do what you can to protect what is good; to defend it from those who so zealously attempt to destroy it.

Every time that the nation of Israel fell under the rule of another nation whether Babylon or Persia or Greece or Rome, they felt like they were losing a little bit more of themselves. The foreign nationals would come in with their foreign Gods and foreign customs and foreign games, and away would go just a little bit more of what was truly Jewish.

The emphasis of the Pharisees was in the area of the Mosaic Law. It was their aim to protect and uphold the Law of Moses, so that the pollution of foreigners and their foreign Gods would not destroy what made the nation of Israel so distinct, and so great in their time. This is why they came to hate Herod so very much.

For some four hundred years before the birth of Christ they strove to fulfill their mission as they saw it. Such an aim was not so bad, but in carrying out that aim they became so extreme as to be parody of the Law.

Their undue attention to detail, and especially their imagination in creating details which did not exist resulted in their missing the point of the Law entirely.

The Law was designed to bring the people of Israel to a relationship with the living God through the provision of knowledge essential to the maintenance of that relationship. It was not designed to be carried out just for the sake of accomplishment and preservation.

The very best way for the Pharisees to have accomplished their aim would have been to perpetuate the Law through having a relationship with God by it.

Their teachings about religious matters are quite a revelation of their character.

They tried ardently to avoid all physical contact with the Pagan Gentiles. Even touching one would make them ceremonially unclean. This is why the Pharisees took such great offense at Christ's close association with the tax collectors and sinners.

They always stuck to the letter of the Law, without a hint of flexibility. They defined exactly many things that were not set forth in the Law. They were obsessed with the Sabbath, and were constantly specifying and clarifying what could and could not be done; how far one could travel; exactly how much could be lifted; what the precise exceptions were. Of course, the point that the Sabbath was designed for concentration on God was lost on them.

The Pharisees were consumed with the idea of appearance. They would pray long and loud in public. They would contrive special hats to cover their eyes, so that they might not see a woman (these were called the bloody Pharisees, because they were always running into things).

Their motivation is equally revealing. They did what they did at the time of Christ for two reasons: to gain power, and to avoid judgment. The latter is especially interesting in the light of 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

They were fervent in their legalism lest they offend God, and thus come under His judgement in the eternal state. But you cannot have a true relationship with one you fear. You must have confidence before God, and that was one thing the Pharisee did not have.

Another motivation, the lust for power, had been hanging around the Pharisees for quite some time. Their mission, though warped in its execution, was quite a noble one. They looked at their mission, and decided that they needed power, political power in order to carry it out. Much like their association with the Law, their attempts to gain power led to their addiction to it, and its rule over them.

Perhaps the best characterization of their addiction to power was their success in the Maccabaean Revolt, which occurred a couple of centuries before the birth of Christ.

In the intermediate period between the death of Alexander in 323 B.C. and the establishment of Roman control from 63 B.C. onward, Israel remained under the nominal control of Greece and even Syria.

THE SADDUCEES

This religious group known as Sadducees came into being about 300 years before Christ. They are characterized by their aristocracy, their cultural surrender to the Greeks and others, and their opposition to everything the Pharisees stood for.

Their name comes from the Aramaic Sadduqim, which meant 'righteousness'. However, those who were in opposition to them called them saddiqim, which meant 'destruction'.

They came from the ranks of the priests and high priests of Israel, during the time of the Greek occupation. Their desire was to give in to the Hellenizing influences of the Greeks, and thus retain their favor.

The Sadducees had a lot to lose to the occupation forces of the Greeks, because they were mostly prosperous, aristocratic people. In order to maintain their lifestyles and possessions, they placated the Greeks, giving in to their cultural and even religious influences.

During the Maccabaean revolt, they stayed in the background. They were in fact very unpopular. When Jonathan Maccabee was appointed high priest by popular demand, it looked like the Sadducees would be gone forever. At the time, almost all of the people in the land were willing to sacrifice anything for their freedom. The strong oppression of the Syrians drove them to this sacrificial attitude.

After about 40 years of on and off civil war, the Jews became tired of the bloodshed, and popular opinion tended toward peace. In this case, peace meant compromise, and compromise was the game of the Sadducees. John Hyrcanus, of the Maccabees, was really very close to the Sadducee way of thinking.

However, the compromising policy of Hyrcanus became unpopular in a few years, and so the Pharisees came into power. Due to the double tyranny of the Pharisees and king Herod, the Sadducees had made a great comeback not long before the birth of Christ. Let's face it: the Pharisees were no fun at all.

The religious beliefs of the Sadducees can be summed up in a single thought: they were always opposed to what the Pharisees believed. They believed that only the written Law is binding, whereas the Pharisees believed that the body of tradition and written interpretation were just as important as the Law itself.

The Sadducees punished breaches of the Law severely, but the Pharisees often interpreted their way around the written Law, and thus got out of the proscribed punishment.

They had a strong belief in human free will, while the Pharisees believed in predestination to the point of being fatalistic.

They denied the resurrection, and any kind of continued existence of the soul after physical death. This led to their inordinate value of private property and possessions. The Pharisees, however, believed that the soul continued after death, and that there would be a severe judgement in eternity.

The Sadducees did not believe in angelic beings, or demons, and any reference to such in Scripture was converted to a manifestation of God Himself. The Pharisees did believe in angels.

The Sadducees always reserved the right of private opinion about Scripture and the Law, while the Pharisees rejected that right, tyrannically imposing their opinions on all.

The Sadducees were a mixture of both the conservative and the liberal from today's American society. The pressures of history and their religious beliefs worked together to make them what they were. Although they had some good elements to their philosophy, they were just as spiritually and morally bankrupt as the Pharisees. They are a good example of wrong reaction for the right reason. It was a good thing to be opposed to the religious tyranny of the Pharisees, but the motives of the Sadducees were wrong, and thus their beliefs went in the wrong direction. Although religion was important to them, relationship with God was not, and so they destroyed themselves. They left the pages of history forever after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

THE ESSENES

The Essenes were a widespread movement in the ancient world. They appeared on the scene not long before the Maccabaean revolt, about 175 B.C.

Their decision was to withdraw from the evils of the world around them, and they were the prototype of the monastic movement of the dark and middle ages. Because of the destruction of the Jewish nation, and their deportation to points all over the ancient world, this movement was widespread.

These are the people who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, and who lived in the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. In a sense, these were the ostriches of the time, sticking their heads in the sand, and hoping that others would leave them alone.

They were widely admired, especially by the intelligentsia of the day. Both Josephus and Philo are full of praise for them (but notice that neither wanted to be one).

Their group was strictly organized, and enforced strict obedience to their leadership. They had a system of double initiation. First, they had to undergo a probation period of one year, and after this time they would undergo an initiation ceremony of ritual purification.

After two more years of probation they gained their full membership in the community. At this time an oath was taken in which the new member would swear himself to complete truthfulness to other members of the community, and complete secrecy on the doctrines of the community to those outside (this is one reason why Christ forbade swearing).

Only adults were admitted into the Essene order, but they did have a children’s' recruiting and introduction program.

The Essene community was dedicated to total communism. They had a common purse. They had common clothes. They had common food at a common table.

Trading of any kind was prohibited. They had a strictly regulated daily labor plan.

They were total pacifists. They were not even allowed to make weapons or anything that might hurt someone.

They observed the sabbath with strict adherence. The read and explained Scripture in their daily worship schedule.

They were extremely ascetic in many ways. They abstained from sex and marriage; their ranks were only increased through outside recruiting. It is a testimony to their popularity that they have continued in one form or another until even today.

They were prohibited from profanity, makeup (or anything that might enhance their physical appearance), bathed only in cold water, wore only white, and were greatly modest about all bodily functions.

They substituted their own ritual system for God's, and they thought their own to be superior. They did not sacrifice any animals.

The Essene movement was a reaction to the incursions of the evil outside world. They were not much different from the other utopian movements of history. They depended very much on strong and virtuous leadership, and when their leadership failed them, they disappeared from the pages of history.

Unlike their Pharisee and Sadducee counterparts, they seemed to have a more vital, daily relationship with God. However, distortions were inevitable due to their rejection of God's ritual system, and some of them even went so far as to engage in sun worship. They were most like the Pharisees, and could even be considered a radical Pharisee sect.

They were the pattern which the early church (mistakenly) patterned themselves. Since they lived such sequestered lives, Christ would have little to say about them, because He never ran across them.

John the Baptist was considered to be like the Essenes because of his ascetic life in the desert, but he really wasn't.

THE ZEALOTS

The Zealots were almost purely a political party. They called for the violent overthrow of the Roman rule. They carried on the tradition of the Maccabees they were militant, and full of zeal and purpose. They were the cause of the Jewish wars and the destruction of Jerusalem.

They fought with complete fanaticism to the very end. They were extremely patriotic, but not many were Godly. They took their patriotism to great excess, and vowed to strike down all the enemies of Israel. Although they were politically correct (not in the modern sense), they were morally wrong, and in this they were most similar to the southern U.S. in the early 1800's.

Transition

The nation of Israel at the time of the birth of Christ was an unhappy nation. For hundreds of years, they had battled for their freedom and lost. They had been under the crushing rule of foreign nations.

For hundreds of years, a great destiny had been before them, taunting them. Because of this, they chafed under the yoke of Roman rule through Herod.

Without a national relationship with God, the nation could not be free. Without a national relationship with God, the nation could not enjoy the blessings of the unconditional covenants.

Without a national relationship with God, they would reject the greatest of all world leaders of all time: Jesus Christ. One and all, they would reject Him.

Introduction to the Spiritual Perspective

The past history of any people has an impact on their present culture the way they think, solve problems, react to pressure or prosperity. Israel at the time of Christ was no different. The people stood at the crossroads of their own national history. They had a past, and they could make choices which decided their future.

History is made up of many elements: geography, culture, philosophy & religion, economics, technology, politics, and many others.

The greatest of all the elements is the principle that Jesus Christ controls history. The attitude of a nation toward Christ has a great impact on its place in history. The attitude of the nation toward establishment truth has a great impact on that nation's status before God. The attitude of the individual believer toward Bible Truth has a great impact on all other people in the nation.

The Cosmic System

The term "cosmic system" refers to Satan's plan and process for controlling the world, and his attempt, using his organization of fallen angels, to counteract the plan of God in all respects. In his plans and programs, Satan will ultimately and certainly fail. Jesus Christ is the victor in the spiritual warfare, the "angelic conflict". The Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, where all His enemies shall be made his footstool.

The cosmic system has a great impact on the history of a nation. History has certain downward trends which signify the cosmic influence on a nation. For example, Israel at the time of the birth of Christ had been on the downward side of history for quite some time. It is important to take a look at the principles of the cosmic system related to history in order to fully understand the period in question.

General Principles of the Cosmic System.

Human history is the resolution of the prehistoric angelic conflict. In order to vindicate himself and His judgment of the fallen angels, God conceived a plan by which sinful human beings could glorify Him.

In order to justify his rejection of the prehistoric grace offer from God, Satan conceived a system designed to counteract the plan of God.

Therefore, the purpose of the Satan's cosmic system is as follows:

• To keep unbelievers from believing in Jesus Christ.

• To destroy the believer's relationship with God.

• To bring in his own millennium through internationalism and a centralized world government.

• To prevent God's millennium from arriving.

There are three plans in Satan's cosmic system.

• The World Plan

• The Individual Plan

• The Propaganda Plan

The World Plan of Satan

The world plan is Satan's plan to bring in His own millennium, and to prevent God from bringing in the Divine Millennium. The world plan is a highly organized international conspiracy of demons.

Eph 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Although the world plan is highly organized through the genius of Satan Himself, the human side is not so. Demons do control human beings through demon possession and demon influence, but the humans themselves are rarely well informed. Often a world conspiracy theory will arise, but these are due to the demonic side and not the human side. There is no Biblical documentation for a human world conspiracy. Humans are simply pawns in Satan's world plan.

The Individual Plan of Satan

The individual plan is an integral part of the world plan, since human participation in the demonic organization is absolutely essential. The means to the end of the cosmic system is power.

The world branch is constantly grasping for power over the human race and its organizations. Power in the form of human government is of the utmost importance in the world branch of the cosmic system. The more power that the enemy has, the greater he thinks he can be. The more power the enemy has, the more effectively he can carry out his plan.

In every human life and human organization, Satan is grasping for more power, so he can wield it to carry out his plan. Every time that someone or some organization depends on a human viewpoint solution, Satan gains power over their lives. Every time that someone or some organization comes to believe a cosmic counterfeit or lie, Satan gains power over their lives.

The Satanic "Millennium"

As a part of the angelic appeal trial of human history, Satan has developed his idea of a millennium, which is designed to prove his point. In order to bring in his millennium, Satan must have total control of international human authority. This is why there is so much influence towards internationalism in the world.

God ordained nationalism after Satan's first attempt at internationalism at the tower of Babel, Gen. 11:19.

Satan will bring in his "millennium", known as the Period of Great Tribulation, which will only come after the rapture of the church. The Satanic millennium can only be put into place when there are no believers on planet earth.

This 'millennium' will be the most chaotic, disastrous, and miserable 7 years in world history. It is the tribulation of the book of revelation.

The intent of the Satanic millennium.

• To prove that the prehistoric sentence of God which condemned the fallen angels to eternity in the lake of fire was unfair.

• To prove that Satan is God's equal, Isa 14:14, "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.""

The characteristics of the Satanic millennium.

• Counterfeit righteousness and injustice under the veil of justice.

• Constant change and lack of dependability

• Treacherous motives and cruel slavery behind the mask of mercy.

• Wrong approaches to problem solving and false solutions which always make the problem worse.

• Chaos and confusion.

• Bad decisions from a position of weakness and a society saturated with evil.

• Dishonesty, obfuscation, evasiveness, and a lack of veracity. (All this sounds like U.S. politics today).

The Fight Against the Divine Millennium.

Satan is constantly fighting against the Divine plan for human history. Satan thinks that if he can destroy or delay the Divine millennium, he will somehow gain an advantage in the angelic conflict. He is wrong. He does not have the power to do either.

The Divine Millennium will come at the second advent of Christ, and it therefore immediately follows the tribulation. There have been two attacks in history against the Divine Millennium: the attack against Christ, and the attack against the Jews. These attacks are tantamount to murdering the witnesses of a trial, so that they cannot testify.

The Attacks against Christ.

Jesus Christ will be the world ruler during the Divine Millennium, and His rulership will be fantastic.

There was an attempt to destroy the mediatorship of Christ.

• In Genesis 6 there is a record of an attempt to destroy the human genetic purity of the line of Christ.

• In order to be the perfect mediator between God and man, Christ had to be both fully God and fully man in the hypostatic union.

• Satan attempted to destroy the human side of this equation.

• Demons seduced human women and impregnated them. Their children were angelic-human half breeds, and no longer genetically pure.

• Only Noah and his family resisted this demonic conspiracy. This is why the rest of the earth had to be destroyed.

• God considered this attack so great, that he imprisoned the angels who participated under the surface of the earth, where they still reside, waiting for their release in the tribulation.

There were attempts to kill Christ before He could fulfill the purpose of His life.

Satan knew that if he could kill Christ before His time, the plan of God would be stymied. Therefore, there were several attempts on His life.

• The attempt of Herod, Mat 2:13,16, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."

• The attempts of the Pharisees, Mat 12:14, "But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus."

• The attempts of the chief priest and elders, Mat 26:3,4, "Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him."

Of course, all of these attempts failed completely.

The Attacks against the Jews

The Jews are God's chosen people, and they are going to be Christ's subjects in the Divine Millennium. Therefore, Satan is constantly plotting against the Jews in his attempt to exterminate them as a race of people. There is a tremendous amount of Satanic propaganda against the Jews. The Jewish world conspiracies, etc.

In every generation, there is an attempt through the Satanic world conspiracy to eliminate the Jews as a race. In the 20th century, there have been at least three attempts at genocide against the Jews.

• In Soviet Russia, from 1917 to the present.

• In Nazi Germany, from 19331945.

• By various Arab nations, today.

During the tribulation, the genocidal attacks against the Jews will reach their crescendo.

We are to judge the present nation of Israel by the standards of Divine establishment.

We are to judge individual Jews only when they come under our authority or they break the law.

In all other instances, we are to give Jews maximum respect and reservation of judgment.

As a national entity, we are to provide a haven for the Jews, so that they might be free from racial prejudice.

Conclusion.

Although these demonically inspired attacks are terrible in their intensity and genius, they have no chance of succeeding. God will protect the Jews until the return of Jesus Christ. He will succeed, easily.

The Propaganda Plan of Satan

The purpose of the propaganda plan is to promote the cosmic counterfeits and lies, and to attack the word of God. The propaganda plan integrates and cooperates with both the individual and the world branches of the cosmic system. The propaganda branch is an expression of Satanic genius and the demonic organization. Human beings are an important element in the propaganda branch.

The Promotion of the Cosmic Counterfeits and Lies.

The cosmic system has an elaborate scheme of counterfeits and lies. These counterfeits and lies are designed to supplant the truth. The counterfeits and lies match up with every category of truth possible, including:

• The Gospel.

• The plan of God.

• The power of God.

• The person and work of God the Father

• The person and work of Christ.

• The person and work of the Holy Spirit.

These counterfeits and lies are promoted by every means possible. There is a great emphasis today on the media, and especially television. Those who are heavily involved in the cosmic system inevitably become cosmic propagandists.

The Attack against the Word of God

In order to make the promotion of the cosmic counterfeits and lies fully effective, the cosmic system attacks the Word. The attacks against the Word come in two basic categories.

Attacks to destroy the Word outright. There have been many attempts throughout history to destroy the manuscripts of the Bible.

Attacks to undermine the credibility of the Word. These are usually attacks on the supernatural nature of the Divine inspiration of the Word. Liberal theologians are mainly responsible for this branch of the attack on the Word.

Rome at the Time of Christ

The Roman Environment During the Life of Christ.

The Pax Romanus.

After many wars, the Roman Empire was established. After the death of Julius Caesar, there was a civil war, and then Augustus Caesar (Octavian) was given absolute power over the senate and people of Rome. Augustus was a good man who desired peace and prosperity for Rome. After many long years of warfare, external and internal, the people were tired of it, and longed for peace. Augustus was sensitive and thoughtful, a good ruler. Through his long rule many great things were provided.

Because of the state of peace, there was a great emphasis on trade and commerce. Many Romans made their fortunes because of the advantages of freedom through military victory and peace through military strength. There were great building programs in every city, financed by donations from the private sector. Theatres and temples and viaducts all sprouted as if there were a spring season for buildings.

There was a fantastic system of roads and trade routes on the sea, all protected by the police and the Roman equivalent of the coast guard. Piracy and highway robbery remained at a minimum through capital punishment.

Augustus also preached the virtues of morality and discipline and justice and courage. He realized that the Roman empire was centered on the family, and that its stability depended on it. There was a rigidly pro-family bank of legislation, which encouraged marriage and children inside the marriage relationship. Some of this was circumvented, while much of it was taken to heart.

Augustus was Caesar at the time of the birth of Christ. Although Augustus died in 14 A.D., Tiberius continued the Augustan tradition of the Pax Romanum. Tiberius was the emperor for the remainder of the life of Christ.

The Jews (and especially the Pharisees and Zealots) had absolutely nothing to complain about. The peace of Rome was very pro-establishment.

Koine' Greek, the Language of the Roman Empire.

Koine' Greek was the language of Alexander's conquest. Attic Greek was a difficult language to master. When Alexander expanded the Greek empire as far as Afghanistan and India, the people had to assimilate in order to be a part of that empire. Without Greek the foreigners could not trade or prosper. However, since Attic Greek was so difficult, the people of the empire commonized it, so that it could be easily used.

This commonization was a great simplification which retained the subtle and detailed nature of its predecessor.

Koine' Greek was the greatest language in history for written communication. Through it many complex and subtle concepts could be communicated with clarity. Koine' Greek was retained in the Roman Empire as the language of the common man. Nearly everyone knew it and used it throughout their lives.

Roman Culture

The Romans borrowed much of their culture from their Greeks. Greek literature, drama, and games were all retained by the Romans. The Romans admired almost all aspects of Greek culture, even the most debauched things.

The Romans had spent much of their developing years in war and in a very disciplined and workaholic environment, and so they lacked cultural self esteem. The Greeks had much to offer in the way of culture although much of theirs was corrupt. The Greeks had died from their cultural debauchery it was the ruin of their empire.

No nation has ever survived the corruption of their morals. The homosexuality of the Greeks was rampant; it destroyed them. The Romans adopted even this even to the point of pederasty. It would also destroyed them.

Analogous to this is the popularity of all things American to the Japanese. Whether its baseball or disco or Madonna, the Japanese people love it, as long as it is American. The contrast is that while Japan was conquered by the U.S. and it adopted much of U.S. culture, the Greeks were conquered by the Romans, and yet the Romans adopted the Greek culture.

However, at the time of Christ, the Romans remained for the most part moral and family oriented. It was the most stable time in the history of the world.

The Roman postal service was for government use only a great idea. Imagine the reduction in garbage from the elimination of junk mail. Personal mail went with travelers and traders.

The Romans had no public schools. The education of their children was a two-tiered system. The first tier was that of the disciplinary training. This was usually administered by a well educated and trusted household slave. He would teach manners and self-discipline to the children of the household.

The second tier was that of the educational training. Science, math, astronomy, medicine, botany, zoology, linguistics, literature, music, and sports were all common subjects in the education of the child. There was also a great emphasis on logic and rhetoric. 6. Next, there was the institution of slavery.

It is important to note that the Romans could never imagine a state of total abolition, so ingrained was the institution of slavery in their nation and their culture and even their thinking. The moral question of slavery was never raised.

Slaves became slaves because of the conquests of the Roman Empire. Whenever a new territory was conquered, much of the population was deported back to population centers elsewhere in the empire.

• This served a twofold purpose: it provided cheap labor, and the insurance against guerrilla warfare in the conquered territory.

• The people who were deported received a low form of welfare: they would have the basic logistics provided in exchange for their labor. Slavery did much to provide for those who would otherwise be charity cases.

The slaves of the Roman Empire took on what was considered the menial tasks of the day much of the manual labor was done by them. As the Empire grew and prospered, the more educated and presentable slaves become household helpers and educators.

Slaves were always dependent on their masters, and as long as the Empire stayed on the virtuous side.

• Manumission was often granted to faithful slaves.

• Emancipated slaves had great opportunities for upward mobility.

• There was not an extreme prejudice against slaves often they were respected for who they were.

Although slaves were considered property, they were allowed to have their own lives, marrying and producing families. The New Testament is written from this frame of reference.

• Masters are considered legitimate authority, as long as they stayed within the laws of Divine established. Therefore, slaves are called upon to obey their masters.

• Masters are called upon to emancipate their slaves.

The Four Gospels

General Introduction.

In the middle of the 6th decade of the first century, Christianity had reached a crisis. Nero had begun his persecutions, and the Romans had begun to suppress the open rebellion of the zealot Jews in Palestine.

The church had been well established throughout the Roman Empire, and many doctrinal epistles had been written in support of the church.

Paul was in prison; many of the great believers of the eyewitness generation had died from natural causes and violent persecution.

It appeared as though the prophecy of Christ about the destruction of the Temple was about to come to pass due to the hopeless war in the Holy Land.

It was because of these intense adversities that God the Holy Spirit inspired three men in three different cities to write gospels records of the life of Christ.

The three locations of writing were widely and evenly distributed.

Mark recorded Peter's gospel in Rome.

Luke wrote his gospel somewhere in Greece, probably in Achaia.

Matthew wrote from Antioch in Syria.

These three gospels were written for various reasons.

Matthew wrote to Jews, in order to convince them of the Messiahship of Jesus.

He hoped to convert them before the folly of the Zealot movement resulted in their persecution and destruction.

Already war was begun in Palestine.

Luke wrote to Greeks in order to provide an accurate history of the events of the incarnation. His second work, the book of Acts, is the accurate history of the early church.

Mark wrote to record the life of Christ as told by Peter. It is likely that Peter was in prison and close to martyrdom when he dictated the story of Christ's life. Peter no doubt thought it imperative that the story get out. The abbreviated nature of the narrative reveals both Peter's nature and that he was in a hurry.

These three gospels, although very similar in their record of events, arose from independent sources.

Peter told the story to Mark as he remembered it.

Luke had apparently interviewed a number of people over the years and put these materials together to form his gospel.

Matthew had already written quite a lot of material in Aramaic, which had to do with the prophecies concerning the life of Christ. He used this material to form the basis for a number of his passages, and filled in the rest from memory.

There was no written source on which these three are all based. The Q hypothesis is pure bunk, thought up by arrogant German scholars who had nothing better to do because they had rejected the inspired nature of the Word.

These three gospels are often called the synoptic gospels, because they have roughly the same record of events. Synoptic means to 'see together'.

These synoptic gospels were all written within a year or two from one another. It is therefore doubtful that they could have relied on one another. The times of writing are as follows (all dates approximate).

Mark 65 A.D.

Matthew and Luke 66 A.D.

Notice that in the time of crisis it was important from the Spirit's point of view to provide knowledge of the life of Christ! Remember, the Spirit chose when to inspire these works. The gospel of John is very similar in that it is inspired during a time of great adversity for the church. John wrote his gospel in the eighties, most likely the late eighties.

The problems of harmonizing the gospels

Critics of the gospels have been very skeptical about the accuracy of the gospel accounts because even the synoptic gospels do not appear (at least on the surface) to harmonize well.

However when the gospels are analyzed and then harmonized by those whose work goes beyond just a surface appraisal, things work out quite well. One such harmony is Dr. Thomas' A Harmony of the Gospels, which was written together with Dr. Gundry.

Dr. Thomas lists the following as problems with harmonization on page 302 of his book.

Accounts of Christ's words sometimes differ. One evangelist's report of the same conversation, saying, or discourse may be more less complete than another's. Differences may occur in grammatical construction. Synonyms may be substituted, verb voice or tense changed, or nouns replaced by pronouns. There may be differences in the order of discussion.

Sometimes the differences in details reported even involve what appear to be contradictions.

Occasionally, the same or similar statements will be found in contexts which appear to reflect different situations.

Somewhat similar events occur in different situations.

Sometimes what really appears to be the same event will be reported in a different order in another gospel.

Sometimes diverse descriptive details are given for what appears to be the same event; sometimes these details may have the appearance of discrepancy.

The gospel writers do not always report the same events.

The big issue is this: Do these problems undermine the historical integrity of the gospels? If they do, then they undermine the inspired nature of the word.

In the last century, the German scholars saw these problems and failed to account for them. Instead, they arrogantly denied the inspired nature of the Word, and the ministers and the people followed. The result was two world wars, both started by a nation full of people who called themselves Christians. We stand on the brink of the same possibility in our own nation.

Do not fear, however, for responsible scholarship more than accounts for these problems without compromising the historical integrity and inspired nature of these documents.

The general solutions are as follows:

Jesus spoke three languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. The gospels were all written in Greek. Therefore, by necessity many of the gospel accounts of Jesus' words are translations. In translation, there is plenty of room of variance without losing meaning.

Sometimes the words are translated quite literally, but even so the use of synonyms is quite acceptable. Sometimes the words are translated more loosely in order to emphasize the impact of the words. This is also perfectly acceptable.

In modern language we have many punctuation marks to indicate what is a direct quote and what is not; what is a clarification by the author, and what is a clarification by the original speaker; even footnotes are employed to refer to source materials. None of these things were available to the ancient writer.

Because of this it is difficult to tell when the writer is doing one of these things in his translation of Jesus' words (even if he is translating). Suffice it to say that God the Holy Spirit is the supernatural director of all translations of Jesus' words, and He ensured their accuracy.

When there are differences in translation, we can use them to amplify all the translations.

Dr. Thomas summarizes this principle in this way: "What one does expect to be reproduced in ordinary discussion are the striking or important statements, the leading thoughts, the major divisions or topics, and the general drift of discussion including transitions from one topic to another. While different reports are expected to agree on these matters, it is also expected that there will be differences on details such as changes of person, substitution of pronouns for nouns or vice versa, changes in tense, voice, or mood of the verbs, and substitution of synonyms are too trivial to be taken as serious objections to a reporter's accuracy in ordinary discussion.

"While wording is important, meaning can be conveyed in a variety of ways. Verbal inspiration does not imply that truth can be accurately communicated in only one way. Rather, it means that the manner in which the Holy Spirit did speak through the human agents is inspired and hence accurate, word for word.".

The people of the ancient world, especially the Jewish people, had highly trained memories. They were often required to memorize long passages of the Old Testament, and even in a language that was not their native tongue.

This, together with the ministry of the Holy Spirit led to tremendous accuracy with reference to the meaning of the translation.

When a translation is direct from the Greek, we can expect greater accuracy in the quotation of Jesus' words, but even so, one writer for his own reason may add or subtract from the quotation without a violation of the principle of inspiration.

Also, Christ no doubt repeated many of His words over the course of His ministry; this does not mean that He said the exact same thing every time. Even during the same sermon it is likely that He repeated Himself. One gospel writer may have recorded one part, while another different parts with slightly different wording.

Differences in the details of what appear to be the same event may in fact be a record of two quite different occurrences.

Sometimes, a writer will arrange his material according to subject and therefore take things out of chronological order. This too is acceptable, and does not corrupt the inspired nature of the text.

The conclusion is this: that harmonizing the gospels presents no major problems with reference to inspiration. The accounts do harmonize well, and the problems that go with a harmony are easily and rationally accounted for.

The Gospel of Matthew

For each gospel, we will follow this order:

Author

Circumstances of writing

Target readership

Purpose of writing, and

Characteristics of the gospel.

The Author

Matthew God used an outcast. His name is a transliteration of the Aramaic word which means "gift of God."

In his own Gospel, Matthew uses his regular name. In other gospels, the name Levi is used. It is likely that Matthew became his name after his conversion.

Matthew was a Jewish tax collector. It is likely that he was fairly well off financially because of his profession. This makes his decision to follow Christ all the more remarkable, because he left it all behind Luke 5:28. It is likely that he worked at the toll house in Capernaum.

When he decided to follow our Lord, he threw a big party, and invited all his friends. His decision to follow Christ was immediate.

As a tax collector, Matthew was an outcast in Jewish society. He apparently had no friends who were devout in the Jewish faith for at his party there were only other tax collectors and sinners.

The Roman tax collectors were hated by the Jews because the Roman taxes were in addition to the Jewish taxes.

They were also hated because they represented the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.

The tax collectors made their living by inflating the Roman taxes. They essentially worked on commission.

Tax collectors were wealthy, but hated by their own society. They had to live with a tremendous amount of prejudice.

Because of this prejudice their social options were severely limited. They could only socialize with others who were outcasts.

It was easy for Matthew to follow Christ, considering his personal circumstances. Social isolation does not make it easy to enjoy personal wealth. No doubt he knew of the supernatural essence of Christ's ministry, and he may have even heard Him speak. It is often the outcast that finds it easiest to follow Christ.

The Circumstances Surrounding the Writing of the Matthew

Of the circumstances of the writing of this gospel we know very little. What little we can draw comes from inside the book.

The Target Readership for Matthew

The target readership for Matthew's gospel was most likely Jewish believers in Palestine. A secondary audience may be found in Jewish audiences everywhere. His was the most read of all the gospels in the first century. This popularity is a good testimony to its arrangement.

The Purpose of the Gospel of Matthew

The purpose of this gospel was generally to awaken and establish faith in Jesus Christ.

That this gospel was written primarily with a Jewish audience in mind brings a more specific purpose: To establish Christ as the Messiah and to answer the attacks of Jewish critics on the issue of the person of Christ.

It was also intended as a tool for use in evangelism for other believers.

Finally, it was probably intended as a last ditch effort to stem the tide of destruction which was descending upon the Jews in Palestine.

The Jews were their own worst enemies. They were extremely self-destructive, and especially so since their rejection of Christ as Messiah.

Their self-destructive tendencies culminated in a great number of them choosing the way of the zealot armed resistance without virtue.

The way of the zealot could only result in the destruction of the Jews in the land, and of Jerusalem. The Romans' method of warfare was far superior to that of the zealots. Anyone with common sense could see the inevitable destruction of the Jewish armies.

Therefore, Matthew wrote his gospel as a last ditch effort to stem the tide of destruction that had welled up among the Jews in Palestine.

Matthew wrote just as the zealots began their armed revolt in 66 A.D.

General Characteristics of Matthew

The most striking of the characteristics of this gospel is its emphasis on Christ as the Messianic King promised by the Old Testament prophets. Time and again Matthew points out some event in Christ's life, or one of His characteristics as being a fulfillment of a prophecy. He especially concentrates on Christ as the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.

Matthew also concentrates on the kingdom of the Messianic king. He uses the term, "the kingdom of heaven" 32 times, but it is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. He stresses both the spiritual and political aspects of the kingdom. Matthew records ten parables about the kingdom which are found in none of the other gospels. His is the gospel of the New Covenant for Israel.

Matthew's gospel has a very Jewish flavor, yet at the same time he often takes the opportunity to denounce the Pharisees and their incorrect practices and perceptions of the Messiah. The latter is probably due to Matthew's social isolation. No doubt he was often victimized by the Pharisees for being a tax collector. Like so many who are the victims of prejudice, Matthew has special insight into those who perpetuate such sins.

However, Matthew does not exclude the Gentiles. Matthew was emotionally a Gentile because of his social isolation. He makes sure his readers understand that once the Jews have completely rejected Christ, the kingdom would be transferred to the Gentiles.

Matthew is the one who arranges his material by subject, and aside from the passion week he does not follow the chronological order of events. Matthew, more than any other gospel writer, has an ax to grind. It is a righteous ax, and so he arranges his material to suit the grinding.

In spite of Matthew's choice of arrangement, his gospel retains a great unity and order. This reveals the mind of a tax collector. The order of numbers and accounts lead naturally to literary order. There is great continuity in the order of the subjects, and excellent literary transition.

The Gospel of Mark

The Author(s) Mark and Peter.

There are really two persons behind the writing of this gospel. The one who gave dictation, Peter, and the one who received it, Mark.

The following is an extraordinary statement: Mark was there when both Paul and Peter died. It is extraordinary because Mark began life as a coward, and was for while in great disfavor among the other disciples. This is a testimony to the grace of God.

Mark was Jewish, and grew up in Jerusalem. No doubt he was aware of the person of Christ and the events of His life. There is even some speculation that he was the young man of Mark 14:5152. The actions of that young man are certainly commensurate with his character flaw of cowardice which he expressed about 20 years later.

His mother's name was Mary, and he was a relative of Barnabas. When Paul and Barnabas took Mark along on the first journey, he left for home before their ascent of the Taurus mountain range on their way to the interior of Asia Minor, Acts 13:5.

This desertion set Paul's heart against Mark. When Barnabas and Paul decided on a later missionary journey, Paul refused to take Mark along on the basis of his former desertion, Acts 15:3639. In fact, Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement over the issue, and they parted ways at that point. Barnabas believed in Mark.

Whatever transpired in the next 10 or 15 years (AD 49 to AD 62), Mark had won himself over to Paul. During Paul's first imprisonment, Mark was there with him, Col. 4:10; Philem 24. In Philemon (62 AD) Paul calls Mark a fellow worker. In Colossians, Paul reminds the Colossians to welcome Mark if he comes that way. Paul is restoring Mark's reputation to others.

Mark was with Peter in Rome (called Babylon by Peter) 1 Pet. 5:13, and sent his greeting along with Peter's letter. Peter affectionately calls Mark his son.

Mark apparently left Rome shortly after Peter's first epistle (@65 AD), because when Paul is imprisoned a second time at Rome, he calls for Mark, who is with Timothy at Ephesus, 2 Tim. 4:11. Paul calls Mark 'well useful for service'. He considers Mark the deacon type, and finds great favor with him in this role. The word for well useful is euchrestos, a very positive and complimentary word.

If Mark obeyed Paul's command, and it is likely he did, then he was present when Paul was executed.

If Mark was there for Paul's execution, then it is equally likely that he was there for Peter's, because they were both martyred at about the same time, and both in Rome.

Mark watched the deaths of these two great believers. He faced death with courage this time, a changed man because of the truth residing in his soul. This is the man who ran at the arrest of Jesus, and who ran in the face of the unknown at the base of the Taurus mountains. Mark was a man who feared, and yet by the grace of God who grew, and then endured. It is extraordinary that he is the one chosen by God the Holy Spirit to put down in writing the gospel as told by Peter, probably just before or just after Peter's death.

Remember Mark next time that you fail! And remember him the next time that you are ready to write someone off!

Peter Peter's name was also Simon. The testimony of Peter always stands behind the writing of Mark in this epistle.

If there is one character trait of Peter which rises above all others, it is his emotionalism. Peter often let his emotions rule his thinking, much to his detriment and regret.

Peter is enthusiastic, emotional, swift to speak without thinking, full of love and anger, sometimes legalistic and snobbish, and Jewish in a prejudicial way. He is one of the independent, rebellious Galileans. He loves Christ so much, yet he cannot muster the spiritual resources to remain with Him in His arrest, trial, and death.

He is the second to the tomb on the third day, and enters first. He is the first of the disciples to see Christ after the resurrection. He is unsure of his standing with Christ immediately after the resurrection. Peter is a leader and very much a preacher, though not careful about what he says. He makes mistakes, he broods, and then he seeks and needs forgiveness in a desperate emotional way. In the end, he writes two epistles about suffering, and speaks his remembrances of Christ in a brief, but humble manner.

The gospel includes those incidents which place Peter in an unflattering light. In these he is brutally honest about his mistakes.

It excludes those incidents which place Peter in a flattering light.

Peter is an early leader in the church, but fades from the limelight in about 50 AD Nothing is heard from him until he writes his epistles in the early 60's, and then dictates his gospel story to Mark in the mid60's.

Probably the best analogy to Peter's early character is a politician on the campaign trail. Always promising, always in the limelight, but never following through.

Circumstances Surrounding the Writing of Mark

The place is Rome, the situation the persecutions of Nero. Paul and Peter are in prison, soon to die at the command of Nero himself.

Mark is there with them. Peter is anxious to tell the story of Christ before he dies, and he does so, dictating to Mark.

It is not clear whether Mark actually composed this gospel before or after Peter's death. It is not important. This was a really hard time for believers in Jesus Christ, and especially so in Rome.

The Intended Readers of Mark's gospel.

It is most likely that Peter (and Mark) had a Gentile audience in mind. This is especially interesting since Peter began with a prejudice against the Gentiles, and one which was difficult for him to leave behind. It apparently took him more than 20 years to do so. His gospel is devoid of anything that would be offensive to a Gentile, and it does not presuppose an extensive knowledge of the Old Testament.

Also, the Roman audience would have taken priority, since it was the closest.

The purpose of the Gospel of Mark

Mark was written to win converts to Christianity. Mark portrays Christ as a suffering servant. This image fits well the Christians in Rome, and so the Romans would have been well acquainted with it.

To encourage those in Rome who were enduring persecution. Peter always had a heart for those who were suffering. He mentions the persecution of Christ often to encourage those who endured similar sufferings.

The greatest testimony and greatest encouragement for those who suffer is that of Christ.

The greatest testimony for those who are in unbelief is the suffering of Christ.

Remember, this gospel goes out to the very hotbed of the Neronian persecution. It is a voice that rises above the cacophony of persecution and says, "but it is true".

Characteristics of Mark's Gospel

Brevity it is easily the shortest of the gospels, and conspicuous among the missing are the nativity, the genealogy, and most of Christ's longer discourses.

Action Peter tells the story as he lived his own life. The story moves at a very fast pace, and its transitions force the narrative into a bangup story. The crowds are always pressing, the demons always attacking, miracles constantly being performed. Peter includes action and excludes doctrine. Mark has been called the camera man of the gospel writers for his vivid portrayal of the life of Christ.

Believability the story is told in simple and even rough language. Peter's Greek lacks perfection, but it gives the gospel a nice 'I was there' touch that makes it quite vivid and easy to believe. Many minor details are included about Christ and His person. Even the bad things are left in the story.

Centered on Christ as the Son of God and as the servant of man. This would have been a good combination for his Gentile audience. The distinction of servanthood would have been especially appropriate since their Gods were ones who demanded service instead of those who would give it. The contrast would be striking.

Chronological Apparently, Mark's gospel follows closely the actual chronological order of events in the life of Christ.

The Gospel of Luke.

The Author Luke

God used a Gentile doctor. Luke is mentioned only three times in all of the New Testament, yet he is responsible for 28% of it, for he wrote both his gospel and the book of Acts.

Luke is the only Gentile writer of the New Testament, and probably the only second generation Christian writer. He was not present at the incarnation.

Luke is most likely Greek. He is an excellent writer and historian. In fact, he is the greatest of the historians of antiquity. He is objective, detailed, and well informed. He writes clearly and keeps things very well ordered.

Paul calls Luke the beloved physician in Colossians 4:14.

Although there were many charlatans in the ancient world, there were also a number of good and skilled physicians.

Medicine did not go much beyond advanced first aid in the ancient world, but such a service was very valuable.

Luke was probably behind Paul’s advice for Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach.

At one point, Luke was the only one with Paul during his imprisonment, 2 Tim 4:11.

Luke would have been a valuable addition to a missionary team, considering the hazards of travel in the ancient world. Considering the number of times that Christians were beaten, stoned, or otherwise injured because of their faith, Luke got to practice his profession often.

Luke was not only the team physician, but he was often active in the evangelistic efforts, Acts 16:13. That Luke was a Gentile meant that he would have been valuable in ministering to other Gentiles. Remember, most of the missionary teams were Jewish, and Paul's ministry at first concentrated on teaching at synagogues.

Circumstances and Target Readership.

Luke wrote in about 6667 AD He wrote his gospel, and later the Acts of the Apostles, to a man by the name of Theophilus. He probably wrote from somewhere in Greece, maybe even Athens. Little else is known about the circumstances of writing.

Luke addresses Theophilus as "most excellent". This title was often used of those who were in prominent social or political positions. Theophilus was likely such a man. By accepting a book dedicated to him, Theophilus would have followed the ancient tradition of taking responsibility for its publication. We owe our thanks to Theophilus for the preservation of this great gospel.

Luke wanted to produce a gospel for Gentile readers, and it is easy on the Hebraisms and explains Jewish customs and localities. He usually quotes the Old Testament when it is contained in a saying of Christ, but not otherwise. There is little emphasis on the fulfillment of prophecy.

Purpose of the Gospel of Luke

Luke comes right out and says it in chapter 1:4: "so that you might know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."

It is Luke's intent to be precise, and to more fully explain the subjects of which he has already spoken.

Verses 13 in the first chapter reveal Luke's motive and method: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word have handed them down to us, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it our for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus,"

Luke wrote for Theophilus, but with the intent that Theophilus would publish this work, and pass it along to many others. Luke's purpose is broad in its scope.

It is apparent that there were many falsehoods and distortions going around about the person and life of Christ. Luke wants to set the record strait with an exact narrative of the events.

Of course, by getting the record straight, Luke's desire is for evangelism. He wants people to know the truth, and to identify Christ as their savior. Luke has a great emphasis on the cross, and the end of the life of Christ. This reveals his designs for evangelism.

Characteristics of Luke's Gospel

Luke's gospel is much more comprehensive than the others. It begins many months before the other synoptic gospels, and it ends after the ascension. Many details are included here which are not in the others. Luke is a diligent and thorough historian.

Luke concentrates on praise and worship more so than the other gospels. He records the four great nativity songs Mary's, Zacharias', that of the angels, and Simeon's.

Luke emphasizes the humanity of Christ, and the perfection of that humanity.

Luke stresses that Christ makes salvation available to all men, and not just to Jews. He clearly shows the impact of Christ on the lives of many men, women, and children. Both the rich and poor, the Jew, the Samaritan, and the Gentile are included. Luke often shows this impact as occurring right inside people's homes.

Luke records seven prayers of Jesus Christ which are not mentioned elsewhere.

Luke is literary. He has a remarkably large vocabulary, and uses many different writing styles to fit the situation at hand. His is the best written of the gospels from a literary standpoint. There are 800 words in Luke and Acts which do not occur elsewhere in the New Testament.

Luke is detailed, but not to the point of boring his readers to death. He has a knack for including what is pertinent to the narrative, and leaving behind what is extraneous. Perhaps the powers of observation and diagnosis he developed as a doctor come into play in this regard.

Luke concentrates on the death of Christ. From chapter 9 forward he keeps the thread of Christ's death in the fabric of his narrative.

The Gospel of John

The Author John

God used a zealot. He was a cousin "according to the flesh" of Jesus Christ. Brother of James (not the epistle writer). A native of Galilee. John's mother Salome was a follower of Jesus, and ministered to Him of her own means.

John was a fisherman of the Sea of Galilee, his life was hard work, but apparently it had paid off for his family, because they had servants, and were able to support the ministry of Jesus Christ. Galilee was a region somewhat analogous to the U.S. South not too long ago. It is conservative to a fault, and more than a little rebellious in character. The fires of rebellion flamed openly in this region. In reality a lot of senseless violence took place in the name of the zealot movement, but there was very little virtue. This time was somewhat analogous to that of Northern Ireland today.

John had great humility. When John the Baptist points out Jesus as the Messiah, John follows without delay. He never mentions own name in own Gospel.

He was nicknamed, with brother James as the "Sons of Thunder", a reference to their manner in Word and Deed, Mk 3:17. It is likely that they had a fair amount of Zealot ideals in their heads.

He was outspoken about his faith from the start. He was "The disciple whom Jesus loved" was the closest to Jesus of the inner circle of Peter, James, and John.

He was the only eyewitness to the cross among the disciples, and he was eyewitness to the resurrection, Jn 20.

He was one of the "Pillars of the Church", Gal 2:9. Paul had a high regard for him. He took over as chief of Apostles some time in the late 70's.

His writing reflects the 50+ years of careful thought about the life of Christ and the Christian life.

Under his ministry, Ephesus became the center of the pivot which gave the Roman Empire its greatest time of prosperity under the Antonine Caesars, 98180 AD

He used very basic Greek grammar to express incredibly deep theological ideas.

He was the key figure in the transition from the pre-canon period to the post canon period.

Circumstances of Writing the Gospel.

John wrote about 20 years after the completion of the synoptic gospels.

The synoptic gospels were written during the Neronian persecutions; John's gospel is written in the aftermath. The Neronian persecution set the attitude in the Roman Empire. The average Roman at least publicly viewed Christianity and Christians with disdain.

This unpopularity was worse for Christianity than the original persecution. Peer pressure was more effective in weakening Christianity than capital punishment. Martyrs make good PR figures.

At the time of writing, Christianity was much weaker than it had been some twenty years before.

John probably wrote from Ephesus, the place of his later ministry. He had formerly ministered in Jerusalem, but was apparently driven out by Jewish persecution.

John was the last eyewitness to the life of Christ, and he has a desire to retell the story in his own words.

John wrote in a time of transition to the post-canon era of the church age. The temporary spiritual gifts, with all their fantastic abilities, are being left behind.

The Target Audience

If John's Epistles are any indication of the readers of his gospel, he wrote to a crowd that needed to understand the basics of Christianity.

The Christian church had fallen into great disrepair in just twenty years' time. The average Christian did not understand even how to confess his or her sins.

The suffering of the Neronian persecution, and the relentless peer pressure of the pagan Roman citizens had led many believers to seek alternate philosophies which bore the name of Christianity, but which were anything but.

John has an very tough uphill battle to fight with regard to heresy and the truth. The situation was not unlike what we encounter in our nation today.

The Purpose of the Gospel

In John 20:3031, John communicates his purpose: "Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in his name."

John wants his readers to believe if they are unbelievers, and to grow to maturity if they are believers.

In order to do so, he attempts to establish Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah (Christ), and reestablish the Word of God as the authority and the Truth.

The Characteristics of the Gospel.

The gospel is very simple in the use of the Greek language and writing style.

John writes about some extremely profound concepts, and he uses many symbols to do so.

John records at least six miracles which are recorded nowhere else in the gospels. He always designates these as signs.

John's gospel concentrates on events which are not recorded elsewhere. He records Christ's early Galilean ministry, and his upper room discourse.

John concentrates on the words of Christ Himself.

John develops in a fair amount of detail the relationship between the Father and the Son.

John's gospel is like a commentary he inserts his comments on the narrative many times interpreting and illuminating the events as they occur.

Jesus Christ in Eternity Past

Christ in Eternity Past

John 1:15, "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 was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In eternity past, the Father, Son, and Spirit were together trinity in the perfection of love.

Then God decided to create man, and allow man to have free will. As He looked down through history, He knew that man would use his free will to sin to speak and think and do against the perfect character of God.

God decided to permit this sin, even though it would separate Him from His creatures. He decided to do so because He had given His creatures free will, and He desired to honor that free will, and take responsibility for what He had created.

However, God could not compromise the perfection of His character in order to continue His relationship with His creatures. Therefore, God conceived a Plan whereby He could have a relationship with His creatures without compromising His own Holy character, and that plan meant the sacrifice of that which was most precious to Him of all: His unique and only Son.

Therefore, God would become God-man, in order to save mankind. The God man, Jesus Christ was unique in that He was fully man and fully God.

The Genealogy of Christ

Introduction

Matthew and Luke have taken the time to record the genealogies of our Lord. Since they wrote under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, we can assume that this information is important.

Thanks to the Pharisees' fascination with genealogies, at the time that these men wrote there was a great archive of information on the subject, and so they were able to accurately trace the line of Christ.

Luke traces the line of Christ through his mother, Mary. That is why 3:23 reads (or should read if it does not) "Jesus... being the son (as was supposed of Joseph) of Eli..."

Women were seldom included in Jewish genealogies, and so Luke only had the information about the patrilinear progenitors of Mary. He does start with her, however, even though he does not mention her name.

Luke did take the time to write the complete story of Mary and the immaculate conception, so he also took the time to write up her lineage.

Matthew traces of the line of Christ through Joseph, and thus back to Abraham. Luke takes Mary's line back to Adam.

Though Joseph was not Christ's biological Father, our Lord traced his legal heritage through him. That is why Matthew's line stops at Abraham. His line had to do with Israel, and Israel began with Abraham.

Since the line of Mary is Christ's biological line, the line is traced clear back to Adam.

Both of the genealogies skip generations.

This was a common practice in the Jewish handling of these things.

The reasons varied. It could be that the information was no longer available, or that the genealogist considered a certain generation unimportant. The reason does not matter. Just keep this fact in mind.

Luke's Genealogy.

Luke's genealogy is unique in that it traces its line in the opposite direction from the norm. However, we will start with Adam and go forward, in spite of Luke's deviant behavior.

Adam

It is fitting that we start with Adam, because Adam was the first head of the human race. By looking at Adam's life we can discover the beginnings of our problems... and solutions. Adam is perhaps the one man in these genealogies with the greatest connection to Christ.

Rom 5:1221, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned"

When God created Adam, He gave him the legitimate authority to rule planet earth When God created Adam, He created him body, mind, and spirit.

Adam's human spirit formed the basis for his relationship with God in the Garden.

Adam's body gave him the basis for logistical provision in time and space.

Adam's mind gave him the basis for volitional decision and true worship of God.

When Adam sinned, the following things happened.

He surrendered his authority to rule planet earth to Satan.

His human spirit was removed from his body, causing spiritual death. He could not pass on this human spirit to future generations.

His body received an old sin nature, which would be genetically transmitted to all future generations.

His mind became corrupted by the old sin nature, but still remained functional. He still had a conscience, which contained a frame of reference for right and wrong.

Therefore, all of Adam's progeny would suffer the following consequences:

They would be born spiritually dead, sharing the condemnation for Adam's sin.

They would be born with the indwelling presence of the old sin nature in the cell structure of their bodies (and yes, genetics confirms this).

They would be born with a soul, and thus would be able to choose for themselves the courses of their lives (and so genetics means very little).

They would be born with a human conscience, and thus be able to discern right from wrong,

Romans 2:1415, "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them..."

Romans 5:13,14, "for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed though [concessive use of the present participle] there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come."

The first part of this statement communicates the utter degeneracy of the post sin, pre flood era, and their great hope in the last Adam.

The Law of Moses provided very much in the way of Divine Establishment restraint on the old sin nature.

Without that restraint, the human race became extremely involved in the cosmic system, even to the point of sexual relations with angels.

And yet even at that time, their personal sins were not imputed to them. They were instead reserved for imputation to Jesus Christ

The second part of the statement has to do with the continued effects of spiritual death.

Although their personal sins were not imputed to them, spiritual death still continued unrestrained.

This shows the heart of the matter. Real spiritual death has to do with the imputation of Adam's sin. Salvation has to do with the imputation of our personal sin into Adam.

We did not commit Adam's sin Adam did. We do receive the imputation of that sin at the moment of human birth.

Romans 5:15,16 contrasts the two Adams:

"But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification."

Adam's original sin resulted in the spiritual death of the entire human race, except for the second Adam, Jesus Christ.

The work of Christ on the cross in receiving the imputation of the personal sins of the human race resulted in the opportunity for the human race to regain spiritual life in God.

Salvation is a free gift, but it must be taken accepted. It is offered to the entire human race without exception.

Salvation arose from the sins of all being imputed to the one.

Spiritual death arose from the sins of one being imputed to the all.

Romans 5:17 tells us about realms of power and authority related to sin.

"For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."

Adam's sin put Satan into authority in the world and in the human body. As a result the entire world was enslaved to Satan through the world branch of the cosmic system.

The individuals of the world were enslaved to him through the individual branch of the cosmic system; But Christ's substitutionary spiritual death gave the human race the authority to take their lives back.

The abundance of grace is a brief description of post salvation spiritual assets.

The gift of righteousness is the imputation of the work of Christ into the new believer at salvation.

Therefore even in the devil's world we can rule our own lives through God's control.

Romans 5:18 provides a further explanation of the principle.

"So then just as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness [a judicial sentence, handed down by a judge] there resulted justification of life to all men."

The Greek word dikaio.ma indicates a judicial sentence passed down from a judge.

In this case, it is the death sentence passed down from God the Father to Jesus Christ. Christ died under the sentence of death for us.

The judicial decision is permanent and thus lasts for all eternity. God will never rescind His judgment of our sins in Jesus Christ. We are secure forever because of this.

This judicial sentence is also an act of righteousness for the perfect Christ chose to die for sinful mankind.

Because of God's judicial sentence and Christ's righteous act provide the basis for our justification.

The righteousness of Christ is then imputed to everyone who believes in Christ.

This righteousness is used by God in order to justify our salvation. We are qualified to live forever with Him.

Romans 5:19 begins the summary,

"For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."

Adam's sin was imputed to all, and therefore all were made sinners.

Christ's work of righteousness on the cross will provide righteousness to all who believe on Him.

The final two verses of the chapter:

Romans 5:19,20, "Now the Law came in the side door [pareiserchomai] so that the transgression [unbelief the unforgivable sin] might increase [grow in importance as an issue]; but where the sin increased [as an issue], grace abounded all the more [salvation provision] that, as the sin reigned through [spiritual] death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The purpose of the Law is not to increase personal sin. Actually it limits it.

The unforgivable sin, unbelief, is in view here. The unforgivable sin is the rejection of Christ's work on the cross.

Because of spiritual death, the imputation of Adam's sin, the unforgivable sin ruled and does rule over all those who refuse to believe in Christ.

The Law increases the unforgivable sin as an issue, because the Law defines both sin and the grace provision of God.

As sin increased as an issue, so also did grace, and the grace provision of God.

Eternal life is the sum total of life after salvation for both time and eternity.

We live eternal life if we take hold of our portfolio of post salvation provision, and if we live eternal life, then we rule over all aspects of the cosmic system.

Therefore, in Adam we all died. In Christ, we can all live. This is the essence of the baptism of the Spirit.

I Cor. 15:2022 introduce the matter.

"But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."

This passage points out there is more to human life than life, and more to physical death than death.

Physical death is only a tragedy if it occurs while one is also spiritually dead. Human life is only meaningful insofar as it is spiritual.

Adam's sin resulted in the spiritual and physical death of all mankind. Christ's death resulted in the provision of salvation for all mankind.

Christ's resurrection resulted in the provision of a resurrection body for all believers. Christ was the first to be resurrected, but there will be many more.

1 Cor. 15:23 and 24 set forth the order of resurrections.

"But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

The word for order in this passage has to do with human organizations of various kinds. Primarily, it is a word used of military formations. In a military formation, things always happen in a certain order, and that is what is in view here.

First, Christ is resurrected.

Second, all believers from the church age receive their resurrection bodies.

Third, all believers from all other periods of history are resurrected.

It is at the end of history that all rule is abolished.

arche. is the word for rule, and it serves as the general category.

exousia and dunamis define the two types of rulership; exousia for legitimate authority, and dunamis for illegitimate.

It is all abolished because the kingdom of heaven is put into place, where Christ rules all.

The kingdom which Christ delivers is His millennial kingdom.

I Cor. 15:25 and 26 explain the reason for the extension of Christ's millennial rule,

"For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death."

Christ will reign in His kingdom until the job is completely finished. He reigns from the right hand of the Father even now. He will reign on planet Earth in the millennium.

In this case, reigning or ruling means more than just sitting on a throne. It means an active and benevolent rule towards all who are His rightful subjects. All who believe in Him remain just that His rightful subjects.

There are many enemies of Jesus Christ: humans and angels and even death.

Death will be the last of these enemies to fall to the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

Death was brought into the world by Adam, though Satan was Christ's first real enemy.

1 Cor. 15:27 and 28 comment on the victory that has already been won.

"For he has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when he says, 'All things are put in subjection,' it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all."

God the Father has placed all things under the rulership of Christ positionally. The cross and the resurrection were the dual strategic victories that absolutely assured the overall victory of God in the angelic conflict, and completely reversed the adverse effects of Adam's sin.

The cross was the strategic victory over sin; all the sins of man were imputed to Christ on the cross, and judged in Him.

The resurrection was the strategic victory over physical and spiritual death. Physical death because of the resurrection body; spiritual death because of the resurrection mind.

The conflict will continue, even though the handwriting is really on the wall at this point. Evil fights on though completely beaten.

God the Father is the exception to the rule. All is under Christ's subjection because of the cross, resurrection and ascension. God the Father is the exception to that. He will remain in authority over the Son forever.

The purpose of this subjection is so that from beginning to end, God might remain in authority and it is fitting that He is.

He was in authority over Christ in eternity past.

He remained in authority throughout human history, and even until now.

And therefore it is right that he remains forever.

(Verses 2934 form a parenthetical statement that is not pertinent to our study, so we will skip them

1 Cor. 15:35 picks up the subject of the actual resurrection.

"But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?'"

We know how death came into the world through Adam's original sin came both spiritual and physical death. We should also come to understand how life will come again.

Paul begins his explanation of the mystery with an analogy from the world of agriculture. "That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else."

The seed is planted in the shell of the human body, and the human body must die in order for the seed to grow.

An entire corn stalk is not sown in order to grow another; just a seed, and that is it.

An entire resurrection body is not placed inside of our own; just the kernel, the seed of one is placed.

1 Cor. 15:38,39 are an explanation of the individuality of the resurrection bodies of all creatures.

"But God gives it a body just as He willed, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish."

God made a sovereign decision to make our resurrection bodies in a certain way. Since it is God's decision, it is going to be a wonderful body.

The flesh of each order of creatures is different, and so are the resurrection bodies of all humans.

Heaven means inequality among resurrection bodies.

It is impossible to tell from a seed what it will grow into. So it is with the resurrection body. You cannot tell from looking at someone how they will turn out in heaven. Only God can tell.

The resurrection body is the result of what you do on earth with your human spirit, which is the seed.

If you cultivate it and nourish it, it will grow into something fantastic. If you neglect it, it will be not much.

1 Cor. 15:40,41 continue the explanation.

"There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead."

The heavenly bodies are used to analogize the difference in the glory of the earthly categories. The sun is great and glorious the moon just its reflection. Stars are far off and dim. All are different according to the will of God.

1 Cor. 15:42,43 tell us the about the soil into which the seed of the resurrection body is sown.

"It is sown in a perishable body, it is raised in an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonorable, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a soulish body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

The soil into which the seed is planted is the human body. The body is the perishable, the dishonorable, the weak, the soulish.

The soulish is from the Greek word psuchikos. Soulish is used elsewhere in Scripture (1 Cor 2:14; James 3:15; Jude 1:19) to connote a person without a human spirit.

The weakness is from the Greek word astheneia, which emphasizes the inability of the human to make the conversion.

The perishable is obvious.

The dishonorable points the old sin nature in the cell structure of the human flesh.

And now a comparison is made between the earthly body of Adam and his race, and Christ and His followers.

1 Cor. 15:45,46, "So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul.' The last Adam [Christ] became a life making spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.

Adam's bad decision resulted in the spiritual death of the entire human race. This is summed up in the phrase psuche zosan "living soul."

A living soul is one that has human life, but not spiritual.

Human life is the sum of biological and soul life, or psuche zosan.

The second man's, Christ's, good decision resulted in the spiritual life of all who would believe in Him.

All who believe are given spiritual life in the form of the human spirit. All who receive the human spirit have human life, and eternal life.

The order of things was for Adam to come first, and then Christ. The problem must appear before the solution.

The conclusion is in 1 Cor. 15:4749.

"The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

Seth

Seth was Adam's third son, and after the death of Abel and the banishment of Cain, Seth would renew Adam's line.

Seth represents a new hope and new beginning. He was the appointed replacement for Abel, and that is the meaning of his name (Gen. 4:2526).

Seth would father Enos at the age of one hundred and five, and he would die when he was nine hundred and twelve years of age.

During this time in human history, people lived to ages which seem impossible today.

The line of Christ had been cut off when Cain murdered Abel. Seth is the renewal of that line. In a sense, he is Abel's substitute; his designated hitter.

Enosh

Enos is the Greek rendering of this name, which is more correctly pronounced Enosh. The Greeks were indiscriminate in their rendering of the Hebrew sin and shin, and that is why the difference.

There is one significant fact about this man: his life marks the beginning of the great apostasy of the antediluvian civilization.

Gen. 4:26, "to Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to cry out against the name of Yahweh."

The word for 'begin' in this verse is h.Uh.al, and it means to pierce or penetrate something for the first time. It had a universally negative connotation. It referred to rape, and other horrible crimes that included penetration. It referred to the abuse of land, and even pollution. In the context of Gen. 4:26, it means to begin something that should never begin. It is, in essence, a rape of something that was innocent.

The verb 'to call' also can be used in the negative sense. qArA' means in its basic form to call or summon someone. However, in its more severe connotation, it has the sense of crying out, or screaming against someone, and that is how it is used here.

The inseparable preposition 'bh' is attached to shEm Yahweh in the final part of the verse. This preposition can have many meanings, but the one that fits best here is 'against'.

The word shEm is translated 'the name of'. The ancient Hebrews believed that a person's name represented his very essence.

Therefore, during Enosh's lifetime, there was a great bitter outcry against the name of the Lord. This was the beginning of the great period of apostasy and idolatry that would characterize the antediluvian civilization.

Enosh himself is not associated with the bitter outcry it is likely that he remained faithful to God in spite of public opinion about Him.

Cainan

Although spelled Cainan in Luke's translation, this is the Hellenization of Qinan of the Hebrew.

We have no other information on this man, other than his place in the line of Christ.

Mahalaleel

He is the son of Cainan (Kenan). There is no other reference to this man in the Bible.

His name literally means, "to the praise of God".

Enoch

Now we have someone we can talk about.

Genesis 5:2224 tells his story:

"Enoch lived with God for three hundred years after the birth of Methuselah (his son). Thus all the days of Enoch came to three hundred and sixty five years. Enoch lived with God, and he was not, for God took him."

Hebrews 11:5 provides us with further interpretation:

"By faith Enoch was transferred [to heaven] so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God."

Jude verses 14 and 15 quotes from the apocryphal book of Enoch, and it says,

"And about these also Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

When he was sixty five years of age, Enoch was transferred body, soul, and spirit to the presence of God in heaven. There he stayed for three hundred years, at which time his soul and spirit were painlessly removed from his body, and he was transferred to paradise.

Enoch also was a prophet while he remained on planet earth, and he talked about his own generation, as evidenced by his prophecy recorded in Jude's epistle.

Enoch lived in a time of great apostasy. This time began during the life of Enosh, and was fully developed by the time Enoch came around.

The apostasy of that time was unbridled, since the Mosaic law had not yet been written.

Rom. 5:20, "And the Law came in the side door, so that the sin might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

The time included a tremendous amount of demonism, even to the point of sexual relations with them. The demons were attacking the genetic line of Christ, hoping to pollute His human genetic purity and thus destroy His role as mediator.

Therefore, they seduced human women (and only women), and impregnated them. By the time of Noah's life, all but Noah's family had succumbed.

The human women were weakened by their hatred of God (see Enosh), and easily enticed by the attractiveness of these demons.

There was great violence, and the human race was in a constant state of war. The half angelic humans had great superhuman powers (see Hermes, Aphrodite, Apollo, Neptune, etc and they were superintelligent and superattractive (see Helen of Troy and Aphrodite) as well.

Many strange and terrible creatures roamed the earth, the brood of demons. Their fossil record remains thanks to the great fossilizing powers of the flood.

It was in this time that Enoch lived, moved to maturity following the plan of God, and was transferred to heaven by the omnipotence of God. Enoch did not see physical death because of his maturity, and he stands as a precursor to resurrection.

Although Enoch was not truly resurrected, his transfer to heaven was very much like a resurrection.

During all his time in heaven, Enoch stayed in his human body, yet face to face with God. It is probably a comment on his maturity that he was able to stand it, though in his sinful body.

After three hundred years of life with God, he was then transferred to paradise, under the earth.

At the resurrection of Christ he was transferred to heaven along with all the Old Testament Saints.

Methuselah

Methuselah is Enoch's son, and Lamech's father. His name means "man of the dart". It is an intriguing name, but we do not have the foggiest idea why.

Methuselah has the distinction of being the oldest man in Biblical history, and perhaps of all time.

Long life was a sign of blessing during Biblical times, and was synonymous with quality of life. This being true, then Methuselah represents the quality of eternal life within Christ's line.

Lamech

Lamech forms the link between Methuselah and Noah. He lived to the age of 777.

Nothing else is known of Lamech, but if he raised Noah, it is likely he raised him right.

Noah

Gen. 6:12, "Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God [fallen angels] saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose."

This is the period of history which we have studied so closely the last few sections. Again, it was exceptionally degenerate, with little in the way of checks and balances.

Gen. 6:3, "Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not contend in man forever, because he is flesh in his going astray; but his days will be one hundred and twenty years."

God the Holy Spirit was working nonstop during that time. He was contending with the souls of the human race, convicting them, judging their acts, so that they might turn to God through Jesus Christ.

From this moment on, there would be one hundred and twenty years and no more.

Gen. 6:4, "The Mephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those [children] were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown."

This verse makes the origin of the Nephilim quite clear. They are the offspring of fallen angels and human women.

It also identifies the Nephilim with the age of heroes, made famous by the oral tradition that came through Noah and his sons.

Gen. 6:57 gives us God's evaluation of this period of time:

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.. An the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

The revelations of Divine emotion in this passage are really anthropopathisms. These are the assignment of human emotions to God in order to explain some aspect of Divine policy. It is an easy way to explain the doctrine of dispensations to the uninitiated.

God did not grieve, and He was not sorry. It only appeared so because of the dispensational change of policy. It was time to judge the present civilization and move on to the next.

It was all a part of the Divine outline of history, and it did not mean that God did not know about this apostasy in eternity past.

It is true that this was not God's direct will for the people of this time, and that he was saddened by their negative volition.

Gen. 6:89 tells us God's evaluation of Noah,

"But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord... Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God."

The "eyes" of God represent his evaluative abilities, measuring Noah to His standards of righteousness.

The only way that Noah could have done so is through God's grace plan, including belief in the future savior, Jesus Christ.

That Noah walked with God is a sure indication of his fulfillment of God's post salvation plan.

Gen. 6:1022 records God's plan for the destruction of life on planet earth, and Noah's salvation. A flood will come, so Noah will need a boat. The waters will come from above and below the earth Gen. 7:11.

Noah will save many of the earth's animal species Gen. 7:1316. Many others will be destroyed Gen. 7:2123.

Due to the intermingling of salt and fresh water, and the amount of silt in the water, all but the hardiest of the fish would be killed as well.

Thus Noah and his family were preserved; while the others died to await their future judgment.

Noah's three sons and their wives repopulated the earth, and began the postdiluvian civilization.

Shem

Shem was a voyager on the ark, and the firstborn son of Noah. He cared for his nephew Canaan after it was discovered that he had been abused by his father Ham, Genesis 9:2027.

In that account, He is called blessed by Noah a recognition of his spiritual maturity.

Christ's Genealogy from Shem to Abraham

Introduction

When Noah began the building of the ark, God made a covenant with him.

Gen. 6:18, "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark you and your sons and your wife, and your sons wives with you."

Entering the ark was equivalent to entering in to the covenant with God. The covenant was continued when Noah made his sacrifice at the landfall of the ark when he left the ark (this was really the first ark of the covenant).

Gen. 8:20, "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar."

God spells out the details of the covenant:

Gen. 8:21, "And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said in His heart, 'I shall not again personally cause the cursing of the earth because of man. There is evil in the imagination of man from his infanthood. And I shall not again personally cause the destroying of every living creature as I have done."

So, God makes a promise to Noah, and to the entire human race, even to you and I in this passage. He will never again flood the earth with water.

This is the background to the verb which is translated 'cursing'.

qalal means to diminish something. When it is used of water, it means to drain it.

It is this same verb which is used to describe the draining of the water after the flood.

The word used for 'earth' is Adamah. Adamah in the feminine means earth and all its inhabitants, and so it is here.

The final part place the blame squarely where it belongs: on man.

Therefore, this is a promise, specifically, to never flood the earth for what man has done.

The second part has to do with the destruction of all life. God will not destroy all life on the earth.

Notice the comment in between: There is evil in the imagination of man from his infanthood."

In spite of man's evil imagination, God will not again destroy the earth and its inhabitants. Man's imagination is evil from infanthood, and note not from his youth.

In Gen. 8:22, the future conditions of the planet are defined:

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

With the tilting of the earth's axis, all of the named conditions will exist. This is in contrast to the previous stable conditions of the planet. The environment is going to be rougher from here on out.

Man's relationship to the animal kingdom is changed by the new covenant, as described in Gen. 9:24.

"And the respect of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I did the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, its blood."

The change means that the beasts will respect good human beings, and be terrified of the bad. In all cases their subordination is required. It is because of fear that animals are violent.

All animals are now O.K. to eat. The lifeblood of that creature must be drained before it is eaten, but that is the only requirement.

The third part of the covenant had to do with capital punishment.

Gen. 9:56, "And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man."

This is crucial, for before the flood there was no capital punishment, which is the major restraint on criminal activity. Capital punishment is ordained from this moment forward. If man or beast kills a man, he will be killed by man.

This would be a major difference from before the flood. Man is now responsible for policing himself, which provides a restraint on the function of the old sin nature.

The fourth part of the covenant is the sign of the promise.

Read Gen. 9:817

So the covenant is made and the transfer is made to postdiluvian civilization. Let's pick up the line of Christ again with Shem.

Shem

Shem was the son of Noah. He was about 98 years old when he entered the ark with the rest of his family. He fathered many children, including Arphaxad, who would carry the line of Christ.

The land occupied by the descendants of Shem (Gen. 10:2131) encompasses all of what would become the Jews under the covenant of Abraham. It includes Syria, Chaldea, parts of Assyria, Persia, and the Arabian peninsula.

Noah predicts that the people of Canaan would serve under the Semites.

Arphaxad, or Arphachshad

He was born two years after the flood, conceived not long after the ark hit dry land.

He apparently settled in the mountainous country in the Northeast, and we really do not know much else about this man.

Cainan

Cainan was the son of Arphaxad. He is not mentioned in the original table of nations in Gen., but for some reason Moses skipped him and went to his son, Shelah. Nothing else is known about this man.

Shelah

The son of Cainan; the father of Heber.

Heber

This man's name means 'fellowship'. In the Hebrew, it is really Eber.

The son of Shelah, the father of Peleg.

He is the founder of the Hebrew race, and he gave his name to it, Gen. 10:21.

Peleg

His name means division, and it was during his lifetime that the nations were divided.

The first crisis of the postdiluvian civilization was due to the tower of Babel. When God put down that attempt, the nations of the earth were formed, and the earth divided into geographical national boundaries for the very first time.

Reu

He is the son of Peleg and the father of Serug. His name means, 'friend'. Nothing else is known.

Serug

He is the son of Reu. His name means 'shoot, or tendril' in the Hebrew. There is an ancient city by this name, and it may have something to do with this man.

Nahor

Do not confuse this man with the brother of Abraham. This Nahor lived in the 23rd century B.C., and is the grandfather of Abraham. His name means snorting or snoring.

Terah

He was born in Ur of the Chaldees. His name means 'antelope'. Joshua 24:2 tells us that this man was involved in idolatry. He did take place in the big move to Canaan, with the rest of the family. He died about 2100 B.C.

The Abraham Connection

From Abraham to David, there are fourteen generations. AbrahamIsaacJacobJudahPerezHezronRamAdminAmminadabNahshonSalmonBoazObedJesseDavid.

Between the genealogies in Luke and Matthew there is only one difference, and that is the Luke's insertion of Admin between Ram and Amminadab. This points out the reality of skipped generations in genealogy lists.

It was a common practice to skip a generation and go from grandfather to grandson. Sometimes that generation was skipped due to a spiritual failure in the person in question; more often, there is no reason given.

We will concentrate on Abraham, Nahshon, and Boaz in this line.

This line covers the age of the patriarchs, from God's covenant with Abraham to the next covenant with David. Its chronology runs from Abraham's birth in 2160 B.C. to Israel under king Saul in 1004 B.C.

Abraham.

Gen. 12:13 records Abram's first call:

"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.'"

Abraham had to leave his own country because God had a wonderful place reserved for him and his progeny. He also had to leave because his first home and his family and relatives would have been a fatal distraction to him.

The covenants to Israel

God provided the nation of Israel a fantastic portfolio of grace blessings in the form of covenants. A covenant is based on the attributes of God.

It finds its motive in the love of God. There is nothing treacherous or deceitful about a covenant.

It finds its modus operandi in grace. God gives based on his thinking, power, and merit.

It finds its dependability in faithfulness. The blessings always wait for Israel to take them.

It finds its timing and organization in order. Everything is arranged by the capabilities of God in eternity past.

It finds its enactment in the sovereignty of God. God chooses to bless Israel.

It finds its revelation in the truth of God. God is forthright and clear and honest in His communication of the details of His covenants. He always keeps His Word.

The only thing that Israel is to provide is their acceptance of the very first covenant, which is the spiritual one. The spiritual covenant is the relationship with God provision. In it, God provides Israel with everything that they need to have a national relationship with Him.

They have the information that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.

They have the power that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.

They have the righteousness that they need in order to have a relationship with Him.

This relationship with God is the greatest of all the covenants, and it provides the best of the blessings.

Abraham is an example: until he got his relationship with God on track, he would not receive the remainder of his covenant blessings.

During the age of Israel, only racial Jews receive the blessings of the covenants to Israel.

Individual Gentiles may still fulfill the plan of God for individuals, and they may share in the covenants to Israel by way of blessing by association.

The covenant to Abraham includes the promised land, a new and unique race, blessing by association to all who bless his race, a curse on the anti-Semitic, and a messianic clause.

The land is defined in Gen. 15:1821.

The Jews must fulfill the spiritual covenant, and accept Christ as Messiah in order to fully inherit this land. This will not occur until the second advent of Christ. This is the messianic clause.

The new and unique race is formed at the conception of Abraham's first son by Sarah, providing a brand new genetic race through the seed of Abraham.

All who bless the Jews are in turn blessed by God. Throughout history the Jews encounter a massive amount of murderous persecution. Whenever a person or a nation provides protection, or aides them in some way, or just has a virtuous mental attitude about their race, that person or nation is blessed by God.

All who curse the Jews are in turn cursed by God. anti-Semitism is a death wish.

Abram did as the Lord commanded, and went out from Ur when he was 75 years of age.

Abram means, "top father (as in rank), or exalted father (as in respect)".

Sarai means, "contentious woman".

When he arrived in the new land at Shechem, he worshipped God. Soon after Abram arrived in the new land, a terrible famine hit, and he went down to Egypt to eat. This caused a complication.

Abram feared that he would be killed by the Egyptians if they knew that Sarai was his wife, because she was very beautiful.

He was an oaf, and cared more about his safety than what would happen to Sarai in the Egyptian harem.

Therefore, he lied to the Egyptians, and told them that Sarai was his sister.

Pharaoh took Sarai for his own, but by stealing her (unwittingly) from Abram he was the first to invoke the cursing clause of the Abrahamic covenant.

When the cursing hit, Sarai blabbed the whole deal to Pharaoh, and so Pharaoh was upset with Abram, but he did not kill him! He was honorable and gave Sarai back and sent the whole entourage back to Canaan.

When he arrived, Abram held a worship service in honor of the Lord. Apparently he had recovered from his devious ways.

When Abram returned to the land, he and his nephew Lot were so prosperous that their herds were always getting tangled together, and their shepherds were at the point of engaging in a range war. Therefore, Lot decided to go down into the Jordan valley with his bunch in order to avoid further confrontations.

After a time, Lot became entangled in a local war. Genesis 14 tells the story.

When Lot was living down in the Jordan valley, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fought a big battle, where they were defeated.

Lot got himself tangled up in it all somehow, and he was captured by the victors. They took their spoil and Lot as well and left for points North.

Abram heard about this and did the honorable thing: he took the men of his household, 318 all told, and formed them into a fighting force.

They must have been well trained, because they pulled off the most difficult of all military maneuvers, a coordinated night action.

They rescued Lot and all his goods, and returned to their homes.

It is here that Abram has another worship service.

Next is the story of Abraham's offspring.

Abraham's Offspring

The story of Sarai's treachery begins in Genesis 16.

"Now Sarai, Abram's wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, 'Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to may maid; perhaps I shall be built up through her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms; but when she saw she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.'"

This was not a good marriage. We have already seen the treachery of Abraham, and now it is Sarai's turn.

Sarai is barren, and no doubt she had quite a complex about it. So Sarai conceives a plan. Maybe Abram was bugging her all the time about children. Maybe the incident with Pharaoh had turned her off to him in some way.

Because of all this, Sarai just wanted to get it over with. However, she did not realize, that God's plan included her as well.

And Abraham was dumb enough to go along with the plan.

Of course, Hagar conceived right away, and after living for so long with Sarai, the contentious woman and no doubt the contentious master, she could not help but exult over her.

Poor Sarai. Her plan had failed miserably. What was worse, she had this daily reminder of her failure to give Abram an heir. Every time that Hagar craved new and unusual food combinations she probably winked in Sarai's direction.

The first thing that Sarai did was to try to take it out on her husband. "I may have suggested it, but you didn't have to go through with it. This is all your fault!" She had become quite irrational.

The second thing that Sarai did was to try to take it out on Hagar. She verbally and mentally and physically abused this poor pregnant woman. Hagar had to leave.

But the Lord would deal justly with Hagar, and she believed in him, and returned to the authority of Sarai, and things were better from then.

Now this plan had backfired terribly, and both Abram and Sarai suffered for it.

There is no Biblical record of the next fifteen years. But we know from the next part of their lives, Abram and Sarai have improved their relationship with God tremendously.

In Genesis 17, the story picks up again.

"Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'

God renews the covenant with Abram because Abram has grown spiritually to the point where he has capacity for all the great covenant blessing that God has prepared for him.

Abram falls on his face because he now has true humility. This is a humility that can only come from an intimate knowledge of God. Abram developed that knowledge over the fifteen years since the Hagar disaster.

Now Abram is Abraham, the father of a multitude. Now he is ready for the next test.

Gen. 16:9, "God said further to Abraham, 'Now as for you, you will keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant, which you will keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.'"

Had Abraham not been a mature believer, he probably would have said something along the lines of, "You want me to do what to my what?!" Instead, he humbly complies.

And, he must have been a great leader, because his entire household was under the requirement as well. "You want us to do what to our whats?!"

But this was the beginning of the miraculous birth of Isaac.

The Birth of Isaac

Gen. 17:15, "Then God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but Sarah will be her name. And I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.' Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?' And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!' But God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.'"

The birth of Isaac would mean the creation of a new race on the planet the race of the Jew.

The new race had these assets:

Client nation status. They were a nation that had a special relationship with God, and they were used as a witness to the entire world.

A special code, in the Mosaic Law.

A great land in which to live.

Fantastic leadership, in the Davidic dynasty.

A wonderful future, under the leadership of Jesus Christ in the Millennium.

Unique mental prosperity, which provides the basis for success in any endeavor.

The purpose for the new race was to represent God as a witness to the entire world during the last half of the Old Testament dispensation; to stand as the sole witness to the world during the tribulation; to serve as the basis for the people of the millennium.

The new race was being propagated for their leader, who would come more than two thousand years later.

The impact of the new race in history. Prosemitism would always receive blessing by association. anti-Semitism would always receive cursing by association.

In this passage, Abraham listens to what God has to say, and comes to an erroneous conclusion.

He thinks it through, laughing all the while.

Sarah cannot have children.

I cannot give her what she needs to have children.

Then the Lord must want to use Ishmael as my seed, and must have all along!

Wrong, says God.

Isaac to Jesse

Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah. He would marry Rebekhah, and father the twins, Jacob and Esau. It is worthwhile to note that Rebekhah, too, was barren. She was the second in the line to find healing in God. Another miracle to continue the line of Christ.

Jacob. This man was no prince, at least at first. He took advantage of his older brother, Esau, and took his birthright from him. Later he would wrestle with God, and in that match he would win God's respect. God changed his name to Israel, 'wrestler with God'.

Judah was one of the twelve sons of Israel. Tamar, the widow of both his first and second sons, tricked him into sexual relations by disguising herself has a prostitute. Tamar did this as revenge, because Judah had wronged her by not giving her to his third son. She became pregnant by this liaison, and bore him twin sons. Judah would go on to spiritual maturity, in spite of his early handicaps.

Perez was the second born son of Judah, the second of twins. However, he was the one through which the line of Christ would run. Not much is know about this man, except his birth.

Hezron forms a link in the genealogy, but not much else is known about him.

Ram forms another link.

Amminadab

We know only one thing about this man: his daughter was the wife of Aaron the High Priest under Moses. He was a man of the Exodus, and he died in the desert.

Nahshon. Now we can tell something of this man. His sister Elisheba was married to Aaron. He was also a man of the Exodus generation, the captain of the tribe of Judah. He must have been a talented military leader, but he died in the desert with the rest of his generation.

Salmon married Rahab, the famous prostitute of Jericho. Although little is mentioned of Salmon, Rahab deserves mention.

She was a prostitute in the town of Jericho, and when two spies from the army of Israel come to scout the town they are going to destroy, they happen upon Rahab's house of ill repute (O.K., even 3500 years ago military men had an instinct for this sort of thing).

She saved these two spies from certain death by hiding them.

Rahab speaks to the two spies, and here is what she said, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihan and Og, who you totally destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord you God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

Then the spies promise her that she and her family will be spared, and they are.

Rahab and her extended family were the only survivors of the town of Jericho. All the others were killed. Rahab lived out her years with the nation of Israel, and she married Salmon.

Boaz was the son of Salmon and Rahab the prostitute. It was his destiny to marry a foreign woman named Ruth.

Elimelech lived in Bethlehem with his wife Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.

A famine came upon the land, and so Elimelech took his wife and sons to the land of Moab.

Elimelech died in Moab, and after his death, his sons took Moabite women for wives. Their names were Ruth and Orpah (not Oprah).

Sadly, both the sons also died before they could give sons to their wives.

After some quibbling, Ruth determined to return to Bethlehem with her mother in law, while the other daughter in law stayed in Moab.

Ruth believed in God, and she wanted to be in the land of promise.

By her hard work in the fields she earned the respect of Boaz, a man of Bethlehem, and eventually he would marry her.

Through Ruth and Boaz, the line of Christ was continued.

Obed was the son of Ruth and Boaz, and he was the grandfather of David.

Jesse, Obed's son, was David's father.

Up to this point, we have studied some of the covenants of God with Israel.

The Noahic Covenant, where God promised never again to destroy the world by flood, and where God established man's responsibility to capital punishment.

The Abrahamic Covenant, where God established a new racial species.

The Mosaic Covenant, which was the national policy covenant for the nation of Israel.

Next God established the Davidic, or Messianic, Covenant. This was the leadership covenant for the nation of Israel.

The leadership covenant for Israel described a man who would be their great leader, and who would combine the three offices of prophet, priest, and king.

Christ fulfilled all three covenants.

As prophet, He spoke of His kingdom, and offered it to the Jews, but they rejected Him.

As priest, he died for the sins of the world, but the Jews would not receive Him.

Because the Jews rejected Christ as prophet and priest, He could not be their king, which was their only desire. Because of the Jew's rejection of Christ, His earthly kingdom was delayed, and the church age was inserted into history.

The Jews were not unlike many other people in history. They desired an outside solution to their problems, a panacea that would remove their troubles quickly and permanently.

They did not see that their humility was required, and the circumcision of their hearts needed to precede the rescue of their nation.

They were too proud to back down from their arrogant legalism, and love of the cosmic system.

From their pride they desired a king that would solve their problems, so that they could go on with their arrogance.

From their pride they rejected the man who was also a prophet and a priest.

There are many passages in the Old Testament which refer to the Messiah, the king after the pattern of David.

Gen. 3:15, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

This is the first prediction of the Messiah. It communicates to Satan that the future Messiah will come from the seed of the woman.

Because of the process of meiosis, each month the woman produces an ovum which is without the genetic pollution of the old sin nature. This made it possible for Mary to conceive by the Holy Spirit, and bring forth a child that did not have the old sin nature, and thus would not receive the condemnation of Adam's original sin.

The last part of the prophecy concerns the ultimate victory of Christ. Christ will wound the head of Satan. This is a metaphor, and can refer to many things. It is probably a reference to the death, resurrection, ascension, and session of Christ.

Satan will wound the heel of Christ. Although this is often interpreted as referring to the cross, the meaning of `Aqibh does not lend itself well to this. More likely it refers to the followers of Jesus Christ, who are subject to persecution throughout the ages. This is likely especially in light of its position opposite of rO'sh, head.

Gen. 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."

Of course, this is the Abrahamic covenant. Through the seed of Abraham came Christ, and through the death of Christ all nations and all people were blessed.

Gen. 22:18, "and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

This is a reaffirmation of the Abrahamic covenant.

The reflexive pronoun 'themselves' denotes the function of volition related to salvation and post salvation spiritual growth.

Christ the Messiah is the source of these blessings.

Gen. 49:8,10, "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

These verse confirm that the Messianic line runs through Judah.

It also emphasizes the royalty of the Messiah that he would be a king.

Deut 18:18, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him."

This is a preview of the prophetic office and function of Christ. Christ will speak only what God commands.

It is worthwhile to note that the Jews had this verse available to them, and yet they still rejected Christ.

2 Sam 7:1116, "from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men;

but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.'"

This is a prediction of the coming of king David. Furthermore, it predicts that the house of David will last forever. It also describes the relationship of God to the Messiah: Father to Son.

It hints at the death of the Messiah that He will take the stripes (the whipping) of men.

2 Sam 23:5, "Yea, does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?"

Here is communicated the everlasting nature of the Davidic covenant. It exists in the Divine decree. It is secure, regardless of what Israel will do, and they will do a lot. Also it is the communication of the prosperity which comes from the Messiah.

Psalm 2, "Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed, saying,

"Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us."

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD has them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,

"I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."

I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, with trembling

kiss his feet, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

This is the first reference to the Messiah as the anointed one. The word 'Christ' means 'anointed one'.

Anointing with oil was a metaphor for the ministry of the Spirit.

People in ancient times used oil for light. The Spirit sheds His light on the Word, so that we might understand it.

People in ancient times used oil for a medicinal ointment. The ministry of the Spirit with the Word heals our souls.

People in ancient times used oil as a cosmetic. The ministry of the Spirit leads to true beauty the beauty of the soul full of Truth.

People in ancient times used oil to anoint the bodies of the dead. The Spirit is the member of the Godhead who resurrects the dead.

People in ancient times used oil to cook and flavor their food. The ministry of the Spirit in the Word flavors our lives, making them not only palatable, but enjoyable.

Christ was the Messiah, the anointed one. He is the keystone of our faith, and without Him and all that He has done our faith has no meaning. The Spirit ministered to our Lord from his birth. In Jesus Christ was manifest the fullness of the Holy Spirit all of the things that anointing represents.

Psalm 16, "Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.

I say to the LORD, "Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee." As for the saints in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight. Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure.

For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.

Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore."

The key phrase in this passage is "in thy right hand". Jesus Christ would sit down at the right hand of God after the ascension. This is called His Session.

The session of Christ represents the finished state of all His work, and the accomplishment of the strategic victory of the angelic conflict.

Read Psalm 22.

This is a long passage that records with perfect accuracy the first person narrative of Christ on the cross.

The gospels have very little information on what Christ thought while He was dying for our sins just a few short verbal expressions. However, the thoughts were recorded one thousand years before the event in this Psalm.

The physical details given in this Psalm hit the experience of crucifixion right on the head. In fact, there is no other explanation.

Read Psalm 110

In this passage there is a repetition of the session of Christ. Furthermore, it emphasizes the royalty of the Messiah, and his priesthood.

Melchizedek was a priest and a king during the age of the patriarchs. He once had a brief association with Abraham. Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which was the city of Jerusalem at that time. Christ will be the king of Jerusalem in the millennium and in the eternal state.

Finally, there is mention of His sovereignty, which He will reveal to the entire world for the first time at the second advent.

Read Isaiah 2.

Isaiah chapter two concentrates on the millennial rule of Christ. Christ will rule over a magnificent kingdom, in which peace and prosperity are the rule.

All the arrogance of man and the fallen angels is brought down, because of the greatness of the day of the Lord. An end will come to all idolatry. An utter and final end.

You should note that this passage hints at the idea of idolatry as being the source of the earth's many ills, including poverty and war.

Isaiah 7:14 records two details concerning the Messiah. That His mother will conceive Him while a virgin, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:17, "But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. Thou shalt multiply the nation, thou shalt increase their gladness; they will be glad in Thy presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For Thou shalt break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."

Here again is the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

Also, this passage establishes the location of the hometown of Christ, and the place where much of His ministry will take place.

Zebulun and Naphtali are two tribes of Israel. Their tribal boundaries form the area to the West and Southwest of the Sea of Galilee.

Included in these territories is the town of Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus Christ.

They are made glorious because of the ministry of Christ around them.

Isaiah 11:15, "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His limbs, and faithfulness the belt about His waist."

This passage concentrates on the prophetic character of Christ.

Through the Spirit and the Word, Christ will be the greatest prophet of all time.

Isaiah 40 proclaims the coming of the Messiah to the people of Israel.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

This passage predicts the ministry of John the Baptist. This passage hearkens back to the wilderness journey of Israel.

It emphasizes the need for faith perception of the truth. For us, it looks forward to the coming of Christ, or our joining with him.

Read Isaiah 42. It establishes the purpose of the Messiah. "

These verses spell out the purpose of the life of Christ.

He will bring justice to the nations.

He will open the eyes that are blind.

He will set free the prisoners from the dungeon of the cosmic system.

The passage also confirms that these things are a part of the Divine Decree in eternity past.

Read Isaiah 49, which records the call of the Messiah.

This call will result in the salvation of Israel, and of all mankind. It will solve all problems, no matter how great. It will bring about the millennium.

Isaiah 53 records the substitionary spiritual death of Christ, a priestly function.

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand,

he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

This is really important, because it records the purpose of the death of the Messiah. He is to die a substitutionary spiritual death, one that will pay for the sins of all mankind. It is a great sacrifice, and so God gives Him a great destiny.

Jer 23:56, "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely ; and this is His name by which He will be called, the Lord our righteousness."

Daniel 7:27, "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him."

This is a passage which describes the eternal kingdom of God under the rulership of Jesus Christ.

It tells of the gathering of all nations, human and angelic, and their subordination to Christ at the Great White Throne.

Micah 5:2, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."

The eternal nature of Jesus Christ is set forth here. He is truly God. Micah also identifies His birthplace Bethlehem.

Zech 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first born."

This is a little different. It records the crucifixion of Christ as it relates to the Jews who demand His crucifixion. The Jews turned against Christ, and demanded his death over that of Barabbas, a common criminal who had participated in an insurrection against the Roman rule.

Malachi 3:1, "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts.

There are two predictions here. First, the prophet predicts the ministry of John the Baptist. Second, there is a prediction concerning the scouring of the Temple, which actually occurred on two occasions.

King David, the Forerunner of Christ

King David was the forerunner of Christ in at least three ways:

In his selection by Samuel the prophet.

In the establishment and administration of his kingdom.

In his relationship with God. The words of a man on his deathbed reveal a lot about him. David, for all of his sin and tragedy was a man of God.

Read 1 Samuel 16:113

David to the Exile

Joseph's Line, the Legal Line of Christ (Matthew).

Solomon

Solomon was a true genius, and he exploited that genius by having a great relationship with God. "Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. And men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom."

Yet, Solomon became involved with the queen of Sheba, and his lust for her nearly destroyed him. Toward the end of his life he wrote a testimony to the folly of his lust. We have that testimony recorded in the Bible it is the book of Ecclesiastes.

"Futility of futilities! All is futility!" Is the tone of the book.

Solomon then proceeds to record all of his accomplishments, and all of his doings, he says, added up to nothing.

His final conclusion was this: "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God, and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil."

Rehoboam

The son of Solomon, he was a weak king, and although he wanted the right things, he lacked the leadership to bring them about.

He wanted a unified kingdom, but the Northern kingdom of Israel split from him.

He wanted the pure worship of God, but the entire nation rebelled and conducted even the most depraved forms of idol worship.

He was an immoral man, and he had a knack for making bad decisions from a position of weakness.

Abijah

Abijah saw the split of the two nations in a very black and white way. The Northern kingdom had rebelled, and must be forcibly brought back under the reign of one. That one, of course, was him.

He fought a great battle with Jeroboam, and though he won, he was unable to bring the rebels under his rule. The kingdom remained divided.

Abijah was also an immoral man, and he too was a failure as a king.

Asa

Asa returned to the pure worship of God. Although he allowed idolatry to exist, he emphasized what was true and right: the ritual plan of God.

Prosperity also returned to the southern kingdom. Many came down from the north because in him they saw a renewal of David's glory.

However, he did make a great mistake towards the end of his life. Zealous to make the northern kingdom return to the rule of God, he allied with a pagan nation, Syria.

Asa became ill and did not seek God's help. Depending on his household physicians, he died.

Jehoshaphat

This man, a king, was a winner. He sought the Lord with all his heart, and he made his nation a good place. When his nation was threatened, he turned the entire nation to God.

Read 2 Chron. 20.

Jehoshaphat was benevolent and wise, and both his foreign and domestic policies were effective. He lived out his life peacefully, satisfied because of his great relationship with God.

Joram

Not much is known about this man, other than his father.

Uzziah

Uzziah was another great man, who followed the Lord for most of his life. He grew to have a great relationship with God under the ministry of the prophet Zechariah.

He had a great career as king, but he became proud, and in his pride he overstepped the bounds of his authority and tried to perform a priestly function. For that sin, God gave him leprosy, and he remained a leper until the day of his death.

Jotham

Jotham was also a great king, and he turned out to be great even than his father, for he did not become arrogant because of his success.

He died a contented man, confident before God of his eternal future.

The people were not completely responsive to his leadership, but Judah still became much stronger through him.

Ahaz

This man was a loser. He refused to depend on God refused to believe in Him. He was instead an idolater, and as king he did many evil things.

He allied Judah with Assyria, and paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser their king, even sending him the Temple treasures.

When he died, no one missed him, and the people did not think him worthy to be buried with the other kings of Israel.

Hezekiah

Hezekiah was a good and Godly king, who from his relationship with God desired to repair the damage that his father had done.

The Assyrian menace was great during this time, and he did everything he could to strengthen his own nation so that they might withstand the enemy.

The first priority was spiritual and moral.

After that he saw to it that the economy and the army were greatly improved.

The Northern kingdom of Israel went out under the fifth cycle of discipline during his reign, and their destruction together with the Sunday school ministry of Isaiah served to bring the southern kingdom under the Divine standards once again.

Under his rule a great building program took place.

Hezekiah became deathly ill, and it looked like the end was near. However, he had no heir at the time, and of course the line of Christ was through him. He prayed for his own life, and trusted in God, and God extended his life for another 15 years. It was during that time that he fathered a son, Manasseh.

Manasseh

Manasseh ruled for fifty five years. His was the longest rule of any of the kings of Judah. He was an extremely evil man, who hated God and his Word.

The prophets prophesied against him, but he only persecuted them all the more.

Because he was so evil, God sent the Assyrians against him, who captured him and carted him off to Babylon.

This Divine discipline worked, because Manasseh repented, and removed all the idols and idolatrous altars that he could.

Though he had been very evil, he died in peace, knowing the forgiveness of his savior.

Amon

Unfortunately, Amon imitated all of the evil of his own father, and failed to repent. He died the victim of a conspiracy, and his eight year old son took the throne in his place.

Josiah

When Josiah had reigned for 12 years he began a great purge of all the idol worship in the land. A few years later, he oversaw the cleansing and repairing of the Temple. While the priests were doing this, they discovered the book of the Law, and drew great conviction from it.

However, it was too late for the southern kingdom, and the wrath of God was already unleashed.

Josiah died in peace before the destruction of the nation, and did not have to witness the terrible invasion of the Babylonians.

Jehoiakim

Jehoiakim was an evil, idolatrous man who ruled as king during the destruction of the nation of Judah.

He is not mentioned Matthew skips over him because of his evil and the terrible destruction that occurred during his reign

His son Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin is mentioned by Matthew.

Mary's Line, the Biological Line of Christ (Luke).

Note: We are taking this one all the way to Christ.

Nathan

Nathan was a son of David and Bathsheba. He is the quiet son, for nothing much is said about him in Scripture. Even so, he was a link in the biological line of Christ.

Mattathia

Nothing much is known about this man.

Menna, Melea, Eliakim, Jonam, Joseph, Judah, Simeon, Levi, Matthat, Jorim, Eliezer, Joshua, Er, Elmadam, Cosam, Addi, Melchi, Neri

Nothing is said about any of these men in the Bible.

Shealtiel

This is where a crossover point occurs. Both genealogies stop here. This is where the nation went into exile. Shealtiel was not the true son of Jeconiah, but instead, the line of David continued in this man because Jeconiah failed to produce an heir. This is why Matthew's genealogy claims Jeconiah as this man's father.

Zerubbabel

He is the head of Israel at the time of the return from exile. Zerubabel is the result of the marriage between Pedaiah and the wife of Shealtiel. Shealtiel died without leaving an heir, and so it was his brother's responsibility to step in for him.

1 Chron. 3:19 identifies Pedaiah as the true father, while Shealtiel was only his wife's first husband. The line continued.

According to the book of Ezra, this man was a key figure in the rebuilding of the Temple He was a good man who did much for the worship of the true God of Israel.

Rhesa, Joanan, Joda, Josech, Semein, Mattathias, MaathNaggai, Hesli, Nahum, Amos, Mattathias, Joseph, Jannai, Melchi, Levi, Matthat

The biological line of Christ continued in these men. Nothing else is known of them.

Eli

Father of Mary.

Mary

From the Exile to Joseph Joseph's Line, the Legal Line of Christ, as Expounded in Matthew

Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob

Joseph, the husband of Mary and stepfather of Christ

Chronology of the Life of Christ

6 B.C. The Magi from the East see the star and begin their journey to Jerusalem.

Autumn, 6 B.C. Zacharias and Elizabeth conceive John the Baptist.

Spring, 5 B.C. Mary conceives by the Holy Spirit, and visits Elizabeth.

Summer, 5 B.C. Mary leaves Elizabeth; Joseph has a dream.

Late Summer, 5 B.C. Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist.

Late Autumn, 5 B.C. Mary is near term; she and Joseph are uprooted by the census and must travel the 70+ miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

December, 5 B.C. Mary gives birth to Christ; the Magi arrive in Jerusalem.

Late January Early February, 4 B.C. The presentation of Christ in the temple.

February, 4 B.C. The Magi visit the Christ child in Bethlehem; Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt after the warning in the dream. It is about a three week journey 200 miles or so.

February, 4 B.C. The children of Bethlehem are killed, calculating from the time the Magi saw the star and began their journey.

March 14, 4 B.C. Herod dies the sin unto death.

Late March, 4 B.C. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary make the trip back to Nazareth, probably arriving in late April or early March.

April, 4 B.C. Joseph and Mary and Jesus return to Israel, settling in Nazareth.

***Note: the year zero does not exist!

Spring, 9 A.D. Christ's first Passover in Jerusalem.

Spring, 26 A.D. John begins his ministry of baptism and repentance.

Autumn, 26 A.D. Christ is baptized by John, and begins His ministry.

Late Autumn Early Winter, 2627 A.D. Christ's wilderness temptation.

December, 26 A.D. Christ's 30th birthday.

Late Winter Early Spring, 27 A.D. Christ's early Galilean ministry: Cana and Capernaum.

Spring, 27 A.D. Christ's first Passover during His ministry; first cleansing of the temple, Nicodemus.

Mid 27 A.D. to early 28 A.D, John's accession, Christ's training of the disciples, return to Galilee through Samaria, the Samaritan woman, the continuation of the Galilean ministry.

Galilean ministry:

Child at Capernaum healed, John 4:4654.

Rejection at Nazareth, Luke 4:1631.

Recall of the four disciples, Matt 4:1822; Mark 1:1620.

The demonaic healed at the Capernaum synagogue, Mark 1:2128; Luke 4:3137.

Peter's mother in law and others healed, Matt 8:1417; Mark 1:2934; Luke 4:3841.

Tour of Galilee with Simon and others, Matt 4:2324; Mark 1:3539; Luke 4:4244.

Final recall of the four disciples, Luke 5:111.

Cleansing of a leper and resultant publicity, Matt 8:24; Mark 1:4045; Luke 5:1216.

Paralytic healed and forgiven, Mat 9:18; Mark 2:112; Luke 5:1726.

Matthew's calling and banquet at his home, Matt 9:913; Mark 2:1317; Luke 5:2732.

Dispensational teaching, Mat 9:1417; Mark 2:1822; Luke 5:3339.

Spring, 28 A.D. Second Passover of Christ's ministry.

Spring, 29 A.D. Third Passover of Christ's ministry.

Spring, 30 A.D. Crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

Summer, 30 A.D. Ascension and Session of Christ.

The Birth of John the Baptist

This begins our study on the people who waited in the right way for their Messiah.

We know the situation in Israel at this time; we know the history; and we know that the Messiah is going to come. It is a great thing to look at the lives of those who waited. In a sense we all wait for the coming of the Lord for the Lord's righteous activities in our own lives. It is a fine thing to look at those who waited in the right way, and to find out how we might wait.

READ Luke Chapter 1

There is a stylistic change in the Greek of this passage and the one which follows. Luke changes from the strongly idiomatic classical Greek to one that is quite Hebraistic. Since Luke was a Greek by birth, and his language is very Greek, the speculation is this: that Luke records here the memories of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Introduction

Luke 1:57, "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, living without blame in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord. And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in their days."

Luke goes out of his way in his usual way to put forth the background of these two people; their general lineage, and of more importance their spiritual status.

They were both of the priestly tribe of Levi. This was a tribe of prestige and prosperity and also the tribe of the Sadducees. This religious group came into being about 300 years before Christ. They are characterized by their aristocracy, their cultural surrender to the Greeks and others, and their opposition to everything Pharasaic.

The name "sadducee" comes from the Aramaic Sadduqim, which meant 'righteousness'. However, those who were in opposition to them called them saddiqim, which meant 'destruction'.

They came from the ranks of the priests and high priests of Israel, during the time of the Greek occupation. Their desire was to give in to the Hellenizing influences of the Greeks, and thus retain their favor.

The Sadducees had a lot to lose to the occupation forces of the Greeks, because they were mostly prosperous, aristocratic people. In order to maintain their lifestyles and possessions, they placated the Greeks, giving in to their cultural and even religious influences.

Due to the double tyranny of the Pharisees and king Herod, the Sadducees had made a great comeback not long before the birth of Christ. Let's face it: the Pharisees were no fun at all.

Zacharias and Elizabeth had resisted the temptation to become Sadducees, and neither did they become Pharisees by reaction. They found a true relationship with God through the ritual system.

They lived in all the righteous requirements and commandments of God. The commandments included much more than the ten commandments. The commandments definitely included the greatest commandment to love the Lord with all their heart and soul and might.

They did so without blame. Without blame does not mean that they were perfect. It does mean that when they sinned they took care of it with the proper sacrifice and the mental attitude that went along with it. Without blame does not mean that their execution of the ritual plan was perfect they were after all human. They did their best and maintained a good relationship with God.

Elizabeth was barren. Whenever a woman of God is barren it means that God has something special in mind for her. The Greek word for "barren" is STEIRA, and it definitely indicates that she was physically incapable of bearing children.

In Elizabeth's case, this condition was in addition to her being past menopause. She was quite old, but this was not the reason for her barren condition. The two are separate in the original language.

Complicating the situation was Zacharias' advanced age. He could not have gotten Elizabeth pregnant even if she were able.

This situation was identical to that of Abraham and Sarah, some two thousand years before. It is worthwhile to note! The covenants to Adam, Abraham, and David are about to be fulfilled, and this birth will bring the messenger to prepare the way.

Luke 1:810, "Now it came about, while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering."

There was a great number of priests. Because of this, it is likely that each priest would get to render his service once in a lifetime. The priests were chosen by lot to do so, and with God there are no accidents.

As a righteous man, no doubt Zacharias had big expectations for this day, and in some ways he may have looked at the event as the culmination of a good life. It was Zacharias' turn to burn incense at the incense altar in the Holy Place.

The incense altar represented the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness produced by His perfect life.

The incense burned twenty four hours a day a tribute to the uninterrupted righteousness of Christ's life. Zacharias merely went in to put on new incense, so that the burning might be perpetuated.

The aroma that the incense gave off was designed to be a pleasing one representative of the pleasure that Christ would give to God.

The position of the altar in that holy place showed the source of that righteousness the Spirit and the Word. The golden lampstand was a symbol of the ministry of the Spirit it illuminated the table of showbread. The table of showbread represented the Word of God. When illuminated by the Spirit it produces righteousness.

Thus the Holy place taught even the doctrine of kenosis.

The great multitude of people may indicate that there was a feast or that this was a holy day but we can only guess at that.

Zacharias encounters a surprise...

Luke 1:11,12 "And an angel of the Lord was seen by him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. And when he saw this, Zacharias was troubled and fear fell upon him."

There is little doubt left in Zacharias' mind that this is an angel of the Lord. He did not think it was a practical joke; he did not wonder if this happened to all the priests. He had an immediate reaction.

Zacharias knew that this did not happen every day. Furthermore, this angelic being had an imposing appearance, because fear is a universal reaction to the visible manifestation of angels. They are awesome indeed!

The angel stood at the right hand of the altar. This is the place reserved for Jesus Christ Luke records it because it is significant this angel stood as a direct representative of Christ Himself.

Zacharias knows that this is a grave moment something great, and perhaps terrible is about to happen. But he does not suspect in the least what it is all about.

The angel speaks ...

Luke 1:1317, "But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you son, and you will give him the name John. And he will be joy and gladness to you, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great before the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor; and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb (birth). And he will turn around many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And he himself will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to prepare a people who have been built for the Lord."

The angel has good news for Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth they are going to have a son. The story also reveals that Zacharias had been praying for a son he had petitioned God. Not only will they have a child, but that child will also be joy and gladness to them. Such is not always the case, so this must have been welcome news.

Even greater news is that even at his birth many will rejoice, and that he will be great before the Lord. He will be different in that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

The first part of the verse makes it clear that he will be great in his relationship with the Lord. ENO.PION is a preposition which denotes face to face relationship. John will have that kind of relationship.

Second, there is the matter of John's abstinence from alcoholic beverages. This also probably indicated that he would refrain from social life.

Finally, John is filled with the Spirit from birth. The preposition EK indicates separation, and this case, separation from the womb. This preposition may indicate source the origin of something from someplace, but even so, the separation is now effective. It is no longer there at the place of its origin. EK does not indicate the existence of one thing inside another.

There is no precedence for interpreting this preposition to mean 'from inside', as is often done.

The adverb ETI is the key here. This together with EK translates “ever since.” The Liddell-Scott lexicon makes this very clear on p.703. ETI does have some flexibility it can be taken in the ascensive meaning, which shows surprise on the part of the writer. It strengthens the phrase in which it takes part.

It was surprising that an infant would be filled with the Spirit from birth. Often this is interpreted as being in the womb because of verse 41 in this same chapter. Verse 41 in no way indicates that the fetus was filled with the Spirit in the womb. In fact, it is quite clear that it is Elizabeth who is filled, as we shall see.

With the ministry of the Spirit upon him, John will turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to prepare a people built for the Lord.

It had been quite some time since a prophet had ministered in the nation of Israel. There had been many false prophets, but not a single true one. The gift had gone out from the people. Now the fullness of time had come, and with it a prophet to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. The people must be humble; they must be obedient; they must be built inside their own souls.

Humility precedes obedience.

Knowledge precedes obedience.

Zacharias' failure and his discipline

Luke 1:1823, "And Zacharias said to the angel, 'How shall I know this for certain? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.' And the angel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I have been sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in their proper time.' And the people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. And it came about, when the days of his priestly service were ended, that he went back home."

Zacharias in the Holy Place in front of the archangel Gabriel, the very messenger of God wants proof!

All this time he has prayed for an heir. All this time he has done the right thing. But when push comes to shove, Zacharias fails to believe. He and his wife are too old, he thinks, for God to work a miracle.

The angel Gabriel is mentioned in three other passages in the Bible.

• When he appears to Mary, to announce her role in the Messiah's birth.

• And twice in Daniel, 8:16 and 9:21, to interpret the Word of God.

• Not only does this angelic being have an awesome presence, but he is also one of the highest ranking of all angels, if not the highest.

The angel refers to his duty, his rank, and his mission. His regular duty station is in the presence of God. He is an angelic attendant in God's throne room, and he is often sent as God's personal messenger.

Now, all elect angels were and are trustworthy, but Gabriel is likely the most trusted of all. The wise king always uses his best men as his messengers; the wise general his best as couriers. So it is with Gabriel. His mission was as a messenger, sent personally by God to communicate the good news of the birth of the one who would follow.

Because of Zacharias' unbelief, he is disciplined to be silent. As Gabriel was a messenger to him, so also he could have been a messenger to the great crowd of people who were outside. He could have had the honor of the first announcement of the coming Messiah. Instead, he is silenced. Silenced until the day of the birth of his son. We will contrast this with the response of Mary.

Zacharias comes out of the Holy Place; and there arrayed before him is a great crowd, all of whom were wondering why it took so long for him to do his duties.

Now comes the charades routine. Zacharias makes signs he tries to make them understand the message, but they just cannot understand him. They come to the conclusion that he has seen some kind of vision and they most likely wrote it off as another kook.

Zacharias goes home when his duties are over. We know from a later passage that he uses the time to become childlike in his humility, and to turn his heart to a righteous attitude. He builds himself up in the Lord, until he develops a proper response. When he finally opens his mouth good things come forth.

Elizabeth conceives ...

Luke 1:24,25, "And after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant; and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, 'So this is what the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked to remove my disgrace among men.'"

Elizabeth makes an expression of disgust here not of praise. She is living in seclusion, not excited to be a part of God's plan for the Messiah, but ashamed to even go out. It is going to take a visit from Mary to get her out of her funk.

Elizabeth Gives Birth to the Forerunner

Luke 1:5766

Remember, Mary had gone back home, leaving Elizabeth to fend for herself. Elizabeth had fully recovered from her funk over conceiving at such an advanced age. She gave birth to a son, and many of her neighbors and relatives heard about it, and so they rejoiced over the birth of this child, fulfilling the prophecy of Gabriel.

It is funny to note that people make signs to him when he is not deaf, only unable to talk. Zacharias names the boy John, and immediately his tongue is freed, and immediately he speaks praise to God. He had had nine months in which to contemplate his earlier failure. He recovered and now says the most wonderful things. The local population is astonished at these events, and they wonder what the child will grow up to be. A prophet? The Messiah himself? There was a lot of serious thinking going on the subject.

Zacharias' Prophecy

Luke 1:6769. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our father, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His way; to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.;"

Zacharias concentrates on the cross first. Zacharias realized the need for salvation, and that it had to come before any national independence or prosperity.

Then he talks of national freedom from oppression. He calls to mind the covenant of God, the Abrahamic covenant. He brings up the fact that peace gives one the opportunity to concentrate on God all the more.

John is the one who will prepare the way for the savior, to make smooth the path for him. He is to get people to the point where they can handle the ministry of our Lord.

Christ's ministry will be hard to swallow, because it is about a personal redemption that requires humility. The people of Israel wanted national redemption without the sacrifice of individual pride. John will preach the message of salvation and forgiveness of sins.

Zacharias concentrates on the mercy of God, because Christ is the visible manifestation of mercy to all mankind. The Sunrise from on high is a term that is used to denote the resurrected status of Jesus Christ.

• anatole means sunrise in the sense of the rising again of the sun in the east. ana is a preposition which means both up and again.

• When you add the term from on high, it is obvious that this is God.

• So, Zacharias looks forward to the manifest mercy of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ, especially concentrating on the resurrection.

The sunrise shines upon those who are in darkness and the shadow of death.

• Darkness refers to the cosmic system of Satan his design to prevent us from believing in Christ, and to destroy our relationship with God.

• The shadow of death refers to physical death.

The light guides us into the way of peace (prosperity).

John the Baptist's Childhood

Luke 1:80, "And the child continued to grow, and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel."

The Song of Mary

Introduction.

Luke's narrative now turns to the story of Mary, the mother of our Lord.

Note: there is no Biblical support for the practice of Mariolatry. Mary is clearly portrayed as the biological mother of Jesus Christ. There was nothing special about her makeup that she was the mother of our Lord nothing that made her unique from all other women. She was a woman who loved God, and she too waited for the Messiah. In fact she waited faithfully, unlike so many of her contemporaries, both women and men.

However, to make Mary someone to worship is completely wrong. Mary was born into sin, like every other female child before and after her. She does not have special access to God just because she conceived and gave birth to Christ. She is no different as far as we are concerned than any other mature believer. Christ Himself warns against Mariolatry in Luke 11:2728.

The Arrival of an angel.

Luke 1:2628, "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was went from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, 'Hail, woman who has been graced out. (kecharitomene) The Lord is with you.'"

Again, here is the angel Gabriel, the messenger of God, one of the highest ranking of all the angels. He is sent to announce to Mary the imminent arrival of the Messiah. Of the genealogies of these two, we already know much. Repetition is not necessary.

As the angel "beams in", he issues a greeting to her. The greeting means literally, "woman who has been graced out". God is the only subject ever used by CHARITOO.

A Conversation with an Angel, Luke 1:2938

Notice that Mary is not fazed at all by Gabriel's angelic appearance. She is unique in this regard. Daniel trembles, Zacharias fears, the shepherds are terribly frightened, and Mary is troubled by the greeting of this angel! She begins to DIALOGEI in her own mind. She is thinking it through, having a dialogue with herself "What did this angel mean by his greeting?" She was troubled by it.

The angel alleviates her troubled mind and tells her the exact meaning of the greeting.

"You have found grace from the side of God." Let me quote from Bauer, Arndt, and Gingrich: "...denotes a person, and indicates that something proceeds from this person." Mary has found it because she looked for it. She is a wonderful believer from the age of Israel. In her great humility she cannot think that she has found grace, for she has already prospered in knowing God.

"You will conceive in your womb and bear a child."

This certainly would have come as a surprise, since Mary was a virgin. She certainly understood the consequences of what the angel was saying. She would be subject to disgrace, and maybe the risk of capital punishment. There are great and terrible implications to this.

"And you will name Him Jesus." His name means salvation.

"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and kingdom will have no end."

There could be no mistaking it now. She was to be the mother of the Messiah. He is the Son of God he will sit on David's throne his kingdom will last forever his kingdom will know no boundaries. These are all very clear. She is to bear the Messiah.

Mary's response is simple "How will this come about, since I am a virgin?" Mary's response is not arrogant, unlike that of Zacharias. She is just curious. She did know the basics of reproduction. In fact, it is my impression that the Hebrew society was much more open about such things than our own. She was more than willing to believe.

Gabriel tells her as best he can the specifics on how she will conceive. "The Holy Spirit will appear over you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you; and therefore the holy one who is born will be called the Son of God."

This is the essence of the virgin birth. It is really quite clinical in nature. God the Holy Spirit performs the operation by his omnipotence, and adds the unpolluted chromosomes to Mary's ovum.

The Two Mothers are United

Luke 1:3945, "Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the fetus leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, 'Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the fetus leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.'"

We are not sure why Mary got up and went 'with haste' to visit Elizabeth at least the text does not come right out and tell us. However, we do know that Elizabeth is in a funk over the timing of her pregnancy. She does not want to be a circus sideshow act she wanted children while she was still young.

We also know that Mary and Elizabeth were cousins, so it was likely that Mary knew both of Elizabeth's pregnancy and her mental state. Finally, we know that as soon as she know about her own immaculate conception, she left to be with Elizabeth.

Therefore, it is likely that the combination of the above conditions led Mary to visit Elizabeth. Just as soon as Mary enters the house and speaks her greeting, just as soon as that greeting enters the ears of Elizabeth, the fetus leaps in her womb. This leaping was reflex motility in response to the excitement of Elizabeth on hearing the voice of her cousin.

Immediately Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is for the purpose of prophecy what she says next is inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Luke always does us the courtesy of telling us when one is under the filling of the Spirit. Elizabeth literally "sounds off with a great cry" ANEPHO.NE.SEN KRAUGE. MEGALE. and she says, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

This first part of what she says confirms that when she wants to talk about a human being she uses one expression. Mary is blessed because she is chosen to bear and nourish and raise the Son of God. The fruit of her womb (not yet ripe nor picked) will also be blessed, because of His life and death.

The word for blessing here is EULOGEO, which means to speak well of someone. EULOGEO is blessing with reference to reputation.

Furthermore, Elizabeth says, "and why does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Elizabeth employs a rhetorical question here. She does not expect an answer she knows it. Elizabeth knows that the child she will bear will prepare the way for Christ. She answers her own question in the next verse.

Elizabeth now gives an explanation of her previous words, "for behold, as the sound of your greeting came into may ears, the fetus in my womb leaped for joy."

Elizabeth explains to Mary her rhetorical question, and her statement about blessing. She is telling Mary that at the moment she heard her greeting (and at the moment she was filled with the Spirit) the child leaped in her womb. It all came together at that moment Elizabeth understood everything Mary the greeting her own pregnancy God's plan for the ages.

Finally, Elizabeth summarizes the entire experience the lifetime of that moment, "and blessed is she who believed that the things that were spoken will be fulfilled in her by the Lord."

Elizabeth is telling us that she finally understands it all, and she is complementing Mary on her immediate belief in the word of God. The word for blessing here is different from the one above. This is macharia, or mental attitude contentedness. Elizabeth is saying in a roundabout way that she missed the boat that she did not immediately respond as she should have, and so she missed the blessing.

The important thing is that Elizabeth now understands everything with clarity. This verse also answers the previous question why Mary came to visit Elizabeth. It was so that Elizabeth could recognize her own error, and turn around.

Mary's Song, Luke 1:4656

This is the great prayer of worship from Mary. It is a prayer that is based on the utter confidence of one who has known and relied on the capabilities of God.

Let's look at what Mary knows about God from learning in the ritual plan of God. She knows the architecture of her own soul that she has emotion, mentality, and a human spirit. She knows that God is the source of her salvation. She calls Him her savior. She understands the omnipresence and omniscience of God when she says that "He considered" her humble state.

EPIBLEPO is the verb here, and it means to look down upon something, and to understand it. God looked down upon Mary and He fully understood her humble state. God also knew exactly what to do about it. That is the expression of his omniscience.

Mary understands the omnipotence of God she calls Him the Mighty One, and she knows exactly what God has accomplished.

She understands the perfection, or holiness of God. When she says, "Holy is His name", she says, perfect is his essence.

She understands the implications of the birth of the Messiah. She praises God for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, and here is her reasoning. If God can accomplish the virgin conception and birth of the Messiah, He can accomplish anything else. What is the problem to go from one impossibility to the next.

Mary was a patriot, and she understood the implications of the Messiah on her nation. She related the Messiah to the kingdom of God, and indeed she already understood some of the kingdom concepts even before Christ ever explained them.

She understood the difference between being rich and poor. This metaphor has nothing to do with food or hunger in the literal sense. It has everything to do with a desire for a relationship with God. It is all about true humility.

Those who are humble and hungry for a relationship with God will receive the intrinsically good. Those who are rich in their own minds will go away empty handed.

Mary understood the mercy of God, and its implications. She knew the history of her nation and its heroes.

The Birth of Christ

Joseph Has a Dream.

Matt 1:1825, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before their union, she was found holding in her womb from the Holy Spirit. Now Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to publicly expose her, desired to divorce her in secret. But when he had considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him during a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take along Mary as your wife; for that which was conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you will call His name Jesus, for He Himself will save His people from their sins.' Now this whole thing came about that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'Behold, the virgin will hold in her womb, and will bear a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel', which having been translated is, 'God with us'. And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and he did not know her until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."

Matthew is a Jew, and he writes his gospel to Jews. He is very careful in how he says things, for he does not want his readers to stumble over his words. His hypersensitive Jewish readership would have stumbled often and missed the message with a Gentile author writing in the style and words of the unclean.

Matthew is the one who emphasizes the kingdom offer more so than the other Gospel writers. He desires for the Jews to know their error in rejecting the Messiah and His kingdom.

I have provided a very literal translation, because it is important to understand the exact words of Matthew, and of the angel.

It was the Jewish custom to become engaged, and then have the marriage and its consummation one year later. It was during this one year period that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Remember that she had gone away and visited with Elizabeth immediately after the immaculate conception. Since she stayed with Elizabeth for several months, Mary's pregnant state would have been quite obvious when she returned.

The Greek says, "EURETHE EN GASTRI ECHOUSA EK PNEUMATOS HAGIOU." This is translated, "she was found holding in her womb from the Holy Spirit".

Joseph either did not know or did not believe the last part that about the Holy Spirit. If Mary did tell him this, it probably seemed too far fetched for him to buy. The literal translation is correct the word for child does not appear in Matthew's text.

He could have used BREPHOS or PAIDEIA or TEKNON, but he did not. Instead he uses a term which is quite clinical. The aorist participle ECHOUSA is quite clear it simply communicates that her state came about previously, and that she was holding something, not a baby, not a child, but something in her womb. ek plus the ablative of source of PNEUMATOS HAGIOU shows very clearly that although she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit, no sexual relations were involved.

Joseph was a righteous man, and he did not want Mary to suffer public disgrace because of her pregnant state.

The aorist infinitive of DEIGMATIZO paints the picture of one pointing out another. Usually the context is one of disgrace. The public disgrace may have been deadly for Mary, because the Mosaic Law demanded capital punishment for adultery, Deut 22:2327.

Joseph considered these things and came to a decision. This is all described by the verb ENTHUMEOMAI. ENTHUMEOMAI had the idea of smoldering incense, and it often portrayed the angry thoughts of an individual. Joseph does a slow burn over this, and manages no small amount of self control when he decides to put her away privately.

An angel of the Lord (unidentified) appears to Joseph during a dream. The word for dream here is ONAR. In another time and another place a very similar thing happened, and this becomes a marvelous play on words. ONAR is a very ancient Greek Word, and remained uncorrupted even to Matthew's day.

ONARION, a word with virtually the same spelling is the word for "little donkey'. When Balaam went out to betray the nation of Israel, an angel of the Lord stood in his way with a drawn sword. Balaam's donkey, on which he was riding, saw the angel and stopped. Balaam did not see the angel. So the donkey talked to Balaam because of Divine inspiration. Balaam then saw the angel, and his effort to betray the nation was thwarted.

In same way, Joseph is out to betray the nation, and the entire world, when he desires to divorce Mary. His divorce of her would confirm to the world that she did have sexual relations with a man, and conceived from that liaison. So an angel is sent to stop Joseph in a dream.

The angel tells Joseph that he should not be afraid to take Mary along as a wife. The word PARALAMBANO is a terrific picture of marriage. It means to take someone or something along with you. When the man takes his wife, he takes her along with her on a lifelong journey.

The angel also makes a clear communication on the contents of Mary's womb. The angel uses the neuter singular definite article as a relative pronoun to describe what is in her. It is translated "that which", or "the thing". It is clear to the angel, a superior and righteous being, that what is in Mary's womb is not yet human life.

In the next sentence the angel says TEXETAI HUION, "she will give birth to a son". Notice that it is at the time of birth that the contents of her womb is identified as a son.

Look at the message of the angel "and you will call his name Jesus (savior), because He Himself will save His people from their sins". The angel did not emphasize the Messiah political savior aspect of Christ's life, but His role as the Savior from sin.

This was a part of Matthew's mission to show that Christ did succeed.

This whole thing took place so that Isaiah 7:14 might be fulfilled. "Behold, a virgin is pregnant, and brings forth a child." The Hebrew does not say that she is 'with child'. It says pregnant, and there is a difference.

They will call His name Emmanuel, which having been translated is 'God is with us.' The Greek preposition for with is META, which means 'with' in the sense of relationship. It denotes a close relationship between two persons. So Joseph rises from his sleep and does as the angel commanded. He took Mary along as his wife.

An important detail is included at the end of this passage. Joseph did not know Mary until after she gave birth. Knowing her is a polite way of saying that he refrained from having sexual relations with her. She was definitely a virgin when she gave birth, and Matthew confirms it.

Footnote: He does "know" her afterwards, and they produced several children together. Mary is not a perpetual virgin.

The Night Before Christmas

On the night before Christmas, God gave Christ the authority to establish His kingdom on earth.

Daniel 7:1314, "I did behold in the night visions, and look! There came with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of Man; and he came to the Ancient of days, and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and honor and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."

The setting of this verse is before the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It cannot occur at any time during the incarnation, because such would violate the tenet of kenosis as spelled out in Phil 2:58.

It could not have occurred during the three days before the resurrection, because John 3:35 indicates that Christ had already received the authority from God, and this was some three years before.

Daniel also gives the purpose of the kingdom as a universal service of Christ. Therefore this giving must have taken place before Christ even offered His kingdom to the Jews. With kenosis, that leaves only a time before the incarnation.

Although the timing of the passage in the chapter seems to be after the judgment of the Great White Throne, which Daniel's vision reveals in verses ten and eleven, verse twelve is the decisive verse.

Verses ten and eleven clearly stand at the Great White Throne and beyond into the eternal state, as confirmed by Daniel 12:1 and Revelation 20:1115. Verse twelve, however, jumps back to the first three beasts of Daniel 7:46. There are four beasts in the chapter. The fourth one is the beast of the tribulation, destroyed by the return of Christ.

In each case the beasts are metaphors that illustrate nations or groups of nations, Daniel 7:17, "These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth."

The first three are nations after Daniel, yet before the incarnation. They are somewhat parallel with the parts of the statue in chapter two.

"The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it." This is Persia.

"And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat!'" This is Greece.

"After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given it." This is Rome.

Since these are just before the incarnation, and the fourth beast is tribulational, and since the giving of authority took place before the incarnation, we can place the time of verse 13 and 14 at the night before Christmas with confidence.

Daniel's curiosity concentrates on the fourth beast, the one of the tribulation, v.19. Also, notice that the passage skips over the intercalation of the church age. The four beasts are consecutive in the passage.

What happened on that night before Christmas?

Christ came with the clouds. These clouds are elect angels, attending Jesus Christ.

Christ came to heaven from earth, where He functioned as the angel of Yahweh.

He approached the throne of God, and was presented to Him. The presenting official or officials are not mentioned by name. For this occasion we can place Michael, the archangel here. Perhaps also Gabriel, the kings' herald is also involved.

God, the Ancient of days (a reference to His eternal nature), gives Christ dominion, honor, and a kingdom. Dominion is authority to rule. This is specific authority to rule over planet earth.

• The first Adam surrendered that authority with his sin of abrogation of responsibility. He gave up the earth to be like the woman in sin.

• The last Adam, Jesus Christ, came to earth to retake that authority.

• However, in order to exert His authority, Christ must have the assent of the ruled. This He has yet to get.

• The dominion is everlasting Christ will never relinquish it.

Honor is the respect that makes one fit to rule.

• Authority without respect is ineffective. Whereas authority is nominative, honor must be earned.

• There is a difference between authority and moral authority. Moral authority is the true right to rule. The Greek word exousia describes moral authority.

• This is given to Christ by God through the Word and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. On two occasions, God would express His pleasure with the moral authority of Christ: at His baptism, and at the transfiguration.

Then there is the kingdom itself.

• The purpose of the kingdom is for the unification of all peoples of the earth in service to Him.

• This is the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. It was given at this moment, and stands waiting for His people.

• This kingdom is everlasting, and cannot be destroyed.

And in a moment's time, Christ left.

Philippians 2:58, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

The motive was love God wanted the very best for sinful and unattractive mankind.

John 3:16, "For God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely born Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish, but have eternal life."

At the next moment, Christ was born, the perfect God-man.

Luke 2:814

At Christ's baptism, God expressed His pleasure in Christ and told all those present of Christ's moral authority.

Luke 3:22, "And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, 'Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.'"

A few weeks later, John the Baptist reflected on the great presentation on the night before Christmas.

John 3:35, "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand."

Another stamp of approval came before the inner circle of the disciples.

Matthew 17:15, "And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and john his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and his face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, on for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.' While he was still speaking behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!'"

No matter the response of Israel, Christ had to die for sin, and He knew it.

Luke 22:4142, "And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, 'Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but thine be done.'"

The climax of the Divine sacrifice came at the end of the ordeal on the cross.

Matthew 27:46,49, "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why did you forsake me?' And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit."

Paul introduced his epistle to the Romans in this way:

Romans 1:13, "Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord."

After the resurrection Christ reminded His disciples of His authority.

Matthew 28:1820, "And Jesus arrived and spoke to them, saying, "All authority was given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, as you go, disciple [teach with authority] all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep everything I have commanded you. And behold, I myself am with you all days until the conclusion of the age."

But He also reminded them that the time for His kingdom had not yet arrived.

Acts 1:67, "And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.'"

But that time is set in the decree, and will surely occur.

Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen."

The beginning of Christ's kingdom will be dramatic, and we will be there to see it all.

Revelation 19:1116, "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and he has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

The Real 'Night before Christmas'. Daniel 7:1314; Luke 2.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the realm,

every creature was stirring, with God at the helm.

The messengers sent to the shepherds with care,

near Bethlehem Judea, town chosen most fair.

At the stable there gathered just a few who'd see,

the birth of Lord Jesus, the King of the free.

The centuries of prophets came down to a day,

the Day of the ages, of God's Holy say.

But the night before Christmas was a solemn affair,

'round the throne of the Father, who was sending Him there.

For long in the past before the dawn of mankind,

the Son was the sacrifice of God's own design.

Sacrifice most terrible but lovely indeed,

sacrifice most precious, destined to bleed.

And there at throne of the Ancient of Days,

was presented the Son, with the angels' hoorays!

The Son of Man then before union was made,

received power and glory, for a kingdom yet laid.

Its purpose was mighty to rule all the earth,

in peace and justice and Almighty mirth.

But one thing was needed 'fore kingdom could be,

a people who'd worship on free bended knee.

On the night before Christmas there waited a crown,

for the one who was going to that little town.

But thorns were its makeup, and sin was its cost,

and before kingdom there waited the Cross.

MRP, Christmas 1994.

Christ and the Shepherds

Luke 2:820, "And some shepherds in the same region there were bivouacking and diligently keeping guard over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid with great fear. And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I am announcing to you good news of a great joy which will be for all the people; because there was born for you today in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' And all of a sudden there was together with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among respectable men.' And it came about after the angels had gone from them into heaven, that the shepherds were saying to one another, 'Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and let us see this event that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.' And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby laying in the manger. Now seeing this, they made known the statement which had been spoken them concerning this Child. And all who heard wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. And Mary treasured all these matters, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God over all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them."

Greek notes.

The shepherds were "AGRAULOUNTES" bivouacking, or staying outside overnight. It is from the noun AGORA, which means outside, and the noun AULAZOMAI, which means to lodge, or stay away from home.

While they were there, they PHULASSONTES PHULAKAS, which is a very strong way to say that they kept guard.

It was in this same region that David watched over his flocks. It was in this same region that the temple flocks were kept. We cannot confirm it, but it may be that these shepherds watched the temple flocks.

The angel of the Lord EPESTE., which literally means to stand over someone. The glory of the Lord shone around them. This is described by the verb PERILAMPO.

Angels are apparently beings manufactured from light, and thus they produce the glory of the Lord. This is the awe inspiring thing that so often causes great fear.

The shepherds were EPHOBE.THE.SAN PHOBON MEGAN. Afraid with great fear.

The angel EUAGGELIZOMAI the word from which we get the English evangelize. The herald of the king is announcing His arrival. First the angel makes it very clear that this is great news a great joy for all the people. Then he describes the news in detail. It is important to note that the angel concentrates on Christ as the savior. The herald of the king of kings and Lord of Lords directs his listeners to the mission of the first advent, which is redemption of the soul.

The sign which will reveal the truth of the matter to the shepherds is unique. A baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. This is why Christ had to be born in a stable, and why there was no room at the inn. Because it would provide a unique setting which could be used as a sign of the veracity of God. If one is true, the sign, then the other is true as well, the savior.

The verb EXAIPHNE.S means literally out of a sudden. Our English 'all of a sudden' works also.

The multitude of the heavenly army is PLE.THOS STRATIAS OURANIOU, and it is literally an army. They appeared to angels, praising God and saying specific things. These things were recorded by Luke in the form of verse, so they may indeed have been singing a song.

They praise God first, worshipping Him for what He has accomplished in the birth of Christ. Second, they give a message of good will to men on earth. They wish peace [eirene] to respectable men. The word for respectable is eudokias, which means to think well of someone. It is literally "well thought of men".

The angels leave, and so the shepherds have a brief discussion among themselves as to what they should do. It is a decisive and quick meeting They say, "let us go through immediately to Bethlehem" DIELTHO.MEN DE. HEO.S. In the English, Let's go straight to Bethlehem. The syntax suggests that this is an urgent and repetitive meeting. They recognize clearly that the Lord made known to them this event, and so they take off in haste [SPEUDO] and search and find [ANEURISKO] the stable where the Christ child lies.

The first thing that the shepherds do when they arrive is recount the events of the evening to Joseph and Mary, and everyone there (apparently there were others) wondered at the things which were told them. Mary treasured [SUNTEREO] these things in her heart, putting them together [SUMBALLO] in her heart.

Mary was thinking about these things, and throwing them together so that she had a full understanding of the events of the last few months. She treasured these things they were precious to her, because she knew that her savior was born.

The shepherds had to get back to their flocks, but they left glorifying and praising God over everything which they heard and seen, just as it was spoken to them. Their worship is directed toward the veracity of God, and there is two levels to this veracity, one of which is not mentioned. The first level is the immediate, obvious one. The events of the night fulfilled what had been spoken to them by the angel. The second level is that everything spoken by the prophets of old, everything in the Mosaic Law, was now coming to pass on this night.

These shepherds no doubt had a great sense of destiny before the angel ever came that night. They watched over flocks near the city of David's birth, and near where David himself shepherded. Therefore, when the chief shepherd arrived, they knew the implications. They were shepherds in the region of the temple flocks.

We cannot be completely sure if their flock was the flock, but even if they were only near, they would have known much about the temple flock, and they would have been acquainted with the temple flock shepherds.

The lamb of God was born that night, and everything in the ritual system was fulfilled in that baby in the manger. Everything that they knew of the ritual system would have come to mind as the angels appeared, and as they rushed to the stable, and as they saw the fulfillment of the sign.

It was what the shepherds knew beforehand that gave meaning to the events of that night. It was especially appropriate that the shepherds should come to see the chief shepherd and the lamb of God in that baby that night. And they went away glorifying God, because what they knew before went together with what they knew now.

The Davidic, Mosaic, and Abrahamic covenants were all fulfilled in Christ, and the shepherds knew it.

Lessons from the Passage

The quality of our worship is directly related to the amount of Bible Truth that we understand in our hearts. This was true for both Mary and the Shepherds. It is very clear that Mary understands the significance of the birth of her child. Because of this, she treasures those significant things in her heart.

The shepherds worshipped, not because they were neophytes to the faith, but because they had waited faithfully for the Messiah, and knew God already. This is the interpretation which best explains their actions. The shepherds were quite willing to go check out the sign which the angel had provided. They glorify God even as the angels had done just a little while before when the army of heaven was visible to them.

Therefore, the more you know of Bible Truth, the greater your worship and praise of God will be, for God is the author, and the Bible is the mind of Christ. The more you know of Bible Truth, the greater appreciation you will have of the grace of God as it is revealed in the events of your life.

You cannot interpret the events of your life in the right way without the truth. When you do have the truth, the events of your life have meaning.

There is more to this life than the visible there is an invisible realm which is far more important, and which adds meaning and importance to our own visible lives.

The angels rejoiced on that night for what God had accomplished in the birth of Christ. That the elect angels rejoiced gives us an indication of the mood in the enemies' camp on that very same night. It must have been gloomy indeed. Insofar as we take part in the invisible realm of conflict, we add meaning and importance to our lives in the same measure.

God reveals Himself in the first advent His grace and power are revealed in the birth of Christ.

• Through the virgin pregnancy and birth.

• Through the birth of John the Baptist.

• Through the child in the manger.

• Through the minds and hearts of those who were prepared for the first advent of Jesus Christ.

This advent had to do with the redemption of sins.

The Circumcision and Presentation of Christ

Luke 2:2138

Christ was circumcised according to the decree of the Law. Circumcision was the ritual performed on male babies on the eighth day of their life. It included the cutting away of the foreskin of a child, and a few words spoken in remembrance.

The ritual recalled the first circumcision, which was Abraham. It was a ritual which represented the cutting away of the scar tissue on Abraham’s soul, and his advance to maturity. So every Jewish male child was circumcised after the pattern of their forbear, to remind them of the importance of spiritual growth.

Romans 2:2529, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.”

Christ fulfilled the Law to represent that He too as a man would have to grow up spiritually. Indeed he would.

Luke 2:2224, "And when the days were fulfilled for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought Him up into Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, just as it has been written the Law of the Lord, 'Every first born male that opens the womb will be called holy to the Lord.' and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, 'A Pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.'"

The reference for the purification of the woman is:

Leviticus 12:28, “When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of here menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days. When the days of here purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Then he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female. But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.”

The woman’s purification had a practical function related to health and hygiene; but there is also a representation here related to original sin.

The purification of the male child begins with a Sabbath period, and commemorates the original creation of man. That purification then continues for thirty-three more days, for a total of forty. Forty was the number of purification from sin by means of doctrine forty days and forty nights of the flood; forty years in the wilderness. So there is circumcision for spiritual growth and forty days for purification by it.

The female child required fourteen days for the first period of purification, representing her place as second in creation or perhaps it took two Sabbaths to adore the woman. Then sixty six more days for a total of eighty, a double wilderness experience for her.

That Joseph and Mary gave the two turtledoves or pigeons in place of the lamb tells of their financial station in life: they were quite poor.

The burnt offering and the sin offering were related to the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and Adam’s sin respectively. They commemorated the first born in such a way as to call to mind the Passover, and thus the work of Christ. Exodus 13:1.

The Passover is recorded in Exodus chapter 12.

The firstborn’s holiness comes directly from the firstborn of God, Jesus Christ. Everything was done properly with regard to Jesus Christ, even though He did not require it. The propriety of these acts was quite poignant, and even ironic.

Luke 2:2535

So they came to the temple for Christ's dedication and Mary's purification. Simeon and Anna and others were there in the temple. Apparently they were part of a regular crowd that was faithful to God and waited for the true Messiah. Both of these people were old, and yet they remained faithful to God even in their old age.

Simeon was righteous, DIKAIOS, and well receiving, EULABES. The latter means that he had true humility, a predisposition to obey. PROSDECHOMAI means to wait for some event. It could as easily describe waiting for the bus as for the Messiah. But Simeon is waiting for the encouragement of Israel. PARAKLESIS is a word which means to call someone alongside, as in getting a lawyer, or other kinds of help. It was used for the role of the Messiah. So Simeon is waiting unconcernedly for the Messiah, because he has received word from God.

The pluperfect periphrastic construction is EN and the perfect participle of CHREMATIZO. The latter verb describes the naming of an heir in a Roman adoption ceremony. CHREMA means money, so there is a kind of Christmas connection here.

There is great emphasis on the perfect aspect of this construction, so it concentrates on the irrevocability of this action by God.

So Simeon has been irrevocably told that he will not die before he sees the Messiah, and so in spite of his advanced age he is waiting for Him just as though he was waiting for the bus.

This is certainly the way to wait for Christ’s return, which is the rapture. Not by checking your watch every five minutes. The rapture will occur it has been promised. But we know neither the day nor the hour; it is hidden even from Christ.

Simeon is deeply moved by the event, and utters a prayer of thanksgiving, knowing that his life was complete with this event. He asks God to die, a remarkable request indeed. He has done his duty and he has seen what was promised. He calls God a DESPOTA, a lord or master of property. The DESPOTA is a ship’s captain. He sees God as the owner of the earth.

The reason for this unusual request is that he has seen the salvation of God. This distinction is made because many were calling themselves God’s salvation, but only one was it.

Many call themselves God’s salvation even today Buddha, Mohammed, and so on. But there is only one true God man, and that is Jesus Christ. And this provision of salvation is distributed to each individual face to all humanity. The distributive use of KATA with the noun PROSOPON indicates all this. It portrays both the whole of humanity and every individual face in it.

Simeon furthers this idea by saying that the child is a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. The Gentiles are the unbelievers of Simeon’s world; Christ reveals God. Christ is the glory of Israel He is their crown and greatest child, the fulfillment of all the promise of Abraham, Moses, and David.

And to Mary alone Simeon says something pretty hard...

The child is appointed for the fall and rise of many. PTOSIN means fall, and it describes the violent fall of a person in their death, or the violent destruction of a house or building. The Christ child is appointed for the violent end of many He will judge all of humanity. ANASTASIN means rise from the prone position, or even resurrection. Christ is appointed for the resurrection of many.

All of humanity falls into these two categories. You will either fall because of your unbelief and meet the final violent end of eternity in the Lake of Fire, or you will rise because of your belief and receive a resurrection unto eternity in Heaven.

Simeon continues giving the reason for the appointment of Christ with a statement even about Mary herself.

He calls it a corresponding sign, a SEMEION ANTILEGOMENON. Christ is appointed for something corresponding with regard to Mary; corresponding to what has just been said. ANTI mean ‘face to face’ when in compound verbs, so this is ‘speak face to face.’ The idea is that this sign speaks face to face with what has already been said. It does not necessarily contradict it though, and it does not here.

The ROMPHAIA was the heavy broadsword of the Thracians. They used it from horseback with devastating results to the human body. Simeon says a ROMPHAIA will pass through the very soul of Mary. The verb DIERCHOMAI means to ‘pass completely through’ something. The idea is that wielding the heavy sword from horseback causes it to pass completely through the body of the enemy.

Well, this is the sword of the Spirit passing completely through the soul of Mary, and exiting. It is the sword of inspiration.

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and operational and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing between the soul and the spirit, joints and marrow, and is the critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Several other verses shed light on this statement:

Ephesians 6:17, “And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

But especially Revelation, which has the ROMPHAIA in a prominent place.

Revelation 1:16, “In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.”

Revelation 2:12, “And to the angel of the church of Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this...”

Revelation 2:16, “Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the word of My mouth.

Revelation 19:15, “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”

Revelation 19:21, “And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

So the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the sharp two-edged sword of the mouth of Jesus Christ will pass through Mary. This will result in the revelation of the reasoning of many hearts. The word of God reveals the reasoning of your heart. It is the critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This is portrayed as an event yet future, so that it is not a reference to the virgin pregnancy.

This must be a function of inspiration through her. God the Holy Spirit will inspire her so that she says or writes something that is the measure of thought for many hearts. Since the famous magnificat is already passed, it is not likely just that, although Simeon could indicate that what she has said will be employed to reveal the thoughts of many.

To this end, Mary did say “He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.” However this is not a very exact fit for what Simeon says.

Although Mary makes an occasional appearance in the gospel narratives, nothing comes close to fit the bill of this great announcement.

Acts 1:14 is the last official mention of Mary in the Bible: “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

John 19:27 reports that after the crucifixion she lived in the home of John, and yet he mentions her not at all. Mary was likely in her mid to late forties at the time of the death of her son; she may have lived quite long after that.

From Luke’s narrative of the nativity of Christ there is some evidence that he has access to Mary. This may well be her legacy that was prophesied by Simeon.

There is no possibility that this statement could lead one to believe in Mariolatry. Participation in inspiration, yes. But we do not worship the writers of the New Testament.

An intriguing possibility exists with Mary as the author of the letter to the Hebrews. Unfortunately, there is just not enough evidence to make a definitive assertion at this time.

Luke 2:3638

Anna had been a widow for some fifty or sixty years. She lived a life dedicated to service in the temple with fastings and prayers. Just as Simeon is speaking with Mary, Anna walks up and begins to thank God, and preaches to everyone there on that day.

Notice that she preaches to an exclusive group those who are looking for the redemption of Israel. This was a very mature woman, and there is little doubt that these faithful, Simeon and Anna knew one another. You can envision Anna glancing over at Simeon as he performs this ritual, and then she sees the light of his face and she knows. She knows!

The nativity story teaches a couple of important lessons.

That God is immanent; that is, He intervenes in the lives of men. This is perhaps the greatest lesson of our lives.

Immanence on the part of God requires responsibility on our part. If God is not responsible for His creation, which is the assertion of deist belief, then man is not responsible to God. But God’s intervention puts responsibility squarely in our laps. God therefore requires of us certain things:

• He requires us to depend on His grace for salvation.

• If He did not intervene in our lives, then we would have to produce our own salvation.

• He requires us to depend on Him for our post salvation glorification of Him. It is His grace which accomplishes our achievements in the post salvation plan.

• Grace, and not works is the general rule because of the interventionist attitude of God.

This is why the birth of the Messiah was so very meaningful to men like Simeon and women like Anna. They were relieved to see a visible manifestation of grace and know that they were not responsible for providing their own salvation. You see Simeon say that it is the Lord’s salvation, and not his.

Apart from spiritual responsibility, there is a logistical responsibility to provide for ourselves. This is one of the implications of the fall. It is grace and not works. So that with immanence there is an implicit trust in God. This has a profound effect on personal belief and even political philosophy.

The second lesson is imminence, and that is a philosophy of waiting.

Simeon and others had an understanding that the first advent was imminent. Not that it would occur right away, but that it would occur because God had promised it.

Although God has made no such promise with regard to the rapture, that is, that it will occur in our lifetimes, it is an event promised by God, and we are to wait as graciously as Simeon did.

And even if we are not fortunate enough to see the rapture, the ends of our lives are imminent; they may happen at any time.

Living in that imminent state of mind has its impact as well. You can take no vacation from the plan of God. You can make no assumption that you will have plenty of time to grow later. God has already set the date for your end, and you may die at forty.

Therefore do not say to yourself that you will really concentrate on spiritual growth after you raise your children or establish financial security or some other distraction in life. That can be a truly crucial mistake in the arrangement of your priorities.

The Visit of the Magi

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

Matt. 2:112

This passage records the doings of the magi from the east. There are some things that we do not know about them. We do not know their country of origin. We do not know how many there were. The number three comes from the number of different gifts given to Christ. We are not aware of their royal status they are never called kings.

What is significant is their humility, especially as compared to that of the spiritual leaders of Israel. The spiritual leaders of Israel knew where the child would be born, but they did not go. The Gentile magi did not know where he was to be born, but they found out and went.

Also significant in this passage is the beginning of Herod's scheme to kill the child. Herod wants to know the exact time at which the star of the Magi appeared. He instructs the Magi to search thoroughly for the child. He gives as his reason his desire to worship the child as well. Herod is an evil man, jealous of any who would take his throne.

He was worse than a Gentile; he was a half Jewish Idumaean, a descendant of Esau, a wild desert dwelling type. The Jews considered them with no small amount of prejudice. To make matters worse, Herod was hardly a model human being. He has been called a monster one who was crafty and cruel, jealous and vain and always quick to seek revenge when wronged.

He came to the throne over the Roman province of Judea through cunning and manipulation of Marc Antony.

He had nine or ten wives. Even the historians lost count after a while.

On the smallest of suspicion he had even his favorite wife, Mariamne, put to death, along with her sons Alexander and Aristobulus.

Even while on his own deathbed, just days before he died he had his own son, his flesh and blood Antipater put to death. Caesar Augustus was heard to say, "It is better to be Herod's hog than his own son!"

Again at his deathbed he ordered all the principle men in Israel to be rounded up and placed in the local stadium, where they could be surrounded by his soldiers and then slain when he died. The reason: so that there would be great mourning at his death.

Herod tried bribing the Jews, so that they would like him, and he could view himself as a successful ruler.

Julius Caesar had given Herod a fantastic and truly royal inaugural celebration back in 37 BC, when Herod took the throne. He always longed for that past glory, when in fact the traditional Roman warning of "sic transit gloria mundi" applied to him more than any other.

The bribes came in the form of a building program that was the very rival of Solomon's. He built monuments and buildings in the Holy Land, and even rebuilt their temple in magnificent fashion, topping it with a golden dome. Other buildings and monuments were undertaken: a temple, a forum, and a theater at Samaria, a great Greco-Roman capital, a temple, and port at Caesarea.

The port was an engineering marvel that even today is remarked upon by the archaeologists who work at the site. Luxurious palaces and fortified retreats were built at Masada, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Herodium, which was near Bethlehem.

In Jerusalem he had baths, a theater, and a Hippodrome constructed. He also promoted Greek and Roman games so that the people might be entertained.

All of these things struck a sour note as any bribe to a slave will. The people really did not want these things. They wanted to be autonomous and free. But in order to be truly free, any people must know God, and that was exactly the problem in Israel.

But what is really significant about this passage is the gifts of the Magi.

Gold was appropriate, since it represented royalty. It did so even in the ritual system of Israel it represented exactly that. It also represented deity.

Frankincense was burned on the incense altar in the Temple. It represented the righteousness of Christ.

Myrrh was used to scent the oil that burned in the golden lampstand of Israel. It was also used to embalm the dead.

These Magi brought the gifts which perfectly portrayed Jesus Christ from the viewpoint of the ritual system, and they were not even Jews! You can see why God led them to Bethlehem. It was entirely appropriate that they should do so, since the Jews would reject Him. This hearkens forward to the church age.

The Flight To Egypt and Return to Israel

Matt 2:1323

The magi had been in Jerusalem to ask about the location of the Messiah. They figured they could find the information at the capital city.

Since Bethlehem was just five miles from Jerusalem, it was just a couple of hours by foot. Herod had instructed the magi to find the Christ child, so that he could worship him, too. Of course this was a lie. Herod was jealous, irrational, and probably demon possessed. Herod wanted to kill Christ. Because of the short distance between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Herod would have expected an answer the next day or evening at the latest.

The magi came and worshipped the child, and then returned to their country by a different route. This would have given Joseph and Mary no time at all to prepare for the long journey to Egypt. It was more than 200 miles, and with a child just a few weeks old.

Joseph and Mary knew that their child was the Messiah, and they were experienced by now with angelic communication. This was no time to quibble they left that very same night.

Joseph and Mary and their child stayed in Egypt until the end of Herod, probably not more than a month.

Matthew is a great recorder of prophecy. Since he wrote his gospel to the Jews, he was always on the lookout for ways in which he could prove that Christ truly was the Messiah.

For this event, Matthew draws on Hosea 11:1, which records the call of Israel from Egypt. The historical event was the Exodus of Israel under the guidance of Moses. The wilderness journey was an event which was celebrated in the three annual feasts. The Jews were constantly reminded of the events of that journey, because it was a great analogy for their spiritual lives and their national heritage.

The passover and the feast of unleavened bread reminded them of the beginning of their journey and salvation.

The Pentecost reminded them of the law giving at Mt. Sinai, and the importance of the Word in their spiritual lives.

The feast of tabernacles reminded them of their failure in the desert.

The historical event of the Exodus also stood as a prophecy pertaining to the life of Christ. The call is facilitated by an angel, and through Christ's parents. It is interesting to note that Hosea substitutes 'son' for 'Israel', the king for his subjects. Just as Israel would have its beginning in Egypt, so also would their king, Jesus Christ. This was another great reason to believe in Christ as the Messiah.

Herod understood [IDO.N] that he had been tricked by the magi. They never came back, and so he assumed that they were making fun of him, ridiculing him [EMPAIZO]. In reality, the magi simply obeyed the word of the angel which guided them, but Herod took the thing as a dirty trick. The word emphasizes Herod's perception of the event.

Because of his perception of the event, Herod was very enraged.

The word for rage here is ETHUMO.THE., which is similar to Joseph's anger at hearing about the pregnancy of marriage. There, the word was enthumeomai, or inward anger. Joseph did a slow burn.

Here, the word is modified by the adverb LIAN, which strongly magnifies the emotion. Herod does a fast and violent burn.

Herod's anger, together with his jealousy for the Messiah, made him a virtual humanization of the devil himself.

This would motivate him to murder all the male children, two years old and under, in and around Bethlehem.

The number of children was not all that many by holocaust standards. There probably were not much more than twenty or so.

The word for murder is ANAIREO, which means to snatch away violently. It is a Greek word for illegitimate killing.

Herod had little information on the child Messiah, and that is why he calculated [E.KRIBO.SEN] the age of the child as 2 years or less.

The magi had seen the star some two years before, and so he assumed that the child may have been born then. Of course, we understand that Christ was only six or eight weeks old at the time, but Herod did not know that. That is why he was so liberal in his murderous decree.

Herod sent [APOSTELLO] to have the children killed. He was a powerful man, and he had others do the dirty work for him.

Again, a prophecy is fulfilled here, and Matthew is kind enough to record it. Jeremiah 31:15 finds its fulfillment here.

The prophecy there has to do with the exile of the southern kingdom of Judah.

Ramah was just to the north of Jerusalem, and on the exile route to Babylon. It was a high place, and it was here that it was likely that the children and the aged who would not be able to make the journey would be killed.

There was great weeping that day by the women of Judah.

Rachel was the wife of Jacob (Israel), and so she came to represent the women of God's chosen nation.

And now Bethlehem is another Ramah. Bethlehem also was a city on a hill, just like Ramah to the north. Ramah meant 'height' or 'high place'. And Bethlehem is a place where children are murdered. The women are crying out loud, and mourning for their children. This is the kind of hard grief, where you do not want someone around you, because it is so very painful.

This is the record of the return of Joseph and Mary and Christ to Israel.

Joseph was guided in two ways: first, to return to Israel, and second to avoid the region of Judea and to go north to Nazareth. The immediate reason to go to Nazareth was to avoid Herod's son, Archelaus. The act of avoidance fulfilled another prophecy concerning the Messiah.

Herod did not last much more than a few weeks after his murder of the children in and around Bethlehem.

His death went like this: (ugly people die ugly deaths)

When it was apparent that he was going to die, and even Herod understood that he was on his own deathbed, he ordered that his own son, Antipater to be slain for no good reason.

Just a day or two later, he ordered that all the principle men of the nation be gathered in the hippodrome (horse racetrack) and surrounded by soldiers.

These soldiers were ordered to kill these men when he died, so that there would be much mourning in the land at the time of his death. The order was never carried out.

Archelaus was also anti-Semitic, and during his reign he would slaughter thousands of Jews, until he was deposed and exiled to Vienna, where he died.

The death of the children around Bethlehem caused an uproar, and since Jesus, Joseph, and Mary left at night and in a hurry, it was probably assumed that Jesus died there as well, since they never returned to Bethlehem.

Up until this point, there had been a lot of hoopla over the birth of Christ and John the Baptist. They were already mini-celebrities.

The assumed death of Christ allowed Him to grow up in Nazareth in a quiet way, without the bother of the masses, and without other satanically inspired attempts on His life.

The Early Life of Christ

Luke 2:40 "Now the child was growing and being made strong being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him."

The noun PAIDION describes Christ. It depicts a child from the viewpoint of trainability. This stage began when the child was eight days old, and continued until adulthood (which was the early teens at the time).

The first two verbs describe the early life of Christ:

• EUXANEN is from AUXANO, which means to grow. It is in the imperfect tense, which portrays a past action occurring over a duration of time. This is in the active voice, which portrays the child as the source of the action. It is a reference to the physical growth of Christ's body. Since this verb is often used to describe the growth of plant life, you could loosely translate this "He grew like a weed."

• EKRATAIOUTO is from KRATAIOO., which means to strengthen, or empower. It is in the passive voice showing that the child did not produce this action. This verb is in the imperfect tense, showing the past action over a duration of time. This is a reference to the spiritual growth of Christ.

The idea of Christ's spiritual growth is further strengthened by the modal participle PLE.ROUMENON.

• A modal participle reveals the manner in which the action of the main verb occurs.

• This participle shows that the strengthening of Christ occurred through His filling with wisdom.

• The participle is in the present tense, so its action occurs at the same time as the action of the strengthening.

• The basic meaning of PLEROO is "to fill to the point of overflowing". It leaves no part of the vessel unfilled.

The substance of the filling is SOPHIA, or wisdom. SOPHIA is applied truth; truth that has become a real part of the person's life not just a theory but much more an application. Christ was made strong, being filled with wisdom.

A final note is made about Christ's childhood: "and the grace of God was upon Him."

• The preposition EPI plus the accusative of the personal pronoun AUTO portrays a motion that reaches its goal completely. It shows that the grace of God completely reached its goal in Jesus Christ.

• During the childhood of Christ, the grace of God fully attained its goal in Him. It reached its maximum potential through His appropriation of it. Even as a child, Christ was perfect.

General principles of Jewish child raising during the time of Christ.

Since a child was renamed a PAIDIA at eight days of age, it revealed their attitude that children were to be trained from the youngest stage of infancy.

The religious education of children began as soon as they could speak. The child's earliest vocabulary included doctrinal terms. This early religious education was done by the mother more often than not. Of course, our Lord could not have found a greater teacher than his own mother she was a great believer. Instruction in the Law fell to the father of the house it was his duty to instruct the children in the keeping of the Law.

The schooling of children was almost exclusively religious by nature. General education and vocational training came later. This religious training took place in the local synagogue under the tutelage of a Rabbi. The purpose of these schools was as follows (Edersheim, pp. 231232):

• to keep children from all contact with vice;

• to train them in humility, even when the bitterest wrong had been received;

• to show sin in its repulsiveness, rather than to terrify by its consequences;

• to train to strict truthfulness;

• to avoid all that might lead to disagreeable or indelicate thoughts;

• to do all this without showing partiality, without either undue severity, or laxity of discipline, and with judicious increase of study and work with careful attention to thoroughness in acquiring knowledge.

Until age ten the Bible was exclusively the textbook, from ten to fifteen the Mishnah, which was the traditional oral teachings of the Jews. It was largely philosophical by nature. Its equivalent would be systematic theology.

After age fifteen the young man could divert his studies to vocation or continue with his higher religious education. This determination was made on the basis of the aptitude of the individual.

Perhaps because of the strong Pharasaic influence, the first book studied by children was Leviticus, the laws and ordinances for Israel's spiritual and national life.

The home was the seat of the ritual.

• Many times each day the child was reminded of the importance of God's Word through the mezuzah, which was attached to the door frame of every Jewish home. This device held a small parchment the outside of which was inscribed with the name of God. On the inside was written Deut 6:49 and 11:1321. The Jews would touch the mezuzah every time they passed the threshold, and then kiss the fingers that touched it as a reminder of the importance of application.

• Every sabbath there were preparations made by the family to remind them of their responsibility in relationship with God.

The yearly schedule of feasts was a great aide in teaching the character and plan of God. Since it was on a yearly schedule the level of inculcation was high. Think about our holiday schedule.

It is clear from Christ's ministry that He knew the Old Testament far better than any of His peers.

Remember from our dispensational constants two things:

• That spiritual growth is always through faith perception and testing through adversity and prosperity. This is exactly how Christ grew strong. That he was being filled with wisdom meant that the perception and inculcation had to take place beforehand.

• That the character and sufficiency of God are always the issue. And so they were for Christ during His childhood. Imitation of God's character and reliance on Him are the very essence of SOPHIA.

The Event at the Temple

Luke 2:41-50.

[Translations the author's from the Greek]

Luke 2:41, "And every year His parents used to go into Jerusalem for the feast of Passover."

This verse sets the stage for the story to follow. It shows the custom of Joseph's family with reference to the Passover feast.

The preposition KATA plus the accusative of HETOS means "every year".

The customary imperfect of the verb POREUOMAI is translated, "used to go"

The dative case of the noun HEORTE.S shows the reason for their annual trip to Jerusalem the passover feast.

As a matter of fact, it was the custom for all Jewish men over the age of twelve to do so. That Mary went when she was not required revealed her devout nature. The child Jesus was apparently left behind with friends or relatives until he was old enough to go.

Luke 2:42,43, "And when he became twelve, they went up according to the custom of the feast, and upon their return after the full number of days, Jesus the boy stayed in Jerusalem but His parents did not know it."

More attendant circumstances to the main story are related in these two verses. They actually form one sentence in the Greek. The style of the sentence is quite dramatic. The crucial details are withheld until the very end.

The first phrase determines the time of this episode: the culminative aorist of GINOMAI shows that twelve years in the life of Christ had already past. He was actually twelve and a few months. This was to be the first passover of the child.

• Remember, Herod is dead, and the events of the nativity are now twelve years past.

• The excitement of the nativity is long past, obscured by the present sufferings of the nation.

The next phrase tells us that this year was no different than the others. They went up according to the custom of the feast. the verb ANABAINO is put into participle form, and this is a genitive absolute. It makes a parenthetical statement that gives necessary details, but the genitive absolute communicates that the details are not vital to the story. Luke is simply telling us an extra detail that is not really vital. "when they were returning from the feast (they went up first)" would be a good way to communicate this.

Next Luke says that Christ's parents were returning after the full number of days.

It was allowable for many to leave the feast before its completion if they had a ways to travel. The most important parts of the celebration were early in the week, so many families took advantage of the 'getaway' days. (Easter vacation at school). Joseph's family did not do this.

The full number of days is TELEIO.SANTO.N TAS HE.MERAS in the Greek. The participle is used in the temporal sense to show that they left long after many others. They stayed for the full feast regardless of the inconvenience, ostensibly to gain its full benefit. The aorist participle shows that they stayed the full number of days before they returned.

Luke next tells the real story: that Christ remained in Jerusalem while his parents left for Nazareth, and they did not know about it.

The articular infinitive HUPOSTREPHEIN with the preposition EN shows that it is during their return that they did not know that their son was with them.

The constantive aorist tense of the verb HUPOMENO describes Christ's decision to remain. It summarizes his entire stay into one whole.

Luke also makes it clear that Jesus is still just a boy by adding the word PAIS. He desires to remind us of this to show how extraordinary this boy was.

Under normal circumstances good parents would keep a close eye on their twelve year old son when they were on a trip.

Verse 44 heightens the drama, revealing the mistake of Jesus' parents and their action to rectify it.

Luke 2:44, "Now assuming him to be in the caravan they went for a day's journey they were seeking him among relatives and acquaintances."

The aorist participle nomisantes shows their wrong assumption, which preceded their wrong action. The action of an aorist participle precedes that of the main verb, which shows them looking for Him in the caravan as it went along. nomizo is a verb which reveals thinking that is still in the theory stage. Joseph and Mary's theory is that Jesus is in the caravan, en to sunodia.

• As many as two hundred thousand people would go up to Jerusalem for the feast. Great caravans with thousands of people would leave together for mutual protection since the roads were relatively unsafe.

• With so many people, it would be easy for one to get lost or not be seen for a while.

• Joseph and Mary trusted their son implicitly. Besides, he had just come of age by going to his first passover. He was now considered a man, wasn't he?

It was their decision to go along for a day's journey and seek for their son in the caravan. It would take at least a day to search thoroughly among so many people.

The word used for seek is the imperfect tense of ANAZE.TEO, which means to search for a fugitive or an escaped slave. The addition of the preposition ana onto the regular verb shows a great intensity of action.

They look among their relatives, and "known ones", or more properly, "acquaintances." They figure that the boy will be with someone they know are related to. Maybe he is with John, the son of Elizabeth and Zacharias, who would also have been at his first passover that year. Maybe with James and John the sons of Zebedee or Simon who would be called the Zealot. All of those families were most likely there, being devout and from the North.

Luke 2:45, "and not finding they returned to Jerusalem seeking him."

So far, one day of searching has passed, and still no Jesus.

The subjective negative adverb ME. is used to denote their failure. It allows the element of doubt in the matter. They did not find him, but neither were they sure that he was not with the caravan. Nevertheless, the percentages now lie with Jerusalem, and so they return.

The aorist tense of the participle HEURONTES confirms that their failure to find Jesus preceded their decision to return to Jerusalem.

Again the verb ANAZE.TEO is used to describe their desperate search for their son. Israel at this time was not the safest of places, and they had already come so close to losing their son right after he was born. These things no doubt heightened their fears.

In verse 46, Luke narrates the reunion of the child and his parents.

Luke 2:46, "and it came about after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening to them and questioning them."

The three day period is significant, very significant. The exact Greek phrase is META HE.MERAS TREIS it shows the completion of three full days. This is used elsewhere in Scripture as a prediction of the amount of time that Christ's body would spend in the tomb.

Mat 12:40, "for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Mk 8:31, "And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

John 2:19, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'"

Mary, after Christ's death some twenty two years later, would recall this event. How clear it must have been to her that while Christ was gone He was about the things of the Father.

At the passover, 30 A.D. Christ would die and His body would lie in the tomb for three days and nights. During that time His soul would be attending to the Father's business, making the great proclamation TETELESTAI to the fallen angels in prison under the earth, 1 Pet 3:19.

It is clear that Luke interviewed Mary or someone close to her in order to learn of this episode in the life of Christ. The information could not have come from any other source.

The days lay out as follows:

• Day one: Joseph and Mary stay in the caravan and search for Him as they travel north.

• Day two: travel back to Jerusalem.

• Day three: search in Jerusalem.

• Day four: find Christ in the temple.

The circumstantial participle KATHEZOMENON shows the circumstances in which they found their Son sitting EN MESO TO.N DIDASKALO.N 'in the midst of the teachers'. didaskalon denotes a teacher with authority, an expert in the study of the Mosaic Law. This and the following two participles are in the present tense, indicating that all this was going on at the moment that his parents found him.

Two other circumstantial participles spell out what Jesus was doing while he sat.

• AKOUONTA AUTO.N listening to them. The genitive case of auto.n indicates that He listened with humility.

• EPERO.TO.NTA AUTOUS questioning them. EPERO.TO.NTA portrays a very intense questioning. Here not in the sense of aggressiveness, but in the depth and detail of the questions themselves. That the student should interrogate the teachers is a remarkable thing in itself!

In His humanity our Lord still had much to learn. Up to this point he had learned all that he possibly could, but there was more to go with each passing moment. Remember that in the incarnation the deity and thus the omnipresence and omniscience of Christ is completely restricted.

Christ in his humanity was finite and limited in what he could know and apply. The creature is always finite.

Verse 47 reveals the response of the teachers to the knowledge of Christ.

Luke 2:47, "Now everyone who heard him was astonished by his perspicacity and his answers."

This comment seems to be an aside to the drama of Christ being lost and then found by his parents, but in a way it is the real story. This is a mile marker in Christ's young life it gives us a brief check on his ability to perceive and apply the truth.

First is the response of the hearers: they EXISTANTO "were astounded."

• Usually amazement is short-lived; a surprise hits, the amazement comes, and then it is gone as quickly as it came. Not so here. The imperfect tense of EXISTE.ME shows that the boy's listeners were in a constant state of amazement.

• EXISTE.MI means to stand outside of oneself. It shows that you are beside yourself with surprise, amazement, etc. It is even used to show a state of befuddlement or even psychosis. Luke makes a joke here: Christ's listeners are stunned to the point of unthinking about His thinking!

The object of the teachers' amazement is twofold.

• The SUNESIS of Christ. This summarizes His perceptive ability with reference to spiritual matters. In essence it reveals the function of Jesus' human spirit. It is definitely a function of the heart the kind of thinking that immediately precedes application. Naturally this includes belief. This understanding only comes from the grace of God, and not the power of man, Eph. 3:4 and 2 Tim 2:7.

• His answers, described by the word APOKRISESIN. Interestingly enough, this word comes from a compound which literally means 'from the source of judgment'.

• Of course, the teachers cannot see our Lord's thought processes, but they can listen to His answers. From his answers they deduce His fantastic thought processes.

Luke 2:48, "and seeing him they were thunderstruck and his mother said to him, "Child [TEKNON] why have treated [done] us in this manner? Behold your father and I searched for you in torment."

To begin with, the astonishment of Joseph and Mary is not due to the spiritual discussion which is going on as they arrive. They are amazed that they have found him at all they were at the point of giving up. If they were amazed in the same manner as the teachers, their response would have been in that category. There is a certain agony in finding that which is lost, even when it is found intact. Joseph and Mary experience just such an emotion.

Mary is the one who speaks. Joseph may have spoken but it is not recorded here. She definitely rebukes her son, but that rebuke is definitely wrong.

She calls him TEKNON this is not a term of respect it is the neutral child appellation, but it has no reference to authority. Mary assumes that her child is wrong because of the way that she suffered.

Mary adds an adverb to describe their mental attitude during the search ODUNO.MENOI. This is the present passive participle of ODUNO.MAO., which functions as an adverb to describe their mental attitude. The search was full of doubt and mental agony. The verb literally describes the agony that comes from burning. They were out of fellowship while they were searching.

Parents: there will be times when you agonize over your children. Your attitude is your responsibility, regardless of what your children do. Whatever your children do, right or wrong, your bad attitude is your fault, and never, ever theirs.

Verse 49 gives Christ's reply to the accusation of his mother.

Luke 2:49, "and he said to them, "Why were you seeking me? Did you not know that it is necessary for me to be about the things of my Father?"

First there is a legitimate question. 'Why were you seeking me?' It is wonderful to notice that he does not judge his parents. He does not use the compound verb for the desperate search, nor does he use the adverbial participle for mental torment. He asks why they searched for him at all, when they should have known all along where he was. Christ uses the objective negative adverb OUK to indicate that there is no doubt that they should have looked at the temple first.

Although they assumed [NOMIZO] him to be in the caravan, they should have assumed him to be in the things of the father.

EN TOIS TOU PATROS MOU should be translated 'about the things of my father.' Not 'in my father's house'. The word OIKOS [house] is not in the text.

The word DEI describes the higher calling of the boy. It shows a moral necessity for him to be about the things of his father. The things of the father have to do with faith perception of the truth also consistent with verse 40 and its record of Christ's childhood of wisdom.

This is the first indication of Christ's self-awareness of His essence and mission in life. It is likely that He knew it long before this, but this is our indicator of its existence at age 12.

From at least age 12 Christ was aware that he was the son of God. It is also apparent that it was necessary for Him to upgrade his education by speaking with the teachers at the temple.

Joseph and Mary's response to Christ's truthful statement is recorded in verse 50.

Luke 2:50, "and they themselves did not understand the statement which he spoke to them."

The verb SUNIE.MI is used to denote that the statement [RHE.MA] had to be understood on a spiritual level. Joseph and Mary are not using their spiritual frame of reference for this incident.

The negative adverb OUK shows that their misunderstanding was complete they missed the boat they didn't even find the dock in fact, they were not even near the water.

Joseph and Mary are so wrapped up in their own pain that they cannot see that not only did they mistakenly assume that Christ was in the caravan, but also there was absolutely nothing wrong with what the boy did in staying at the temple. Their rationale is irrational: because they suffered, they assumed him wrong.

It is not that they did not understand Christ's statement in an academic sense; it is just that they are so out of fellowship with God that they will not accept the conclusion of their son. To accept his conclusion is to admit their wrong, and that is just something that they will not do. One or the other of them had to be wrong; it was not Christ.

One of the greatest surrenders of pride is to admit that you have caused your own pain; that is what Joseph and Mary are struggling with. Make no mistake the accusation of Joseph and Mary is completely unfair. The next statement is all the more remarkable because of this.

Verse 51 reveals Christ's obedience in this unfair situation.

Luke 2:51, "And he went down with them and came unto Nazareth and he remained subordinate to them. And his mother was maintaining all these events in her heart."

It was His parents original wish to go back home to Nazareth; it was Christ's righteous desire to remain in Jerusalem. Since the boy was under the authority of his parents, he went back down to Nazareth. Nazareth is down for two reasons: because it is down with respect to elevation it is downhill; and because it is down with respect to importance Jerusalem is the most important city of all.

Luke uses a very strong idiom the periphrastic participle to show Christ's utter and complete subordination to his parents. It immediately became DEI a moral necessity to obey his parents' wishes. It was God's direct will in spite of his parents out of fellowship state and the importance of his interchange with the temple teachers.

Mary was maintaining these things in her heart. This is why we know that this is Mary's narration to Luke. Only Mary could know her own heart. She would have had to tell someone about the thoughts of her heart.

• The word for maintain is DIETEREI the imperfect tense of DIATEREO. The imperfect shows that she did this constantly, not just at one moment of time.

• DIATERO here is contrasted with SUNTEREO of 2:19, when Mary heard the words of the wise men from the east. This is not the same as treasure. It is closer to remember without reference to an emotional appreciation. It literally means to 'keep through'. This concentrates on the duration of the events. Verse 19 concentrates on Mary's understanding; this verse concentrates on her memory without reference to understanding.

• PANTA TA RE.MATA is a phrase which indicates that not only this event but many others remained in Mary's memory.

Jesus’ Young Adulthood

The young adulthood of Christ is recorded in verse 52. Translation, "And Jesus kept on progressing in wisdom and years and blessing before God and men."

The verb prokopto applies to all three statements which follow; all three are equivalent with reference to the progression which occurs.

The verb means to advance or progress. There is a hint that hard work or toil that is involved in this advancement, from the stem kopos.

In reality, there is a double advancement that is commensurate with his advance in age. The age advancement goes on without volition it is the natural thing.

The other two advances have to do with the good decisions of our Lord in His young manhood.

prokopto is in the imperfect tense, showing this progression over a duration of time.

The first way in which Christ grew (as he grew in years) is in wisdom; sophia. His increase in wisdom goes on unabated through the perception and application of the Word of Truth. Note this in spite of the fact that his parents made the wrong decision for him.

The second way in which Christ grew (as he grew in years) is in charis.

charis can be translated as grace, or the result of the appropriation of grace, which is blessing.

Since the appropriation of God's grace is portrayed in the word sophia, this second thing must concentrate on the blessing side. The word favor is not a good translation, since it limits the realm of blessing to opinion. It encompasses much more than respect or opinion.

There are two realms of blessing which are mentioned: human and divine.

The preposition para plus the dative case of the two nouns shows that the blessing is in the sight of each category described by those nouns.

In the sight of is another way of saying viewpoint. The two categories of blessing are human and divine; anthropoids and theo.

No matter which viewpoint you take, Christ was blessed in his life as a young man.

There is no doubt whatsoever that this blessing was due to sophia, and commensurate with its growth. To: Appropriate Prosperity; Essence of God Note: this passage and the next take place during the ministry of Christ, but they reveal details that have to do with his early years.

Mark 6:3 gives reference to Christ's family life and profession as an adult. Translation: "'Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?' And they were constantly stumbling at him."

Christ is speaking in His hometown in his home synagogue. The home crowd identifies him as one of their own, and they use this against him.

He grew up there, and when they see him teaching they use his family and his profession against him, as if to destroy his credibility by them.

In the parallel passage of Matt 13:55, Christ is called the son of the carpenter, a reference to his father.

In these passages, two facts come out: That Christ had at least four brothers and two sisters (if not more).

This indicates that Joseph and Mary had several children other than Christ, and as a result Mary did not remain a virgin.

Christ is about 30 years old at this time, and he was the first child in his family. All of these others were younger, but we know no other details.

It is apparent that Joseph died at some time after Christ was 12 years old. If this is so, then no doubt Christ had to take some responsibility for the younger siblings, especially in the area of logistical provision. Providing for a family of seven would have been no easy trick. In addition, he continued his spiritual growth, Lk 2:52.

From Christ's statement at the cross, it is also apparent that Mary did not have sufficient means to live on her own, John 19:27.

That Christ was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter. Mat 13:55 identifies that some of the Nazarenes identified Jesus as the son of the carpenter. Mark 6:3 identifies that some called him a carpenter in his own right.

There were carpenter guilds at the time which were very similar to the modern labor unions. Often they provided workers' benefits such as unemployment insurance or burial plots. These guilds were also formed for collective bargaining, and fought for the improvement of working conditions and workers' wages.

Because of the antiestablishment nature of these organizations, it is very unlikely that Jesus was a part of one. Away from population centers the guilds were less powerful and also less frequently present at all. Such was the case in Nazareth.

From Today's Handbook of Bible Times & Customs, p. 123, "This occupation takes on special significance because both Jesus and Joseph worked at it. Carpenters were not usually house builders because homes were not made of wood, but they did have wooden trim and fixtures. Jesus likely spent His time fashioning ox yokes, stools, plows, cabinets, carts and lattice windows. On occasion carpenters also made artificial teeth! The tools Jesus handled were the axe, hatchet, saw, knives, plane and square. Hammers and bronze nails were in use at the time. It was also possible that He worked with a bow drill."

The carpenter was much more of a fringe profession than it is in our country today. There was not that much good building wood in Israel, and the homes were made of stone. There would not have been that much work for a carpenter in a small town like Nazareth. Christ's hometown crowd speaks of his profession in a derisive manner.

Although Christ was a carpenter as a young man, he did not use his experience to illustrate any of his teachings. Perhaps this is a testimony

Christ's family and his profession and father's profession are used as ad hominem arguments against his ministry.

The phrase which follows their description of him explains their tone of voice: 'and they were constantly being stumbled at him.'

An ad hominem argument is one which uses extraneous human arguments as an attack against credibility. A person's profession or other family members are not the issue in credibility, but the Nazarenes use this against Jesus, because they cannot accept his message, because it hits too close to home it requires the sacrifice of their pride.

A carpenter in a small town would likely be poor, especially a fatherless family of seven or more. They are making fun of his family because they were poor.

Luke 4:16 testifies about Christ's custom of going to worship in the synagogue. Translation: "And he went unto Nazareth, where he had been raised, and he entered according to his custom on the Sabbath day into the synagogue and he stood up to read."

Christ's usual custom was to worship on the Sabbath day in the synagogue. From the position of the phrase 'according to his custom', it is apparent that his custom of entering the synagogue is restricted to the sabbath day. Because this occurs in Nazareth, it is likely that it was his custom to do this in previous years.

It was likely that is was also Christ's custom to stand up and read the law. Any male Jew could read and give a sermon in the synagogue. Arrangements for the sermon were made beforehand, so Christ was definitely invited to speak here. Since this event occurs after the first year of Christ's ministry, he is already very well known throughout the land.

Although the reading of the Law and the sermon were restricted to the Sabbath day, it was possible to worship and learn the truth at the synagogue any day of the week.

Nazareth was a country town, definitely off the beaten path. It had some military significance because both the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee could be seen from there. It was on a hill which looked both ways. Jesus could grow and develop his spiritual genius here without being noticed.

This custom extends back to his days of growing up in Nazareth. This crowd has heard him speak before, although he had never revealed his true nature or mission before this time, John 2:4 (my time has not yet come). They may have liked him before, but now they do not. This is most likely due to his Messianic claim.

The real reason for the rejection is his teaching, even though the Nazarenes reject him on another basis. This is typical of those who are negative to the truth.

Preparing the Way of the Lord (Isaiah 40)

The Jews received the call to leave Egypt. They were to proceed to the promised land under the leadership of Moses. Between them and the promised land was a few hundred miles of wilderness. Of course, they had to cross it.

Leading them was the cloud by day and the fire by night; visible manifestations of Divine presence. Furthermore, there was the tabernacle, the tent of meeting with God.

Not long after they left Egypt, God provided a covenant at Mt. Sinai. A Law which defined individual liberty in ten commandments. That Law also defined sin.

Because of their involvement in sin and idolatry, the Jews were delayed in the desert some forty years. Their journey through the wilderness was anything but straight.

When Isaiah preached the message preserved in Isaiah 40, the southern kingdom of Judah was in a state of apostasy and their destruction by the Assyrians was near.

Isaiah preached a message which would remind the Jews of their crooked path in the desert, and of the reason for their failure: a bankrupt relationship with God. He would inspire them to build the highway in the heart, so that there would be a highway in the wilderness.

Isaiah's message also stood as a prophecy of the ministry of John the Baptist. It was John's mission to prepare the hearts of the Jews for their king and for their new covenant. Malachi 3:1 also predicted the ministry of the Baptist

The text of Isaiah's message. "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord of Armies."

Isaiah 40:35 contains an excerpt from one of Isaiah's sermons. It has a command, and an explanation of that command.

The command comes from verses 35, while the explanation from verses 68.

Verses 35 read like this: "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'"

The Jews would have responded to this message immediately, for the wilderness journey was a vital part of their national heritage.

Isaiah's message is about the wilderness of the souls of the people of Judah, for because of their rejection of God, and their love affairs with the idols of the Gentiles, they had created an imposing wilderness indeed.

It is up to them to smooth out the rough places through confession of sin, and a humble orientation to God's plan for their lives.

It is only when the hearts of wilderness are smoothed out that the glory of the Lord is revealed.

This revelation is the millennial rule of the king of kings and lord of lords, the bright morning star, Jesus Christ. But first the people must humble themselves to the king and his plan for their lives.

To illustrate the clever nature of Satanic propaganda, observe:

The Jews rejected the millennial king and His kingdom from their distrust of the Gentile world.

The Gentiles now futilely attempt to bring in that kingdom when it cannot come without the king bidding.

Verses 68 explain: "a voice says, 'Call out.' Then he answered, 'What shall I call out?' All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."

Isaiah makes the issue of soul leveling clear in these verses.

Isaiah communicates the mortal and fading nature of the human body, as contrasted with the word of God.

This is really a 'you can take it with you' verse. Everything in this life will be left behind except the word of God in your soul.

On the basis of this truth, make your priorities straight. Once they are on the level, your life will become straight as well.

Bible truth is the bulldozer in the soul. Sin and death and Satanic propaganda are the great mountains and gullies.

Jesus and John the Baptist

John the Baptist had a ministry from God to prepare Israel for the millennial kingdom and its king.

The ministry of John the Baptist had nothing to do whatsoever with the church. In essence it is in its own watertight compartment apart from the church. It drew its precedence from the dispensation of Israel.

John drew his sense of destiny from an Old Testament prophecy concerning his ministry. Isa

40; Mal 3:1.

Since John and Jesus were cousins, it is likely that they knew one another as children and young men. John knew exactly who the Messiah was, and probably long before he ever preached his message.

John began his ministry of repentance and baptism in the Spring of 26 A.D.

So far, we have eliminated confusion concerning the relation of John's baptism and the baptism which occurs in the church age.

Now, let us contrast John and Christ.

You must understand that John was the greatest prophet of the age of Israel. His person and message were greater even than Isaiah or Jeremiah or any other. Our Lord testified to this in Matthew 11:11.

John had a great following; he was wildly popular among the people of Israel and even among some Romans.

His mission was to point the way to one even greater. From the seeming greatest to the even greater.

Long after John was gone, people still gravitated towards his ministry, even to the exclusion of Christ. In some ways, people still do, whenever they are legalistic and place great value on outward acts of piety.

Therefore, John 1:1-18 will serve well to teach us some general truths about Christ and the contrast between he and John the Baptist. In no small part it was what John the apostle was trying to accomplish in this passage.

John 1:1-18 picks up the issue from the beginning and also describes John's relationship to Christ.

Verse 1 translation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and God was the Word."

This verse is divided into three clauses, each of which make a statement concerning Jesus Christ.

John (the writer of this gospel) uses the term 'the Word' to describe Christ. This term has quite a history in Greek and Hebrew thought (to doctrine of logos).

The first clause places the existence of the Word in eternity past.

The phrase en arche. emphasizes the qualitative aspect of the beginning. This is the beginning of Gen. 1:1; the beginning before the heavens and the earth were created.

The imperfect tense of the verb eimi reveals the eternity of the Word in the beginning. The existence of the Word went on and on.

The term ho logos shows the personification of order and wisdom existing on and on before the creation of the heavens and the earth. This is a person, and not just a principle.

Thus from the beginning of John's gospel you know that we are talking about God.

The second clause indicates the coexistence of the Word with the God. The proper noun Theos is preceded by the definite article ho. It points out that this is the one and only God; not just one God among many. Thus we know of at least two persons in the Godhead. The preposition pros shows the face to face presence of one with the other.

The third clause is one which clarifies the divine nature of the Word. There is no doubt from this clause that the Word was always God. Again the imperfect tense testifies to the timeless nature of the Word.

So the first contrast: with Christ we have God; John is man, created by God.

The second verse offers even more clarification on the trinity and the preexistence of the Word: "This one was in the beginning with the God."

The demonstrative pronoun houtos points back to the logos. It is translated 'this one'.

The imperfect tense of the verb to be makes the action timeless, eternal in nature.

The phrase en arche is used again to point to the time before the creation, eternity past.

The phrase pros Theos again shows the face to face presence of the logos and the theos.

Verse three turns to the creation. Up to this point all activity has been in precreation eternity past. "All things came into being through him, and outside of Him not one thing that came into being came into being."

This verse describes the logos as the agent of the creation.

All things is from the Greek panta. It refers to both creatures and the material universe apart from living creatures.

Whether the material universe or living creatures, all were created by God the agency of Jesus Christ.

Along with this creation is the responsibility of maintenance, which is also handled by the deity of Jesus Christ, Col. 1:16-17.

Notice that God is apart from the material universe; he created it, but it is not Him.

The inchoative aorist tense of ginomai reveals that the creatures and material universe had a definite beginning. ginomai itself describe the 'becoming' of something its beginning. This is contrasted strongly with the e.n the being of the Godhead in the previous verses.

Again, John is very thorough by his repetition of the idea. He wants his readers to make no mistake about what he is saying, so he clarifies the original statement by stating the absolute in the negative. 'and outside of Him not one thing that came into being came into being."

The second contrast to John the Baptist is the creator contrast the Word created; John could not.

Verse 4 turns back to eternity past and then marches forward into the time of men. "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men."

There was always life in Jesus Christ: this is indicated by the imperfect tense of the Greek verb to be, eimi.

This life, zoe, is much more than the principle of biological life it was soul life. zoe rises above animal instinct and behavior to the independence of the soul. And not just the function of volition, but the soul as it was designed to enjoy God and His provision.

From eternity past Christ had this life, and this life was given to Adam and the woman.

That same life was surrendered to the slavery of Satan at the fall, but it was never lost by Christ.

Christ is life, real life, personified. The life of Christ was the light of men.

At last the Word and the Life enter into time.

Although it always existed and always will exist, the Word of Life entered into time and was the light of men.

Light is the opposite of darkness. Light always destroys darkness, but darkness cannot overcome the light. Darkness is the result of obscuring the light, but the light always exists. Light and darkness are incompatible mutually exclusive. The Sun always shines, but there are times when we do not see it.

God the Holy Spirit provides the light so that we can comprehend the Word. In order to see the Word we must have light.

This life was the light of men in the past. It kept on shining. This sums up the first incarnation.

Verse five gives the final description of Christ, bringing Him into present times (for John and for us). "And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it."

There is a nice little double entendre here with the katalambano. It has the dual meaning of overcome and comprehend. Had the forces of darkness truly comprehended the intrinsic good of the light, then it would not have tried to put it out.

John uses the present tense of the verb phaino to portray Christ's present shining. Even though he died on the cross he still shines now.

Christ is the Sun (1 Cor 15:41), and the Morning Star (Rev 22:16). The Morning Star shines just before sunup. It shines as the darkness is about to end.

The darkness is the darkness of the devil's world. The roach illustration.

Verse six turns to our man, John the Baptist. "There came a man, the side of God, his name, John;" Even the style of this verse differs from that of the previous five. It is very spare and understated, as if to downplay the nature of this man, especially when compared to Christ. Although John's writing style is almost always simple, here it become hyper-simple, and less elegant than John's brief discourse on Christ.

The verb egeneto is used here to describe the arrival of John. Again it is the inchoative aorist that John uses to describe the beginning of an action. John had a definite beginning. It is also the same verb that John has used previously to describe the creation by the Word. John was one created by the creator. But this verb more describes the arrival of John's public ministry than the creation of his soul.

The noun anthropos leaves no doubt about the true nature of John. He is a man of the human race.

The participle apestalmenos portrays the action of God in sending John the Baptist. It is from the verb apostello, 'to send forth'. It is the perfect participle, so it shows that before John arrived someone sent him. It is the passive participle, so it shows that it was not John who was the ultimate source of arrival, but someone else.

The preposition para points to the source of the sending it is God. This shows that John came from the side of God. A figure of speech that reveals how very close John the Baptist was to God. Before John began his ministry he was close to God he prepared himself in a very thorough manner by laying aside the distractions of everyday life.

The final phrase of the verse is to the point of being laconic. Three nouns lay alongside one another to identify the name of the man sent from the side of God.

Verse seven continues John's description of John. "He himself came as a witness that he might testify concerning the light, that all might believe through him."

The aorist verb elthen describes again the arrival of John on the scene. It is translated, 'he came'.

The subject of the verb is houtos, the demonstrative pronoun used to intensify the source of the action in the verb. It points strongly to John in contrast to Jesus Christ.

The preposition eis plus the accusative case of the noun marturian is translated, "as a witness." John was a witness, a man who pointed to the truth of the matter.

John then goes on to give the twofold purpose of the Baptist's ministry, using the particle hina twice to introduce two purpose clause.

The first clause is hina marturese. peri tou photos. "that he might testify concerning the light."

The potential subjunctive mood of the verb marture.se. indicates that John had a responsibility to fulfill in his ministry. This mood lays the emphasis on human volition, or choice.

John's responsibility was in area of testimony he was to give his testimony about the light. The light, of course is Jesus Christ.

Notice that this passage does not say it was John's responsibility to convert people. That is addressed in the next clause.

The second clause is hina pantes pisteuso.sin di' autou. "that all might believe through him."

The subject of the clause is all those who were alive at the time of John's ministry.

The responsibility of the potential subjunctive lies squarely on the shoulders of John's audience. Their responsibility is to believe in what John has to say. This responsibility is not John's. They believe through him, but John does not do the believing.

This summarizes very well the issue in personal evangelism. It is our responsibility to testify concerning the light; it is their responsibility to believe. You have completely and totally succeeded in your mission if you get the word out, regardless of how your audience responds.

If this is true, then do not fear rejection does not matter to the messenger. You should always be glad when someone believes on account of your testimony. However, you should be objective about your duty no matter what the response. The accomplishment of your mission should never depend on whether you are getting positive results.

Verse eight makes a clarification for the sake of being thorough: "He himself was not the light, but came that he might testify concerning the light."

The far demonstrative is used to point to John the Baptist. Used in conjunction with the verb to be, an emphatic contrast is set up between the light and the witness to the light.

John's purpose in life is reiterated in the second clause. There he quickly goes over what he has already communicated.

All of this adds up to a very thorough and even redundant statement about John's role in relation to Christ.

Since John has gone so far out of his way to put the Baptist into his place, it is fair to assume that there was a problem with Baptist worship at the time.

Verse nine turns back to Christ, and begins to add some details about Him, "He was the true light, who illuminates every man, coming into the world." This is very poorly translated into your English Bible, and so we must make some corrections.

There is first an addition of one adjective to the idea of light: ale.thinon, true. There were many false messiahs at the time of Christ, and even the Baptist was thought to be the Messiah himself, he was so magnificent. Therefore the light is qualified as the true light.

The next statement reveals a function of the light related to creation. It begins with the definite article used as the relative pronoun ho, which simply picks up the true light from the previous clause and makes it the subject of the verb of this sentence.

The verb pho.tizei describes the action of illumination. This is a transitive verb, so the translation shining does not work as well as illumination. This is the light shining on someone or something giving its light.

This is a figure of speech which refers to the availability of Divine illumination from birth.

The idea of illumination, when used as a figure of speech, always describes the process of understanding.

The object of the verb is panta anthro.pon. This is translated "every man". John chooses to emphasize the individual by using the singular of anthro.pon. The illuminated truth is available to every man from the moment that he enters the world.

The third clause of the verse indicates the moment of illumination.

This clause begins with the accusative participle erchomenon. This participle can only be connected with anthro.pon, since anthro.pon is the only noun in the previous sentence that is in the accusative case. ale.thinon, which appears to be in the accusative is actually in the nominative neuter as the predicate of the first clause.

Grammatically, the participle can only describe the coming of every human being into the world. The phrase eis ton kosmon describes a transition from one place to another. It cannot describe the moment of conception, because that would indicate some kind of preexistence, which is not a Christian doctrine. It therefore must describe

The moment of birth is the moment at which this illumination takes place. From that moment forward, the common grace ministry of God the Holy Spirit is available to every human being. From that moment forward, Christ remains the great hope for every man.

Verse ten reveals the relationship between Christ and the world. "He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, but the world did not know him." There are three parts to this verse: The incarnation; eternity past; and a comment on the two.

He was in the world. This testifies to the incarnation that God came into the world. That he came as a human is revealed in a later verse. For right now it is enough to know that God came into the world.

The world here is planet earth, the habitation for humanity.

And the world came into being through him. This is a repetition of an idea already introduced, but now there is more of a context for it.

Because God created the world, He is truly outside of it. He exists completely independent of space and time. Now the world is planet earth and all its inhabitants.

But this is significant on the basis of the first clause of the verse he was in the world, the same world that he created. God is responsible towards his creation.

The conjunction kai sets up a mild contrast to that which has come previously in the verse. The contrast has to do with the difference between what God has done for man and how man responded.

God came into the world the greatest sacrifice and expression of love in history.

God created that same world.

But the world did not know him. This is a description of the response of humanity to the incarnation. They did not know him describes both recognition and acceptance. Although Christ presented himself as the Son of God, the world did not accept Him as such.

Here ho kosmos is identified with the human race at the time of the incarnation.

Verse 11 tells of the coming of the Word to a chosen people, "He came unto His own, and His own did not receive Him."

This of course is a reference to the Jews and their rejection of Him.

The Jews were the chosen people of the Messiah, and they did have a long association with Him, going back to the very beginnings of their history.

He came to them; He was the Messiah; and yet they did not receive Him. The objective negative adverb ou makes it clear that this was a complete rejection. Of course what rejection is more complete than death?

Verse 12 identifies the shift in Christ's ministry: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe unto His name."

The correlative pronoun hosoi describes a direct correlation between those who receive Christ and what they receive as a result. The number is an exact correlation, so that no one is short changed.

The aorist tense of the verb lambano describes the action. It is past action, summed up in one moment of time. It is translated "received", and it is a synonym for trust or belief in Christ.

The accusative direct object auton identifies the object of belief, who is Christ: Him.

The second clause of the verse puts down what those who receive Christ receive in return.

The dative indirect object of the personal pronoun autois identifies the receivers as those who receive Christ. "to them".

The aorist tense of the verb didomi identifies a past action that is seen in one moment of time. It is translated "He gave." The 'He' here is Jesus Christ, the living Word.

What is given is a right exousia. This word describes legitimate authority, and individual rights. Since this is given to individuals, it is better to call this a right given by God.

The right is related to a potential. The right implies responsibility. The infinitive verb genesthai is from the verb ginomai 'to become'. It is the aorist infinitive, which is the complement of exousia. A right always has a direction. It may take the direction of free speech or bearing arms. Rights are divided into realms. Here the realm is related to a potential: the potential to become children of God.

Becoming a child of God is not something which occurs at salvation; it is there only in the form of potential. At salvation God gives you the right to become a child of God; whether you do so is entirely up to the free expression of your volition.

Therefore, being a child of God is not synonymous with salvation. It is identified here as the goal of post salvation life. In this case, being a child of God is equal to being a mature believer in Christ.

As a child imitates the parents, so the adopted child of God is to become an imitator of Him.

Verse thirteen is the follow up to the twelfth: "who have been born not from bloodshed nor from the will of flesh nor from the will of man but from God."

This verse comments on how one becomes a child of God. You must be born first.

The aorist passive verb egennethesan makes it clear that the birth is outside of the choice of the one being born. The objective negative adverb ouk shows that the three things listed before God are definitely not the way.

John sets up this verse in anticipation of the guesses of his readership.

When he says 'who have been born', he anticipates them thinking of a change in life, as illustrated by birth.

There are three types of changes cited by John: change by violence; change by self; and change by someone else’s' will.

Remember that the context of verse twelve is not salvation, but post salvation spiritual growth. The context is change, not salvation. John uses the figure of birth to portray post salvation spiritual growth in his epistle.

The word haimaton is translated, 'bloodshed'. It is in the plural here, and the plural of this noun always depicts the shedding of innocent blood. It could easily be translated 'violence'. This is emphatically not a portrayal of the physical birth of a child, but instead of attempting to bring change about through violence. The threat of physical violence to a person does not bring about true change.

The next possibility of the means of change is from the Greek phrase ek thelematos sarkos. This is change from the will of the flesh. sarkos is the Greek word for flesh, and it often describes the activity of the Old Sin Nature. It certainly does here.

What comes from the sin nature may be change in the sense of 'different', but never in the sense of 'better'.

Changing the trend of your sin nature from self-righteous moral degeneracy to immoral overt degeneracy or vice versa is definitely not a change for the better. In fact, sometimes it is a change for the worse.

The noun thelematos outlines the function of volition. Here it is the human volition as controlled by the Old Sin Nature.

You cannot do it is impossible to bring about change in your life by your own efforts.

No campaign of self-improvement apart from the grace of God can accomplish intrinsic and lasting good.

The appearance of good may be achieved by self, but underneath the appearance remains a wicked heart.

Do not allow yourself to fall prey to anti-grace sentiment about self.

The third possibility for change is ek thelematos andros 'from the will of man'.

This phrase contrast the previous one by emphasizing dependence on others as a viable means for personal change.

Again, this may bring about a change in the sin nature trend; a change of outward appearance, but underneath remains the wicked heart.

Welding your own will to that of another may effectively stop a pattern of overt behavior, but it is not in any way the means to true change.

This phrase includes counseling and discipling in the bad sense of the word. Those things do not bring about true change any more than the sin nature can.

The only real catalyst for change is God, as explained by the Greek phrase alla ek Theou.

The conjunction alla indicates a very strong contrast with what has gone previously. What is to follow is the right and true way to the change of heart. It is the true post salvation change.

ek Theou tells us that true change only comes from God, and this is the set up for what is to follow in verse 14.

Get it through your heads that you can only bring about true change through the change of heart that is brought on by faith perception of the truth.

Faith perception is what makes Christianity distinct from all religions.

Faith perception is what makes Christianity distinct from all worldly means of false change.

Faith perception is what makes Christianity work, period.

Verse 14 now defines how the change was brought about: "And the Word became flesh and camped among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as a unique and only born one from the side of the Father, full of Grace and Truth."

The verse begins with the conjunction kai which continues the train of thought from the previous verse.

The noun logos is next, and with the definite article ho it is translated "the word". It is the subject of the sentence, and of course it is describing Christ.

The verb of the sentence is egeneto, which describes the beginning of the hypostatic union at the virgin birth. It is in the aorist tense, so it portrays one moment of time in the past. It is translated, "became".

sarx is the Greek word for flesh, and in this case it describes the physical human body, with no sin nature.

The conjunction kai shifts the thought to another fact about the incarnation. It is translated "and".

The aorist verb skenosen depicts an action from the past as occurring in one moment of time. It describes the temporary dwelling in a tent. "Camped" is a good way to translate this.

The preposition en plus the locative of place is translated here "among us".

Again the conjunction kai is used by John to shift to another fact about the incarnation, this time a more personal one.

The verb etheasametha is in the first person plural and so it reveals that John was an eyewitness to these events. It is in the aorist tense, and so it sums up the past action into one moment of time. The verb itself describes the act of witnessing an event with your own eyes. It is translated "we beheld" or "we eyewitnessed".

10. The object witnessed was te.n doxan auton., which is translated "His glory".

This may be taken in the narrow sense of the transfiguration, or in the wider sense of His entire life, but we will go with the latter, as it seems to fit the context a little better.

Glory is a synonym for the essence, capabilities and attributes of God, as well as His actions toward mankind.

Glory here represents the reflection of the glory of the Father in the life of the Son.

This glory is further described with the phrase "doxan hos monogenous para patros.

The comparative conjunction hos msakes an exact comparison between the status described and the glory itself. This is translated "as".

The status is monogenes, which contains the idea of "unique and only born".

Completing the idea is the preposition para and the noun patros. The preposition indicates that the action proceeds from the very side of the person named, which in this instance is the Father.

The final description of the incarnation isple.re.s charitos kai ale.theias.

ple.re.s describes a state of being completely full, and it is translated "full".

The genitive of description of the noun charitos is translated "grace".

The connective conjunction kai is translated "and".

The noun ale.theias is in the genitive case, and translated "truth".

This is the full explanation of our birth from God.

This verse progressively explains the statement in the previous verse about being born from God.

Verse 13 gave three ways in which the salvation birth is not accomplished, and then goes on to state that it instead comes from God.

The salvation birth is based on the following:

That the word became flesh. This defines the person through whom our salvation was accomplished.

That the word camped, or temporarily lived among us. Our salvation was accomplished while Christ was living on planet earth.

That the word was observed by other human beings, even the writer of this gospel.

That the life of the word was glory and this glory was related to the Father as the only born Son. Our salvation was accomplished by the Son of God.

The Son of God was full of grace and truth. Grace and truth are the opposites of the three things on the list in verse thirteen: violence, self reliance, and reliance on others.

If an unbeliever can use it or do it, it is not a part of God's plan for salvation or the post salvation life.

Christ represents both our salvation and the secret to the post salvation life.

It all depends on Divine provision, and the key to that provision is the truth. You cannot possibly access divine provision without knowing the truth, and therefore the truth must be the first priority in the Christian life.

Just as you cannot become a believer without the gospel, so also you cannot reach maturity without the Bible.

Just as you cannot perceive the gospel without the ministry of the Spirit, so also you cannot perceive the truth without.

Just as you must believe in the gospel in order to be saved, so also you must believe the truth in order to reach maturity.

Verse 15 turns back to the testimony of John: "John testified concerning him and cried out saying, "This was he about whom I said 'The one coming after me has attained rank above me, because He was (always) first with reference to me.'""

This is John's statement of humility. It confirms from his own mouth what John the apostle has already stated in verses 6 through 8. At the time of his ministry John the Baptist knew exactly where he stood with reference to his second cousin, the Messiah.

This verse forms a link between verses 14 and 16, so that Christ's rank is confirmed before turning back to the subject of grace.

Most of the difficulty in translating this verse comes in John the Baptist's statement itself, and we will concentrate our efforts in exegesis there. The rest of the verse is well translated and needs no tweaking.

John's statement begins with the definite article ho, which is attached to the participle erchomenos at the end of the verse. Together they are translated "the one coming". The participle is in the present tense and so portrays its action at the same time as the main verb.

The adverb opiso is translated "after". It is a temporal adverb showing Christ's appearance as following that of John. John is identifying the Messiah, and those who followed John would have known that, since it was the force of his ministry.

The second phrase is emprosthen mou gegonen. We have translated this "has attained rank above me."

The preposition emprosthen here describes the status of rank. Although it is normally translated 'before' with reference to face to face presence, it takes up the idea of one being before another in a line. But we will not forsake the personal nature of this preposition. John and Jesus are second cousins according to the flesh. They at least knew one another as acquaintances growing up.

The perfect tense of the verb gegonen shows that the attainment of rank happened in one moment of time, and that moment is portrayed as having an impact forever.

With the preposition mou John the Baptist identifies himself as the lower ranked one of the two.

The explanation comes in the third phrase, which is translated, "because He was always

first with reference to me".

The explanatory use of the conjunction hoti points to the last few words of the verse as the explanation of what has just been said.

The imperfect tense of the verb to be describes the eternal existence of the rank of Jesus Christ.

The built in third person singular 'he' identifies Jesus Christ as the one who produces the action of the verb.

The adverb protos indicates the highest rank of all: first.

The personal pronoun in the genitive case takes the adverbial genitive of reference, and so is translated, 'with reference to me.' This is not a statement of the priorities of the Baptist, but of comparison.

The comparison is valid with reference to every human being.

John's statement of the supreme rank of Christ fits into the overall narrative.

Christ is God.

The Word became flesh.

Jesus Christ was always first, relative to John and to the whole world.

Only God could become flesh; flesh could never become God. Only the first could become last, the highest ranking die for all those of lower rank.

John's testimony confirms Christ's preeminent rank. John 1:7; John 1:27.

Christ's self testimony doesthe same thing. Rev 1:17; Rev 22:13.

Verse 16 makes the grace of God a personal thing. It too is an explanation of verse 14, and it is translated "For of His fullness we have all received, even (superior) grace in exchange for grace." This is also the setup for verse 17 which explains this one in even fuller detail.

The fullness referred to here is the fullness of Jesus Christ presented in verse 14. It is the fullness with reference to grace and truth.

That same fullness was received (aorist tense) by John and others, and of course is available to us.

The ascensive use of the conjunction kai leads up to a literary climax, charin anti charitos. It is translated, "even grace in exchange for grace". Note that the ascensive use points to a further description of the same thing, and does not add a new thing to another. It is not "and grace..."

The final three words describe a trade up; one thing for another, but the thing received is far superior to the thing exchanged. It is one grace for a superior grace.

This is a description of the tradeout of dispensations brought about by the first advent.

It is very important to realize that the dispensation of Moses was also a dispensation of grace and that the Law was a grace provision of God.

The plan of God for the church is very superior to the ritual plan for Israel, but it is not a complete change of policy on God's part. Grace always has and always will be the policy of God toward mankind. It must be that way.

Verse 17 continues the thought: "For the Law was given through Moses, the grace and the truth came through Jesus Christ."

The real comparison in this verse is between Moses and Christ. Of the two, Christ is far superior.

The two dispensations find their distinctions for that very reason: their human leaders and administrators.

God was the one who gave the law; Moses was the human agent.

Now let us turn to a comparison between the Law and Christ.

Christ is the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law, Matt 5:17.

Belief in Moses' Law led to a belief in Christ, John 5:4547.

Verse 18 finishes the discourse, "No one has ever seen God; the only born God who is unto the bosom of the Father He explains."

The nominative case of the pronoun oudeis forms the subject of the first phrase of this verse. It is translated, "no one".

The verb heo.raken is in the perfect tense, describing a past action that has lasting results into the present and even future. It is the verb which describes the faculty of sight, and so is translated, "has seen"

Inserted between the subject and verb is the adverb po.pote, which is translated "ever".

The object of the sentence is the proper noun theon, which is in the accusative case. It receives the action of heo.raken, and is translated "God".

No one has ever seen God. This is a complaint that so many unbelievers have. They do not see God, and therefore they do not see a relationship with Him as important or relevant.

Up to the moment in history when John wrote, there had been theophanies of various kinds, but never a direct revelation of the person of God (insert theophanies).

But then the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The subject of the next phrase of the clause is monogene.s theos. These two, the adjective and noun, are both in the nominative case, and produce the action of the sentence. monogene.s denotes a unique birth. Only one man was ever born a virgin, as only one has received the resurrection. The proper noun theos concentrates on the hypostatic union. This is translated, "the only born God". Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe, the God man.

Next there is the definite article ho and participle o.n. These are translated together "the one who is" There is an eternal nature to these words conveyed by the combination of the present tense of the participle and the nature of its subject, God the Son. Furthermore, the prepositional phrase eis ton kolpn tou patros follows. The preposition eis describes the Son as being in a constant state of motion. This motion is directed toward the bosom of the Father.

kolpon is the Greek word for bosom and it portrays fellowship of the closest nature. "like a child at rest on its mother's breast", or John resting on our Lord's chest at the last supper. Complete trust is required like a dog rolling over for you to pet his tummy.

The Son is always in the closest of fellowship with the Father. This describes their coequal and coeternal status, and the reliance of the Son on the Father throughout the incarnation.

The verb of this final clause is exe.ge.sato. This is the aorist tense, which portrays a past action and sums that action up into one moment of time. It means to draw out or explain something, and it is the Greek word on which is based our English exegesis. We will translate it "explained"

The demonstrative pronoun ekeinos is inserted as a duplication of the subject. There is no object.

The Word became flesh and explained the Father. In just what way the Son explains the Father we are about to study.

The Wilderness Temptation of Christ

The introductory verses, or how Christ got to the wilderness. The three gospel accounts of the event differ substantially so as to shed as much light as possible on it. Since Divine Guidance is in view here, we will exegete each passage in turn in order to get the details.

Matthew 4:1, "Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil"

The adverb of time pote is translated 'then'. It reveals the sequence of events in Christ's life. Mark uses the adverb euthus to communicate the immediate aspect of this transition.

ie.sous is the proper noun used as the subject of the sentence. This is 'Jesus'.

The verb is ane.chthe. It is in the passive voice, which indicates that our Lord did not produce the action of the verb but instead received it. The constantive aorist tense summarizes the past action into one moment of time. The verb itself means to lead from a lower to a higher point. This point can be figurative, as in the case of spiritual maturity, or literal, as in this instance. Christ was going from the low point of the Jordan River (just a few miles from the lowest land elevation on the planet) to the rough wilderness above. This emphatically does not mean snatched away, as some have tried to make the point that the Spirit picked our Lord up and bodily moved Him to the desert. This is translated, 'was led up' The Spirit did the leading and Christ did the following. Exactly how this occurred will be the subject of our study of the doctrine of divine guidance.

The prepositional phrase eis te.n ere.mon describes the geographical transition from the Jordan to the Wilderness. It is translated "into the desert".

A second prepositional phrase puts forth the leadership of the Spirit, who was the direct agent of the leading. It is hupo tou pneumatos, and translated "by the Spirit.

The last clause of the verse is a purpose clause which is peirasthe.nai hupo tou diabolou. The verb is the aorist passive of peirazo, which means to put someone to the test. Depending on the one doing the test, the purpose may be good or bad. This is translated, 'to be tempted by the devil"

Notice that hupo tou diabolou is identical to hupo tou pneumatou. In the battle to come, it will be the ministry of God the Holy Spirit verses the temptation of the devil.

This is the first evidence testing done under the conditions of the church age. Christ is our prototype for the fulfillment of God's plan for the church age dispensation. An entirely new and never before tried set of grace assets will be put through its paces over the next forty plus days.

Mark 1:12, "And immediately the Spirit cast Him out into the desert"

The major difference here is in the verb that is used to describe the action of the Spirit in getting Christ to the desert.

In this verse, to pneuma, the Spirit, is the subject, and auton the personal pronoun describing Christ is the object. This reveals that once under the leadership of the Spirit there was no doubt whatsoever as to what would happen.

The verb ekballei is in the present tense, which reveals an action as it happens. It is the dramatic way to present the action typical of Mark's gospel. The verb literally means to cast out. The Spirit 'cast out' Christ into the wilderness eis te.n ere.mon. Again we do not yet know how this occurred, only that it did.

Luke 4:1, "And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was being led by means of the Spirit in the desert." The main change here is the revelation that Christ was led by the Spirit for the duration of His stay in the desert, and that it was from a state of being full from the Spirit that gave the leadership.

The verse begins with the post positive conjunction de which serves as a transition from the genealogy in the last part of chapter 3. Its force is, "now let's turn to another subject.

Four words work together to form the foundational statement of the verse: Ie.sous ple.re.s pneumatos hagiou. They are translated "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit."

The nominative case of ple.re.s forms the key part of the description it denotes a state of complete fullness. It can denote thought or emotion, negative or positive, but the idea here refers to the control of the soul.

The verse does not say how, but it does make it clear that Ie.sous is under the control of pneumatos hagiou.

The first thing that Jesus does under the control of the Spirit is return from the Jordan, where he had just been baptized. The word for returned is hupestrepsen, which is in the aorist tense. This describes a past action occurring in one moment of time, and thus the translation "He returned".

The second thing is that "He was being led by means of the Spirit."

The verb e.geto is from ago, which is the simple verb for the act of leading. It is in the passive voice and so reveals that the subject receives the action of leadership. The imperfect tense indicates that the action took place over a duration of time in the past, and not just at one moment. It is translated, "He was being led."

The preposition en plus the instrumental case of means shows that the Spirit was the means of the leading.

en te. eremo. portrays both location in the desert and the amount of time spent there. It is translated, "in the desert" This tells us that the Spirit not only led Christ to the desert, but also the entire time that He was there.

Analysis of the three.

Although in all three cases Christ got to the wilderness under the leadership of the Spirit, nowhere are there specific mechanics mentioned. This does not indicate however that there were no mechanics at work.

If no mechanics are mentioned, then we must fall back on what we do know about the ministry of the Spirit in relation to Divine Guidance.

The guidance of the Spirit for Christ in the desert must therefore fall within what the New Testament teaches about the guidance of the Spirit in the church age.

Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith. As he goes we should follow.

DIVINE GUIDANCE OF CHRIST FOR HIS DESERT EXPERIENCE

The Old Testament had plenty of guidance for Christ with reference to His destiny in the desert. Israel experienced several notable failures while wandering in the Wilderness. All three of these failures include both a failure in leadership and a failure in the people to follow. All of the events in the history of Israel are recorded for the benefit of Christian believers of all time.

READ 1 Cor. 10:1-15

Jesus Christ himself was certainly aware of the will of God with respect to these events.

Some of the events during which Israel failed are:

The Provision of Manna

The Golden Calf Episode

Aaron's Rod that Budded

The Waters of Meribah

MANNA

Num 11:6; Josh 5:12; Psa 105:40; Ex 16.

Name. Manna means "What is it?" in the Hebrew. This is after the response of the Jews when they saw it for the first time.

Physical Description:

Ex 16:1314,21 "and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake like thing, fine as the frost on the ground... but when the sun grew hot, it would melt."

Ex 16:20, "But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them."

Ex 16:31, "And the house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey."

Num 11:7, "Now the Manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bedellium."

Num 11:8, "The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil."

It was eaten for the duration of the wilderness experience of the children of Israel Ex

Its cessation after 40 years was significant enough to be recorded by Joshua, Josh 5:12.

Manna was a miraculous grace provision from God, Ex 16:32, "Then Moses said, 'This is what the Lord has commanded, 'Let an omer full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'"

After a while the children of Israel became dissatisfied with the monotony of manna, Num 11:46, "And the rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, 'Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.'"

Note that this was a rejection of the grace of God, and therefore called into question His Holy character.

Note the desire to return to Egypt. The Old Testament records the expression of this desire no less than eight times it was probably muttered on many other occasions.

It was the Lord's original plan to give the people meat for a month. So much so that it would come out of their nostrils. Moses failed to believe the Lord, and thus a plague was sent.

The lust of the rabble was met with quail by the millions Num 11:31, "Now there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp."

Those who went t o gather quail would have had to go through the manna fall in order to reach the dead birds.

After a day in the desert sun the quail was well past its prime. In fact, the plague struck those who were foolish enough to eat it. v.33, "While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague."

This punitive discipline was designed to wake up the Israelites and renew their dependence on logistical grace.

Christ used manna to illustrate the grace assets related to salvation and eternal life, John 6:3133, "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.' Jesus therefore said to them, 'Truly truly I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of Heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."

The grumbling of Israel is analogous to any time that we call into question the grace provision of God, whether in spiritual or physical form.

10. This failure was memorialized by the placement of a pot of manna inside of the ark of the covenant. In spite of the failure, the covenant continued, covered by the ark of the covenant.

THE GOLDEN CALF

Exo. 32; 1 Kings 12:28; 2 Kings 10:29.

The Golden calf represents the failure of the children of Israel at the Holy Mountain of God.

It was there that they made an idol because of their impatience with Moses, who had been on the mountain with God for what they considered as too long.

Ex 32:14, "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And Aaron said to them, 'Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.' Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it into a molten calf; and they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.'"

Notice that the people have yet to receive the tablets, but they have already received the commandment against idolatry, and so they are sinning in cognizance against God, Ex 20:23.

Notice also Aaron's direct involvement in this caper. He fashioned it with his own hands.

The people recognize that without Moses they would have died in the desert, and they fear being without him.

It is their desire to replace Moses because they had made him into a god. Their idolatry was directed toward a man, and not the one true god at all.

It is ludicrous for them to think that a calf was the God who brought them up from Egypt. Their reversionism has taken them to irrationality.

In Ex 32, verses 714, Moses beseeches God to withhold from destroying the nation of Israel for their idolatry, and the Lord assents.

Moses then descended from the mountain with the tablets of the Law in his arms, he first hears and then sees the idolatrous feast. He is so angry that he dashes the tablets on the rocks at the foot of the mountain. They are utterly shattered. Next he melted down the golden calf, ground it into powder, and scattered the powder over the surface of the water. He made the people drink that water. All this from verses 1520.

Moses then turns to Aaron, whom he left in command before he went up on the mountain. Aaron's reply is one for the books. Verses 2124, "Then Moses said to Aaron, 'What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?' And Aaron said, 'Do not let the anger of my lord burn you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. For they said to me, 'Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.'"

Aaron first attempts the blame the people for his failure in leadership.

Second, he fabricates the story of the manufacture of the calf. He implies that the calf is from God Himself by telling of its miraculous production.

As a memorial, the broken tablets of the law were placed inside of the ark of the covenant. In spite of this failure, the covenant would continue, covered by the mercy seat of God.

AARON'S ROD

Numbers 17.

In Numbers chapter 16, the rebellion of Korah is recorded. It resulted in the death of 14,700 Israelites by plague.

At the conclusion of the rebellion, there was a great need to reaffirm the authority of Aaron.

Therefore, God conceived a test which the Israelites could perform, so that His choice of Aaron could be made clear to them.

Num 17:17, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father's household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their father's households. You shall write each name on his rod, and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their father's households. You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. And it will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I shall lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.' Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. So Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony."

Of course, Aaron's rod budded, and thus was his authority established, verses 811.

Aaron's rod that budded was placed into the ark of the covenant to remind the people of the rebellion of Korah, and the importance of following their divinely appointed rulers.

The covenant continued in spite of the failure, because the sin was covered by the mercy seat.

THE WATERS OF MERIBAH

Exodus 17:17; Numbers 20:213.

This is the real third test which Christ received in the wilderness. It was the reason that the people were not allowed to enter the promised land.

At Meribah, the people became thirsty, and demanded that God bring them water.

They had been without water for one day. They were uncomfortable, but not dying.

Because of this thirst, they put the Lord to the test. They demanded that He prove His deity by giving them water. This was the last straw, and so the punishment came.

THE TESTS OF CHRIST: two fast balls and a curve.

Test one: the logistics test.

Matt 4:24, "And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He finally became hungry. And the tempter said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God''"

ne.steusas is the verb that is translated fasting. It describes complete abstinence from food. The culminative aorist tense concentrates on the end of the fasting.

husteron is used as an adverb to emphasize that Christ was not ordinary man. It is translated 'finally'.

Luke 4:24, "And He ate absolutely nothing during those days; and at the concluding of them, He hungered. And the devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, speak to this stone that it might become bread.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'"

The combination of ouk and ouden places an absolute negation on the verb ephagen.

The preposition en plus the phrase tais heme.rais ekeinais shows that the negation lasts for the entire forty days.

The aorist participle suntelestheiso.n indicates that it was only at the very conclusion of the forty days that He became hungry. The verb peinao describes an obsessive hunger, where all that is thought of is food. It is not just the growling of the stomach. After forty days, even the healthiest human being is at the limits of his endurance. So was Christ.

The imperative mood of the aorist verb eipe shows a command to the stone.

The subjunctive mood of ginomai reveals that it all depends on Christ's volition. The devil knows that the Divine Power is available, but that its use would invalidate the purpose of the incarnation.

Matthew says stones plural instead of stone singular from Luke. This difficulty is resolved by applying the principle of plurality. Each recital is correct; there was more than one instance of temptation. Matthew records one of these, while Luke the other. It is likely that Luke records the latter of the two, because of Christ's abbreviated reply. This could not be resolved by applying the principle of translation.

When you put these two together, they form an interesting narrative that describes an ongoing temptation. In the later temptation His Scriptural reply is abbreviated, as though He is at the very end of His endurance, or because it is not necessary to repeat the whole thing.

This test relates to the logistical test of Israel:

The Israelites had something to eat every day. Manna was the world's greatest health food. It was the same thing, but it was something.

Christ had nothing to eat for forty days and forty nights. Therefore, His test was far greater than what they endured. He ate the same thing every day: Nothing.

Placing the manna inside the ark of the covenant foreshadowed this test of our Lord. It commemorated Christ's victory in the desert, and it looked forward to the redemption of this failure at the cross, as represented by the mercy seat.

The essence of the temptation had to do with the temptation to use His divine attributes or rely on what God provided His humanity.

To use His divine capability of omnipotence to turn the stones to bread would violate the principle of kenosis; to do so would destroy divine character.

The very reason for the incarnation would have been undermined and destroyed had Christ given in here. The cross and the Christian way of life would have instantly become meaningless.

Christ used only what God provided His humanity to resist this temptation. Three grace assets are pertinent:

The human spirit, or spiritual conscience, which was Christ's frame of reference for spiritual matters.

The power of God the Holy Spirit related to the perception and recall of the word.

The Word itself, at the time only the Old Testament canon.

Note that Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.

The context of this verse is Moses' final exhortation to the children of Israel before their occupation of the promised land.

All three of Christ's replies will come from this speech.

These three things denote readiness for the blessings of the land of milk and honey:

First, there is worship of the one true God and abstinence from idolatry. This is personal love for God.

Second, there is humble acceptance of the circumstances of your life, good or bad, and acceptance of delegated human authority, good or bad.

Third, there is a devotion to the word of Truth, and acceptance of God's logistical grace.

This scripture was originally learned and inculcated by Christ, probably at a very young age.

At this appropriate time, the Spirit recalled this passage into Christ's spiritual frame of reference, His human spirit. Christ instantly understood the issue.

Now the issue remained: Would He apply what had been recalled? The answer is of course. He even quotes the passage directly to the devil.

Deut 8:1-10

Test two: the idolatry test.

Matthew 4:8-10, "Again, the devil is taking Him alongside to an exceptionally high mountain, and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and He said to Him, 'All these things will I give you, if falling down you might worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"

paralambano means to take alongside. This verb has a wide connotation which seems to harmonize well with the situation. It means to take someone into your home as a guest; to take someone aside for the purpose of private instruction or reproof; to take someone alongside for purpose of helping them; and in the legal context to take someone into custody. This is the perfect word for this situation, because you can see the enemy taking Christ alongside as a used car salesman does. The historical present is used to emphasize the drama of the moment.

lian emphasizes the great height of this mountain; perhaps it was even Mt. Everest or Mt. Ararat...

deiknumi fits well into the sleazy used car salesman context. It means to show or demonstrate something to someone. This too is in the historical present.

The aorist participle peso.n demonstrates that the falling down must precede the distribution of the kingdoms and their glory.

The subjunctive mood of the verb proskune.se.s indicates that it is up to Christ; He must exercise His will freely in this matter. The verb depicts the kissing of another's feet, and comes with the idea of sycophantic flourish before a deified king.

Luke 4:5-8, "And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'"

Luke uses the word oikoumene.s for world. It bears closer to the meaning of 'establishment', or 'corporation'. This contrasts with the straightforward kosmos of Matthew.

Luke adds that the show occurred in one moment of time. Ahem, he did not want Christ to look too closely. Again the used car salesman analogy. This from stigme. chronou, a point of chronological time.

exousia denotes that Christ would be given delegated authority from Satan over all these kingdoms, along with the glory of them. Let me point out that the glory of the devil's world is only a veneer.

The enemy did not receive the kingdoms of the world because of meritorious service. He deceived Adam, and received the authority because of Adam's irresponsible sin.

This temptation is recorded by both Matthew and Luke, who write and cover it thoroughly between them. There is only one instance of temptation here.

We will accept Luke's order of events here, because they are more logical, and Luke tends to be very chronological in his narrative, while Matthew is topical.

All of the kingdoms of the world would belong to Christ at the right time, and only when His chosen people would accept Him as the Messiah.

This particular condition was not yet fulfilled, and in fact the early indicators were not looking good.

In other words, this was attacking Christ at a potential weak spot. The greatness of the world made the temptation all the more agonizing.

That Christ would continue in poverty for the rest of his life is a testimony to his fantastic resolve.

Part of this test had to do with timing, and part of with idolatry. It harkens back to the failure of the golden calf.

10. Christ's solution to this problem comes from Deut 6:13. Note that the blessings of the Promised Land are neither earned nor deserved. Yet they are given freely by God.

The offer from Satan is something similar, but infinitely less because of the object of worship. The satisfaction that comes from a relationship with God is so great as to add to one's appreciation and enjoyment of the attendant blessings. In the worship of idols, all the things turn to dust.

Christ applies the perfect passage for this specific temptation, another great testimony to the work of the Spirit and the level of inculcation that Christ has reached.

Again Christ solves the problem through the Holy Spirit, the Word, and His human spirit. These same three grace assets are available to us as church age believers.

In this case kenosis is not as much an issue, because Christ is not directly tempted to use His capabilities to solve the problem.

The authority/putting God to the test.

Matthew 4:57, "Then the devil took Him alongside into the holy city; and he stood Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give His angels charge concerning You.' And, 'On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike your foot against a stone.' Jesus said to him, 'On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.''"

paralambano is used again by Matthew to describe the sleazy operation of the enemy. This polite word is used to outline an insidious temptation.

entello is the word used to indicate the giving of responsibility to the angels. It is in the future tense because it depends on a past condition in the context of Psalm 91.

palin is used by Christ to express His contradiction of the assertion of Satan. palin means back; again; it is an adverb. Here it takes on the meaning of contradiction. It returns to Scripture, where Satan has just taken the conversation, and contradicts what has just been said.

Luke 4:9-12, "And he led Him to Jerusalem and stood Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here; for it is written, 'He will give His angels charge concerning You to guard You,' and, 'On their hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'' And Jesus answered and said to hi, 'It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.''"

This test has many levels:

There is a temptation to verify His own Messiahship by jumping down from the temple; from this it appears to be about Aaron's rod that budded.

There is a necessity for Christ to see if the verse quoted by Satan is right and if it applies here.

If it does not apply, then Christ must rely on the Spirit to provide Him with the right Scripture.

This is also a temptation to use the privileges of His own deity 'If you are the Son of God.' kenosis comes back into play here.

Note that in this test the enemy is using Scripture against Christ. It is an oft used ploy, and it seldom fails. This points out the necessity for a prepared pastor.

The enemy quotes Psalm 91 in the temptation. Verses 11 and 12 are quoted but taken out of context.

This Psalm is about trust in God, and how God responds to those who love Him.

Especially pertinent is the conditional clause of verse 9: "If you make the most high your dwelling" This means that the following verses depend on the fulfillment of this condition.

Christ could not demand that God send his angels to cushion up his fall... that would be putting God to the test, as what happened in the wilderness at the waters of Meribah.

This test appears to be about the establishment of Christ's earthly authority. A good miracle in front of thousands of temple worshippers including the most important men in Israel would well establish Christ's authority among the Jews.

How soon they forget. Christ was only forty days before the object of the triple miracle of His baptism. The heavens split open; the voice of God spoke; the Spirit descended in the form of a dove. Yet this miracle, probably in front of those same leaders who were now below in the temple court, did not convince the people to follow Christ.

The spiritual gift of miracles would establish Christ's authority at the proper time. This was not that time. The gift of miracles functions under the sovereignty of the Spirit so that He chooses the time the place and the miracle to be performed.

The devil is trying to promote Christ before God. The devil is attempting to foist onto Christ an Aaron's rod that budded scenario. He is attempting to do so by quoting Scripture that sounds right.

Christ rightfully sorts this one out, and quotes Deuteronomy 6:16. The full passage through verse 19 goes like this: "Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you as the Lord said."

Again this is a quote from Moses final speech in preparation for the second generation to enter the promised land.

This time it was done right by Christ. He passed the tests that Israel failed.

In a completely appropriate way, the three items in the ark of the covenant represent both the failure of Israel and the triumph of Christ.

Christ not only paid for our sins, but He also produced the righteousness which would be imputed to us at salvation.

In producing that righteousness Christ established a way of solving problems which He would leave as a heritage for all church age believers.

That way was total dependence on the grace assets of God.

Christ's testing in the desert was intense, subtle, and could only be passed through dependence on the grace assets.

These three tests fall into three general categories: Provision, prosperity, and promotion.

These three tests were temptations to Christ in three categories:

The temptation to use divine power and violate the principle of kenosis.

The temptation to forsake a great relationship with God for direct worship of Satan.

The temptation to put God to the test.

Putting God to the test.

You put God to the test when you demand Him to reveal Himself in some way that benefits you.

The issue is motive. The issue is self promotion.

You are not promoted until God promotes you.

You are not a success until you succeed according to the standards of the Word of God.

Real promotion and success depend on your fulfillment of the plan of God.

You can only fulfill the plan of God through the implementation of the victorious ideology.

The conclusion of the tests.

Matt 4:11, "Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him."

Mark 1:13, "and the angels were ministering to Him."

Luke 4:13, "And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time."

Jesus’ First Followers

John 1:35-51 (translation), "Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples,

"and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!"

"And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

"And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, 'What do you seek?' And they said to Him, 'Rabbi [which translated means Teacher], where are you staying?'

"He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

"One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

"He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' [which translated means Christ].

"He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, 'You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas' [which translated means Peter].

"The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me'.

"Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

"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 any good thing come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'

"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!'

"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 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 that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.'

"And He said to him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'"

John the Baptist knows Jesus already; they are cousins according to the flesh. So when he sees the Messiah, he points Him out to the two disciples he is with. He calls Jesus the "Lamb of God." This is a reference to the Passover feast.

The Passover and Unleavened Bread

The Documentation. Ex 12:320; Lev 23:6; Deut 16:18; Num 28:1625.

The Procedure.

A lamb without spot or blemish is slain by the head of each family.

The blood from the lamb is sprinkled with hyssop on the top of the doorframe.

The lamb is roasted and then consumed with bitter herbs by the father and his family.

After Jerusalem was established, the passover was to be celebrated only there.

For the week following the passover feast only unleavened bread would be eaten.

On each of the seven days the Levitical priest would sacrifice 2 bullocks, 1 ram, 7 lambs, and 1 goat.

On the second day an offering of barley was made. This was the first harvest fruits of the year.

The sabbath was observed on the first and last days of the feast, but the entire week was treated as a sabbath with reference to work. Only work for food preparation was allowed.

The interpretation.

The wilderness journey.

This feast represented the Exodus from Egypt.

The passover represents the night before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, Exo 12.

The blood on the doorframe was a sign to God to pass over that house. All other houses would have the firstborn of all men and animals killed by God.

ii. The eating of the lamb would be the last meat eaten before the journey to the promised land.

iii. The bitter herbs represented the bitterness of the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt.

The unleavened bread represented the hurry in which the Jews had to leave. They did not have time for the yeast to rise.

The observation of the Sabbath was a reminder to set apart time for the Lord, so that one would be spiritually prepared for the wilderness journey.

All together, these things represent the beginning of every believer's relationship with God: the moment of belief in Christ.

The believer leaves behind all that he has in the way of pride and human good in order to take hold of salvation in Christ.

The promised land still lies ahead. This is the hope of spiritual maturity and its blessings.

The rituals.

The sacrifice of the lamb was a preview of the saving work of Christ on the cross. The lamb was without spot or blemish, which was the status of Christ at the virgin birth. This called to mind the righteousness, justice, love, mercy, grace, and flexible proficiency of God.

The eating of the whole lamb represented the necessity of total belief in Jesus Christ for salvation.

The priests sacrificing the animals provide a backdrop for the truth of the feast. These were burnt offerings.

The sacrifice of 7 lambs per day displayed the perfect work of God.

ii. The sacrifice of the ram each day was a reminder that this was the sacrifice of God's Son. It harkened back to Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac.

iii. The sacrifice of the goat each day was a reminder that Jesus Christ was the scapegoat for the entire human race.

iv. The sacrifice of the 2 bullocks per day represented the prosperity which comes from a relationship with God. The bullock was a sign of prosperity and the means to prosperity, for it was a beast of burden. Ownership of two bullocks was considered prosperity in ancient Israel.

The sacrifice of the barley was a giving of the first-fruits of the harvest, and it was given in thanksgiving for logistical grace. It called to mind the faithfulness of God.

The unleavened bread represents the status of Christ on the cross. There is no sin whatsoever in Christ, just as unleavened bread has no yeast.

The daily sacrifices were to remind the Jews of the importance of their relationship with God. They put an exclamation point onto the other activities of the feast.

The Temple.

The daily sacrifices were made by the priests at the brazen altar in the outer court of the Temple or tabernacle.

This represents the righteousness of Christ ascending up to God the Father in the smoke of the burnt offering.

The copper of the altar represented judgement, and specifically the judgement of Christ in our place on the cross.

New Testament.

Christ spoke of his relationship to the passover at the last supper. Mat 26:2630, "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." {27} Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. {28} This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. {29} I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." {30} When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives."

Paul used the unleavened bread to illustrated the church without the bad influence of those in the cosmic system. 1 Cor 5:7, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."

In other words, Christ was the fulfillment of the Passover. John knew that Christ was about the redemption of sins; that was the nature of his own baptizing ministry.

The two disciples follow Jesus, because He is the Messiah, and greater than John. This is not too difficult a decision to make.

They use a respectful form of address, Rabbi.' They recognize that Jesus has the authority of a teacher of the Law, and therefore a Jewish authority. This would certainly miff the Pharisees and Scribes in the days and years to come.

These two disciples want to know where Jesus is staying. This is tantamount to proclaiming that they are with Him now; they want to follow Him wherever He will go. They are through with John.

Andrew went and found Peter; there is not much more that Scripture has to say about Andrew, but this of course was something very good. A lot has been said about this kind of ministry; deservedly so. Even the timid can have great impact simply by repeating the act of Andrew in their own way. It is a simple kind of thing: "I have found the Messiah; come see for yourself."

Jesus calls Simon CEPHAS, which is translated PETROS. They mean rock.' He would be the foundation rock of the early church.

Bartholomew is the name mentioned in the synoptic gospels. This means 'Son of Ptolemies" Since this is only a last name it is not specific as to the actual person behind it. It also may be interpreted 'Son of Ptolemais', a city on the North Coast of Palestine, not too far from Galilee. In modern parlance, 'the guy from Ptolemais'.

John uses Nathanael, the man's first name. The Ptolemies were the royal family in Egypt, and major players in the events following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and the building of the Roman Empire. The most famous of all the Ptolemies was none other than Cleopatra of Egypt.

Bartholomew/Nathaniel exhibits an elitist attitude toward Nazareth that could come from being part of a royal family, or simply from a neighboring town.

It is interesting to note that Christ says of Nathanael, "a real Israelite". The word 'real' is translated from the adverb ale.thino.s. This adverb is one of emphasis on true nature. But Nathanael Bartholomew is of Egyptian heritage he could not be a genetic Jew. But Christ talks about his spiritual heritage as Paul would... that the true Jew is the one who believes in Him regardless of his genetic make up.

Christ also comments that Nathanael is without guile, or cunning deceit. Another way to put it is that Nathaniel is very forthright; he says what he thinks. Nathanael is a straight shooter with his words, as he has just demonstrated with his comment on Nazareth.

Nathaniel’s response to Christ's statement is surprise and disbelief. "How do you know me?" Christ responds, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." We do not know what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree, but it was certainly related to his forthright nature.

On the basis of Christ's simple statement, Nathanael believes. It is now Christ's turn to register surprise.

On account of Nathaniel’s belief, Christ prophesies: 'You will see the heavens opened , and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.' This is a reference to behind the scenes of prayer. Taking the prayers to God, and returning the answers to man. However, this is a literal vision, and so Nathanael will have the gift of seeing behind the scenes of prayer.

The Wedding at Cana of Galilee

Cana was a town in Galilee, due west of the Sea of Galilee and north of Nazareth, about halfway between the two.

The ancient Jewish wedding ceremony would go like this:

There were typically many attendants to the bride and groom. The groom would select a friend to be his best man.

The weddings were often held in the fall, after the harvest, so that the maximum number of people could attend. Relatives would travel relatively far to attend.

The bride was transferred to the house of the bridegroom's father in a wonderful, boisterous, fun parade. Flowers were scattered, songs were sung. A procession of virgins accompanied the bridegroom.

A feast took place, which could last as long as a week. This traditionally began in the evening.

Riddles were told.

Love songs were sung, usually the words of the Song of Solomon were set to music for this.

A cloak or skirt was spread over the bride which represented the marital commitment. This was the high point of the feast.

The ceremony would seldom have the presence of a government official or priest.

Friends and relatives recited Biblical passages or quoted historical wisdom as the couple stood before them.

After this the couple was left alone to consummate their marriage in a room specially prepared by friends and relatives. While the consummation took place the party outside continued.

Later the couple would emerge from the consummation room with evidence of the woman's virginity on a piece of cloth.

The Text, John 2:1-11

John 2:1, "And a wedding began on the third day in Kana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there."

This third day is really one week's time since Christ returned from the wilderness.

Day one has the testimony of John the Baptist to the Levites, John 1:1928. This occurs at Bethany beyond the Jordan.

The next day Christ comes back from the desert, and arrives at Bethany where John remains with his disciples, John 1:2934.

The day after that Christ calls His first disciples, Andrew, an unnamed disciple, and Simon Peter, Andrew's brother, John 1:3542.

On the fourth day, Philip and Nathanael Bartholomew are called, John 1:4351.

Three days later, Christ is in Kana, about three days walk from Bethany beyond the Jordan.

Christ's mother, Mary was present at this feast.

Now if Mary was very young when she gave birth to Christ, then she would be middle aged by now somewhere in her forties.

Since the birth of Christ and her tremendous display of maturity during that period we have seen her but once. That time was the time that Joseph and Mary took Christ to the Passover in Jerusalem. At that event, Mary displayed a fair amount of immaturity.

Since that event, Mary has given birth to other children through Joseph, and raised them.

She has apparently also been widowed, since the Passover event is the last time that Joseph appears on the radar screen.

John 2:2. "Now indeed Jesus was called into the wedding, and His disciples."

The ascensive use of the conjunction kai is translated indeed. This betrays some surprise on the part of the writer. Although Mary was already present at this feast, it was unusual for others to be invited while the festivities were in full swing.

The passive voice of the verb ekle.the. reveals that Christ was polite. He did not barge in, but he was called. The passive voice shows us that Christ did not produce the action of the calling, someone else did.

The use of the conjunction eis indicates that he was outside of the wedding, an uninvited guest.

The third person singular of the verb ekle.the. shows us that only Christ at first is called in; His disciples are left outside. This further indicates that Christ was called in because Mary was His mother not because of His celebrityship. The fact that John mentions Mary's presence supports this.

The conjunction kai plus the phrase hoi mathetai autou reveals that the extension of the invitation to the disciples was more of an afterthought.

Although this was a large Jewish wedding the addition of five or six more people would have placed a pretty serious burden on the wedding logistics. The Bride's father would have to pay for the consumption of food and drink by the disciples. Furthermore, these things were planned carefully according to how many guests were attending. Six more would have strained the limits of that plan.

John 2:3. "And the wine having failed, Jesus' mother says to him, "They have no wine".

So Mary has a firm grasp of the obvious. There is more to this verse than that.

John dramatized this moment, and not because Mary was speaking. The failure of the wine would have been a serious impediment to the celebration. If this was only midweek in the celebration, it would have been a social disaster.

This moment is dramatized by the use of the dramatic or historical present tense of the verb legei to speak.

The focus of the disaster is revealed by the position of the participle husteresantos.

This participle is in the genitive absolute. This shows a grammatical disconnection with the rest of the statement in the verse. It shows that although Mary made the statement, she really had no idea why this had happened.

It is extremely likely that the wine failed due to the presence of six additional guests Jesus and His disciples. It also means that Jesus and His disciples were helping the wine shortage along by drinking along with the other guests. It does not imply drunkenness on their part. They did the polite thing.

Mary's statement is one which is pregnant with meaning. She is verbally elbowing her son. Hey, this was a bad situation.

Mary's verbal elbowing has to do with the deity of her Son. She more than anyone else knows that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. She wants Him to use His deity to solve this problem.

There is no record of any miracle occurring from the hand of Jesus before this one. Christ has only just received the filling ministry of the Spirit at His baptism, which would have included the gift of miracles.

Therefore, Mary is not working from precedent here. She has not seen Christ do this before. Her concentration is not on the spiritual gift of miracles, which has yet to function; it is on the deity of Jesus Christ.

Though Mary does not have a clue as to why the wine has failed, it was most likely very obvious to Christ.

Though Mary only sees a quick solution to a social disaster, Christ sees much more. His responsibility in the doctrine of kenosis. Mary misses the point badly.

John 2:4. "And Jesus says to her, "What is to me and you, ma'am? My hour has not come."

Again John uses the dramatic or historic present to make the scene vivid. Again this is done with the verb legei, 'to speak'.

Our Lord uses a Hebrew idiom to make it clear to His mother that He now has His own realm of authority.

The idiom is literally from the Greek phrase Ti emoi kai soi. "What is to me and you?."

Christ very clearly says in this idiom, "Mind your own business."

What is amazing here is that Christ has just finished with the severe tests in the wilderness, and two of the three at least attempt to get Him to do the same thing that His mother is attempting here.

So Christ has to set the boundaries of His own authority with His mother. This is His affair, and not hers.

Christ uses a formal term for woman in the vocative case to gain the attention of His mother. gune. translates best as 'ma'am', or 'lady'. It can be a term of affection, and is almost always a term of respect, but it is formal, and it shows the objective way that Christ is addressing His mother. He is reproving her, after all.

Christ used this same term as He was dying on the cross. John 19:26 says, "Ma'am, behold your Son." There, it is definitely a term of respect and affection.

Christ then makes the issue clear: His hour has not yet come.

This hour does not refer to the hour of His kingdom ministry, for that ministry was most certainly in action even at that time.

The baptism of John was the official beginning of the kingdom ministry; from that time Christ had the filling ministry of the Spirit, and the spoken authority from God.

Christ has gathered the first of His disciples, who will be instrumental to His kingdom pronouncement.

The kingdom ministry was designed to introduce the millennial kingdom and its king to the people of Israel.

The kingdom ministry is not synonymous with the reign of the king. The reign of the king will include the full revelation and implementation of His Godly powers and character.

The hour when He can reveal and use His deity has not come, and He must make that clear to His own mother.

The hour of Christ's glorification can only come when He is accepted by the chosen nation, Israel. So far, that acceptance has not come.

Alva J. McClain has suggested six reasons for the Israelite rejection of Christ in his fine theological work, The Greatness of the Kingdom. They are just as valid today as they ever were.

The high spiritual requirements our Lord laid down as essential for entrance into the kingdom (Mk 1:15; Lk 18:1517; John 3:35).

His refusal to establish a kingdom merely social and political in character (Lk 12:1330; John 6:515).

His denunciation of the current religion with its traditionalism, legalism, and ritualism (Lk 11:3754).

His scathing arraignment of the ruling classes (Matt 23).

His association with and compassion for the outcasts of Israel (Matt 9:1013; Lk 15:1,2).

His exalted claims for Himself (John 5:1618; 10:2433; 18:37).

John 2:5. "His mother says to the servants, 'Do whatever this one says to you.'"

Now it appears that Christ's mother keeps steaming straight ahead in spite of the rebuke of her Son. But this is not the case.

She says, poisate the imperative second person plural of the verb poieo., 'to do'. This is a command, but the direct object of the command is ti an 'whatever'. The indefinite particle an leaves the command wide open to the authority of Jesus Christ.

The whatever can mean that Christ tells them nothing.

The whatever can mean that Christ will give money and tell them to head to the nearest liquor store.

Or the whatever can mean that Christ will rely on the Father and the Spirit to solve the problem.

Although the possibility exists for the presence of some contempt in this statement, it is much more likely that it is a straightforward statement of complete humility.

Mary takes the rebuke of her Son with great self esteem, and recovers in a matter of moments so that she is completely humble when it is her turn to speak next.

John 2:6. "Now there were six stone water jars according to the custom of the Jews for purification, each containing two or three metretai."

This verse is purely explanatory by nature. It sets the stage for the narrative to follow.

A metretai was about ten gallons. This gives us an idea of the great size of this wedding and just how much wine was being consumed. 20 or 30 gallons times six makes it 120 to 180 gallons of wine that Christ was going to make.

These stone water jars were there to hold water for dishwashing and handwashing. In other words, they were there for common, sanitary usage. The water, though sanitary and no doubt potable, was a grade below that which is drinking water.

It was the Jewish custom to wash hands and dishes both before and after meals. A large volume of water would be needed for such a task.

If Christ was going to turn all of this water into wine, it would provide enough for perhaps a hundred guests over the course of several days. Perhaps this wedding was still in its early stages, but it is more likely that the wine was intended to be too much; not to tempt everyone to over drink to a state of inebriation, but instead to symbolize the overflowing nature of the plan of God and the millennial kingdom.

David had said some thousand years before this event, "My cup runneth over." This is certainly evidence of that very thing.

Joel 2:24 contains a messianic and millennial prophecy that catches this same symbology, "And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil."

How appropriate that this first miracle should be so very millennial.

The wine offering of the feast of first-fruits represented the prosperity that would come from the appropriation of grace provision for spiritual life. The feast itself celebrated the law giving at Mt. Sinai.

John 2:7. "Jesus says to them, 'Fill the water pots with water.' And they filled them to the top."

Now Christ gives a direct command it is the imperative mood of the verb gemizo to fill.

The verb itself always takes the negative connotation 'Full of wickedness'; 'Full of smoke'. It is even used of the seven plague and the abominations of Revelation.

This negative connotation is related to the usual base purpose of the water jars.

The jars are to be full of dishwater, not pure, clear drinking water.

This dishwater is a good symbol for the world, and the Christian's involvement in it. You really do not want to partake of it, but it is used by God to make us clean such is the role of the undeserved suffering that is so often a part of living in the devil's world.

So Christ wrinkles His nose when he orders the servants to fill the jars with water. He is setting up a really striking contrast by using a verb of distaste.

The forthcoming miracle is really going to be a strong contrast and wonderful surprise.

John 2:8. "And He says to them, 'Draw it now and take [it] to the headwaiter.' And they took [it]."

This reveals that Christ knew beforehand just what had happened to the dishwater.

The previous verse shows Christ's premeditation; this one shows its execution.

Now Christ was doing this by the spiritual gift of miracles.

A spiritual gift is a part of the human spirit, the spiritual frame of reference in the soul.

A spiritual gift is given by the sovereignty God the Holy Spirit. It only operates under His initiative.

This passage tells us much about that gift.

That the one doing the miracle has full knowledge of the intent of the Spirit.

That the one doing the miracle participates fully in the execution of the miracle itself.

That it takes a lot of doctrine to appreciate what the Spirit is doing in the substance of the miracle.

That miracles contained great symbolism and drew their meaning from the substance of the miracle accomplished. They are thus a reflection of the order of God.

Christ could not have done this miracle on the initiative of His own deity; such would violate the principle of kenosis, and such a violation would invalidate the entire incarnation.

Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His own divine attributes during the incarnation.

John 2:9. "Now as the chief steward tasted the water which had become wine and had not known where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water had known) the chief steward loudly summoned the bridegroom."

This is a very convoluted verse that is an explanation that must explain itself.

John is revealing the miracle here, but he deems it appropriate to explain the reaction to it from the viewpoint of the chief wine steward. The scene is intended to be comic.

The chief steward is like a maitre d’hotel at a fancy restaurant. He knows all the protocol, all of the details concerning a wedding feast. The perfect timing, the perfect food, etc. The bridegroom would leave the details to this man so that he could concentrate on his bride. You can imagine that these men were quite stuffy, persnickety to the extreme, and very demanding. You can also imagine this man fretting as the wine ran out "What shall we do?" Yet here comes the servants with a 20 gallon stone jar full of wine. They are saved from disgrace! They need not hear the dreaded words... "You'll never work in this town again." But the steward has standards, and he must taste the wine. In this pinch anything but pure vinegar will do...

Now this chief steward 'tasted' the wine. This verb is geuomai, which fits well into the picture of winetasting. It means to savor, or relish something by taste. To really enjoy any experience.

John goes out of his way to make it clear that the steward did not know the source of the wine, although the servants did. It is the secret that the servants hold; you can see their hidden, silly smiles, and their mental giggling. The fretting, ruined chief steward is saved from certain social death, and he does not yet know.

Now the chief steward tastes the wine, and he immediately reverts to that unique form of snob degeneracy that only chief stewards and maitre d'hotels can express. His toupee' jumps into the air as he realizes the superb nature of this wine. Without delay he calls the bridegroom, and bugs the man who is to remain unbugged. He is so amazed with what he considers a blunder on the part of the bridegroom that he violates one of his own rules.

The verb phoneo is used to denote that the chief steward uses a loud call in order to summon. The verb is used of the trumpet blast, the rolling thunder, the voice of John the Baptist in the wilderness, the shout of the archangel at the second coming, and even the voice of God. This guy is not whispering.

He is calling to reprove the bridegroom because this great wine had remained hidden until now.

John 2:10. "Every man first puts forth the good wine and whenever they [the guests] have become drunk the inferior [younger]. You have kept the good wine until now."

The chief steward reveals a custom that makes a fair amount of sense. Serve the good wine first.

Drunk people cannot appreciate good wine. Their senses are dulled.

Drunk people cannot tell when inferior wine is served their palates are corrupt.

You can hear the stuffy way in which this man communicates. He is instructing the bridegroom with a very imperious tone of voice "Every man..."

Of course, the poor man has no way of knowing that this wine has only become so minutes ago. He makes a fool of himself before his knowing servants.

The Greek adjective elasso. is translated inferior. It really means younger, which translates well as inferior when a wine frame of reference is in view.

John 2:11. "This beginning of the signs Jesus did in Kana of Galilee and manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him."

The word arche. indicates that this is the very first miracle that Christ performed. It is translated beginning.

It is for this reason that we know that Christ the child never did miracles. It is also for this reason that we know that even as an adult Christ never did miracles until this time.

This is what tells us that Mary had no frame of reference for the spiritual gift of miracles: the same gift that Christ used to perform this one.

John appropriately calls this miracle a se.meio.n a sign. The miracles and healings that Christ performed were all designed as signs things which would point to His messiahship.

All of these things originate outside of Christ Himself due to the doctrine of kenosis.

This sign manifested His glory. It is an attestation of His messiahship. In none of these signs is Christ's full glory revealed; they only point to what is there.

Glory here is a reference to the character of God revealed in Christ. As such, these signs do not point to Christ's deity, but to the character of God revealed in His humanity. That is the primary focus of the signs.

The character of God was produced through the humanity of Christ by His appropriation of Divine grace in the ministry of the Spirit and the study of the Word.

The signs also point to Christ as the Messi