2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 288

Oct15

  Day 288—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 288 – Mark 4 – 5 (Parables, storm calmed, healings)

These chapters in Mark review what we have already read but with his own slant. The first is the parable of the Sower and Seeds. Then, when Jesus was alone with His disciples, He explained the meaning. “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables.”

(When someone persists in unbelief, giving them more “light” only increases their guilt.) Nothing is hidden or secret to the one who genuinely desires to understand. “Pay attention to what you hear;  with the measure you use (to hear/understand), it will be measured to you, and still more will be added. 

When the Word is scattered around, like seeds on the ground, it sprouts and grows.  We don’t know how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, the ear, and then the full grain.  1 Peter 1:23 calls the Word of God that enters a person’s heart “the imperishable seed.” God gives life to seeds and the Word in a person, bringing them to full fruit. It’s a mystery, but Praise God.

After teaching the crowds and His disciples about the “imperishable” seed all day, evening came. Jesus decided to leave the crowd, get into a boat, and cross to the other side of Galilee.  While out on the water, a great windstorm arose, and the waves broke INTO the boat, and it began to fill with water.

Jesus was sleeping in the back of the boat. Panicked, they shook him awake, saying, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are perishing?” Jesus awoke, rebuked the wind, and told the sea to “be still.”  And, of course, the creation immediately obeyed its Creator.  Jesus then looked at His amazed disciples and smiled at them. As if to little children, he asked them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  The disciples stared at him, mouths agape with fear.  WHO IS THIS, that even the wind and sea obey Him?

,

On the other side, Jesus delivers the man with 2,000 demons, sending the evil creatures into pigs. The man who formerly roamed the graveyard and broke any chain that bound him is now sane and asks to follow Jesus.  Jesus, instead, tells him to go back into his town and become a witness of his salvation.

Back on the west side of the sea, Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood and raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead. 

 

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 286 and 287

Oct14

    Day 286 and 287—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

NOTE:  Both Sunday and Monday studies are posted on MONDAY.

    Day 286 – Luke 11 (Prayer, short teachings, woes)

Luke gives a shorter version of the “Lord’s Prayer.” He had been praying, and His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.

Worship God! Align yourself with His kingdom. Ask for your needs. Confess and ask for forgiveness as you practice forgiveness to others. Ask for His protection from temptation.

Jesus illustrates persistence in prayer with a story. A friend asked a neighbor for food for a surprise visitor in the middle of the night. The neighbor was in bed, but because the friend kept asking and didn’t go away, the neighbor got up and got it for him.  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. If you give your kids good gifts, how much more will YOUR heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.”

Again, they accuse Him of delivering a man from demons by the power of the devil. He reminds them of the uselessness of that.  He briefly illustrates this with a story of a strong man guarding his house, but a stronger man overcomes him.  He warns them that when a false exorcist drives out unclean spirits, more will return to the person. It takes the Holy Spirit’s power to truly free the person.

“Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts which nursed you!” cries a woman. “No, rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it,” Jesus replies.

Jesus reminds them of Jonah and Nineveh again, condemning them for always seeing a sign. They had been given enough information to believe and repent, but they would not. Nineveh will judge and condemn them, for THEY repented with much less truth preached to them.

Then Jesus lashes out at the religious leaders with a series of “woes” or curses.  He says they are fools to keep themselves outwardly clean when their hearts are full of greed and wickedness.

WOE to Pharisees tithing herbs but neglecting justice and love for God.

WOE because they LOVE the best positions and the admiration of others.  They are like graves that people walk over and don’t realize.

WOE to the Lawyers (Scribes) for loading the people with burdens they don’t carry. They build memorial tombs for the prophets and in doing so, agree with their ancestors in KILLING these men.  The blood of all the prophets (from righteous Abel to Zechariah), shed until this day, is charged against this generation.

WOE to the Lawyers (Scribes) who have taken away the key to knowledge, hindering others from entering, and not entering themselves.

“And as He went away, the Scribes and Pharisees began to press Him hard and provoke Him to speak about many things, lying in wait for Him, to catch Him in something He might say.”

.

    Day 287. – Matthew 13, Luke 8 (parables, their purposes & explanations, healings)

In these chapters, Jesus tells several parables and says “why” He is not talking plainly to the people now. He explains two parables to His disciples so they can get an idea of how they work so they will understand the rest.

Luke tells us that there were also women who followed Jesus besides the twelve disciples. These are mentioned: Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Herod’s household manager (I wonder how she heard Jesus and first believed in Him.); Susanna, and many others. These women provided for Jesus and the disciples (who had left their jobs to follow Him) out of their own means.  

Great crowds were gathering around Jesus, and he taught them.  At first, He sat down by the sea to teach them, but they pressed closer, so He had to get into a boat and push out a little way into the water, the whole crowd standing on the beach to hear Him.

He told them many parables, such as the one about a farmer sowing seeds. The seeds fell in four places; along the path where the birds came and ate them, on rocky ground where they had no root and quickly withered, among thorns which grew up and choked them out, and finally on good soil where they grew and produced lots of grain.

Later, the disciples asked Jesus why He was now teaching the people in parables, whereas before (as in the Sermon on the Mount), He had taught them plainly. Jesus responded with a hard-to-understand answer. 

“To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. For, to one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what little he has will be taken away. THIS is why I speak to them in parables. It’s because seeing they do not SEE, and hearing they do not HEAR, nor do they understand.”  

Jesus said this fulfilled the Isaiah 6:9-10 prophecy where Isaiah volunteered to go and tell the Message God had for His people but was reminded that they would not listen.  “Blessed are YOUR eyes,” Jesus said to the disciples, “for they see, and YOUR ears, for they hear,” Then he told them the meaning of the Four Soils parable.

The SEED is the word of the kingdom sown among the people. The birds represent the devil who comes and immediately takes away the message.  The people (seed) on rocky ground develop no roots in the Gospel. When tribulation or persecution comes, they fall away.  Seeds that fall among thorns are people who gladly hear the message, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of the world choke that joy and the message, and they prove unfruitful.  BUT THE SEED THAT LANDS ON GOOD SOIL is the one who hears the word, understands it, and is fruitful. 

Jesus then tells the parable of the Weeds sowed among Good Seed by an enemy of the Kingdom.  The master says to let the weeds grow because, if they are pulled up too soon, it will damage the good plants.  So, at harvest, both are gathered.  The good seed goes into the barn. The weeds are burned. 

Again, the disciples ask Jesus to explain this parable.  “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the children of the Kingdom; and the weeds are the children of the evil one.  The enemy is the devil.  Both are left to grow until harvest when the angels reap. They will pull out all causes of sin and law-breaking and throw them into the fire.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun.”

Jesus tells parables about finding precious things like treasure and a giant pearl. The one who finds them gives up all they have to possess them.  

The Parable of the Net tells the story of a fishing net that represents the Kingdom. It is thrown into the sea and gathers all kinds of fish. On shore, the fishermen sort the fish, throwing away the rotten fish and keeping the good.  “So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.”

Jesus asked His disciples if they understood all those things. They said, “Yes.” Jesus then tells them His new teaching was to be understood in light of the old truths, and vice versa.

He also tells them, “No one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, no is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.  Take care then HOW you hear.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 285

Oct12

    Day 285—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 285 – Matthew 11 (Jesus’ message to the Baptist, unrepentant cities, Jesus’ yoke)

John the Baptist has been put in prison by Herod for his constant rebuke of him for stealing his brother’s wife. (Herod enjoys the occasional talk with the Baptist, but John will soon be beheaded at the instigation of Herod’s wife.)

Meanwhile, he wonders if Jesus is the Messiah he had announced to the world. Where was the overthrow of the Roman government and the restoration of Israel? John sends his disciples with the question. And Jesus answers him with both words and actions.

John’s disciples witness a flurry of healings of all kinds by Jesus.  Then Jesus says, “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”  Jesus knows John will recognize the passage about the coming Messiah from Isaiah 35:5-6.

After John’s disciples leave, Jesus tells the crowds, “Among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. (John had seen with his own eyes what the OT prophets prophesied about and longed to see.) Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Any believer after the cross has seen the fulfillment of the atoning work of Christ.)

Jesus then proclaims WOES on the cities He mainly ministered in and to because they did not repent. It would be better for Sodom and Tyre (completely destroyed) on the Day of Judgment than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. 

Jesus then thanks His Father for the “little ones” who have believed, knowing that God had given them the understanding and revelation through His gracious will.  “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus offers the gracious invitation to those around Him. “Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

 

 

 

   

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 284

Oct11

    Day 284—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 284 – Matthew 9, Luke 7 (Jesus heals many and raises the dead)

Matthew 9.  Matthews covers some incidents that we’ve read in the other Gospels. First, the paralytic man brought to him by friends. Nothing is said about their letting him down through the roof, but Jesus’ response was the same when He saw their faith.  “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” 

This, of course, angered the religious leaders who said that Jesus was a blasphemer, for only God can forgive sins.  Jesus knew what they were thinking, turned to the man, and healed him. Jesus, as God, had authority over sin and sickness (and death too).

The following two incidents have also been covered. Jairus, the synagogue ruler, comes to Jesus about his deathly ill daughter, and Jesus agrees to go to her. But He’s intercepted by the woman with the issue of blood (who is healed). By then, Jairus’ daughter has died, and the situation seems hopeless. But Jesus goes in and raises the newly dead girl to life, joy, and… some food.

Jesus then meets and heals two blind men who call to Him, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”  “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Jesus asked them. When they affirmed it, Jesus said, “According to your faith, let be it done,” and their blindness was gone. 

A man with a demon who caused him to be mute was delivered and restored. The crowds marveled at Jesus’ authority over evil spirits. (The Pharisees said He cast out demons by the power of the Prince of Demons,” which doesn’t make sense.) 

Jesus saw the multitude as a field ready for harvest. He had compassion on them because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”  

.

Luke 7. This chapter also covers an incident we’ve read before about the Centurion with a sick servant. He doesn’t ask Jesus to come to heal the man, but only to “say the word and he will be healed.”  Jesus does and marvels at this Gentile’s faith.

Next is an incident we haven’t read before.  Jesus went to the small town of Nain. His disciples and a great crowd of people went with Him.  As THIS CROWD neared the gate of a city, ANOTHER CROWD was coming out.  It was the funeral procession for a young man, a son of a widow, who had died.  Jesus knew she was a widow and now completely alone with no prospects of a living. He had compassion on her, comforted her, then touched the casket (a big no-no, which would have made Jesus “unclean.”)  Except the boy came back to life, so the uncleanness of a dead body no longer applied. The young man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus handed him down to his mother. 

Fear seized the combined crowds, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

NOTE: Jesus has now raised a newly dead girl and a young man in a casket on the way to his burial. Soon, He will raise a man (Lazarus) who has been dead and buried for three days.  Indeed, God has visited His people. Immanuel.

These verses tell of a time before John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod and still in prison.  He hadn’t heard of Jesus claiming to be the Messiah who would deliver Israel from the Romans and set up a new kingdom.  He wonders about Jesus.  So he sends a few of his disciples (who still bring him food in prison) to ask Him, “Are YOU the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?

Instead of instantly replying, Jesus begins healing many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits. Even the blind see.  Then Jesus tells John’s disciples, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.  Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

How will these actions and words help John’s doubt?  Jesus knows that John is a prophet and that in those years in the desert growing up, he constantly studied the Scriptures.  John will instantly recognize Isaiah 35:5-6 and 61:1 as verses prophesying precisely what Jesus just did and relating them to Israel’s promised Messiah. He’ll be encouraged. 

As John’s disciples leave, Jesus turns to the crowd. “What did you expect to see when you went out to be baptized by John, a reed shaken by the wind?  A man in soft clothing living in luxury?  No, you went out to see a prophet, and yes, John was MORE than a prophet.  As it’s written, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.” Malachi 3;1.  

Then Jesus continued praising the life and ministry of John. “Among those born of women, NONE is greater than John. Yet the person who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Later, another Pharisee asked Jesus to have dinner with him. Jesus went to his house and took a place at his table.  Then, a woman of ill repute came in, bringing an alabaster flask of ointment. She stayed behind Jesus at his feet, weeping. She wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

The Pharisee smirked and said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known this woman touching Him was a prostitute.”

Of course, Jesus heard his thoughts loud and clear and told him a “parable.” There were two debtors, one owing 500 denarii and the other owing but 50. The moneylender forgave both their debts. 

“Which one do you suppose loved the moneylender more?” Jesus asked.

“Well, I suppose the one who owed the most.”

“You supposed correctly,” Jesus said.  “This woman has washed and anointed my feet – you did not offer a slave to wash them.  She hasn’t ceased to kiss my feet – you didn’t welcome me with the customary kiss of greeting.   HER sins, which are many, have been forgiven, so she loves much.  The one (YOU) who is forgiven little loves little. 

Jesus turned to the worshiping woman and said, “Daughter, your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

The Pharisee and the others at the table grumbled.  “Who is this who even forgives sin???”

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 283

Oct10

    Day 283—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 283 – Matthew 5 – 7 (beatitudes, salt & light, wrong attitudes, Lord’s prayer, treasures, fruit, house on sand/rock)

Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” is full of practical teachings on the Christian life, especially humility, love, and holiness.

“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when He sat down, his disciples came to him, and he taught them.”

This almost sounds as if Jesus went away from the crowds to a place where He could teach his disciples. But most commentators say Jesus is teaching a large group spread out on a hillside.  Either way, His words are directed to ALL those who want to follow Him.  (Compare to Luke’s account in 6:17-49)

The first section, the Beatitudes, combines humble attitudes with rewards, and they seem to go in a progressive list.  Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, are meek, and hunger for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers, and those persecuted for Jesus’ sake. The rewards are mountainous compared to the attitudes. They will receive the kingdom of heaven, comfort, the earth, satisfaction, and mercy. They will see God, be called His “sons,” and receive the kingdom.

Next, Jesus tells how His followers are to be “salt” (to make unbelievers thirsty for salvation) and “light,” both to the world (set on a hill) and their own families (a table lamp), pointing to God’s salvation through Jesus, the Light of the World.

Jesus also speaks of the Law, which the Jews revered.  He’s come to fulfill it, not abolish it. But God requires a greater righteousness than keeping Moses’ law. Only through Christ can one be made perfect in God’s sight.

Then Jesus teaches on sensitive topics like anger, lust, divorce, taking oaths, retaliation, donations, and praying.  These are all heart matters and not things that show on the outside. God sees the heart and rewards accordingly.

After this, Jesus gives a formula for praying to their Heavenly Father. Their prayer should begin with worship and acknowledgment of their Father’s perfect will and way, then include petitions for daily needs, confession of sin with the assurance of forgiveness, and end with an earnest desire not to yield to sin and temptation.

Jesus then teaches more about forgiving others, fasting in God’s way, storing treasure in heaven and not on earth, dealing with anxiety, and not judging other people but instead examining the “fruit” they manifest in their lives.  The heart attitudes Jesus taught earlier are considered a person’s “fruit,” but also is their obedience to the Father’s will.  It’s possible to miss out on the Kingdom by professing but not possessing, Christ.

The “Golden Rule” states the correct heart attitude, but the way is narrow and hard.  Walking the “wide path” of tolerance, selfishness, and pride is easy, but the end is destruction.   Jesus tells a profound parable about building your life on sand (temporal things of earth) or a rock (lasting faith in Jesus). The storms of life and the end times will cause you to either stand firm or fall and be washed away.

“When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, not as their scribes.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 282

Oct9

    Day 282—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 282 – Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 6 (Man with a withered hand, blasphemy, crowds, mom & brothers)

Several of the incidents and teachings of Jesus are in all three of these passages today. 

Matthew, Mark, and Lukeall tell about a man with a withered hand whom Jesus encounters in the synagogue. The conversation begins with the Jewish leaders’ strict rules (not the law) about how to keep the Sabbath.  They say healing someone is breaking the law. Jesus says mercy rules and that it IS lawful to do good on the seventh day. (Their priests do good and work every sabbath when they offer sacrifices.)

“Stretch out your hand,” He tells the man, and his hand is restored. Fury burns in the Pharisees’ hearts, and they discuss what they can do to Jesus.  Jesus is grieved by their hardness of heart. Because of this, He withdraws from there. Crowds follow Him, and he ministers to them ALL. 

Matthew quotes Isaiah 42:1-4 about Jesus’s ministry.  “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench until He brings justice to victory; and in His name, the Gentiles will hope.”

,

Matthew and Mark tell us about the next incident and teachings.  Jesus heals a man who is blind and mute because of a demon. The healing amazes the crowd. “Can this be the Messiah?”   But the Pharisees say that Jesus is possessed by a demon and only heals by the power of Beelzebub (the devil).  Jesus must have chuckled at that. “If Satan casts out Satan, then he is divided against himself.” Then He corrects them.  “But it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, and the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Then Jesus levels a grave accusation at them. “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, EXCEPT the blasphemy against the Spirit. It will NOT be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven…. in this age or the age to come.“

Do you want to know the truth about someone? Look at their fruit. “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the HEART, the mouth speaks.”   “I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for EVERY careless word they speak, for by your words, you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned.”

“We wish to see a sign from you,” said the Pharisees. (In other words, PROVE IT!)

Jesus answers them with Old Testament scripture. “You evil and adulterous generation.  The only sign you’ll be given is that of the prophet Jonah. As he was three days and nights in the belly of a fish, the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the heart of the earth.” (Speaking of his death, burial, and resurrection).   “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for THEY repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold….. someone greater than Jonah is here.”

Meanwhile, Jesus’ mother and siblings are concerned about Him. They hear about his ministry to the crowds and confrontations with the Jewish leaders. He is so involved that he doesn’t have time to eat. (Of course, a Mom would worry about this.) “He is out of his mind,” they say.

They stand at the edge of the crowd and call to him.  Some notice and tell Jesus, “Your mom and your brothers are seeking you.”

But Jesus gestures to those around Him, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”  Jesus was not “trashing” his family but emphasizing the importance and eternality of a spiritual relationship with Him.

(NOTE:  Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 mention the names of Jesus’ four earthly half-brothers and the fact that He also has sisters.)

.

Luke 6 also begins Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.”  But we’ll read that tomorrow with Matthew 5 – 7.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 281

Oct8

    Day 281—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 281 – John 5 (healing the lame man, authority, what bears witness)

Jesus is again in Jerusalem at Feast time. By the pool of Bethesda, many invalids languish, waiting for the water to move (currents or some believed an angel). The first in the pool when this happened got healed.  

One man had been waiting there 38 years because he had no one to help him, and with paralyzed legs, he couldn’t get to the water before others.  WHAT A TERRIBLY SAD PLACE THIS MUST BE – FULL OF DASHED HOPES. But Jesus came by, saw him, and knew all about him.

“Do you want to be healed? He asked.  What a question. Of course, he wanted to be healed, didn’t he? But…maybe not. Maybe there was just enough alms to keep him going. With working legs, he would need to go to work, hold a job, and be responsible. No more free money and pity.

“I have no one to put me in the pool when the waters stir.”  (Is that the same as “Yes, I want to be healed”? Or was it a whine that nothing was HIS fault.)

(Remember, Jesus KNEW all about him.)  “Get up. Pick up your bed.  Walk,” Jesus commanded. And he did.

And the religious leaders were mad! It was the Sabbath. Carrying a mat was “work,” so the man broke the 5th commandment. Passing the buck, the previously lame man said, “The man who healed me told me to.” They asked him who that man was, but the fellow did not know Jesus, and the Lord had withdrawn into the crowd before he could ask. 

Later, in the temple, Jesus found the man. “See. You are WELL. Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” (Unlike the man who had been blind through no fault of his own or his parents, it seems that maybe sin was involved in this man’s affliction.)  Immediately, the man went to the Jewish leaders and told them Jesus had healed him.  (Tattle-tale?)

Jesus refuted their restrictive man-made Sabbath/work traditions as NOT what God had instituted.  God had given His people REST, while the ultra-strict Pharisees had chained them to tiny rules that even THEY couldn’t keep. “Hey, My Father is working until now…and so am I,” said Jesus in their face. 

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. 

Jesus told them His words weren’t the only evidence that the Father and He were one. He asked them to remember 1) the witness of John the Baptist, whom they questioned thoroughly.  He asked him to look at 2) the “works” or miracles He was doing.  They also validated that He was one with the Father.  3) God Himself had validated Jesus at his baptism. And finally, 4) the scriptures they said THEY knew so well testified about Him. Jesus had MORE than the two or three witnesses that the Law required to establish a truth. 

“And yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”  

(NOTE:  What a sad statement. Their hardened hearts refused to be humbled, to acknowledge that Jesus was their anointed Messiah, and to believe in Him for their salvation.

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, days 279 and 280

Oct7

    Day 279 and 280—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

NOTE:  Both Sunday and Monday studies are posted on MONDAY.

    Day 279 – John 2 – 4 (a wedding, Nicodemus, Samaritan woman)

John doesn’t always put his gospel of Jesus in chronological order. Jesus had done many miracle healings until this point. John, instead, says the water-to-wine miracle was the FIRST of eight significant spiritual “signs” that pointed to Jesus as God.

John 2 begins with a wedding in Cana, and John 4 ends with His healing an official’s dying son in Cana.

John 2 starts with a new Jewish couple getting married, and John 4 is about a Samaritan woman who has been married five times.

In between, in John 3, Jesus talks to a Jewish teacher privately at night about being born again as the only way to receive eternal life. During the day, John the Baptist preaches a magnificent sermon to crowds, saying whoever believes in Jesus, God’s Son, has eternal life. (See John 3:27-36, wonderful!)

John 2.  Jesus and his disciples go to the wedding, probably a family member, since Mary seems to be a hostess. They run out of wine (thirsty guests or poor planning), and Mary tells this to her Son. His answer is confusing.  “What does this have to do with Me?  My hour has not come.“

The “hour” Jesus mentions refers to the very reason and focus of why He had come – His death and resurrection.  Prophets like Jeremiah 31:12, Hosea 14:7, and Amos 9:13-14 spoke of a time in the Messianic kingdom when wine would flow freely.  Jesus knew that the cross must first come before the blessings of the millennial age. Perhaps he was reminding his mother of this (?)

Next is Passover, and Jesus is in Jerusalem.  He is angered at how the temple is desecrated by animals, buying & selling, loud noise, and greed.  He makes a whip and drives the sellers and animals out, overturning their tables of carefully stacked coins.  “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 

(This reminded me of Nehemiah who discovered merchants buying/selling in the city on the Sabbath. He also drove them all out and locked the gates!)   Of course, the religious leaders, who saw their money-making schemes go down the drain, accosted Jesus angrily.

John 3. Later that night, when Jesus was alone, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus secretly. Perhaps he was going to ask Jesus about what happened at the Temple earlier, for he said,

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher, come from God, for no one can do these signs you do unless God is with Him…”

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.“ Jesus interrupts.

(I can imagine Nico’s face. “Huh?”)  He responds to Jesus, perhaps annoyed, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter back into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus responds. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” 

“But…but, how can these things be?” Nico answers.

“Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”  Jesus explains more, then speaks that beloved verse, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus explains that everyone who does NOT believe in Him is already condemned. The judgment is that Light came into the world, but people loved darkness more because their deeds were evil. They hate the Light because they know their wicked deeds will be exposed.

We don’t see or hear what Nico did with that. I know he will have lots to ponder in his heart.  I know also that by the time Jesus died, Nicodemus was a believer.

John 4. On the way back from Jerusalem to Galilee, Jesus and His men paused at Jacob’s well (Genesis 33:19 and 48:22) in Samaria, where a hard-looking woman was drawing water in the heat of the day (not morning when most women came). Jesus sent his disciples into town to buy food, leaving Himself ALONE with a woman and a Samaritan.

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus asked politely but pointedly.

“How is it that YOU, a Jew, ask for a drink from ME, a woman of Samaria? I thought you had no dealings with us.”

“If you knew who I was, you would have asked ME to give YOU a drink, and I would have given you Living Water.”

“You don’t have a bucket to draw water,” she said maybe disgusted.  “Where are you going to get that ‘Living Water?’ Are you greater than our father, Jacob?”

I’m sure Jesus looked her right in the eyes, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the Water that I will give him will NEVER thirst again.  Instead, it will become like a spring of water welling up to ETERNAL LIFE.”

“SIR, give me this water…… so I don’t have to come to this well again.”

Jesus tells her to go and bring her husband, knowing that she has had FIVE husbands and that the man she lives with now is NOT her husband. (Perhaps she was barren, and no man wanted to keep her if she couldn’t bear him offspring.)  She exclaims that He must be a prophet and starts to get sidetracked. Jesus brings her back with how true worshippers will worship the true God “in spirit and truth.

Then — amazingly so — Jesus tells this unloved woman that HE is the Messiah, the Christ.”

Just then, the disciples return with food, and she runs off. But now she has a message and will soon bring the whole town back to see and hear “the Man who knew everything about me.”

Jesus tells the disciples that THIS is the food He desires, and to look at the fields of souls. So many are ripe for harvest. The people all come and listen to them. He stays two days, then they make their way back to Cana.

There, an official comes to Jesus, begging Him to heal his deathly ill son.  Jesus tells him to go home because his son will live.  The man believes, and eventually, his whole household believes because of the miracle.   John says this is the second “sign” that Jesus did in Galilee.

.

    Day 280. – Matthew 8, Mark 2 (healing ministry, confrontations with leaders)

Jesus heals many diseases and conditions.

8:1-4.  “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” said a leprous man kneeling before Jesus.

“I will. Be clean.”  And immediately, his leprosy was cleansed.

8:5-13.  “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home,” said a Centurion in Capernaum.

“I will come and heal him,  said the generous Jesus.

“Only say the word, and he will be healed, for I am a man in authority over others too.”

“I have not found such faith with any in Israel! Go. Let it be done for you as you believed,” said Jesus.

8:14-17. Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever, but when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left, and she got up and began serving him.  Later MANY sick were brought to him – some oppressed by demons. He healed all the sick and cast out the demons.  To account for this, Matthew pointed to Isaiah 53:4-5 “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

8:20-34.  Across the Sea of Galilee, in Gentile territory where villagers raised a great herd of swine, Jesus and his men met more demon-oppressed men living among the tombs. Immediately, the evil spirits recognized Jesus. “Have you come to torment us before the time, O Son of God?  If you cast us out, we beg You, cast us into the herd of pigs.” 

Jesus sent the unclean spirits into the unclean swine, and they promptly ran down the hill, off the cliff, and perished in the sea…thousands of them.  The villagers were scared to death and angry at Jesus. “Please leave,” they begged Him.  (Mark’s account of this incident mentions only one of the possessed men and how his life had changed. He wanted to become a disciple, but Jesus told him to go into town and witness to others what had happened to him. 

Mark 2 retells the story of the paralytic man who was let down through a roof to see Jesus because of the crowds and how the Lord healed him because of his FRIEND’s faith. Jesus also forgave him his sins, which infuriated the Pharisees who were watching.

Those Pharisees also admonished Jesus because He and his disciples were plucking heads of grain and eating them as they walked along a field. (Perfectly legal according to Mosaic law – Deut. 23:24-25.) The religious leaders’ “beef” was because it was the Sabbath, and their actions constituted “work” according to their “traditions.” (Seriously?)

Jesus reminded them of a time when David, the future king of Israel, had requested and received the Showbread loaves from the Tabernacle’s Holy Place for himself and his men to eat. The High Priest gave it to them. (1 Samuel 22:19-20)

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

 

 

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 278

Oct5

    Day 278—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels. 

    Day 278 – Matthew 4, Luke 4 – 5 (Jesus tempted, calls disciples, great crowds healed)

Matthew 4 and Luke 4 tell what happens immediately after Jesus is baptized and God expresses His pleasure in His Son. The Holy Spirit leads the Son of God into the wilderness for a 40-day fast… to be tempted by the devil.  WHY? We might ask.  

When John baptized Jesus, He identified with us sinners, only without sin.  And where and how did mankind first sin? In a beautiful garden where their every need was met when they were tempted by the devil in three distinct ways.

(These temptations are listed in 1 John 2:16, and Satan uses these three temptations on all of us often. They are: 1) the lust of the flesh (a desire to indulge self), 2) the lust of the eyes (a desire to acquire something), and 3) the pride of life (a desire to impress others.) See if you can see all three in Genesis 3:6.

And so Jesus also encountered these temptations by Satan as well, but in a harsh environment when he was hungry and physically weak. 

Luke 4.  1) “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”  (Satisfy your physical hunger, indulge yourself.) 

Jesus resisted by using Scripture. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.” (Deut. 8:3)

2)  “If you will worship me, I will give you ALL THE WORLD’S KINGDOMS.” (Satisfy your desire to acquire power and glory.)

Again, Jesus resisted by speaking God’s Word. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”  (Deut. 6:13)

3)  “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this pinnacle of the temple, for you know angels will bear you up lest you strike your foot on a stone.” (Satisfy your pride by proving you are “special” to God.)

Here also, Jesus replied with Holy scripture: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deut. 6:16)

After the Devil’s three-fold temptation (Jesus the clear winner), he left the Son of God “until an opportune time.”  As Jesus nears the time of His crucifixion, Satan will intensify these temptations for Jesus to choose a different path than the one “set before Him” for our salvation (and the devil’s own head-crushing). 

.

Luke 4. Leaner and tested, Jesus “returns in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” to begin His ministry.  He goes into his hometown synagogue in Nazareth.  As any Jewish man could do, Jesus stood up to read. That day, it was the scroll of Isaiah.

He read Isaiah 61:1-2.  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus then rolled up the scroll and sat down.  All eyes were upon him, expecting Him to teach from the passage. Instead, he shocked them by saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

WHAT! WAS THIS JESUS, JOSEPH’S SON, CLAIMING TO BE THE MESSIAH???   Yep.

They told Him to “do some miracle” as He’d done in Capernaum to prove his claim. But Jesus said He couldn’t because of their unbelief.  Then they got furious and actually rose up, drove Him out of town, and tried to throw Him off a cliff.  WHAT??? 

But Jesus, the Son of God, their unrecognized Messiah, simply walked through the crowd…unnoticed. 

After that, Jesus moved from Nazareth to live in Capernaum (possibly at Peter’s house).

.

Luke 5 and Matthew 4 tell of Jesus beginning His ministry by choosing His disciples.  Walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea and said, “Follow me,” and they did.  Next, Jesus spotted James and John in a boat with their father and called them.  They also immediately left everything to follow Him. (Remember, these men had earlier met Jesus and been convinced He was the Messiah.)

Luke gives more detail, telling how Jesus got into Peter’s boat and pushed out a little way so he could teach the crowds who were flocking to him.  Later, when Jesus showed the fishermen a huge swarm of fish to catch, Peter fell down at Jesus’s knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  Jesus answered him, “Don’t be afraid; from now on, you will be catching MEN.”

Then, Jesus went on a massive teaching and healing campaign in Galilee, cleansing lepers, delivering those oppressed by demons, healing diseases and disabilities of all kinds (one time even telling a paralytic that his SINS WERE FORGIVEN, which freaked the religious leaders who said only GOD could do that.  Well…yeah.)

.

Probably to the shock of the four young fishermen following him, Jesus also called a hated TAX COLLECTOR to join them, and Levi (or Matthew) eagerly left his tax booth to follow Jesus.  Later, Levi held a big feast for his tax collector friends and introduced them to Jesus.  Of course, this incensed the religious leaders. How can he be a Rabbi and eat with such despicable people???

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call “the righteous” but sinners to repentance,” was Jesus’ response.

Then they raise the question about “fasting often,” complaining that Jesus’ disciples don’t do it.  

No, of course not.  The wedding guests don’t fast while the bridegroom is with them. One day, He’ll be gone, and then they will.  Then Jesus gives them a parable about NEW WINE put in OLD WINESKINS.

.

Tomorrow’s reading will find Jesus at an actual wedding and dealing with a shortage of wine.

 

 

 

 

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 277

Oct4

    Day 277—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 277 – Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3 (John the Baptist, Jesus baptized, early ministry, Luke’s genealogy)

In all three Gospel accounts, we see more details about John the Baptist. Luke 3 sets the political scene, with Tiberius as Caesar, Pontius Pilate as governor, Herod as tetrarch (king) of Galilee, and high priests Annas and Caiaphas.  Most of these will play a role in the life of Jesus.

Luke connects John with the priest Zechariah and tells how John spent his years in the wilderness. When the time is right, John arrives in Judea at the Jordan River, calling people to repent and be baptized.  Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-4, who wrote that someone (John) would be a “voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord….for all flesh will see the salvation of God. ”   

We also see a bit of the fiery preaching by John, calling the religious leaders to task, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned YOU to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”  Unlike the leaders, the crowds of people cried out, “What should we do?”   John preaches love, service, honesty, compassion, kindness, and contentment, all compatible with a repentant heart.  With many other exhortations, he preached the good news to the people. 

.

Mark 1 begins by titling his work as ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’  He also refers to the Isaiah passage about the Baptist, stating that when John began baptizing, “all the country of Judea and Jerusalem came out to him and were baptized, confessing their sins.  He also describes John, saying he was “clothed with camel’s hair, wore a leather belt, and ate locusts (carob seed pods) and wild honey. 

John claimed that he only baptized with water, but One, who was coming, was mightier than him and would baptize them with fire and the Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 12)

.

Matthew 3 also shows John as Isaiah’s “voice,” wearing rough clothes and eating raw. He tells about many coming to him to be baptized, including the Pharisees and Sadducees, whom he called a “brood of vipers,” and warned that if they didn’t repent, only the axe and unquenchable fire awaited them.

All three gospels tell of John baptizing Jesus, but Matthew’s has the most detail. 

Jesus came from Galilee to the place in Judea by the Jordan river to BE BAPTISED. John was not thrilled with this saying that Jesus should be BAPTIZING HIM. 

“Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” said Jesus.

(Jesus was identifying with us sinners, though He had NO SIN in Himself. He came to be our substitute sacrifice when, on the cross, the wrath of God was poured out against sin, and the sentence of death was applied.  Jesus was the perfect, spotless Lamb and substitute for us, paying the price and “fulfilling all righteousness” in God’s sight.)

So John immersed Jesus in the Jordan water, and when Jesus came up, “the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him.”  Both He and John heard the voice of God saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

.

Luke 3 closes this chapter with the genealogy of Jesus, tracing His lineage back through David’s son Nathan (not Solomon) to Judah, Abraham, Noah, Seth, Adam… to God, HIMSELF (with whom Jesus existed in eternity past.).