Tag Archive | Gospels

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 276

Oct3

  Day 276—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 276 – Matthew 2 (Visit of the wise men, Herod, Egypt to Nazareth)

Matthew 2.  A COUPLE YEARS after Jesus was born, the family is still living in Bethlehem but in a house now. 

Herod the Great (the cruel and psycho king who was an Idumean and descended from Esau) ruled in Israel. He was so paranoid about losing his power that he killed a couple of his sons and even a favorite wife.  It was to this king that the wise men from the east came and asked about the newborn KING OF THE JEWS.  (Oops!)  He freaked out (and all of Jerusalem with him because they knew when the king was upset, THEY would suffer.) 

The wise men (see Daniel 5:11 for a description) had traveled possibly 1K miles to Jerusalem after seeing “His star.” It had taken them nearly two years. Now they needed to know WHERE this new King lived. You better believe Herod wanted to know where He lived too and not to worship him, as the wise men desired.  Herod asked the Jewish scribes, who instantly knew the prophecy of Micah 5:2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  He called the wise men back and asked exactly when the star appeared, then sent them off with the request to be notified when they found him.

However, the wise men didn’t need Herod’s directions because when they left the court, the star appeared again, leading them right to the house where Jesus lived. There, they worshiped Him. Can you imagine the neighbors’ thoughts when a caravan of camels and funny-dressed rice men parked at Joseph’s house? Can you imagine Mary when these finely robed men came inside, bowed low before her toddler son, and offered those jewel-encrusted boxes of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  They must have stayed at least one night because God warned them in a dream to go home a different way – avoiding Jerusalem and King Herod.

What was that star anyway? Some have suggested it was a comet, a unique line-up of planets, or even a supernova (star exploding).  But perhaps it was a supernatural reality similar to the Shekinah glory of God that led the Israelites through the wilderness after they left Mt. Sinai. 

What were those gifts the wise men gave?  Symbolically, the Gold represented Jesus as King. Frankincense pointed to His Deity as God.  Myrrh,  a perfume used to wrap in burial cloths, suggested Jesus would be the supreme Sacrifice for sin.  And, of course, they all could have been used as funds for traveling to Egypt and living there for a time.  God warned Joseph to flee there after the wise men left because King Herod was looking to murder the boy, Jesus.

When Herod realized the wise men were not returning, he was furious. He ordered all the baby boys two years old and younger in and around Bethlehem to be killed. NO ONE would threaten HIS THRONE!  His soldiers obeyed the command and murdered them all.  What a horror! 

Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15, “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted because they are no more.”  This mourning for the children killed in Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian invasion and captivity was an echo of the current disaster caused by the insane Herod.  (Also, Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, died in childbirth and was buried near Bethlehem.)

Joseph obeyed his angelic dream, took Jesus and his mother, and set out for Egypt the following day. They stayed there until an angel told Joseph that Herod was dead.   They traveled back to Judea (where Bethlehem & Jerusalem were located), but the angel again warned Joseph not to stay there.  Herod’s three sons now ruled Israel, and the most wicked one, Archelaus, reigned in Judea.  Instead, Joseph took his family north into Galilee (where Herod Antipas ruled) and settled in Mary’s former town of Nazareth. 

How were the O.T. prophets’ prophecies fulfilled in that Jesus grew up in Nazareth? What did it mean that he was called a “Nazarene?” This possibly was because Nazareth was an “other side of the tracks” town. Everyone looked down on it as undesirable, even detestable.  Remember, even Nathanial asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46)  The prophets wrote that the Messiah would be “despised, abhorred, and rejected by men” (Isaiah 49:7, Isaiah 53:3) like someone from Nazareth. A Nazarene.

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 275

Oct2

    Day 275—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 275 – Matthew 1, Luke 2 (Genealogy of Jesus, birth of Jesus, Jesus at the Temple as a baby and a boy)

Matthew 1. Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus begins with Abraham. It descends, following the kingly line of David down to Jesus’ stepfather, Joseph, showing that Jesus rightfully is in the line to reign as King, as God promised David. (Luke 3 shows the ascending line of Jesus from Mary to Adam and God)

Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus also includes women and gentiles. (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba).  (Be sure to read through this list. We’ve just finished the Old Testament reading, and you will recognize many names.)

In Luke’s gospel, we read how the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and give birth to “the Son of God,” whom she should name Jesus. 

Here, we see her betrothed, Joseph, learning of her pregnancy and deciding to “divorce” her privately. (He definitely was NOT the baby’s natural father.)  But the angel comes to him in a dream, explaining Mary’s Holy Spirit conception, the Son she will bear and call Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins.” The baby will also be known as “Immanuel,” God with us.  (The angel refers to Isaiah 7:14, 8:8 & 10)

Joseph awoke from the dream and “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but ‘knew her not’ until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

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Luke 2. This passage is very familiar to believers. Some might even be able to recite it.  Christmas: the birth of Jesus.

It begins with the Roman Caesar Augustus needing more money and sending out a decree to all the constituents of his world to “register” in the towns of their birth so he could extract taxes from each of them. 

Joseph – a descendant of David, born in Bethlehem – started out for that town with his very pregnant wife.  They barely made it when she went into labor and gave birth to her firstborn son. He was wrapped and laid in a feed box in the stable because the inn had no vacant rooms. (Crowded with people coming to register.)

Meanwhile, out in the hills surrounding Bethlehem, a group of special shepherds watched over their flock of special sheep. (Special because these were the sheep used for sacrifices in the temple.)  All was quiet when suddenly a bright angel appeared to them, and the brilliant light of the glory of the Lord shone all around them.  Cringing from the light of God, they trembled.

(It’s interesting that the SHEEP did not panic and flee. Did they understand that “the Lamb of God” who would one day be “sacrificed” in Jerusalem, like them, had been born that night?)

The bright angel announced the GOSPEL (good news) OF JOY, which was for all people.  A Savior, Messiah, the Lord, had been born that night in a nearby stable. They would know Him because He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying IN A FEEDBOX. 

Then the Angel of the Lord was surrounded by a multitude (myriads) of angels, singing praise to God,  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”

Then silence and darkness came, and the shepherds sat/lay dumbfounded. Finally one said, “Let’s go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.”  And they did.  And like the angel said, they found Mary and Joseph in a stable and a baby lying in a feedbox.  They told the couple about the angels, and everyone was amazed.  (Mary bloomed joyfully and hid these things in her heart for later.)  The shepherds returned to their sheep,  glorifying and praising God, having seen the Lamb of God which would one day take away the sin of their world.

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FORTY DAYS LATER, when it came time for the ritual of cleansing for Mary after giving birth, and the dedication of the firstborn son, they went to the temple.  As those in poverty, the couple offered two birds (Leviticus 12:8), and then paid the coin required by law to “redeem back” their baby, according to the Mosaic law. (Exodus 13:2, 12-15)

Then, two old people came to bless the baby boy and his parents. Simeon, righteous and devout and waiting for the Messiah, approached them with his face alight with gratitude to God.  He took Jesus in his arms, saying he could now die peacefully because he had seen God’s salvation. “My eyes have seen Your Salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people, Israel.”

He blessed Mary and Joseph and warned Mary that a “sword would pierce through her soul” because of Him.  Then, the second elder, Anna, a prophetess, came to them.  She also gave thanks to God for seeing the savior.  She began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

This must have “wowed” Mary and Joseph and added more thoughts to Mary’s heart to ponder. 

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TWELVE YEARS LATER (after a visit from some wise men, a trip to Egypt (recalled by Matthew), and the return to Nazareth), Jesus, having grown and become strong, filled with wisdom, and having God’s favor on him, went with Mary and Joseph (and possibly some younger siblings) to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.  (Was this also His Bar Mitzvah?)

After the ceremonies, as the family returned to Nazareth, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Mary did not miss him until they were three days out.  Then she panicked, searching among the relatives and traveling companions and not finding him.  They decided they had to return to the City to look for him.  Sure enough, Jesus was in the temple, sitting among the rabbis, listening to them and asking questions.  Those teachers were totally amazed at His understanding and answers.

“Son! Why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress!”  cried his mother.

Jesus answered them politely but truthfully, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know I must be in MY FATHER’S house?”

Whoa. (More for Mary to think about.)

But Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where He INCREASED in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and man.