Luke 1:39-45; The theme of angels from Advent wk2 continues with the visitation of Gabriel to Mary in our Advent reading. Mary learns she is to conceive and will give birth to Messiah, which Jospeh already learned from an angel in a dream. Soon after, Mary packs up and heads south to visit relative Elizabeth, […]
Matthew 1:18-25; The abundance of OT prophesies pointed forward to the coming of God’s Messiah, but the 400 years of heavenly silence after Malachi only fanned the flames of Israel’s desire for a savior. The silence was abruptly broken by the arrival of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, foretelling the birth of their son John. […]
Micah 5:1-5; Yahweh-God commissioned chosen men to serve as messengers throughtout the Old Testament to reveal details about the coming of Immanuel. From Geneist 3 forward, the character and mission of Messiah was promised. Both Micah and Isaiah foretold a terrible siege of Jerusalem that would leave Israel a wasteland, due to their sinful disobedience. […]
Matthew 7:21-23; Following the warnings and rebuke that concluded Luke 9 to those wishing to follow Jesus, we shifted to the end of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount for parallel teaching. Jesus told the Twelve and huge crowd at the sermon, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven”. […]
Luke 9:51-62; The Galilean ministry of Jesus comes to a conclusion, as Christ and His disciples begin the final journey south to Jerusalem. Four incidents take place at the end of chapter 9 related to discipleship. First, a Samaritan village rejects Jesus because he is headed towards Jerusalem. James and John wish to call fire […]
Luke 9:43b-50; Following the healing of the demon-possessed boy by Jesus, Luke includes three issues among His disciples that reveal their failure to drive out the evil spirit. First, their preconceived framework of Messiah was hindering their understanding of the Lord’s teaching about His impedning death. Seconly, their prideful focus upon personal greatness was missing […]
Luke 9:37-42; Returning from the mountain where Christ was Transfigured, Jesus and the Three find a crowd awaiting. A man calls out of the mass of people, imploring Jesus to heal his demon possessed son. He informs that he begged the remaining Nine to drive out the evil spirit, but they had failed. Jesus was […]
Luke 9:28-36; About a week after Christ’s disclosure of His impending suffering, rejection, death and resurrection, He took the same three disciples, who were present at the raising of Jairu’s daughter, on a mountain to pray. During the prayer session, the appearance of Jesus changed and his clothing glowed as bright as lightening. Then Moses […]
Luke 9:21-27; Jesus used the profound confession of faith by Simon-Peter as a teachable moment for the OT reality of His messiahship. Rather than fulfilling the aspirations of Israel for a Messiah that would drive out the Romans and bring the nation back to former glory, Jesus related that He would suffer, be rejected, killed […]
Luke 9:18-20; Following the Feeding of the 5000, Jesus leads the Twelve north toward Mt. Hermon to finally get a time of rest. They are near the village of Caesarea Philippi, which was a center of pagan worship. After a time of prayer, Jesus asked His disciples who the crowds were saying He was. They […]