Its all about Jesus. He is the Supreme Example that we are to Emulate. I believe that God the Holy Spirit has directed me to make these next 20 articles about the life of Jesus. It would be wise of you all to study about Him again and again and again, we cant learn to much about God manifested in the flesh. Chapter 1 Jesus was Gods Word from the beginning of time. When he was born into the human race, his own people rejected him. John the Baptist declares him to be the light of the world (1:1-18). This is a difficult section to understand; if you find it confusing, move on to the next section. Before anything else existed, Jesus, the Word, already was. The Word was in fellowship with God; in fact, the Word was God. He was there from the very beginning. It was through him that God brought everything into existence. Not a single thing was created apart from him. He was the source of all life, and that life has provided light for the human race. The light keeps on shining in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to put it out. Onto the stage of history came a man whose name was John the Baptist. He was sent by God to tell people about the light so that they might come to believe through him. John himself was not that light, but the one who was to tell others about the light. Sunset over ancient Moab The real light, the one destined to enlighten everyone, was about to come into the world. When Jesus, the Word, did enter the world, the world failed to recognize him even though it had been created by him. The Word came to his own creation but his own people would not receive him. However, to as many as did receive him -- those who believe that he really is who he claims to be -- he gave the privilege of becoming sons and daughters of God. This birth was not by natural means, the result of a physical desire, or a fathers decision; it was a birth that came from God. The Word became a human being and lived among us. We gazed on his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, sent from the Father. John the Baptist told everyone about the Word. He exclaimed, This is the one I was talking about when I said, There is a man yet to come who is greater than I because he existed even before I was born. From his perfection we have all received one gracious gift after another. While it was through Moses that the law was given, it is through Jesus Christ that grace and truth have come. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who himself is God and dwells in the presence of the Father, he has told us about him. John the Baptist says that he himself is not the Messiah but has come to prepare the way for the Messiah. John recognizes Jesus as the Messiah by the descent of the Spirit as a dove (1:19-34). The religious authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John the Baptist in order to find out who he was. In answer to their question he admitted with all candor, I am not the Messiah. Then who are you? they asked. Are you Elijah? I am not, he answered. Are you by any chance the prophet we have been waiting for? No, he replied. Well then, who are you? Tell us, so we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? John responded by quoting Isaiah the prophet, I am the voice of one calling out in the desert, Prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Now some of those who had been sent to question John were Pharisees, so they asked, Why are you baptizing since you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet we have been waiting for? I baptize only with water, answered John. And although you do not recognize him, the one who is to come after me is right here among you. I am not worthy even to unloose the strap of his sandal. This exchange took place in the town of Bethany, east of the Jordan river where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. Look! he said, the Lamb of God, the one who will take away the sin of the world! He is the one of whom I said, There is a man yet to come who is greater than I because he existed even before I was born. I didnt know that he was the Coming One; but I have been baptizing with water so that God might reveal him to the people of Israel. Near headwaters of the Jordan River I saw the Spirit, said John, coming down from heaven like a dove and coming to rest on him. I would not have known him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said, The one on whom you will see the Spirit descending and coming to rest is the very one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I saw this myself and therefore declare that this man is the Son of God. The first disciples of Jesus (1:35-42). The next day as John the Baptist was standing there with two of us (we had become his followers), Jesus walked by. Look! exclaimed John, here comes the Lamb of God! When we heard him say that, we left John and began to follow Jesus. Jesus turned around and saw us following him. He asked, What is it that you want? Rabbi, we said (the word means Teacher), where are you staying? He said, Come along and you will see. So we went with him and saw where he was staying. Since it was about four in the afternoon, we stayed with him for the rest of the day. Galilee Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was the other one who had heard what John said and had gone with Jesus. The first thing he did was to find his brother Simon. We have found the Messiah! he told him (the word means Christ, that is, the anointed one). Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him intently and said, You are Simon, the son of John; you are to be called Cephas (the word means Peter). The next day Philip and Nathanael become disciples of Jesus (1:43-51). The following day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He met Philip and said to him, Come along with me. Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town where Andrew and Peter lived. Philip found Nathanael and told him, We have found the one that Moses wrote about in the Law, the one the prophets foretold. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph, and comes from the town of Nazareth. Nazareth! exclaimed Nathanael, Can anything good come from that place? Philip answered, Come and see for yourself. Jesus saw Nathanael approaching and said of him, Here comes a true Israelite! A man in whom there is no deceit! How do you know me? asked Nathaniel. Jesus answered, I saw you when you were sitting under the fig tree, before Philip spoke to you. Rabbi, exclaimed Nathaniel, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! Is it because I told you that I saw you sitting under the fig tree that you believe? asked Jesus. You will see greater things than that. Then Jesus said to him, The truth is that you will see heaven standing wide open and the angels of God coming down on the Son of Man, and going up from him. Chapter 2 Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee (2:1-12). Two days later, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding in the Galilean town of Cana. Jesus had been invited to the wedding and we were there as well. When the party ran out of wine, Jesus mother said to him, They dont have any more wine. I do not share your concern, said Jesus. My time has not yet come. So his mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you. Nearby were six stone water jars, each of which held some twenty to thirty gallons. The water was used for the Jewish custom of ceremonial cleansing. Jesus told the servants, Fill up those six jars with water. Ancient altar for worshiping other gods So they filled them to the brim. Now, said Jesus, dip some out and take it to the master of the feast. And so they did. The master of the feast did not know where the water that had turned into wine had come from (but of course the servants knew). He called the bridegroom aside and said to him, People normally serve their best wine first. Then when the guests have had a bit too much to drink, they bring out the less expensive wine. But you have saved the best until last. This miracle, performed in Cana of Galilee, was the first of Jesus miraculous signs. It revealed his divine nature and deepened our faith in him. After the wedding, Jesus went to the town of Capernaum for a few days with his mother and his brothers. We also went with them. Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem and drives out the money-changers. He teaches that if they tear down the temple (by which he means his body) he will rebuild it in three days (a reference to his resurrection) (2:13-22). Hills of Galilee It was almost time for the Jewish Festival of Passover, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There in the courts of the temple he saw people selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifice. Others were sitting at their tables exchanging money. So Jesus made a whip out of some pieces of cord and used it to drive them all out of the temple, along with their sheep and cattle. He overturned the tables of the money-changers, scattering their coins in every direction. To those who were selling doves he said, Get them out of here! How dare you turn my Fathers house into a marketplace! Then we remembered what was prophesied in Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this point the Jewish authorities demanded of Jesus, Show us some miraculous sign that will prove you have the authority to do this. Tear down this temple, said Jesus, and in three days I will build it up again. What! they exclaimed. This temple has been under construction for forty-six years. What makes you think you could restore it in three days? Of course the temple to which Jesus referred was his own body. Later, when Jesus had risen from the dead, we remembered that he had said this. We believed the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken. Modern Jew in ceremonial garb Jesus knows human nature and will not entrust himself to the enthusiasm of the crowd (2:23-25). When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Festival of Passover, many people saw the miraculous signs he was performing and became convinced that he was in fact the promised Messiah. But Jesus did not entrust himself to them, because he knew what people were like. He did not need any one to tell him about human nature because he fully understood what was in a persons heart.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:52:05 +0000
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