All language subtitles for Chuck Missler - Learn the Bible in 24 Hours - Session 15

["Pomp and Circumstance"]

We are in our 15 of learning the Bible 24 hours in which we're going to address the

gospels. Obviously we finished unit one in the Old Testament, we've had an introduction

into the New Testament, but now we're jumping right in and we're going to attempt in this

hour to summarize the gospels. That's in itself an ambitious task, but that's what we're

up to. So the question is we speak of the canon, that's from the Greek word meaning rule

or basis, the canon, the Bible, is it complete? The Old Testament ended with unexplained ceremonies,

all those sacrifices we went through. It also closes with unachieved purposes, the covenants

and so on. We have in the Old Testament unappeased longings, and of course we have unfulfilled

prophecies. So the Old Testament by itself, the Tanakh, as our Jewish friends would call

it, is incomplete in the sense that it leaves you dangling. It's incomplete, what completes

it? The New Testament. Jesus gave us the key in John 5 verse 39, he says, Jesus himself

said, search the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life, and they are

they which testify of me. Once you remember when you read the New Testament, when they

present Jesus Christ from the scriptures, which happened several times in there, the

scriptures, the term there, refers to the Old Testament, the New Testament's information

at that time. So one of the challenges I put forth to you is can you present Jesus Christ

to your Jewish friends using just the Old Testament. That's what they did all through

the New Testament. Think about it. There's an incident that occurs in Luke 24 where Jesus

greets them on the Amaz road. He gives them a seven mile Bible study. We'll talk about

that a little bit, but there's a university, he says, and beginning at Moses and all the

prophets, Jesus expounded unto them all this, in all the scriptures, the things concerning

himself. Notice that. Beginiate Moses, who wrote the Torah, Moses, it says so many times

all through the scriptures we reviewed. Beginiate Moses and all the prophets, he, Jesus, expounded

them in all the scriptures, the things concerning who, himself. And so that's what we're about.

Now in the Old Testament, there are hundreds of prophecies. I thought we'd go over each

one this evening. No, I'm kidding. Okay. Let's just make a quick glimpse at those Old Testament

prophecies that are quoted just in the gospels. That he used to be of David's family, that he'd

be born of a virgin, that he'd be born in Bethlehem, that he was so journeyed in Egypt, that he

would live in Galilee. In fact, in Nazareth, he would be announced by an Elijah-like herald

that would occasion the massacre of the Bethlehem's children that he would proclaim a jubilee to

the world. His mission would include the Gentiles. His ministry would be one of healing. He would

teach through parables. And there are lots of others, of course, too. These are the ones that are

directly quoted as fulfilled in the New Testament text. There's another list that he'll be, by the

way, he'll be disbelieved, rejected by the rulers. And then there's a whole bunch of just the last

week you make a triumphal entry in Jerusalem betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver,

like a smitten shepherd. He would be given vinegar and gall that would cast lots for his garments.

His side would be pierced. And not a bone would be broken. He would die among the malefactors,

his dying words were foretold. He would be buried by a rich man. He'd rise from the dead on the

third day, and the resurrection would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem. All these things

are mentioned in the Old Testament and expressly indicated as fulfilled in the New, and the references

are all there, they'll be in your notes. But so the New Testament consists, of course, just like

the Old Testament open, it has five historical books. Just like we have the Torah, the five books

of Moses, in the New Testament we have the four gospels and Luke, Luke volume two. Luke is in

two volumes, Luke and Acts, which is like Luke 1 and Luke 2, if you will, but five books. Then we

have the interpretation of those historical books. In 21 interpretive letters, the formal term

is a pistol, just a word for letters. Paul's epistles are 14 of them. If I count the book of

Hebrews, which I do, some scholars feel that Paul may not have written the book of Hebrews

because it's unsigned, but there's some reasons for it being unsigned. We'll deal with that when

we get there. But 14 I'll call Pauline epistles in seven. For lack of another word I'll call the

Hebrew Christian epistles, written by Jews, two Jews and so forth. Then of course the final book,

the apocalypse, the revelation of Jesus Christ. Notice that word is singular. It's not revelations

plural. Whenever I hear someone say that, I know they haven't been to any of our Bible studies.

It's singular and we'll obviously deal with that especially when we get there.

Okay. It's interesting that the Old Testament presents Jesus Christ in prophecy.

The gospels will present Jesus Christ in history as it actually happened. The book of Acts will

present Jesus Christ in the early church and the epistles will express Christ in the experience

and the apocalypse of course in his coming glory. So the Old Testament says in effect,

behold he comes. The gospel says, behold he dies and yet access behold he lives and the epistles say

behold he saves and of course behold he reigns. So that's a snapshot of what we're up against,

he shall glorify me. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus Christ. Taking another snapshot of the

New Testament another way, we've got the historical books, the four gospels and Acts. We have then

following that the epistles from Romans to Philemon and following those we have the Hebrew epistles

from Hebrews to Jude and then of course the prophetic books. And we're going to focus right now of

course on the gospels. We'll take these four gospels, we'll talk about each one what makes them

distinctive and then we'll try to summarize what they all say in a singular geographically based

profile and that will give you a quick exposure to it. One of the things that you want to be

sensitive to is the gospels are designed, they're designed in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. First

of all Matthew being a Jew presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

Mark presents Jesus Christ in his role as the suffering servant. Luke being a doctor he emphasizes

Jesus Christ as the Son of Man and John presents Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And what's interesting

once you recognize that you'll discover that every detail of the gospel support that mission

in some surprising ways. For example the genealogies Matthew being a Jew and presenting Jesus Christ

as the Messiah, the Mashiachnagi starts his genealogy at Abraham, Abraham called in a sense as the

first Jew if you will and he gives the legal line of Jesus' genealogy. Mark presenting a

servant, we don't worry about the pedigree of servants so he's the only one that does not have

a genealogy in it. Luke because he's presenting Jesus as the Son of Man, he starts the bloodline

from Adam and he takes it through and we'll examine that more closely here in a little bit.

John has a genealogy but most people don't recognize it. The first three verses of the gospel of John

are in a sense the genealogy of the pre-existent one, the God himself.

Now one of the things we talked about when we were in Jeremiah is the blood curse that was pronounced

on the royal line. By the time you get to Jeccaniah God has really had it with the line of kings

and Jeccaniah to him he said, does sayeth the Lord, write this man childless, a man that shall not

prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and

ruling anymore in Judah. Well not only was Jeccaniah the last of the kings before the Babylon

captivity but this is a blood curse, this is a curse on the royal line and I should point out

that Jeccaniah and Jehiah chin and K'Niah all names for the same guy but I always visualize

as I would just by way of review, I always visualize when I read this that there must have been a

celebration in the councils of Satan because from Satan's point of view it would seem that God

has defeated his own plan, shot himself in the foot as we might say because the Messiah was to

come from the line of David but here we have a blood curse on the line of David, how can that be?

And as you ponder that apparent enigma I always visualize God turning to the angels saying watch

this one, okay? So the genealogies, okay we have Matthew, takes his genealogy from Abraham,

Isaac, Jacob, Judah and so right on down through to David, straightforward enough. Luke being a

doctor and oriented to Christ's humanity, son of man, he starts his genealogy in effect from Adam

to Noah we reviewed when we went through Genesis 5 remember those 10 and from Noah on to Abraham

he fills it in with Shamar, all the rest of them anyway and so when Luke gets to Abraham down

through David obviously Luke and Matthew are identical if you examine them carefully but that

takes us to David. When you get to the house of David Matthew takes his genealogy through the

first surviving son of Bathsheba and down through Jiah chin down to Joseph. Now Jiah chin is where

the blood curses announced on the blood line of Jiah chin you come down through that blood line

you come to Joseph the legal father of Jesus Christ but he was not the blood father of Jesus

Christ therefore the curse that was pronounced in Jiah chin or Jiahachim did not does not descend

to Joseph. In contrast to that Luke does a different thing when he gets to David he takes a left

turn he doesn't go through Solomon he goes through a second surviving son of Bathsheba and Nathan

and down through ultimately to Helai the father of Mary and we could go through some of the details

in this there's a number of them that are blotted out because of third and fourth generation issues

and I won't go through all of the technicalities they'll be in the notes that accompany this but

the main point is what most people have not done their homework about the daughters of Zellaphoth

in the Tanakh in the Torah there's an exception on the rules of inheritance. Zellaph had had five

daughters no sons he went to Moses and asked for a special dispensation Moses went to prayer to the

Lord, Lord says give it to him so in Numbers 27 we have this recorded with that if he has no

sons and the daughters marry within the tribe they will inherit that's the basic idea here when

you get to the days of Joshua these five daughters come to Joshua and say hey check the record we

got an exception he says indeed they do so in Joshua 17 this is recorded and when this what most

people don't realize what this happened what happened when this occurred was that the father

of the bride adopted the husband as his own son and so the son-in-law became a legal son of the

father of the bride you follow me to make the inheritance that occurs in Ezra 2 and

Nehemiah 7 numbers 32 and other places and so what happens is what you discover is

all this anticipates the lineage of Jesus Christ this exception in the Torah anticipates

our Messiah see Joseph was in addition to being the son of his father he's also the son-in-law

of Helai Mary's father and that's so stated in Luke chapter 3 verse 23 many people don't notice

it because in the Greek the word is in nomitsu which means reckoned as by law in other words he's

son-in-law but that way the inheritance flows to Jesus Christ through Mary thus end-running if you

will the curse that was pronounced in jechandiah I mentioned this it's important in a messianic

sense but it also is a lesson to realize that every detail in the scripture old and New Testament

is there deliberately by design and as you discover that when you find what appears to be an

extraneous detail if you'll be diligent and dig into that you'll discover it's relevant it's

and it almost always will point of course the Jesus Christ so that's the virgin birth it was

hinted at in the Garden of Eden the seed of the woman in Genesis 3 15 we notice it was prophesied

in Isaiah in Isaiah 7 14 of virgin shall conceive in barrison and the end run on the blood curse

in jechandiah so there's three allusions if you will to support the virgin birth issue when you

get to John chapter 1 verse 1 the in the beginning was the word the word was with God the word was

God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him without him was not anything

made that was made and the word became flesh and dwelt among us tabernacle among us and we be

held as glory the glory is that only we got the Father full of grace and truth so we see that same

title the word that John uses the word of God as his title of Jesus Christ in the opening of it

all through his gospel but he also uses the book of Revelation in Revelation 19 we see I saw

heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat on him was called faithful and true and in

righteousness he doth judge and make war and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his

name is called the word of God that's a title of Jesus Christ one of the most interesting definitions

for truth is when the word and the deed become one and Jesus Christ's incarnation is a fulfillment

of all those Old Testament allusions to the the redeemer the Messiah the Savior that would come

well so we go that's one of the design of the gospels the the Matthew being presenting Jesus

Christ the Messiah emphasized the one Jesus said Matthew took shorthand we know that because he was a

tax collector it was a job requirement to have stenographic skills so he was able to write shorthand

and that that's one reason Matthew's gospel is the longest because he has the discourses written

down verbatim if you take the discourses out mark is longer than Matthew Matthew's a larger gospel

because the discourses are verbatim mark emphasizes his servanthood and so he emphasizes what Jesus

did now he's actually the secretary for Peter and Peter was an action guy Peter we all know we

all love Peter he was ready fire aim kind of guy you know and but the only time he took his foot

the only time he changed feet was it when he took his foot out of his mouth right anyway but that

was Peter in in the gospel after in acts on you see him filled by the Holy Spirit it's astonishing to

see the difference in articulation we see Peter in the gospel period he's clumsy he's always saying

the wrong thing at the wrong time from acts chapter two on filled by the Spirit you look at

his sermons acts chapter two this first sermon acts chapter three second sermon they are astonishingly

elegant well organized to the point you see the Spirit work well Luke of course emphasizing that

that his humanity emphasized when Jesus felt and and and John of course emphasizes who Jesus

really was you know the the remarkable film that Mel Gibson produced is a blessing in many many

ways but the one one of the things that it doesn't convey is who he really was the crucifixion of

Christ was not a tragedy it was an achievement but in any case we're greatly indebted to Mel for

that effort at the same time we should recognize that shortcoming we need to understand who it all

takes relevance as to who Jesus Christ is so Matthew what Jesus said mark what he did Luke what he felt

John who he really was Matthew's writing to the Jew mark to the Roman Luke to the Greek

John to the church different focus different emphasis the first miracle being a very Jewish

thing the lepers cleansed because to a Jew the leprosy was a emblem of sin both the Gentile emphasis

both Roman and Greek where demon was expelled in and mark and demon expelled in Luke these are

the first miracles John picks for his first miracle to record the water turning to wine a mystical

thing and emphasizing the deity of Christ in a different way altogether and the last thing

Matthew the Jewish gospel in the sense ends as a Jew would focus on the resurrection very

very focused on that mark emphasizes the ascension Luke emphasized the promise of the spirit and he

in a sense is setting up his sequel for Luke volume two the book of Acts the giving of the

spirit and the early church John closes with the promise of the return of Christ and that sets

up his sequel what's John's sequel the book of Revelation so you begin to recognize the evidence

of dying all through here now remember when we were numbers we talked about the camp of Israel

the east, west, south and north how they had different incense on the east was the Judah on west was

Ephraim and the south was Reuben and north was these were the camps each camp of three tribes and

the of Judah the emblem was the lion and on the east was the ox on the south was the man and the

north was the eagle if you recall and how interesting it is that these four faces are the four faces

of the cherry of him and it's it's they're also emblematic if you will of the four gospels

lion of the tribe of Judah the ox being the emblem of service their emphasis on mark man being the

son of man being Luke's emphasis and the eagle being emblematic at least of John so it's kind of

interesting and there's also a different style because Matthew focuses on the groupings

mark is like a snapshot it's like a shooting script and that was very characteristic of

Peter's style anyway and Luke is of course narrative very very well documented narrative

easily checked out and of course John is the mystical one as we'll notice as we get into the

details but there's some anticipative pre announcements that we should be sensitive to

in the upper room Jesus says to his disciples but the comforter which is the holy goes to him

the father shall send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your

remembrance whatsoever I've said to you here's a statement by Jesus Christ that in that anticipates

and authenticates what they did in advance through that the Holy Spirit will be the one doing this

and he will bring all things to their recall and so we believe that the four gospels or in fact the

whole New Testament was very supernaturally super intended in its detail something else that Jesus

says about the Holy Spirit is it says how be it when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide

you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself strange but whatsoever he shall hear

that shall he speak and he will show you things to come very interesting remark the Holy Spirit

will not speak of himself now you may recall as he went through the Old Testament we noticed

several times there was a type a typological anticipation in which the Holy Spirit was always

represented by an unnamed servant we saw that in the Genesis 24 when Eleazar is together a bride

for Isaac we saw that in the book of Ruth that an unnamed servant introduces Ruth to Boaz it's

interesting wherever we see the typological application the Holy Spirit's always unnamed even when we know

by redoing some research what his name was his name was Eleazar the servant there which means

comforter so it's interesting how consistent that is he doesn't speak of himself he's sort of almost

hiding in those illusions so we have the coming one sometimes called the second Adam he's a prophet

like Moses he's a priest like Melchizedek he's a champion like Joshua he's an offering like Isaac

he's a king like David he's a wise counselor like Solomon he's beloved then rejected then exalted

son like Joseph so we see the coming one anticipated even in a broad typological sense

in the main players in the Old Testament and that there are rhetorical devices like this that are

delivered by the Holy Spirit maybe when we were in Hosea this is all a little bit of review here

where God says through Hosea I have also spoken by the prophets I have multiplied visions and used

similitudes by the ministry of the prophets and indeed we've explored some of those allegories

analogies metaphors similes similitudes types there are over 200 different kinds of devices in the

Bible and we've cataloged all of those and given you references and examples in the appendix to our

book on the codes and so forth and so now there are types we looked at types the ark of the

covenants of type the sacrifice of the brazen altar the mercy seat in the sanctuary the water

from the rock the manner from the sky the brazen serpent lifted up we've talked about all of these

in the Old Testament types the Passover lamb is in a sense the ultimate one and the scapegoat these

are all types from the Old Testament there's metaphors the lion of the tribe of Judah is a metaphor the

good shepherd the lily of the valley the root out of a dry ground the fruitful branch he had no

form or come in us yet he's all together lovely it's on so we see these enigmatic allusions in

the metaphoric sense well moving on we also notice that there's a lot of healings on the Sabbath

the demonic and the capernaum peters mother-in-law's raised cast out demons on a sundae they're not

all done on shabbat the impotent man in Jerusalem the man with a withered hand the woman bowed

together man with dropsy band-born blind many of these are done on the ones that are recorded

probably done on many days but the ones on the Sabbath are recorded especially because that raises

of course these tensions between the leadership at that time and our Lord himself making the point

first of all that he's the Lord of the Sabbath himself in any case but also he points out that

the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath and that is one of the main themes it causes a

lot of tension but let's start focusing on the on the on the four gospels how they're specific the

gospel of Matthew of course emphasized that Jesus is the the lion of the tribe of Judah in the

introduction we have the genealogy the baptism of temptations and so forth then Matthew focuses on

primarily the Galilean ministry up north up in Nazareth and around the Sea of Galilean so forth

we'll find that it's a tenfold message there are ten miracles and ten rejections again this

tenfold governmental emphasis Matthew does pick up the climax of the ministry down in Judea

where he presents when Jesus presents himself as a king and of course we have the crucifixion

and the resurrection in the in the gospel Matthew ending in his 28 chapters to give you an overview

of this thing now it's useful to understand the interval between the testaments in about 63 BC

Pompeii conquers Judea the rise of the Roman Empire Herod Antipater is he's an edamite he's

appointed the king of Judea and I should mention something the edamites obviously as you may recall

from Obadiah and the rest were the traditional enemies of Israel Herod was not Jewish he was

an and not only was he not Jewish he was a he was ethnically linked to the the traditional

of Israel in 40 BC the Parthian Empire which is a rival to Rome to the east the vestige of

the old Persian Empire the Parthians conquered Judea and it's interesting that the Romans in 33

years later regained Judea Herod the great succeeds Herod Antipater and so in 31 BC six years later

of the battle of Echteum that's where Octavian defeats Mark Anthony and the Republic becomes a

empire he adopts the name Augustus Caesar and in 31 BC now this leads us to this issue of the Magi

you see you need to understand that Judea was a buffer province between Rome and the rival Parthians

to the east the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire in that region were rivals Rome grows later

to be much much larger but at this stage they are rival empires struggling over this buffer state

called Judea it's not even even though Herod was king he was in Rome he it was too dangerous to be

in Judea see the Magi now in the Parthian Empire were the hereditary priesthood that was responsible

for establishing the king one of the jobs the priest had was to pick the next king so the Magi

were not kings but they were very very par that's where we get the term magistrate they were a

combination religious and administrative role they're hereditary they were always meads in that in

that area or what we would call today Kurds when the Magi come to Jerusalem by this time it's

deemed safe enough that Herod is in Jerusalem but when the Magi show up it isn't three guys writing

candles as we now embody in our traditions there was a group of we always think there's three because

there were three gifts that show up but that that didn't mean there were three there might have been

more but more importantly they would be they would enjoy a military escort that's why the whole city

is in an uproar because the Magi have arrived they don't know why Herod is really nervous he doesn't

know that whether he didn't know whether or not they're there to precipitate some kind of an

incident between the Parthians in Rome and when they arrive there and he receives their the emissary

there the emissary says where is he that's born king of the Jews that's a put down Herod is not

Jewish he's appointed by Rome these people want to who's the one that's born to be king that shakes

Herod up there's a rival on the scene he has describes check they check Micah 5'2 and find

us supposed to be Bethlehem and they give thanks and they go over to Bethlehem to worship him he

shook up as soon as they're out of town he starts making preparation he has all the children Jewish

children two years old and younger slaughtered because he assumes that he's going to nail that

rival before it gets serious but the the whole picture of the Magi is not understood because most

people don't realize that was a cabal that was established we believe by Daniel when Daniel was

put in charge of the Magi five centuries earlier and when Daniel is put in charge a Jew is the

Persian Empire puts a Jew in charge of that hereditary priesthood you can imagine how that

went over they set up Daniel 6 the lions den thing that we all know about so but apparently

Daniel entrusted to a subgroup that he could trust a prophecy that they would know when the

Messiah was coming and people try to make the star that they're following something astronomical

no I don't believe so I believe it was supernatural that's why they were following it in fact it leads

them to where they're supposed to go and so people you see the planetarium shows try to guess you

you know what what star they were following that misses the point and so so anyway let's

move on here that now the in Matthew now we do have that record which is important at the Christmas

time and so forth but we have the Sermon on the Mount which gives moral standards and motives

critical critical discourse we also have this confidential discourse on the second coming of

Christ where four disciples come to Jesus for a private briefing and Matthew 24 and 25 recorded

that what they call it happened to occur on the Mount of Olives so we call it the Olivet Discourse

and then we have this fascinating series of parables in Matthew 13 where Jesus gives seven

parables that describe that which was not revealed in the Old Testament people miss that

and what was not revealed in the Old Testament Paul tells us in Ephesians 3 was the church and so

we have this strange kingdom parables in Matthew 13 we have the sower and the four soils the tears

and the wheat the mustard seed the woman in the leaven the treasure in the field the pearl of great

price and these these are and then the dragonit these are the seven kingdom parables and

why does Jesus speak in parables that the disciples came in that chapter but verses 10

11 he says that disciples came and said and number why speakest out of them in parables

he answered and said and because it is given to you to know the mysteries of kingdom heaven but

to them it is not given let's let's understand this most of us presume in many commentaries

encourage the idea that Jesus spoke in parables to make certain things clear they make it clear

to those that have the spirit they're actually designed so that only his own will understand

him their design these are given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom heaven but to them

it is not given because he goes on and he quotes from Isaiah actually for whosoever half the

hem shall be given and he shall have no more abundance but whosoever half not from hem shall be taken

away even that he half therefore I speak to them in parables because they seeing not they seeing

see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand and that's that's actually an echo of

what's in Isaiah chapter six and so on in other words the what happens at the end before Matthew 13

the last few verses of Matthew chapter 12 is where they confront him and they accuse him of doing

his miracles by Satan and that causes a shutdown a whole different style of ministry from that time

on from Matthew end of Matthew chapter 12 on Jesus only speaks publicly in terms of parables

because he's intending those truths to be constrained can confined to his disciples and he gives us

these interesting thirty seven parables in Matthew 13 the sower in the four souls the tears in the

wheat the mustard seed the womb and we want to in this brief survey we don't have time to develop

all these except to point out that they are internally consistent the idioms continue throughout to

be consistent what's interesting is when we get to the book of Revelation we have seven churches

seven letters and seven churches we're the same person Jesus Christ who gave the seven parables to

his disciples give dictates seven letters to seven churches and we'll discover when we

look at that in depth when we get to Revelation but we'll discover that they parallel these four

these the seven churches parallel the seven kingdom parables in detail

let's move on to the gospel of Mark Mark has known a tivity narrative or genealogy because he's

dealing with a servant servitude his is longer than Matthew if he excluded the discourses

it's a graphic perspective of an eyewitness there's names there's times there's numbers location

when he sits on the grass it's green grass and so forth it's all you'll discover if you're

that the details are there like a shooting script he is Peter's aman nuances or what we might call

as a secretary or a stographer and parent there's evidence that it was translated from the Aramaic

and so the gospel again it's the four there are four voices that announce there might there's

the mighty works the twelve are selected in the scent and then he focuses on the coming climax the

transfiguration the final week and so forth and then he has a finale of the resurrection and the

ascension in in his gospel gospel Luke again he was a doctor it's the most complete narrative

there are over 20 miracles six of which are unique to Luke's gospel there are 23 parables in Luke

18 of them unique to Luke so Luke is broader in scope in a sense than the others in in a sense

speaking he is an authenticated historian writer so William Ramsey a skeptic set out to discredit

Luke and did his research and was a stunned discover he was just astonished to discover that

Luke had done his homework and the details of Luke prove out to be confirmable in history and so he

Luke emerges very much vindicated and Ramsey becomes a believer he's a gentile he's a physician

and probably a slave as was common in those days and Luke is in a sense in two volumes

volume one is the gospel Luke one I'll call it and Luke two is what we call the book of acts

he apparently got sponsored by a very high official who's called here a theophilus that could be a

title it might be his name he obviously is the one that is as made it possible for Luke to accompany

Paul in the document at all there are scholars that believe and the support for this view that

the documents of Luke are the required documents to Caesar in an appeal when someone appealed to

Caesar as Paul did the law required that all the history precede him to Rome while the background

and that was an expensive thing to do in those days and Luke's doing it if you study Luke

carefully from that point of view it seems to be supportive you'll notice in Luke there's always

an emphasis when there's an uprising that was the Jews that stirred up the uprising you also

notice then in Luke the centurians are always good guys there's always if you if you profile

centurians as they show up in Luke they they are a great bunch of guys so he's the beloved physician

there is more mention of healing in Luke than in Matthew and Mark put together there are more

technical terms in Luke than in the writings of Hippocrates the famous Greek physician more

medical terms in Hippocrates the father was known as the father of medicine and included an

interesting leper obstetrical details of the nativity and he also probably was along with Paul to

treat Paul's eye problem Paul apparently had an ophthalmic malady of some kind and that may be

part of Luke's support and the service to Paul so you know it's interesting I love what

Harry Einstein said of of Luke he says the religion of Israel could produce only a Pharisee

the power of Rome could only produce a Caesar the philosophy of Greece could only produce an

Alexander who in a sense was an infinite heart it was to this Greek mind that Luke wrote

he presents Jesus Christ as the perfect man the universal man and the very person the Greeks were

looking for I think that's provocative very interesting very interesting it's astonishing to me to see

how many people publishing books on the in the public marketplace have no concept of who Jesus

Christ is they have no people who present themselves as experts in the Bible or whatever have no grasp

of who he is and this question of doing your homework Luke of course focus on the incarnation

there are two annunciations there are two elect mothers and there's two anticipated births

Luke also focuses on the Galilean ministries the teachings the miracles and the 12 being sent

he also focuses on a journey towards Jerusalem and he talks about the air being executed

presented writing a donkery the Passover, Gethsemane and Golgoth and so forth he focuses on the seven

crises of Christ his birth of course his baptism his temptation his transfiguration his crucifixion

his resurrection and his ascension this is the analysis by G Campbell Morgan and I think it's

very about seven major milestones in in the ministry of Christ the gospel of John

he has a prologue the word became flesh and dwelt among us and John talks about the public ministry

to the Jews the signs the declarations and the conflicts they talks about his private ministry

to his own people to his own disciples as John would he John was on the inside wasn't he the

the preachers the anticipations the departure the coming of the spirit and then he focused on the

tragedy and the triumph the apprehension the prosecution the crucifixion the burial and the

resurrection it's interesting to realize that virtually more than a half of the book is on the last week

of Christ's ministry John gives us a lot of that detail and there are eight miracles that make up

the gospel of John turning the water in the wine is the first one what a strange one and you really

won't understand that unless you understand what water was used it wasn't just some handy water that

happened to be in the household where this wedding was taking place it was a water purification

con is up in the north what they had for ritual purposes down in Jerusalem they used the ashes

of the red heifer to create water purification and that was then in the presence of the priests that

were in the various Levitical cities and wherever and so it was the water of purification that were

in these these jars that they used it also was not public the only people knew what was going on

were the disciples but he was demonstrating to the disciples by that miracle turning that water into

wine that he was the lord of the Torah lord of the the the bible lord of the that he was the lord

that would be very significant to a Jewish mind it wasn't just water in a wine it was that water

that he would presume to use he also healed the nobleman son the curating the Bethesda

uh paralytic he fed the five thousand then he walked on the water gave sight to the blind man

the raising of Lazarus and the drafter the fishes these are the main each one of these give rise

to an iam statement i'll come to this one of the key verses in the gospel of john now it's obviously

john has the most famous verse of all in chapter three forgot to love the world that he gave his

only begotten son who's ever believed and should not perish whatever less than life we

probably the most quoted verse in the entire bible it comes out of john but there's another

verse that i think is also a very key verse to understand that's john chapter one verse 11 and

12 he came unto his own but his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he the

power to become what the sons of god even to them that believe on his name when we were in

genesis chapter six we made a big point of the fact that the banaha hallohim phrase in the old

testament always refers to a direct creation of god and then the old testament is generally

it's used except in one place it's used of angels the other one that the only other thing it's a

direct creation of god is adam adam is a direct creation of god you and i are not were sons of

adam there's a difference and and less were born again see to them who received jesus christ

to them gave he the power to become a direct creation of god a son of god but that's the

regeneration of the holy spirit but that term is used very precisely that way so you and i are not

a sons of god and less were regenerated until then we're a son of adam adam was a son of god but he

blew it you and i are sons of adam unless we receive jesus christ in which there's a second

experience that's what jesus is going to deal with when he meets with nikademus and john chapter

three very key i key concept here how many did receive him so that's introduced in john he goes

on then to talk about eight eight people that receive him peter nathaniel and those guys will

occur before the end of that chapter nikademus emerges as a key player in chapter three

the woman uh at the well in chapter four psych r1 the man born by in chapter nine

mary and martha at bethany in chapter 11 the 11 apostles are dealt with in 13 and 14 mary magdalene

chapter 20 and then peter in chapter 21 so we find this this progression of the eight that did

restit in various ways under various circumstances each with its own lessons to be learned as you

investigate it uh did receive him now in retrospect see matthew presents the promised one he says

the promised one is here see his credentials matthew emphasizes credentials his genealogy

legally and and all of that marx says this is how he worked see his power mark emphasized the power

of jesus christ look this is what he was like see his nature his humanity how he felt he wept and so

for him john this is who he really was see his god ship these are the each one has its if you're

seeing jesus christ in quadrifonic if you will four different views four different emphasis

there's a confrontation and i get going through these trying to pick a few highlights each one

is a tough thing because of so many precious things but i i really have to include john chapter eight

because they're really at it there's a very very nasty exchange between the Pharisees and jesus

christ and they call him abastered that's not the way it's translated in the king james is we are

not sons of fornication see they're alluding the fact that marry was that he was a legitimate

the illusion and so he's i'll tell you a little bit about your background and he goes on it is an

incredible confrontation but he has your father abraham rejoiced to see my day he saw it and was

glad that shakes him up that said the jus on the head when the word when john used the word jus

he's alluding to the leadership of the jus not jus in general but he's speaking to the leadership

of speaking and that's been a subject of misunderstanding through the centuries

then said the jus on him thou art not yet 50 years old and hast thou seen abraham

jes said i love this very very nice and to you before abraham was i am now as a gentile we don't

pick up on that because we don't realize what he's saying they understood what he was saying he claimed

to be the voice in the burning bush in jesus four see whenever we have a chance of missing

something the Pharisees come to our rescue the expert they took up stones to cast at him why

because they understood he was claiming to be god he claimed to be the voice of the burning bush

they took up stones to cast at him but jesus hit himself went out of the temple and going through

the midst of them and so passed by what does that mean i have no idea somehow he just slipped through

and i think that's interesting but uh john aid you want i am that i am when moses asked god

who shall i say you know what who shall i say sent me i am that i am the yukhya kasher yukhya

phrase jesus lays claim to this is i am the bread of life i am the light of the world i am the door

of the sheep anyway it comes in but by me is a spief and a robber i am the good shepherd i am the

resurrection of life i am the way the truth and the life and i am the true vine now it's interesting

that uh each there there are a series of miracles each miracle gives rise to a discourse each

discourse includes an i am statement and you begin to realize that john's gospel is very very

intricately organized and it's worth worth understanding that the tabernacle furniture you may when we

went through that back in in the exodus each one refers to jesus christ whether brazin alter the

brazin labor the table of show bread the lamp stand the altar of incense the golden altar that is

the ark of the covenant mercy see and uh the the each speak of an aspect of jesus christ ministry the

atonement the brazin alter the regeneration of the labor the living bread the table of show bread the

light of the world from the lamp stand or the menorah that's there the altar of incense the

intercession that the incense is the prayers of the saints the ark of the covenant the covenant

access notice that the mercy seat is a separate element of furniture even though we look at it as

the lid of ark of governance a separate piece it's made differently that ark is made out of wood

covered with gold the mercy the solid hammered gold and that speaks of propitiation and as you

know from sarah materials there is a possibility that the mercy seat will be the very throne from

which christ rules in the millennium. of course let's talk a little about the chronology there's a lot

of confusion i was tied it tiberius was appointed in 14ad that's a matter of fact because Augustus

died in august 19th of 14ad we know that the ministry started in the 15th year of tiberius

now be careful with that that's year 14 it's during the following in other words the 15th year

it's not the 15th it's not 80 15 yet it's 80 14 plus some months you what you follow me

so it's in the 15th year and you know i had fun with one of our beloved staff members who's such

a loyal he's always travels with me and we were at a studio mind of america conference big 3000

thing and he was making the book table happened to be his birthday 50th birthday so i said to the

whole audience i want you if you get a chance we'll wish gordon a birthday he's entering his sixth

his sixth decade and gee must be 60 he doesn't need you they go up to him but gee you don't look

60 i'm not 60 i'm 50 so i was playing with a bad way but see if if if if i'm in my 71st year i'm 70

years old plus so understand the 15th year that that within the 15th year of tiberius means it's

18 so if it's the 14th year and he came to power in the 14th year that means the ministry began in

28 ad 14 plus 14 you with me not 29 28 and that means the fourth Passover which is when he was

crucified thus becomes april six the 32 ad and this is sir robert anderson's dating i mentioned

this up here because this is this is what we happen to believe it doesn't mean we're right

but i want you to know the basis we're using there are many good scholars that have different

approaches to the chronology that are defendable but many of them i tend to reject because many of

them try to justify a friday crucifixion and from three passages in the scripture it's clear to me

that it could not possibly have been on a friday and that causes me to dismiss some of these other

reckonings this one is in the scripture easily defended and it's also the one that uh sir robert

anderson has excellent background on so whether you agree or not at least you know where we're

coming from on a chronology you'll see why i want to get into this let's go to autumn of 28 ad

begins at nazareth and uh where he grew up as you as you realize and uh then he goes down to

behabara for where he gets baptized in the jordan where john the baptist is baptizing and uh from

there he goes up to the mount of temptation in uh and uh and back to uh back up to seline which is uh

up and then from there up to kana and uh that's when that was nathanial's hometown and that's where he

gets his first disciples john peter and andrew phillip and nathanial this is all in john chapter

this is all in the first chapter of john if you will that brings us to the spring of 29 ad the first

miracle the wedding at kana that's again up in the algalley area then he moves to kapurnum the village

of nahum actually and uh he sets that he apparently sets himself up there as a base of operation of

the galley ministry he will go down to jeruslem and purge the temple and that was one of several

incidentally and that's also where he has his visit to nikadimas and so forth down there he

tarrys for a while gets baptized then and uh then uh we have john the baptist last testimony

in john chapter three very early in the things and that brings to the winner of 29 ad from which we

go up to saikar the woman at the well occurs in in john four and uh then up to uh kana where uh

jesus heals the son of the the royal official there and they back down in jeruslem he there's a

healing at the pool of bathazda brings us to the spring of 30 ad in jeruslem that's where john the

baptist about this time is in prison and uh this also begins his public ministry in galley he goes

up to nazareth makes his formal announcement at the semagogue there quoting from isiah 61

verses one and two and they try to throw him off a cliff but don't succeed obviously and so he uses

the his mandate he declares it from isiah in matthew four and also recorded and looked for

he's driven out and uh they try to throw him off a cliff um he heads over to capernum calls for

disciples in in matthew four we have peters draft a fish there the healing of peters mother-in-law

valepyr and so forth that brings us to the summer of 30 ad at capernum where he heals a paralytic

and there we hear matthews call to service if you will and uh that where you remember they go

they pick the ears of corn on the Sabbath we have that whole confrontation in luke chapter six the

man with a withered hand in luke chapter six and his fame of course starts to spread throughout the

galley region and that's also about the time we believe it was the the sermon on the mount that's

also in luke six but also detailed for you in matthews chapter five six and seven and in which

jesus reinterprets in effect the ten commandments and others putting them to a much higher level

one of the heart not just one of actions and uh uh as a as a standard that is god standard

then we have the healing of centurion servant and so forth around we have around nane we have

the widow's son raised there we have john's question john vaptors is in prison he sends a

uh uh uh inquiry team to ask some questions you may recall he dyes at simons house and then

returns home that brings to the autumn of 30 ad and we're in capernum as his headquarters the blind

and dumb man are healed and that's where the accused him of doing this by bales above and that ends

that's when from that point on he speaks only in parables we have the seven kingdom parables i

alluded to and uh if you look at the galley area he's on his way from capernum across the sea to

gadera which is on the eastern shore and uh uh there's a storm en route there that is prominent

of course in matthew for that's where the demon diemaniac is healed very very important passage

because we learn a great deal about the spirit world from that encounter so he uh heads back

and we're not winner of 30 ad and capernum jiars' daughter and the woman with the issue of blood

both of these strange events occur there and the holy spirit links them together because jiars'

daughter who's raised from the dead is 12 years old the woman with the issue of blood has had that

issue for 12 years are they connected maybe not directly in one sense but clearly in the mind of

the holy spirit as we look at those two we see a very interesting thing jesus on the way to heal

a jewish daughter when the woman by faith uh is healed and it's it can be viewed as a model of

both israel and the and the church in in some interesting ways so i'll let you get into that

and see what you see there there's two blind men healed men dumb and possessed all this is going on

up there at nazir then people take offense in mark six the apostles are sent out in pairs in in

it's in matthew ten and and uh mark six it's about this time that john the baptist is executed

and that's a major milestone jesus comments on that and and then return to capernum that brings

you the spring of 31 ad at capernum we have a return of the 12 that were sent out and he then

retires to bessetta and they've just by the way discovered bessetta it's surprising because it's

very much inland see the see of the shore was much higher in those days so bessetta we know it's on

the shore but as i was sure on their days it's actually quite a ways from the shore today but

it is being excavated it's relatively new it's kind of interesting to to get into all of that

this is where he feeds the five thousand and returns to capernum jesus walks on water in this

area on the way back to capernum and uh we here we have the sermon of the bread of life and all of

that we're eating with unwashed hands and he comments on that and matthews in mark seven i

should say summer 31 ad in coming from per caraparina he actually takes a summer cottage

at tire many people don't realize that and that's all in in mark seven and uh then he uh he helps

the kennonite woman and uh then he's in gentile country again at the capillos and uh this is

where defendum man or he healed feeding a four thousand there then he ends to magdala and which

is a town on the west shore of of the sea of galley up near the north the northwest corner

and uh that that's an area where there's two tall mountains and a valley between that creates a

venturi effect and the source of many of these very violent storms on this relatively small

uh lake we we would call it a lake but here's where the Pharisees demand a sign they're always

demanding signs back at the best day we have 11 of the Pharisees and and the inquiries of Herod

and so forth but in autumn 31 ad we have a journey northwards to Caesar via filipi and we have the

famous declaration in matthew 16 and we talked about on this on this i'll build my church the

transfiguration many scholars have different estimates of what which was the mount the

transfiguration took place on it's my suspicion can't prove it but it's a suspicion that was

probably mount herman that's the highest mountain in the area but in any case uh it's right there

biases are a filipi in a sense it's just a look for the north but uh there's many many other

scholars have slightly different conjections on that there's where a possessed boy is encountered

and so forth back in capernum we have the tribute in any question the whole idea of finding the

coin in the fish and so forth many people misunderstand that parable by the way it's not

parable it's an incident that was a tax they were not required to pay they paid it anyway

they asked for a tax and just as it is for us or for strangers for strangers we're not strangers

but go pay it anyway find a coin and it's an interesting lesson about that but and also that's

the contest who is the greatest and so forth they that all occurs there up there then we had down

to jerusa we're getting we're heading for the get towards the climax now it goes down there to

celebrate the feast of tabernacles in the which is in john seven jesus the living water was his

point there as they were celebrating that that's where the woman was taken in adultery he deals

with that that's where he also announced that he's the light of the world in john chapter

john seven and he has rich material um then he turns back up north to the galley

the winter 31ad now the samaritans uh reject him and uh the uh he goes down to perria which is uh

on the east bank as we might call it and that's where he encountered the issue of the good samaritan

the unrighteous steward the rich man elazers all these parables the 70 are now sent out

so again this is luke and it's from the perrion ministry there we over then we pop back over

jersalim and he was the man born blind the good shepherd discourse which incidentally he in in

which he eludes to hanaka which are jewish friends celebrate at the time that many of us are celebrating

christmas the hanaka is an important feast like all the jewish feasts are important to understand

hanaka is the key to understanding daniel nine we've touched on that already he tarrys at bathabara

and uh that brings us to the spring of 32ad we're getting near the climax now he heads from bathabara

to betony and uh lazers raised from the dead they have a plot to kill jesus he moves to the village

of ephraim which is up north a little bit and then in root to perria he encounters ten lepers

uh he seals all ten but only one comes back to thanking me by that interesting thing in luke 17

and then we have the parable the persistent widow we have the Pharisees and the publican the rich

ruler thing in luke 18 and then the vineyard workers and the request of the mother of sons of jesus

like a jewish mother she wants her sons to be as right and left hand he tries he straightens her

out on that but then he's at jesus then he goes from prayer to jerikol that's important there he

is blind Bartemus and then he has a zakias in the tree the young guy and the pair of the ten

talents etc now an incident occurs here i want to just highlight from jerikol

a the the six days before passover he goes from jerikol to betony that's more than a sabbath day's

journey so six days before passover could not have been a shabbat which means that passover

that year could not be on a friday it's one of three reasons but it's pointed that out to you

this is one of the reasons that we we hold with those scholars who believe it was either wednesday

or thursday we think wednesday for a number of reasons but it's it clearly it was not friday

that's a church tradition by so be born of some misunderstandings so that's a quick snapshot

we'll leave the final week for the next session to get into detail

but the final week we call the agony of love six hours in eternity in those six hours are far more

that happened that could happen in six hours but we'll deal with that in our next session

so