Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- John 1, Mt 1-2, Lk 1-2
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's good to see you today. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. ⁓ this is our journey through scripture, and we are making a a big jump today. We are moving from the Old Testament to New Testament. So today we're going to be looking at ⁓ the first part of John chapter one and then Matthew one and two and Luke one and two. ⁓ so I encourage you to to read those. And this is ⁓ very interesting as we talk about kind of what happened ⁓ at the end of where we were ⁓ talking about in Daniel. ⁓ the prophecies, things like that. ⁓ they're talking about this time of four hundred years of silence. You know that ⁓ the the people are ⁓ under the control ⁓ they were under control during that time of Alexander ⁓ of the Greeks. ⁓ and then when Alexander died you had the Syrians and Egyptians, the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. ⁓ they kind of each had control at different times of Jerusalem. There was lots of conflict there. ⁓ eventually Rome ⁓ kind of b begins to exert ⁓ her force in the area. you you also have it was ⁓ in the one forties ⁓ one one sixties BC you have the revolts of the Maccabees. ⁓ this is ⁓ gives the ⁓ Jerusalem a semi independence for a little while ⁓ for about a hundred years. ⁓ they still there was ⁓ there was lots going on and lots of of challenges, ⁓ but they did find a level of independence. and ⁓ then you have ⁓ Rome eventually comes in during in sixty three BC. and that is when King Herod is installed, ⁓ basically, or ⁓ a little bit after that, but King Herod is installed by Rome. So now Rome is ruling over Israel. ⁓ King Herod is ⁓ kind of Jewish, but most of the Jews don't like him because he's not fully Jewish. They have issues there. ⁓ it goes back to the the exile. ⁓ they did not l like King Herod. And then King Herod is is actually about three different people, right? There's King Herod and then his two sons that are all referred to as King Herod. ⁓ so the King Herod that's at Jesus' birth is not the same King Herod at Jesus' death, but it is the same family, it's the same line. but all of them very brutal, not not good kings in any way. And and again, they says they were king, but they really weren't. They were under Caesar. This would have been Caesar Augustus at this time. and so you you have a lot of political stuff going on. ⁓ there's the tension between the Sadducees and the Pharisees within the religious ⁓ priesthood. ⁓ so that is the the place where Jesus is born, the of what's going on ⁓ with Jesus' birth. ⁓ it's a very tumultuous time and tensions are rising. ⁓ Rome just wants to keep everything calm. but there are those who are wanting to to get rid of Roman rule, right? The the people wanted ⁓ to be their own country again. ⁓ that would impact their understanding of the Messiah and and Jesus would be misunderstood and as as when he proclaims to be the Messiah. so that leads us to the Gospels. ⁓ we'll look at John, Matthew, and Luke today. ⁓ all the gospels, ⁓ they are not biographies, ⁓ they are theological ⁓ pieces of of literature that tell us a whole lot about Jesus' life, but they're really there for a purpose to tell us about ⁓ about his message, ⁓ more than just a biography of his life. ⁓ they are ⁓ are certainly ⁓ trying to ⁓ convince us and to convince their audience when they were initially writ ⁓ written and to assure them that Jesus is the Messiah, ⁓ that that he is who he said he was. And so as we start off, we'll start off looking at ⁓ John ⁓ chapter one, ⁓ all the way through verse eighteen. And ⁓ and I love John is is definitely ⁓ different, ⁓ while the other gospels they're called the synoptic gospels, ⁓ John kind of is is more wordy, he ⁓ tells longer narratives, ⁓ where the the other gospels kind of give short snippets of Jesus' teachings. ⁓ so John is is a little bit different, but his goal is for you to believe, to believe in who Jesus is. John three sixteen, right? ⁓ it's the that is his goal is to have you believe in who Jesus is and the the that he is the Messiah ⁓ and that salvation comes through him. So you you look at John chapter one, I love John chapter one. ⁓ it talks about in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. So ⁓ immediately he's saying this this man Jesus, he is he is God. He was with God at the beginning. They are one in the same. ⁓ right it and it says in him was life. That life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. The darkness cannot overcome it or cannot comprehend it. ⁓ so here ⁓ Jesus is bringing a new light into the world ⁓ that pushes back the darkness. continues that Jesus is the true light, that this ⁓ man came from ⁓ witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness to that light, talking about John the ⁓ John the Baptist. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. Again, this emphasis of those who believe, those who believe in who Jesus is. John the Baptist was proclaiming he was paving that way. Then you have in verse fourteen, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, right? This is this this honestly is the biggest contention ⁓ between ⁓ Judaism ⁓ today and Christianity is was Jesus the Messiah? And ⁓ the most Jews would say that there is no way that God could could have flesh, right? That that He is separate from that and that that it He would not in He would not literally become one of us. There's a lot of theological differences there and conversations that you could have. But what John is saying so that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So again, John's birth narrative, if you will, is a theological one of who is this Jesus? Why should we believe in him? ⁓ and connecting him as the Messiah, Son of God, who was with God from the beginning, that this is God in the flesh, ⁓ that God was doing something unique. He wasn't just calling a prophet. He was actually entering into the world. Then you go into to Luke. ⁓ Luke kind of has a a start. He's ⁓ he's writing it's kind of either a pseudonym, he's writing to Theopolis ⁓ the that name Theophilus means lover of God, so it may not have been a individual, it may have been a group of people, it may have been kind of we're grouped into that. But ⁓ Luke is is writing to assure him ⁓ of the things that he has heard and that they are correct. ⁓ verse three, it seemed good to ⁓ to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from very first, to write to you an orderly account, most most excellent Theophilus. That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. So this is a person who's heard this, but Luke is giving a a more instructive ⁓ view and understanding of who Jesus is and what ⁓ what he stands for. The rest of Luke chapter one, ⁓ you you're probably familiar with. It starts off the birth announcement to Zacharias. Zacharias is a ⁓ small ⁓ priest, right, from ⁓ surrounding areas, but it's his opportunity to go into the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices, and it's at that time ⁓ that an angel of the Lord tells him that he and his wife are going to bear a son. Very similarly to what we saw with Abraham and Isaac. ⁓ they are older and he kind of doubts that and so he is not able to speak ⁓ until ⁓ John is born. And so you You you have that going on and then the the angel comes to Mary and ⁓ says, Mary, you're gonna have a child. ⁓ Mary was pledged, which that is basically the same thing as being married. If you wanted to break that pledge, you would have to file for divorce. And that's Joseph, that was what he was thinking about doing, right? ⁓ because you know, once you were pledged to be married, ⁓ it was it was as if you were married. And ⁓ so this was a very difficult announcement, ⁓ but God ⁓ chooses ⁓ to call Mary and Joseph ⁓ to to deliver ⁓ this wonderful child and he definitely needed to reassure them through an angel of the Lord. That is no doubt. So I I again I encourage you to to read through that. Then we see Mary visiting Elizabeth. Elizabeth is Zachariah's ⁓ wife. They are cousins, or John the Baptist, ⁓ who Zachariah and Elizabeth will will have is a cousin to to Jesus. ⁓ read through, you can see the song of of Mary. ⁓ you have the birth of John the Baptist, and they they're questioning the people are questioning what his name should be. And when Zacharias writes down his name should be John, ⁓ his his voice returns to him, and then he has a wonderful prophecy ⁓ in sixty seven through eighty ⁓ it says ⁓ verse seventy four to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. Verse 79 is to give light to those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. That John the Baptist is going to be sharing that message that the Messiah is coming. ⁓ and so then we we know that ⁓ John the Baptist grew and became strong, that he kind of lived out in the deserts. ⁓ and we'll we'll see more of him later. ⁓ Matthew chapter one. Starts differently. It starts straight off with a genealogy. Matthew is definitely connecting more Jesus' connection with the Old Testament. Excuse me. And how ⁓ how he is a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. We see a lot of that in Matthew. Matthew was clearly the audience, he was a very Jewish audience. He is he is convincing them ⁓ that Jesus is the Messiah. ⁓ so you have th this list of ⁓ of genealogy, it's interesting. They put in all of the random characters that you may not ⁓ want to be in your genealogy, right? The the d maybe you the or the family tries to kind of not talk about that ⁓ you know, ⁓ person, ⁓ great granddad ⁓ John and what he did. We don't really talk about that. well This is gene Jesus' genealogy and it has all kinds of people ⁓ in it ⁓ that did some really bad things. ⁓ but but yet God used them and they were part of that historical line. ⁓ it's interesting there were also four women ⁓ that are ⁓ specifically ⁓ mentioned, which is very rare. A genealogy back in that day was nearly always just a list of men. ⁓ but these were four women that were not Jewish. You have Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah's wife. ⁓ they are all mentioned in there, which is kind of pointing to the fact that Jesus isn't coming just to save the Jewish people, right? He is coming for ⁓ to save the world, that that everyone ⁓ will be extended ⁓ his his grace. ⁓ then you get into The the virgin birth ⁓ in Matthew chapter one verses eighteen through twenty five. ⁓ you have the angel coming to to Joseph saying it's okay your your w ⁓ soon to be wife was not unfaithful to you. ⁓ we see in verse twenty three of Matthew chapter one says, Behold the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. Right. So so Joseph does what is right. He he he seemed to be w wanting to do the best thing in a bad situation anyway. ⁓ and then whenever he gets the reassurance from the vision, ⁓ he ⁓ takes Mary as his wife. ⁓ Luke chapter two, verses one through twenty is the very traditional ⁓ Christmas story that is ⁓ you can ⁓ watch the Charlie Brown's Christmas and it is ⁓ Linus reads ⁓ one through twenty in in the gospel of Luke. ⁓ so you have the shepherds, you have all these ⁓ characters in this wonderful story, ⁓ and none of them make a lot of sense. They are definitely not the characters that would be chosen to ⁓ for the king of the world to to be born to. They're peasants, they are do not have influence, they do not have power. ⁓ but yet God is going to do something amazing through them. Luke twenty-one through thirty eight talks about how they take ⁓ Jesus ⁓ on the eighth day to the temple, ⁓ to be circumcised. ⁓ you have Simeon, who God has promised that he would see ⁓ the the Messiah before he dies. I always wonder if Simeon, whenever he saw Jesus ⁓ and was in awe and worshiped him, you know, a few hours later r realized, ⁓ if I've just seen the Messiah, that means I must be close to the end. But ⁓ you have ⁓ their encounter with Simeon, then you have an encounter with Anna, the prophetess, who ⁓ God ⁓ allowed to to be there and and honored ⁓ this this child. And can you imagine how reinforcing that would be To both Mary and Joseph. Not only have they had the shepherds come, ⁓ but when they go to the temple, ⁓ this child that they are bringing, who no one knows about, ⁓ is ⁓ recognized ⁓ by complete strangers. ⁓ it's obvious God was at work there. Matthew chapter two talks about the wise men ⁓ coming in. ⁓ again, this is probably about a year down the road or so. ⁓ the wise men come, ⁓ they They go to Herod and Herod kind of wants them to tell tell him where this child is because he is threatened. and they ⁓ do not report back to Herod, ⁓ but they it actually kind of alerts everything. Joseph and Mary now know that there's a problem and they're warned in a vision they need to flee to Egypt. ⁓ you have Herod ⁓ that's put to death. many of the children there in Dr Jerusalem, ⁓ because he again was threatened by you know threatened ⁓ his power was threatened. He didn't he whenever you hear that the king of ju of the Jews is being born, ⁓ he he d he didn't like that. And and so he did have some people killed. There's lots of debate on all of that. ⁓ but Herod was a horrible person. ⁓ we have numerous documented things about some of the horrific things that he did. So this is not out of character for him. So just we're we'll go ahead and and get finished with ⁓ both these chapters. the gospels don't spend a lot of time ⁓ developing Jesus' life ⁓ up until he ⁓ begins his ministry. So it's very short. ⁓ we and Matthew the end of ⁓ Matthew It said ⁓ that once Herod died, so that's the first King Herod, ⁓ they returned and went to Nazareth. ⁓ so they they leave Egypt, they come back to Nazareth. ⁓ Luke has a one story about Jesus ⁓ in verse forty one through fifty-two ⁓ about how they go to Jerusalem ⁓ for one of the festivals, ⁓ for Passover, and ⁓ they they start leaving, heading back to Nazareth. Jesus isn't there. ⁓ they go back and they find him in the temple ⁓ there where he is learning and he is teaching and he is ⁓ you know doing some pretty amazing things for a twelve year old. ⁓ and he ⁓ he says ⁓ in verse forty nine, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? But they did not understand that statement when he spoke to them. And then we ⁓ the conclusion of chapter two is then he went down with them and came to Nazareth. was subject to them, but his mother kept all these things in her heart, just like we saw when she was in the manger scene, right? That she pondered all of these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. So that introduces us to the most transformative character in all of Scripture and in all of human history. And now we will begin looking at Jesus's life and his ministry. ⁓ through the the four gospel messages and we'll be combining them. Let's read Matthew chapter three, Mark chapter one, Luke chapter three, and the rest of John chapter one. Let's let's see. So yeah, all of Luke chapter three, Matthew chapter three, all of Mark chapter one. And all of John chapter one. So so basically we'll we'll go another chapter, three in Matthew, three in Luke, ⁓ all of John Chapter one and all of Mark Chapter one. All right. We will see you on ⁓