When Christ Walked Among Us: The Messiahs Life and Ministry

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His birth, mission, death and resurrection were foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament of the Bible and revealed to us by the writers of the New Testament. Jesus lived among his fellow Jews during a time when the boundaries of the Roman Empire included the land of Israel. He preached and performed miracles for three-and-a-half years until he was crucified by the Romans. He died on a wooden cross and was buried in a tomb. But his life did not end in death. Jesus Christ was resurrected.

And because he was perfect, he is able to open the doors to the Kingdom of God. And because he was sinless, he is able to forgive us our sins so that we too can be accepted into the Kingdom of God. Jesus explains this in a passage of the Bible called John 3: Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph but not yet married. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would have a son who would be named Jesus and who would be called the Son of God.

Here is the NIV translation of Luke 1: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Shortly before Jesus was born, the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus decided that a census be taken throughout the Roman Empire, including the land of Israel. People were required to return to their ancestral homes for registration. For Joseph and Mary, that meant leaving Nazareth, which is a town in the northern district of Galilee, and traveling to Bethlehem, which is in the southern region called Judah or Judea.

After they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary was ready to give birth to Jesus. So Joseph and Mary went to a manger because they could not find other lodging. It was a manger, where animals are kept, that served as the humble place of birth for Jesus. Bethlehem is an important city for Messianic prophecy. King David, who ruled over Israel about 1, years before the time of Jesus, was born in Bethlehem. And the prophet Micah, who lived about years before Jesus, announced that Bethlehem would be the birthplace for the Messiah:.

When Jesus was born, a star appeared over Bethlehem. Scholars today speculate whether the star was a meteor, a supernatural phenomenon, an alignment of celestial bodies, or a literal star. It is interesting to note that ancient Chinese astronomy records indicate that there was a star-like object hovering somewhere over the Middle East for several days in the year 5 BC, about years ago.

The early life of Jesus

The Star of Bethlehem attracted visitors from the East. These visitors believed that the star marked the birth of a new king. Perhaps the visitors were familiar with the Bible's prophecies and understood that a Messiah King would be born in Israel and that he would have an impact on the entire world. But, Israel already had a ruler, King Herod the Great. He was not a true king but had been appointed by the Romans to govern the Jews in the land of Israel.

Herod was described by Josephus, a Jewish historian who ived during the first century, as a murderous man who ordered the deaths of many of his own family members. When Herod found out that the visitors were hoping to find and worship the newborn king, Herod ordered the deaths of every infant in Bethlehem, in the hopes of killing the king that the visitors spoke of. In ancient times the people of Israel sometimes sought refuge in Egypt, including Jacob and his sons, who left the land of Israel during a time of famine. The Gospel of Matthew shows that many events in Jewish history are similar to events in the life of Jesus, reinforcing his role as the Messiah.

Joseph was afraid to return to Bethlehem because the town is near Jerusalem, where Herod Archelaus, the son of Herod, now reigned as king. So Joseph took his family to the northern district of Galilee, to a small town called Nazareth. This obscure town became the hometown of Jesus, where he grew up and became an adult. When Jesus was 12 years of age, he and his mother Mary and stepfather Joseph traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the annual Feast of the Passover.

When the feast had ended, Mary and Joseph became separated from Jesus and they searched for him. Jesus had gone to the Lord's Temple and conversed with the people there. The people were amazed by his depth of understanding and by his knowledge. When Mary found Jesus at the Temple, Jesus said to her: The Gospel of John describes three annual passover feasts during the course of Jesus' ministry and this is one reason for the commonly held belief that his ministry lasted for about three years.

Luke tells us that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. This page explains a few details of his first year of ministry, which begins with his forerunner, John the Baptist. In the book of Malachi, there is a prophecy about a forerunner who would prepare the way for the Lord: Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.

This prophecy was fulfilled about years later by John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was about to begin his ministry, John the Baptist proclaimed to others: Jesus was about 30 years old. He had left the district of Galilee, which included the town of Nazareth, where he grew up, and had traveled to the wilderness of the Jordan River to be baptized. There, John the Baptist drew crowds as he preached and baptized. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. After he was baptized, Jesus went into the desert and fasted ate no food for 40 days. Satan used this time to tempt Jesus. During the temptations, Satan uses the supernatural to find Jesus in the desert, then to transport Jesus to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem, and then to take Jesus to a high mountain.

With each successive temptation, the loftiness of what Satan offers increases, as does the height from which he makes the offer. Each time, Jesus resists the temptation and quotes scripture to rebuke Satan. In one instance, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy, chapter 8. It is important to note that Deuteronomy 8: This is another example of the book of Matthew pointing out similarities between the life of Jesus and the history of Israel.

Jesus and some of his disciples went to Cana, a town in the district of Galilee, to attend a wedding party. His mother, Mary, also attended. The host of the wedding party did not have enough wine for everyone and this was considered a very embarrassing situation. Mary intervened on behalf of the wedding host and told Jesus about the problem. Jesus then miraculously changed six barrels of water into wine for the wedding party. Of all the miracles that Jesus performed, this one might seem minor. But it did accomplish important things.

It shows that Jesus has concern for people's problems, even if they are not major problems. And it showed Jesus' disciples that he was able to perform miracles. Throughout the four Gospels the Bible's books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John there are descriptions of 34 miracles performed by Jesus. But all told there may have been thousands, as sometimes when surrounded by a large group of people, the Bible states "He healed them all. Everything from raising the dead, controlling nature, healing the sick, casting out demons, and providing enough food from a few baskets of bread and fish to feed thousands.

Click here for summaries of the 34 miracles. Jesus went to holy city of Jerusalem, the most important city in the Jewish homeland, and visited the Lord's Temple. When he arrived he saw that many people were selling animals and exchanging money in the Temple courts. This angered Jesus because the Temple was intended to be a place to worship God, not a place for commerce.

Jesus made a whip out of some strands of rope and chased the merchants out of the holy Temple. Jesus said to them:. Jesus explains to Nicodemus what a person must do to have salvation and eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. There he met a Samaritan woman and spoke to her about the "water of life. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

In this discussion with Samaritan woman, Jesus showed that the word of God was meant to be shared with all people, even enemies the Samaritans and the Jews were hostile towards one another. And, he showed that it was to be shared with men and women, Jews and Gentiles. Gentile refers to people to who are not Jewish. During the early part of Jesus' ministry, he went to the district of Galilee, where Jews and many Gentiles non-Jews lived. Jesus preached and performed many miracles there. He became a beacon for many as he shed light on the word of God.

This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah about years beforehand:. When Jesus again visited the town of Cana in the district of Galilee, a royal official begged Jesus to heal his son who was very ill. Jesus then sent the royal official on his way, telling him that his son would recover.

The official later learned that his son was healed and he and his family became believers. Jesus went to a synagogue a Jewish place of worship in Nazareth and read from the scroll of Isaiah to the people gathered there:. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, - Isaiah Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

Shortly after Jesus announced that he was the Messiah, the people at the synagogue in Nazareth rejected him as the Messiah:. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. The second year of Jesus' ministry is sometimes referred to as the "Year of Popularity. This is one of the most important Bible passages. Here, Jesus explains that God is his father. Jesus also explains that all who believe the words of Jesus will have eternal life: He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. A group of disciples gathered around Jesus as he traveled throughout the countryside. The word disciple means "learner" and the relationship of a teacher to his disciples was considered important by Jews in ancient times.

The Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes, for example, had disciples. In fact, John the Baptist had disciples. Jesus entrusted his disciples to serve people:.

When Christ Walked Among Us: The Messiah's Life and Ministry

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. From among his disciples, Jesus gave some the ability to heal people of their diseases and illnesses. Jesus did this after going up a mountain and spending the night in prayer to God the Father. These disciples became known as the twelve Apostles. Jesus not only healed many people and performed miracles that showed that he is the Son of God, he also preached the greatest sermons in history.

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The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters is observed by many as the greatest of all. It establishes the basic themes of his teachings. After pronouncing a series of blessings the beatitudes Jesus spoke of the law and its fulfillment. He asserted that his purpose was to fulfill the law and the prophets, at the same time claiming the authority to speak in a way that went beyond the law. Jesus laid out several contrasts between his own teaching and that of traditional law; each opened with the phrases "You have heard that it was said But I say to you" Matt.

His intent was to move away from a law intended to be enforced by judicial authorities toward a standard of thought and commitment that could only be applied internally to one's own heart and life. He dealt with difficult topics of anger, adultery and covetousness, retaliation, and resisting evil.

Finally, he came to the heart of his teaching, a commitment to love without boundaries. Jesus rejected the common attitude of loving one's neighbor and hating one's enemies, asking them to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Here's a part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a town in Galilee, Jesus was asked to heal the servant of a centurion a Roman officer. Jesus said he would go to the servant and heal him. Of course, each author was inspired by God through His Holy Spirit. There are no real contradictions among the four accounts.

The four different perspectives complement each other and help to fill out the whole picture of His perfect life. Therefore, there is harmony, continuity and unity among the four accounts. It's profitable to combine the perspectives into an overall view, but it's also interesting and profitable to focus on one perspective at a time. Summarizing the particular focus of each author can be challenging, but here is one simplified approach: Jesus is our perfect model in each of those roles.

We can understand a lot about Jesus and His mission by understanding His names and titles. Jesus truly was and is "God with us.

He was God in the flesh Luke 1: Messiah from Hebrew mashiach means "anointed" or "anointed one. Jesus came to earth the first time to deliver us from our sins and will come the second time to deliver us from mortality to immortality. The Greek for Messiah is Christos , from which we get Christ. Jesus usually referred to Himself as "the Son of Man. Jesus used the definite article—He was the [unique] Son of Man, not a son of man.

Jesus wanted all to know that He was human, but a very special human. This idiomatic designation sounded reverential, but it was ambiguous in meaning. That may pinpoint why Jesus used it, because for most of His ministry, Jesus avoided referring to Himself as the Son of God or the Messiah or the son of David. He avoided what might sound political or blasphemous because He didn't want to stir up violent opposition prematurely. Perhaps Paul was elaborating on this title when he referred to Jesus as "the last Adam," since adam is a Hebrew word for man 1 Corinthians After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

God the Father used the Holy Spirit to bring about the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Jewish virgin named Mary. For further description, see Matthew 1: And for a description of the Word voluntarily giving up His divine power and glory to temporarily become a human being, see Philippians 2: So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. The events that followed Jesus' birth are described in the remainder of Luke 2 and in Matthew 2. The exact date of Jesus' birth is unknown, for God does not want people to celebrate Jesus' birth. To understand why and for thorough proof that most of the traditions involved in Christmas celebrations are not from the Bible, see our free booklet Holidays or Holy Days: And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Is not His mother called Mary? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?

Jesus grew up with His mother, stepfather and several younger siblings, the natural children of Mary and Joseph. Jesus certainly was precocious, being able at 12 years old to discuss Scripture with scholars at the temple Luke 2: And in order to later be the perfect sacrifice and Savior, He never sinned Hebrews 4: Galilee is the area around the Sea of Galilee, north of Jerusalem. Repent, and believe in the gospel. The reactions of men were decisive and extreme. They were either willing to die for Him or that He should die. Those who resist Christ are as zealous about it as those who receive Him as Savior.

To face the person and the work of Christ in the gospels is to forever leave the middle ground of neutrality and non-commitment. I will never forget a Bible study we conducted in our home several years ago. We decided, with another neighbor, to study the gospel of John. Our neighbor ended up inviting virtually everyone in the neighborhood. One couple came for the first time when we were dealing with chapter 3. Then we left for vacation. I urged our neighbor to continue the study in our absence.

Perhaps as you are confronted with the person of Jesus Christ in this series, you will be compelled by the sheer weight of the evidence to the kind of commitment some would call fanatical. If so, you would be in the company of many who beheld Him in the flesh, and multitudes more who have believed yet have not seen, save through the eyes of faith and the testimony of those among whom He tabernacled. What does God offer to man? He provides every believer with His righteousness so that we may spend eternity in fellowship with God Rom. But in addition to this He is the example, He is the standard of righteousness for all who believe.

1. Introduction to the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ | www.farmersmarketmusic.com

The trials and tests which we face are not unknown to Him, for He was tempted in all points, yet without sin Hebrews 4: His life is the pattern for Christian conduct 1 Pet. Thank God Jesus Christ is not only the standard of righteousness, He is also the source of it.

He is both the pattern and the provision for the Christian walk. It was the death of Christ which saved us from sin in the past; it is the life of Christ which delivers us from sin in the present and future. Orthodox Christians have taught much on the death of Christ although much more should be done , but we have not given sufficient emphasis to the life of Christ. It is in this study of the life of Christ that we shall learn more of our Lord as the pattern and provision for Christian living.

Even a casual reading of the Old Testament leaves us with the impression of incompleteness.

That which God had promised, that for which Israel hoped, had not yet been fulfilled. Yet when we turn to the epistles of the New Testament, little is said of this kingdom. We read much about the church and little about Israel.

Series 3 - Getting to Really Know God...

Some have understood this transition to mean that God will fulfill His promises to the nation Israel through the church and that Israel as a nation has no literal earthly kingdom to which she can look forward. God will literally fulfill His promises to His people.

Our study of the life of Christ will help us understand just why this delay has occurred. First of all, we can now look back upon the Old Testament prophecies and discern two distinct lines of prophecy. One line predicted the first coming of Messiah as the suffering Savior, Who would forever put away the sins of His people by His death on the cross cf.

Psalm 22; Isaiah The other line of prophecy foretold the kingdom that Messiah would establish after atonement had been made for His people cf. These two comings of Messiah were not perceived by Old Testament saints. We now understand because of the gospel accounts and their explanation by the Apostle Paul.

By His works, He validated His power and authority to make such a claim. By His teaching, He revealed that true nature of His kingdom. Most Israelites had a different kind of Messiah in mind, and a different concept of the kingdom. Consequently, they began to withdraw from Him and Jewish leadership quickly began to resist Him as a real threat to their aspirations. None of this caught our Lord by surprise, for the Messiah must first suffer before He could reign.

Our Lord began to withdraw from ministry to the masses and pour His life into His disciples. He began to teach the crowds in the veiled language of parables and to explain in detail only to His intimate followers and friends. He began to speak less of His earthly kingdom and more of His interim program for the church. He dealt less with Jews and more with Gentiles.

Our Lord began to more openly and aggressively attack the Jewish leaders, showing their error and provoking their anger. He strategically retreated when things became prematurely volatile. He literally engineered His own death by the hands of His opponents. Jewish unbelief and rebellion brought about the death of Christ for the sins of men, whether Jew or Gentile.

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