Saturday 8 April 2017

About Jesus

About Jesus
In a Short time it will be Easter a time Christians world wide celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many things have been said about Jesus. However what does the Bible say about Him.
Luke’s gospel records,
“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.” 
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  
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.” 
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 
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.” Luke 1:26-35.
Here the gospel writer asks us to believe that God sent an angel to tell Mary that she would conceive a child through by the Holy Spirit and giving birth to the “the Son of the Most High”.
This is purely a faith thing. You either believe it or you don’t. Certainly Luke the writer believed it to be true. As did all the writers of the New Testament.
Now when it come to the birth of His Son. I don’t think God did not just pick a woman at random. Tradition says Mary was of humble birth. Certainly she was not of a ruling royal household.
     However she was most likely devout. Her cousin Elizabeth was married to Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
Later we also learn that when Jesus was born he was taken to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord.
We are told in Luke 2:41,
“Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.”
The parents of Jesus were devout believers in God. Who practiced their faith. A faith being the Son of God Jesus probably recognized early in his life. A faith Mary and Joseph helped him cultivate. Giving him and understanding human understanding of his faith.
“Luke also records,
“Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.  
When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.  
After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.  
Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.  
When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.  
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.”  Luke 2:41-47.
From this we can assume that Jesus had a very good understanding of the scriptures. That he was it seems a genius.
Jesus also had a sense of who he truly was Luke’s gospel recording,
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”  Luke 2:48,49.
He knew even as a teenager that he was at the very least called to do God the Fathers work. That his life was to have a higher purpose.
That purpose Christians believe was to be the suffering Messiah. The Christ who would die for the sins of the world. The apostle Paul telling us,
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8 
The question the New Testament places before everyone who reads it is simple. Who do you believe Jesus is?
A good man?
A good teacher?
Son of God, Saviour of mankind. God incarnate?
Please think about it. 

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