Lesson #17
The Life of Jesus

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Reading: Luke 2

What a message the angel brought to the virgin Mary! Butthere was one thing that puzzled her. She was told that the baby, to becalled "Jesus", was to be the "Son of the Highest".

Mary asked the angel, "How shall this be?"

The angel told her that God would use His power, the HolySpirit, to bring about the conception of His Son. No man was to be involved.Jesus would be the Son of God Himself.

Read the story of the birth of Jesus in Matthew chapters1 and 2, and in Luke 2. You will find that there is no mention in thesepassages that Jesus existed in heaven before his birth. Such an idea wouldcontradict the Bible account of his conception and birth.

The baptism of Jesus

The Bible tells us very little about Jesus as a child.It moves quickly on to his baptism by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.This baptism was not a sprinkling with water. It took place in theriver, and afterwards they came out of the water (Mark 1:10). Theheavens were opened, and God sent His Holy Spirit to Jesus. There was avoice from heaven which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom Iam well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

By being baptized himself, Jesus showed us how importantit is, and God added His approval.

After his baptism, we read that Jesus went into the wilderness,where he was "tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1).

Was it a real devil that tempted Jesus?

What really happened in the wilderness? Was there a superhumanbeing present? Let us have a careful look at two of the three temptations.

There was no high mountain in the region where Jesus was,or indeed in any part of the world, from which you could see "all thekingdoms of the world in a moment of time". So Jesus could not havebeen taken to such a place. Besides this, the Bible says that the worldis under God's control, not the devil's. For example, it says inDaniel 4:32: "The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and givethit to whomsoever He will."

So we need to think carefully about the meaning of thistemptation.

Now let us look at another of the temptations.

Is it likely that the Lord Jesus would really follow asuperhuman evil being out of the wilderness all the way up to Jerusalemand then climb to the pinnacle of the temple, only to say when he got there,"It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"? (Luke4:12). Surely, if there were a literal devil, Jesus would have recognisedhim straight away, and would have had nothing to do with him.

If we cannot understand these temptations as taking placein this literal matter, how are we to understand them?

Jesus knew that he was God's Son, and that he was to ruleover all the kingdoms of the world. He would picture these kingdoms andtheir glory in his mind when he was in the wilderness. But Jesus also knewfrom the Old Testament that he had to die first, before he could rule theworld. He could have thought that throwing himself down from the templewould be a good way to draw attention to himself, and to prove that he wasGodís son. That would make his work of preaching easier. But thatwas not the way God wanted it to be.

So we suggest that these temptations took place in themind of Jesus while he was in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit had just beengiven to him at his baptism. He had great power, and it would be a big temptationto try out this power, even if it were only by making bread out of stonesto satisfy his hunger.

But Jesus knew that Godís power must be used properly.By talking of the devil the Scriptures are simply representing in a powerfulway the force of human nature, the temptations that arise in all our mindsto do evil. Jesus had these temptations just as we do, but he never gavein to them.

What nature did Jesus have?

Jesus' father was God, but his mother Mary was a humanbeing. Was Jesus divine, or was he a human being like us?

Jesus had human nature because:

Human Nature (like us) .	Divine Nature (like God)
We are born   We can be tempted and we sin We die	God has always existed (Psalm 90:2) God cannot be tempted and He cannot sin God cannot die. He is immortal

1. He has not always existed. His life started when hewas born.

2. He was tempted. (But, unlike us, he did not sin.)

3. He died. (But, because he did not sin, God raised himfrom the dead.)

Although he was the Son of God, and had the Holy Spirit,or power of God, he was still a man. As we saw in the previous lesson, thefollowing references clearly show this: Hebrews 2: 9, 14 - 18; i Timothy2: 5; Acts 2:22. We can see how Jesus had a divine Father and a human mother.We accept what the Bible says of him. The Bible also tells us of how exaltedand glorious Jesus now is (read Philippians 2:9 ñ 11) and we mustaccept this too.

The Ministry of Jesus

After his baptism and temptation in the wilderness we readthat Jesus travelled "throughout every city and village, preachingand showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God: and the twelve werewith him" (Luke 8:1)

Now let us think about his teaching, his miracles, theway he lived, and the way he faced death.

1. Teaching about how he should live

Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew are full of wise teaching.These three chapters are known as ëthe Sermon on the Mountí.Notice the first thing Jesus said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit:for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3)

Because Jesus spoke of the ëkingdom of Heavení,people think that the Kingdom is in heaven. But look at the fifthverse of this chapter: "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inheritthe earth"."Kingdom of heaven" means "heavenlyKingdom". Look at the words of the Lord's prayer, in Matthew 6:10,where Jesus tells his disciples to pray, "Thy will be done inearth as it is in heaven". The kingdom of Heaven will be onearth.

Here are some of the other things Jesus taught in the Sermonon the Mount. He told the people that:

they should love their enemies

they should not judge others

looking on a woman lustfully (with desire for sex) wasas bad as committing adultery

they should let their light shine out (that is, to showtheir faith in their lives)

when they gave, it should be done in secret

they should not worry about the things of this life, buttrust God to provide for their needs

they should seek first Godís Kingdom

Jesus also warned them - and us! - in Matthew 7:13-23:

that few would find the way that leads to life

that many would be disappointed when they found they hadno place in Godís Kingdom (even though they had done wonderful thingsin His Name).

2. Teaching by parable

Matthew 13 is full of parables. You will notice that manyof these are about the Kingdom. The parables in Luke 15 show us how muchGod wants us to give up the ungodly world, and find His truth.

3. Teaching by prophecy

Matthew 24 is a prophecy that Jesus gave because his discipleswanted to know when the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, as Jesushad said it would be. (This happened in A.D. 70.) They also wanted to knowwhat would be the sign of Jesus' coming and of the end of the world. (Thiswas discussed in Lesson 8, which could be read again if you want to refreshyour memory.) Much of Jesus teaching was about God's coming Kingdom.

The Miracles of Jesus

1. Miracles of healing:  The Gospels are full of wonderful works of healing which Jesusdid. He had pity on the people, and wanted to help them. His power was sogreat that he could even raise the dead.

2. Other miracles:  Jesusturned water into wine, walked on the sea, fed thousands of people. He alwaysused his power to helpónever just to impress people or "showoff". The miracles were signs of his power and authority, gave opportunityfor teaching and showed his kindness and compassion.

Jesus' way of life

The Son of God was born in a stable. Often he had nowhereto live. He said: "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air havenests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Luke9:58). Just before his death, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Thistask was usually done by a servant. Although he was the Son of the greatCreator of the whole world, Jesus did not live a life of luxury. He taughtus to be humble and serve others.

The Lord Jesus spent much time in prayer to his heavenlyFather. Before he chose his twelve disciples he spent all night in prayer.He did not pray openly, to show people how good he was. He condemned theway the religious leaders did this. He condemned their hypocrisy, and toldthem so. He was never afraid to be unpopular!

Preparation for death

Once (Luke 9:27-36) Jesus took three of his disciples withhim up a mountain. As he prayed there, he was "transfigured",or changed. Moses and Elijah appeared with him, and they talked about Jesusícoming death in Jerusalem. This vision of Jesus in glory was a picture ofhim in the kingdom, and it must have helped him to look forward to thatkingdom, as he faced his coming death.

He knew from Old Testament prophecies that he would diea cruel death. (Psalms 22 and 69, and Isaiah 53 are some of the propheciesof his death.) Jesus warned his disciples that he would have to suffer anddie, but he told them too that he would rise from the dead (Luke 9:22).

The religious leaders were always trying to catch him out,and Jesus knew they hated him. They tried to stone him twice, but "hishour was not yet come". It was not yet time for him to die. But,

"When the time was come that he should be receivedup, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem"(Luke 9:51).

He was not afraid to die. He knew it was the only way hecould help sinful men. But he could only help them in this way if he weresinless himself. He battled daily against sin - and won! He left us a wonderfulexample. And he told his disciples that they should follow him:

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,and take up his cross daily, and follow me"(Luke 9:23)

Chapters to read: Matthew 5,6 and 7; Luke 9

A verse to learn: Luke 1:32

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Sonof the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his fatherDavid."