DECEMBER 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY 02: JQ#1-33 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SUMMARY 02: JQ#1-33  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, as I start this “Summary” of Your “Lessons” that You Taught us in order to reveal the Ultimate Truth of God the Father and to bring the “Light” of understanding to the “Ways of God”. I pray for the Holy Spirit to guide these Words written in this “JESUS Questions Summary” so that they will be a Glory and Honor to the Blessed Trinity. 

May the Holy Spirit Bless all who read Your Word that it will Reveal the Father, Glorify the Son, and Honor the Trinity of God in such a Way that our lives will be transformed. Give us the wisdom to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and Trust God for His Mighty Provisions, which God Freely Bestows on undeserving sinners not because of anything we have done, but simply because of God’s Holy Character and His Infinite Love for His Creation!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus started His earthly Ministry at a point where Jesus is leading us to — that “point” in each of our lives that is the “turning point” in our Spiritual Journey on Earth and that “point” is always when we arrive at that time in our life when we see the “spiritual” need to enter into God’s Purpose for our lives and to yield control of our desires for the world to His Desire for our life — and at that “point”, we will follow the example of Jesus. 

Jesus started directing us to that “spiritual turning point” as He began His Teaching “By Example” by His Following the Will of God which was recorded by Matthew in Chapter 3 in which Matthew set the scene of Jesus allowing Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1). 

Next Matthew tied John the Baptist to the Holy Scriptures and the prophet Isaiah as Matthew declares that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah who had written 800 years earlier that the “forerunner” of the expected Messiah would be one that was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight’” (Isaiah 40:3 quoted in Matthew 3:3). When the people of Judea and the areas surrounding Jerusalem heard there was “one in the wilderness” that was preaching “Repentance for the kingdom of heaven was at hand” and that they should be “baptized”, it was at that point in their spiritual lives that the Holy Scriptures came alive for them and they could see the prophecies of old being fulfilled and “Then in Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to [John the Baptist] and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:5-6) 

Matthew also introduces the conflict Jesus would address regarding the religious rulers in Jerusalem (the Pharisees and Sadducees) as Matthew records that the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to John the Baptist at the Jordan where he was baptizing and when John saw them he declared them to be a “Brood of vipers!” and warned the religious rulers to change their ways and “flee from the wrath to come”. John told them plainly to “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8) 

And when John had everyone’s attention, he set the scene for Jesus to appear when John declared, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Therefore when “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized” (Matthew 3:13) it was to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the forerunner of the Messiah (Isaiah 40:3) and of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom by Christ (See Isaiah 11:1-10)  which was why Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized by John in the Jordan and why Matthew records Jesus as saying to John about His Baptism “Permit [My Baptism] to be so now, for thus it is fitting for [the forerunner and the Christ] to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). 

By allowing Himself to be baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus started His earthly ministry by Divine Example of Baptism and His Divine Teaching of “repentance” to point us to the “path of the LORD” — Jesus clearly stated later that we are to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) for our lives. Matthew also in this passage establishes that part of the mission of Christ will be to address the problem of the religious rulers who have defiled the temple of God and have led the nation Israel away from following God and His Commandments!  John not only called them a “Brood of vipers!” but John also warned them that Christ would “baptize [them] with the Holy Spirit and fire” and also Christ had “His winnowing fan in His hand, and He will throughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:7-12)  

So Matthew uses John the Baptist and the prophet Isaiah to introduce the Christ and then Jesus steps on the scene and fulfills prophecy to begin His earthly ministry and sets the “Perfect Example” for all that would follow Jesus Christ to read the Holy Scriptures, repent, and to seek God and His Righteousness. 

This is how Jesus starts us on our Spiritual Journey to the Narrow Gate — all we have to do is “Follow the LEADER!”