DECEMBER 26 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-12 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 

DECEMBER 26  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

  JQ#1-33 SUMMARY-12  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life,

 Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, praise the Name of the Only Begotten Son of the Living God.

 Lord Jesus, I write the Name “JESUS” and I marvel at both the “Name”

 and its “Meaning” but it is hard for our minds to actually understand

 the “fact” that Jesus IS the Son of the Living God! 

The other fact that is difficult to “wrap our mind around” is that 

the “Living God” who Loved the world with a Love that cannot be

 comprehended by mortal man would remain TRUE

 to HIS DIVINE CHARACTER and provide for our Salvation 

by “providing  Himself the Lamb”!  

Man who is flesh cannot conceive that the Living God who is SPIRIT

 would allow His Only Begotten Son to be born of a “virgin”, live a

 perfect life in the FLESH and then as part of God’s Master Plan 

for mankind, that the Omnipotent would offer His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son 

as the Atonement for the sins of the world? Why would a God that 

has unlimited Power and has absolutely ZERO need of mankind Sacrifice

 so much of Himself in order that we who have rejected and denied

 Him have a pathway to FORGIVENESS of our iniquities against 

God Most High ?!?! Surely, this is the “MYSTERY OF GOD” 

to be revealed when He RETURNS to “Bring Home” those

 that have “received” Him! Praise God for His Master Plan!!!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was known as the Messiah by all those that had been blessed

 by the angel’s declaration that “For there is born to you this day 

in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) 

and they “came with haste” to Bethlehem and saw with their own eyes

 the Christ Child laying in a manger. 

Jesus was next revealed as the Messiah to a man named Simeon

 in Jerusalem for after “eight days [after birth] were completed” it was 

customary for Jewish families to take the newborn males to the temple for circumcision. Now when the days of her purification according to 

the law of Moses were completed, Mary and Joseph brought

 their Child named Jesus who was born in a manger in Bethlehem

 to Jerusalem to present Him to the LORD…

 “and behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon,

 and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel,

 and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed

 to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had 

seen the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:21-26) 

Simeon being an official in the temple at Jerusalem and very familiar

 with the “Consolation of Israel” (which was a common name for 

the Messiah used by the Jews) and when Mary and Joseph presented

 Jesus to him, Simeon was aware through the Holy Spirit of God that

 he was holding in his arms the “LORD’s Christ” ! Simeon said when

 “he took [Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God… ‘LORD, 

now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to

 Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You 

have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring 

revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” 

(Luke 2:27-32) 

John the Baptist was among the few that had been informed by the angel

 of God or by the Holy Spirit Himself that the Messiah had arrived 

but had not seen Him — and unlike those that had beheld the

 Child in Bethlehem 

or Simeon who had seen the Messiah [Baby JESUS] in Jerusalem, 

John himself had not yet seen the Messiah even though John had been

 proclaiming about the Messiah, “but He who is coming after me 

is mightier than I…He will baptize you with

 the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11). 

John had been proclaiming the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” 

but John had not actually seen the Messiah in the FLESH — 

so when Jesus came to John to be baptized by John in the Jordan,

 it was at this “moment” that John saw the Messiah with his own eyes

 for the Holy Spirit revealed to John 

that this Jesus approaching him in the Jordan was the Messiah!!! 

John felt unworthy and tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized

 by him (see Matthew 3:14) but that is when 

Jesus publicly revealed Himself and John as prophecy being fulfilled! 

Prior to Jesus being baptized in the Jordan by John, Jesus had been

 revealed as the Messiah by a host of witnesses and by circumstances

 beyond His control and without any doubt all His prior circumstances

 had witnessed to the fact that 

God had a Master Plan and  Jesus IS  the “Anointed One”! 

Now here at the Jordan, prophecy was simultaneously being fulfilled

 in the sight of many more “eyewitnesses”, by John who was the

 “forerunner” of the Messiah, and Jesus who IS the Messiah —

 not by Jesus Himself, but by circumstances and other witnesses

 that proclaim that they saw the Messiah with their own eyes! But here

 at the Jordan Jesus begins His Ministry as the Messiah by declaring

 to John in the presence of those witnesses: 

“Jesus answered [John] and said to him, 

‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Matthew 3:15) 

This is a good time for us to consider the great cloud of witnesses before us,

 that there are eyewitness accounts of thousands of individuals

 having seen the Messiah with their own eyes, and we ourselves should

 listen to Jesus and take His advice to “us” for 

“now” is the time for “us” to be led by the “Spirit” into His Presence 

and listen when Jesus, Who by the Holy Spirit, encourages us to:

 “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” 

Remember — Today is the day of salvation and only through salvation

 can we “fulfill all righteousness”!!! 

 Are you like Simeon looking expectantly to see the Messiah??? 

Remember Jesus promised 

“Seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened”!!! 

(Matthew 7:7)