The Life of Christ - Lesson 1

Luke 1:1f. We will spend most of our time in Luke. Luke is very detailed, he's chronological, and he is certain.

PROPHECIES AND PARENTS OF JESUS
Application: Mercy

Memory verse (May not use since this is first lesson): Matt 1:18


Prophecy
Our topic is the birth of Jesus, so do you think we should start with his birth? Nope. Let's talk about the OT... the OT prophecies.
What is a prophet? One who ALWAYS tells the truth. (Deut 18:22) They are specific and many times speak of future events.
There are in order of our specific they are:
Deut 18:15
Moses spoke about Jesus
Is 42:1
Jesus was prophesied to receive the Spirit
Is 53:3-10
Jesus was prophesied to suffer
Is 7:14
Jesus was prophesied to be born of a virgin
Is 11:2
Jesus was prophesied to be born from Jesse, receive the Spirit, and judge righteously
Micah 5:2
Jesus was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem
Along with these, Isaiah prophecies at least four times that the Messiah will come through the tribe of Judah.
There were about 400 years after Malachi until John the Baptist came on the scene. Period of prophetic silence. No judges, no prophets. Their situation was similar to ours. They only had the Scriptures (the OT). At the time of Jesus they had two leading sects: Pharisees and Sadducees. The Levites did their duties in the temple. They expected the Messiah to come into the world and change everything.


Joseph and Mary
Luke 1:5-22
Zechariah was a Levite. It was his turn to go into the holy place in the temple to burn incense.
Luke 1:19-23
This was the first miracle since the days of the prophets! People noticed this. Elizabeth became pregnant. People knew John was going to be very special.
Luke 1:26-38
Mary also visited by Gabriel while she is engaged to Joseph.
She's not married nor engaged, but betrothed. How do we do it? How they did it: Betrothal like a formal engagement where the bride's parents officially give the bride away and have a celebration. They are unofficially married. The wedding which would take place some time after completes their marriage. Mary becomes pregnant while she and Joseph are betrothed. This presents a problem for Mary.
Deut 22:20
Under OT law, Mary should have been stoned.
So how did Joseph react to all this?
Matt 1:18-25
Joseph was a righteous man in two ways: he loved Mary and didn't want to punish her, and he obeyed God by marrying her.

Who's your daddy? Who's Jesus' father? (not Joseph!)


Next week's memory verse: Luke 1:31-33