Jesus' ministry is what we will be dealing with particularly today. And as I said before, the synopeic gospel has given rid of us occasioned the right over 500 pages of theological material. We're going to try to cover it in one day. So be definitely a survey, trying to highlight a few of the major factors for us in New Testament theology. I want to begin by reminding you that Isaiah spoke of the ministry of Christ. Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. The day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn. Well, there's more there, but Jesus doesn't quote all of that when he begins his public ministry in Nazareth, and where he explains his first real public rejection also. You remember he went to Nazareth according to Luke 4, 16. He took the scroll to Prophet Isaiah, found the place where he was written, the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, to cover a site for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. That's where he stops. He did not go on to say, as I mentioned, the day of the vengeance, to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on their crown of beauty instead of ashes. You may wonder why Jesus didn't take the whole quote, but he quoted enough to get these people's minds centered on the prophecy of Isaiah, and that he could say, today, this is fulfilled in your years, and before you stands the fulfillment of the isianic prophecy. Well, that's what we have to consider, this ministry of Jesus, in fulfillment of the prophetic ministry of Moses and the prophets, and how he himself, prophesied concerning aspects of his own ministry, but, first of all, let us pray. Lord our God, we thank you that we have this opportunity, again, to be here, together, to study your word, and to seek to understand together, again, what it is that you did, ministering when you were on earth, Lord Jesus, and what you've done for us even today. Bless us together, keep sin from us, give us joy in our work for Jesus' sake, I'm in. Well, we begin with the nativity of Jesus, and I think Voss really outdid himself when he dealt with the nativity. He talks, first of all, and I'm going to ask you to take a good look at this section, I'm warning you, I'm suggesting you take a good look at that section. Revelation connected with the nativity. He points out, first of all, the difference between referring to this as the nativity, as over against the incarnation. What's the difference? What can you be interpreted to say when you speak of the nativity of Jesus? Is there anything miraculous in the idea of nativity? No, it simply speaks of his human birth, where, when circumstances, etc., that's usually included in nativity. But the term nativity is not used nor is the theological term incarnation. John stresses the incarnation and the word became flesh, because the three synaptics don't do that. They tell about how he was born, and he goes on to point out the pieces pertaining to this group, which are aspects, and he calls it, of the nativity, but he wants you to think in coronation or theology when you think, speak, nativity. And then on the top of page 306 in my edition, he refers to the different events that are recorded, and then he gives us eight characteristic features, and I just want to quickly review these. First of all, the nativity ties us in so closely and adjusts us so closely to the Old Testament. There is a continuity of motive expression. The nativity, all these things that are recorded concerning Jesus' birth, just throws you right back into the Old Testament, and it shows how the prophecies were, indeed, detailed in prophecy, like Born and Bethlehem effort to Judah, and this is now fulfilled. The specifics are there. Then he goes on to show that there is a perceptible intent to fit new things, the new, that had not yet transpired in the Old Testament, they are now beautifully fit into the organic progressive revelation. There is a lot of new revelation here, and the third, this new revelation, carries a uniquely and specific redemptive character. This is a company, first of all, by giving it both in the objective announcement by God, and in the subjective apprehension, those that address the background of a state of sin and unworthiness, and the corresponding signature of grace and salvation. Sin and unworthiness, grace and salvation are brought together in beautiful tandem in the scene of the nativity. In the fourth place, there is an absence of all political references to the people that for whom he comes. Oh, there's political reference to the setting, it was in the time of Querenius, it was in the setting of the Roman Empire, but nothing about political fulfillment. This, the emphasis, is on this redemptive spiritual character, and as Jesus works it out later on, how he comes to save his people from their enemies, from their sin, that's where the emphasis is, not on the political institution. In the fifth place, there is no legalism evident in this. Where he wants to stress is, Israel is first of all to fulfill the law, then by manner of recompense the Messiah with all their pertains, pertains to him will appear. One might say that was the emphasis of the Old Testament. Israel had to live up to the covenant demands, and the Messiah would come. Israel did not live up to the covenant demands. The Messiah came anyway, and enables people to live up to the covenant demands. So the Messiah comes in spite of failure, and he comes to enable us to not fail, and the nativity brings that out. And then the closeness of the bond between the Old Testament is shown through the prolongation into these early revelations of two lines of ancient eschatological prophecy. The day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah, these were seemingly two great lines in the Old Testament. The Messiah will come, the Messiah will come. The day of the Lord will come. Now with the coming of Christ with the Messiah is the day of the Lord come, has the day of the Lord come? There are two lines that you might be able to see is quite distinctly separate, really seem to converge here. When Christ comes, that's the day of the Lord. That initiates the day of the Lord if you want to think of it in the great eschatological fulfillment. That's the beginning of that last period, the age to come. And he spends quite a bit of time on that point, but there's one more characteristic feature that comes through the nativity, tying it in the Old Testament. And that is what he points out is there are certain intimations of the universalism, the destiny to include other nations that the gospel now includes. Simion speaks of the salvation prepared by God as a light to light the Gentiles. And the announcement to Mary, the child is set for the fallen rising again of many in Israel and is for a sign that shall be spoken against. Yay, it intimates that a painful experience described as a sword piercing Mary's heart will contribute somehow to all these effects. That is, it will include the illumination for the Gentiles. So if you look at these different factors, the political institution is not even mentioned. Keeping the law is not mentioned, but there's such a strong redemptive significance here and he comes to fulfill so many of the other covenant promises. He comes indeed as a royal one to establish or to bring into full a reality the reign of God and he does that coming as a babe as the incarnate one. Three other factors that Mr. Voss speaks about and I review this because I think that these factors are so important for us getting the setting of the New Testament revelation. And he deals with this on page 303, 309, 310, three elements offering an explanation heaven thought of. That is how God shaped the occurrence of this event. Three ways you can look at it and all three from my perspective are surely correct. God stopped the flow of sin from mother to child, the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. I mean that's stressed through the gospels. No one could point a finger at him other than the Jews with point of intermission. He's a sinner because he eats with sinners. He's a sinner because he doesn't keep the old scribal Pharisee clause. But he who was without sin became sin for us. How was the flow of sin stopped? This was through the miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit. So that our mediator is indeed there for the sinless one. Secondly, there is no human paternity. How do you account for that by that same unique conception by the Holy Spirit? We have a divine Christ. He is God. God is His Father. Don't doubt it. It's clearly stated. It will take all kinds of gymnastic exegesis. And who knows what kind of hermeneurics to try to get out of this much as a lot of liberals try it. Hey, we have a divine mediator. He is God. And we know too that the Jews finally said he makes himself equal to God. What to make yourself equal to God is to make yourself God. He must die. He blasphems. Oh, the Jews understood well enough. But read the nativity accounts. He is God. But at the same time, in the third place, he is human. He was conceived by a woman. He was carried through the period of gestation for nine months. He was born as every one of us. Male and female have been born of a woman. He is human. Supernaturalism all the way through. Emphasize just the one and you miss a tremendous amount of what is so important about our Messiah. The monophysites in the earlier days, especially that that emphasis on Christ being divine in the Egyptian, South Arabic areas there, they emphasized that he was divine and that at best, his human nature was like a cloak. He could take it off. When I did my doctor work, translating sermons preached in written by a man named Jacob of Sarug. It was interesting how in his sermons, he was always squirming with the Old Testament prophecies and with the nativity scenes and trying to prove that Christ's humanity was not a real humanity. When he died, he did not die. Because he was God, but God could not die. But on the cross, he took off his human cloak. And he hung their naked into senses. But he was not really human. Look, study these three passages. He is sinless. He is God. He is man. You've got to combine these three important factors as you approach this. Don't ask any questions about this. Don't start saying, I'm going to doubt it till it's proven to me. The passages are so clear on this. His nativity is indeed a supernatural event. He, the son of God, becomes flesh. Sinless man, nevertheless, under all the weaknesses and failings of human nature, the result of sin. Then we go on to discuss his baptism. And I asked you to pay attention to this. To this, a lad deals with John the Baptist. Voss deals with it too. Voss's discussion, as I said, is quite theological. Why was Jesus baptized? That continues to be the big question. If he was God and he's one with the Spirit, why was he baptized? And no new Testament theologian is going to fully satisfy you. And I'm not going to be able to satisfy you either with an answer to all the questions that can come up in your mind. But there are, definitely, three factors that are involved here. His baptism, by means of his baptism, that all righteousness might be fulfilled, was his way of really identifying with the sinful people for whom he came. As they needed baptism, so he, by baptism, identified with them. I think Lad and Voss both refer to this. Because Jesus absolute insistence on having the people see that he publicly identified with the people in need. He was one with them. At the same time, the Spirit of God throughout the whole Old Testament dispensation was the equipping Spirit. When the Spirit came upon one, the King was able to do his royal duties. When the Spirit came upon the prophets, they were able to speak in various ways, and they received the Word. When men were anointed, they were equipped. The Spirit became the great enabling force. Now Jesus from His human nature point of view, surely needed the equipping of the Spirit. He comes to us as a human being, and the tremendous task that awaited him, surely called for every possibility that he had for being the great redeemer, the great victorious one. So that is an aspect. I think there are theological questions here that we could spend a couple hours on, and be great to just have a seminar discussing this. Why did Jesus need the Spirit from this equipping point of view? Thirdly, in his baptism, he gets the divine sanction. This is my beloved son, here he, him. That, when the Spirit descended, there is also the voice. The Spirit in the Word comes together, and sets the Christ equipped and sanctioned by the very king of heaven and earth. God Himself, listen to him. He is sanctioned as the Messiah. But here are three factors that are very definitely to be considered. You may have others, and you may want to think long and deeply about this. What's unfortunate is that from our modern point of view, is that we don't find more discussion about Jesus' baptism when we go on reading through the Bible. The Spirit is there, and He says when, as we read here from Luke 4, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And because He has anointed me, Jesus refers to His baptism, and He calls it an anointing. No doubt about it. But beyond that, we don't have an awful lot of discussion about this in the New Testament. We have a lot of reference to what the Holy Spirit does, and how the Holy Spirit is so absolutely important for regeneration and to give us entrance to the kingdom of heaven. And how He's going to unite a little bit more about that later. I wish the New Testament gave us a little bit more on that, but I can't find it. You can find it right in your little essay, and I'll give you an extra five points. All right. Now, as we go on to the next factor here, Jesus' temptation, I find that Mr. Boss gives us a rather unique little statement with what we usually call the temptation of Jesus, and this is on page 330, at first seems to lie like in a erratic block in the four-field of His public ministry. What a strange situation. Jesus has been baptized. Jesus has been equipped. Jesus has received the sanction of the Heavenly Father. Jesus has identified Himself with sinful people need a baptism. Why all of a sudden this strange experience of being driven by this very Spirit into the desert? Well, He calls it what looks like an erratic block, but it's interesting also that He puts the temptation of Jesus in quote. Because Boss and correctly so prefers to speak of the probation, tying it with Adam and Eve's experience. You know, we speak of the probation of Adam and Eve, but was He driven into the desert because He liked Adam and Eve was in the same situation and condition? No. Yes. No, and yes. He is God. He is sanctioned by the Father. He is sinless. Adam and Eve are sinless, too. But Adam and Eve having been given a great royal commission to be God's vice-geron on earth, to represent Him, to have dominion, to rule, and to bring out the great wonders of the creation. They failed when confronted by the devil. That's the first Adam. Now, what does the second Adam do? The second Adam is sinless and yet He is burdened with sin because He carries our sin. He is under the curse because He came in His baptism. He was identified with us who were under the curse. So it's not the same. Well, it is the same in some respects. Jesus in His bath, in His temptation, in His probation had to show that He was able to throw off and be victor over against the prince of the parasite kingdom. The devil simply wanted Jesus to identify with fallen humanity in more ways than one. He had identified with them in that He was human. If only He could get Him to be identified as a sin for human. And then the great parasite kingdom would have no further opposition and the parasite kingdom could take over the whole cosmic kingdom. And it would be with the rain supreme and there would be no salvation. Confunding the devil, there in the wilderness, the basic battle was fought. Yes, on the cross, we speak of Him bearing the sin. There He bore the wrath of God. And the wilderness, He bore the wrath of the devil. I'm going to put it that way. He had to face the devil head on there. It wasn't in a paradise situation. That's different too. It was in a desert situation. He had no food. He may have been weak due to hunger. Show that these angels are at your command, throw yourself down. Show that you're the king after all and I'll give you all these nations. Are the devil tempts him? Boss and lad both discuss this from various ways and these temptations have all been interpreted in various ways. I'm not going to tell you which one of these fine interpretations you should take. Try to include as much of it as you possibly can but keep the basic factor in mind. The second atom takes the place of the first atom. As the first atom fell, the second atom had to indicate that though he was burdened and under the curse, though he was in a desert situation weak physically, challenged us to his kingship. He confronted the devil and told him what the word of God says. Is that what Jesus did? The word says you should not live by anything but the word that comes from the Lord's mouth. And he used the word of God to put the devil in his place. There's a tremendous encouraging lesson for us in that too. If we want to be Christ like, use the word of God when the temptations and the struggles and the trials come. Well, he came from the desert, incarnate baptized a victor. He came out of the desert a victor over the parasite kingdom. He proved that he was the one who could indeed usher in the kingdom and destroy the powers of the parasite kingdom. He met the enemy head on and he made himself available to him and he came out the victor. Now, this ends the first epoch of what I call the various covenant of epochs of revelation. The initiation of the New Testament covenant, the New Covenant has been initiated Christ's birth, Christ's baptism, Christ's temptation. And the look for when we read about, he goes to his hometown, that's where in a sense the second epoch begins and that's where he begins this preaching ministry. And he begins this preaching ministry by announcing the kingdom. They're all in close terms, the kingdom. Now people have made distinctions between the redemptive kingdom and the cosmic kingdom. Jesus makes no such distinctions. He speaks of the kingdom. The kingdom, later Paul does too, he speaks of the kingdom. There's no emphasis on an institution, on a royal institution. There's no emphasis on the domain, as we mentioned before. In the Old Testament, we see there are these four factors. There's the king and there's the throne and there's the reign and there's the domain. When Jesus teaches the kingdom, the domain does not take an institutional dimension, a political dimension of any kind. It doesn't take a legalistic dimension. When Jesus comes, he doesn't speak about his throne. No reference to the domain from any perspective, nor to the throne. But he does speak about himself and his reign. And you'll find that lad and boss and king and ridder boss and these other people that have dealt with this concept of the kingdom, they all emphasize. Jesus comes as the king and he exercises the power of the king. He comes exercising regal authority, regal power, regal prerogatives and he brings regal blessings. He comes a king, exercising kingship without emphasis on the throne or the domain as he preaches. When he introduces himself, he doesn't use the word kingdom and look, he does. Matthew introduces him and he came preaching the kingdom. Mark says the same. But what Jesus put very much emphasis on was the spiritual nature and boss stresses this too. He wanted to imbue the people with the spiritual nature of the kingdom that he came to bring into fuller, greater reality, bringing himself and his regal authority influence and blessing had to be seen first of all in the broader perspective of spirituality rather than physicality. Literally, Jesus preached in the second place entrance into the kingdom. How do you enter the kingdom? Repent. Turned about this, preached it. Jesus preached it. But his emphasis was like in look for on presenting himself and that people humble themselves and receive him. But that in the context of obedience and faith, obey me, repent, obey me, believe in me. And thus you enter the kingdom, thus you come into relationship with the king and come under his beneficent reign, under his authority, under his power and receive his blessing. Yes, repent, obey and believe, believe in obey, trust in obey. But there's no other way we love to sing it. One of the first songs I taught my kids. And you know what the second song was that I taught my kids? It wasn't Jesus loves me. Maybe I made a mistake. But we sang that you know kids learned that Sunday school. The second song I taught the kids was take time to be holy, speak off with the Lord. That became our family theme song along with trust and obey. When we started the day, we always at the breakfast table sang. One, two, four verses depending if we hit one minute or four minutes. Yeah, take time to be holy, speak off with the Lord. And every time I sing that now I kind of get a lump of my throat thinking of the beautiful time hearing my kids sing it. So a couple of my kids have beautiful voices. They can sing nicely and then they blend and they learn to sing the different parts. Boy, we had a taste of heaven going off into the day. And then at night, trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. Kids, did you have it today? Did you find what trusting and obeying did for you? Now I guess we could have used that for the morning too, but take time to be holy. Just sing to fit our family situation a little better. You know, that's where Jesus came teaching. He came telling us that take time to be holy, speak off with the Lord and all things abide with him. Whatever the circumstance and life may be, he wondered a holy people. He wanted to sanctify people. He wanted to people that could enter into the closest fellowship with him, obedience and faith leads to not just righteousness, but it leads to sanctification and how Jesus did emphasize that and that introduces me to life in the kingdom. That's where Jesus preached and we know that the Beatitudes are there and I don't like it when my fellow Christians talk about the Beatitudes. There's a kind of a legalistic document for for the kingdom. You know, I'm referring to you don't well, you're just as well of not knowing, but the Beatitudes aren't rules. They're guidelines for kingdom living, for trusting and obeying that your life may be rich for and blessed within the kingdom. These are guidelines for the kingdom. They don't replace the Ten Commandments. They give a fuller expression to what the old covenant requirements were for living in fellowship with the Lord. And then there's that prayer. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. The Lord's prayer is there. And then the life of the kingdom is so beautifully set forth in many of the parables. Oh yes, the parables teaches about the character of the kingdom and so on, but most of the parables give you some insight into how to live under King Jesus. And what to expect under His reign. The many of the parables set forth the tremendous tension will have. Not all parables are the same, but that's one of the factors. Jesus preaching also preached His own death and resurrection. We're going to talk more about that Friday and next Monday, His resurrection, but you take Matthew. Who do this? Who do people say that I am? You are this? You are that? Who do you say that I am? You are the Christ, Matthew 16. All flesh and blood does not reveal this to you, Peter. I will build my church and how is he going to build this church by going to the cross? And then he preaches his death and resurrection, right after he said that he's going to build this church. He preaches his death and resurrection, but he also preaches the great and glorious outcome of all this, the great consummation. Mark 16, the last part, has been indeed a debated passage in Scripture, but we have Matthew 24 and 25 also. And that gives us the great eschatological perspective. So Jesus preached Himself. He preached the kingdom. He preached life in the kingdom. He preached the atonement that He Himself would bring the resurrection and the great and glorious consummation. All that the Old Testament prophets had preached as covenant promises, as covenant insurances. Jesus preached them and says, and in me these will all be fulfilled. So when He sits at the communion table, the first communion table He can speak about, this now is the blood of the covenant that will seal to you all the Old Testament promises. I'll make these a reality for you here and now. Have a few other points that we got to briefly touch on and the humans we have left here. Jesus came and He worked miracles. He established by performing miracles the blessed reality that He is Lord. He is God. The miracles were confirming signs of the kingdom. Remember the kingdom now emphasis on the personality on Jesus Himself and His reign. The miracles were not first of all for those who were benefited by this miracle or that miracle. The miracles, as I understand them, were there as divine attestations of the presence of the kingdom of God. Jesus performed miracles because He was God and He was king and He was Lord over nature. He was Lord over the satanic empire and He was Lord over all the results of sin, misery, death, sickness. He is Lord over all of it. He could say that He was but people being weak, unbelieving in certain circumstances, Jesus selected. The unique situations and specific people to prove that He was the king over creation is first miracle according to John, the turning of water into wine. That's a miracle in the area of creation. That's not in a sense a redemptive miracle. I've heard people trying to somehow not get redemption out of that. Well, yes, eventually, you know, way down the line my conclusion can be and so Jesus could prove that He could be Lord over death but He first establishes Himself as a Lord over creation. He comes the king of creation. He comes the Lord of nature. He comes as the one who can control the minute aspects of our everyday life. He does a beautiful situation in married situations. He does the turning water into wine but He establishes His Lordship and so don't preach the wedding and don't preach well, is it proper to drink wine or not? That's not the point of that of that miracle at all. Jesus establishes His Lordship, His first miracle. He is the king of the cosmos. He's got the cosmos under control. He has but the word, but to speak the word, fill those jugs with water and wine is there. He is the Lord over the parasite kingdom. He had one the victory over the devil. The demons are subjects of Satan, boss base three, three, one, but by the spirit of God, who is so close to identifying by the spirit of God, He challenges every demon, that challenges Him or that we're breaking a record of human life. Get out! And the people were amazed. Hey, the evil spirits obey Him. They shouldn't have been amazed at that if they'd known their Old Testament scriptures. But He demonstrated that the parasite kingdom's time was done. He had but to speak the word and the subjects of the devil, the emissaries and servants of the parasite kingdom were at His command. After His domination, He could do with them as He sovereignly willed and then the results of sin in our life. And so often the effects of the devil working in tandem with our sin, sickness and death. Jesus came, working miracles, proving that He could heal the lame. He could heal the sick. He could bring the widow's son back to life. He could bring a brother Lazarus back to life. He was Lord. He's King! His kingship over the physical and over the spiritual domain. His miracles demonstrate that. We've talked about miracles before in this class in the setting of Elijah. He's still King, class. Remember I told you he was King at the bedside of my little boy that the doctor gave up? He's Lord. He's Lord and he carries out His sovereign will to establish His Lordship. He did more. He spoke of the church. He didn't get details concerning the church, but He said, I will build my church, Matthew 16, verse 18. How did He do that? Peter, James, John, Andrew. He didn't say, enter the kingdom. He didn't say, sign on the dotted line and become citizens of an institution, but He did. He said, follow me. He established a relationship between Himself as the head and His followers. They had identified with Jesus Christ the King, the victor over Satan, the Lord over the parasite kingdom. I identified with Me and become co-rainers with Me, co-workers with Me. Go out disciples and the disciples were given power to perform miracles to indicate that they were indeed part of the kingdom. And He builds His church. He builds His community of believers, His community of servants, His community of fellow God appointed people in this world. That's what the church is. The church is not the kingdom, but the church that Jesus builds. There's an integral part of the kingdom in a broader dimension. The church can be looked upon as part of the domain, but it's more than that. The church are the believers that are intimately united with the king. And who goes forth in His name, exercising whatever they can by word and deed, the royal prerogatives of King Jesus, speaking the word of King Jesus, the Redeemer, doing the deeds of mercy and goodness that Jesus the King, the great Redeemer did. The idea of the mediator does not come through in the synoptic gospels as far as the term is concerned. And the Messiah, you are the Christ, the Christ, that word comes through a number of times, but the synopics are so clear in setting forth. The Jesus is the Christ, the promised mediator. He is the seed of the woman who comes to carry out the covenant, the man he administers the covenant as the kingdom is established. The covenant, by implication, all that he said, all that he did indicated that he was God's covenant agent. He was more, he was the Lord of the covenant, but he was also the atoning priest of the covenant, for he said, this is the blood of the covenant that has been shed for all of you. Now the term bereaved doesn't come through too often. And the New Testament comes through often, the book of Hebrews, because down the line of ways when these people were so confused, they had to get right down to specifics. This is the ear of the New Covenant, but Jesus introduces it when he says, or refers to it very clearly, this is the blood of the New Covenant, all that I am doing. All that I have said and done, I am doing as mediator of the covenant. I am carrying out the administrative dimension, but I am bringing forth all the blessings, and I am carrying the curse of the covenant by the shedding of my blood. The three concepts are their class. They tie in together the Old Testament, and they form the heart and the golden cable, the kingdom, the mediator, and as mediator, he administers the kingdom through God's appointed means, the covenant. The three concepts, kingdom, covenant, mediator, they form the golden cable that unites the New Testament and that leads us right through, but it ties us in separately with the Old Testament. There's a new dispensation, the New Covenant.