Epaggelia

Jesus grew up in Nazareth (Luke 4:16) in a Jewish community, but there were Greeks, Romans and Samaritans mingling as minorities around Him. The ironic facet of his neighbourhood is that the smallest minority of Romans wielded power oppressively and Jews with a Greek or Samaritan culture would sympathize with the Romans’ government, taxation and benefits. Many Jews in Nazareth would have mixed ancestry with neighbouring Greeks and Samaritans. Pure Jewish pedigree was not common in northern Israel and marriage itself was not esteemed & respected in Nazareth as it would be in the south and Jerusalem. Divorce was common!

Nazareth was a small village of farmers and 4 miles north was a growing town called Sepphoris.
Nazareth’s Synagogue would have been a sort of refuge for Jewish piety in the face of a community swamped by foreign values threatening the sanctity of God’s people. This would one day be the scene of hypocrisy and hate, which would quickly turn into a miraculous escape for Jesus, Luke 4:28-30. During His childhood, the Romans built an armoury and Herod enlarged Sepphoris. Joseph the legal guardian of Jesus would indeed have worked there. The historian Josephus called Sepphoris “the ornament of Galilee”. According to tradition, Sepphoris was the home of Joachim and Anna, the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. If true, it could also mean that Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth, perhaps while working on a building in Sepphoris, met the girl Mary and took her back to Nazareth as his bride. Jesus may have worked in Sepphoris for a length of time, so there is reason to believe that He was well acquainted with its predominantly Greek and Roman culture. When He used the word “hypocrite”, He may have been thinking of the meaning the word had in the theater at Sepphoris, “one acting under a mask,” (Mt. 7:5), the practice in dramatic productions. After Jesus died, and the Temple was destroyed, Sepphoris grew in importance as headquarters for the Sanhedrin. Later on around AD200 Sepphoris saw the codifying of the Mishnah. This was an attempt to establish the oral tradition of the Jewish Elders and their interpretation of the Old Testament, which Jesus had previously challenged.

Zealots & Tax Collectors: No two groups could be more at odds with each other. Zealots had the method of stealth and violence to disrupt Roman rule in Israel, and their strongholds were in Galilee where Jesus grew up. They were Jews which hated paying taxes to Rome and resented the Roman political system surrounding them. However, Tax Collectors were usually Jews which had lost hope in Israel’s future, and saw cooperation with Rome as an essential ally in defence of attacks from Persia and other enemies. Jesus would have seen both of these people, and it made him aware of the total opposite views God’s people held. While Jesus began to seek and save the lost, he would have faced the anger & frustration these two groups experienced in their debate. Luke 6:15-16, Mt. 10:3-4. Proves that Jesus faced the fact of deep personal convictions which cause conflict with brethren, but being resolved in God’s loving words in action and powerful truths taught.

Pharisees & Sadducees: Judaism flourished with various rabbinic theories about several types of Messiahs coming. Jesus grew up facing public confusion about His own type of Messiahship. He would have rarely, met a Sadducee, because they were the rich minority, elite in the Jewish Temple where Jesus probably met them first. But the Pharisees were almost every where (apx 7000 in AD80), Jesus would have met them as a boy. There could have been a few in Nazareth itself, and from the legalistic attitude they took toward Jesus returning to read in the Synagogue, it looks like they indeed were influential in Nazareth, Lk. 4:28-30.  Jesus would have known that the greatest strength of His faith was the resurrection, (Gen. 22:5-14) but even with that accepted amongst Pharisees, He did not have a favourable opinion of them, Mt.23:26-29, Jn. 8:52-59.

Faith in Christ, is a gift, we receive it when we hear God’s word, Romans 10:17, it is measured out to us by God the Father of spirits, Rom. 12:3, Heb. 12:9. It is our privilege to maintain and use the faith.  We should be praying to help our faith grow, Jude v20. Maybe the best place to grow in the Faith is in what the Hebrew writer said in, Hebrews 6:1-12, so we do not assume God is going to do it all for us, but that we are convinced cooperation is essential, if we don’t realize we have a part in growing our faith we can become, complacent or confused.  Heb. 6:1-ff, “Repentance from dead works”, “Faith toward God”, “Baptisms”, “Laying on of hands”, “Resurrection of the dead” and “Eternal Judgment” are all fundamentals of the faith from God’s perspective.  But from our perspective we might consider other subjects to be more fundamental, like, “What is the nature of the Church” and “Creation v Evolution”, or “Prayer”.  We have this dilemma because of our background being Gentile instead of Jewish, and our environment being 20 centuries removed from the ancient church’s beginning. God wants us to grow in the right direction with His priorities, being our priorities. This is one reason why we have so many ‘faiths’ even in the church.  A personal faith which is strong and having the same united priorities that God’s word has, is what God wants. 

Whatever our background, we need to be emphasizing the importance of prayer in every attempt to study the Bible. Eph. 3:16-20. Two different subjects in faith we need to be aware of, is this:

Facts of the Faith (from God), Acts 6:7, Jude 3. 

Feelings in our Faith (from prayer), Romans 10:1-5, Acts 15:36-40, 2Timothy 4:11.

Both are essential and good, but in this lesson, we will deal mainly with facts, because they will help shape our prayers to influence our feelings.  An example of this, is how we make decisions about our wardrobe.  For one Christian there is no sin in wearing a particular item of clothing in public, but to another Christian it is clearly a sin.  Why? Because our feelings in our faith are not always in unison with The Faith in God’s word.  Remember, we humans can easily pray about the wrong things. James 4:3.  From Peter we learn how even leaders in the church can suffer from not keeping the Fundamentals of The Faith in unison with our own personal faith. Galatians 2:9-13.   Remember these things that help us grow our faith…1. Your real teacher is the Holy Spirit, Matthew 23:8, 1John 2:20-27.

2. Devote time to Pray sincerely for God’s will in your reading, Col. 4:2, 1Tim. 4:15.

3. Consider God’s power in His word, Mat. 22:29.

4. Balance your interest in both the knowledge and the graciousness of Jesus, 2Peter 3:18, Matthew 23:23.

5. Pray, requesting God to increase your faith in your reading, Jude v20.

6. Patience is important, let the Bible interpret the Bible. Deut. 29:29, Dan. 8:1-14, 26, Rev. 1:1-3, 22:6-20.

7. Daily be ready to use “His Name” in facing temptation, praying to win, Mt. 6:12-15.

Jesus had Scriptures to access from the local Synagogue and he indeed would have had Scriptures at home, maybe not complete scrolls, but surely large portions, Luke 4:16. As Jesus grew in learning how to read, he would naturally have insight with both Mary & Joseph praying and studying with Jesus as a boy. Every Jewish child in His day learnt their alphabet using the Psalms. Since God’s Spirit was the author of the Scriptures and the apostle Paul taught that it is God’s will for us to pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to help us grow in understanding His will, Eph. 1:17-18, we should find it easy to accept that Jesus would grow naturally with the best interest and insight in His education of the Scriptures. The Scriptures certainly were the central focus for education in every Jewish child’s life. This became glaringly obvious when Jesus lost all track of time in his discussions with the Rabbis & Priests in the Temple at age 12. This means for all of us, mere mortals, that we are not at a disadvantage, as He learnt in the same manner we learn, with no supernatural powers. His only advantage were his godly parents who were blessed with the Spirit’s presence and much prayer.

The motivation of Joseph & Mary to educate Him was different than ours, but still, they had only the same basic tool, God’s word & Spirit. Luke 2: 40 & 52 shows Jesus grew naturally in three areas: 

 “Wisdom”;  To the Jews, wisdom meant knowledge of facts and how to apply them correctly in your lifestyle, 1Kg. 4:33-34.  Godly wisdom is the ability to recognize spiritual truths in physical facts and then apply them to your lifestyle. Paul understood this concept of wisdom, 1Cor.1:17-25. When Jesus grew strong in wisdom, this included learning skill in carpentry. Actually the word used for “Carpenter” in reference to Jesus is generic, used to describe all kinds of fabricators, but most usually denoted woodworking. In His day, the biggest need and interest for woodworkers lay in developing trusses for roofs, Mk. 6:3, Mt. 13:55. A wise roof builder learnt the importance of getting the foundation right, Mt. 7:24-27. Joseph must have taught Jesus this. His wisdom would have been in math, labor and Scriptures. Jesus taught his disciples to trust His Spirit’s work on their heart in order to share this wisdom, Luke 21:15.

 “Stature”; The physical appearance of Jesus isn’t important, (Lk 19:3 & Jn. 9:23), but the fact of his maturity is a fundamental issue for our faith in a Savior that can empathize with our weaknesses, Heb.4:15. Jesus was a man with all the emotions and problems of any man. He remained celibate because of His conviction that He was not only the Messianic Son of David, but also the Son of God, establishing an eternal priesthood on earth, needing no successor to inherit His role & position, Heb. 7:1-3. Today, All Christians live to work out a priesthood, headed by Christ in the Heavens, 1Pt. 2:9. Jesus sees this and explains it in Matthew 25:31-46. Our charitable sacrifices benefit His Kingdom.

“Grace” with God & “Grace” with humanity. Growing in grace is something every Christian should want to do, 2Tim. 2:1, 2Pt. 3:18. These texts are instructing us to grow to trust more in God’s nature as full of forgiveness and generosity. Luke 2:35 states Mary will have a sword pierce through her heart and it’s seen in at least two ways. Firstly, Jn. 2:1-5, Jesus draws a public line of distance and difference between his Sonship and Lordship with Mary, yet Mary very graciously and immediately accepts submission to her own Son. Secondly, Mk. 3:33-35 must have been hurtful, but she still supported Him, even when His brothers considered Him insane, Mk. 3:21, and of course she was at the cross, where her pain must have been unbearable, but graciously endured all His rejection. Mary’s gracious character must have helped Jesus as a boy in learning how to be gracious. Grace is the most important word in the Bible.

Matthew 2:1-12, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” At first they had no idea of Micah 5:2, showing that God had used astronomy (not astrology) to speak to the Gentiles. They were searching for Jesus in the wrong place, where are we searching for Him? Will we persevere in searching for him? What affect did meeting Jesus have on them? More importantly what affect does He have on us? King Herod said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”… When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  

Whether or not the Magi understood the significance of the gifts, matters not to us. What does matter is that God helps us understand the statement made in the giving of these gifts. The gift of gold speaks of God’s intention for Jesus to exercise divine authority as King of Israel, their Temple had masses of gold even in it’s origin as the Tabernacle and in His day, Herod’s Temple was adorned with gold. The gift of frankincense speaks of God’s desire for the entire world to recognize his Kingship, see Mal. 1:11.  Myrrh has many uses, embalming, perfumery, and as a sedative, but in being given to Baby Jesus in view of His Kingship, it was certainly in the mind of God to indicate that His Kingship would be holy and pointed to his eventual High Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, Heb. 7:1-3, who was both a priest and king, mysteriously with no beginning or end. Myrrh’s role in Israel’s priesthood was a key ingredient for their anointing oil being holy to God, Ex. 30:23.  These gifts very likely played apart in educating Mary & Joseph, concerning the type of Messiah Jesus would grow up to be, emphasizing His spiritual power and not the physical.

Having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their own country by another way. The eastern Magi were ancient astronomers, and probably were familiar with Israel’s Messianic hope stemming from Daniel’s work in Babylon centuries beforehand. Our calendar devised in 1582 A.D. is off the mark by approximately 4 years placing Christ’s birth in either 4 B.C. or 5 B.C. and placing his death in 30 A.D. The Magi’s visit was about 2 years after this date, inferred by Mt. 2:16.

There were two journeys taken after Jesus was publicly known.  1.The Magi’s journey home.  2.The Saviour’s journey to Egypt. Both were more arduous than their first journey, but very beneficial. For the Magi, a partial gospel was spread farther east. For Jesus, His life was spared to make the gospel complete and fulfill prophecy from Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The establishment and anger of Herod was foreordained by God, showing again that God can overturn nations and kingdoms, so that those whom he loves can accomplish His will anywhere. 

How does meeting Jesus in our life, prepare or effect us for a new journey.  Is our new life in Christ, more arduous than our old life in the world? Jesus came to give us an abundant life now, not just in the next world, Jn. 10:10.

sunday’s sermon outline

Fear;  Pilate lost the battle against Satan’s weapon of fear, which he used through the enemies of Jesus against Pilate. The fear of a lie becoming truth is real, and we must face it with the truth of God’s word, Jn. 19:11. We will meet the discouragement that can come from the fear of this world’s threats, trials and temptations, Mk. 13:12-13.  Our Couragecan be found  in His power,  2Tm. 1:7. Please read Mark 12:24, our mistakes are often caused by our ignorance of his word and His power.

Ignorance; All the Roman Soldiers that nailed Jesus to the cross lost the battle of overcoming evil with good, Lk 23:34. We should grow in this matter of ignorance in God’s will for our lifestyle, 2Pt. 3:18 & 1Tm. 4:15.   Imitate Jesus by feeding on His word and growing in His grace & knowledge, Mt. 4:1-4. 

Greed;  Ananias & Saphira lost the battle of pride, they were more concerned about how they looked in their giving as a Christian, than how God looked upon their hearts.  Our Honesty with God in prayer is often a cure for pride and greed for a greater reputation, Acts 4:32-5:11. Faith & Love is the victory, 1Cr. 16:14 & 1Jn. 5:4.

Have you won the victory of overcoming evil in your life with His goodness, His strength, His knowledge and His love?  Or do you rely on your own goodness, strength, knowledge and love?

Her position was almost as low in ancient Jewish society as any citizen could be. Only criminals were lower. A female, uneducated, poor and unmarried. When she became pregnant outside of wedlock, she could easily be mistaken for worse than a sinner, rather an iniquitous lawbreaker. However, she proved to be blessed and shared that blessedness. She however was not sinless, nor was she a perfect mother. She once went a whole day without even making sure of her 12 yr old child’s whereabouts, Lk. 2:43-44. But, her faith was imbedded in her respect for God.  See Luke 1:38.  Her first question to Gabriel indicated her willingness to find a husband. But Gabriel revealed that her pregnancy will originate with God’s Spirit, not a husband. Mary immediately submits. God knew that He needed a woman who could demonstrate humility and immediate submission. Without a strong sense of servitude, Jesus would not be able to learn the utmost obedience He needed in order to be The Messiah.  

Her praise is almost verbatim in content with Hannah’s praise after the birth of Samuel, 1Sam. 2:1-10. Jesus had a mother who knew the importance of rejoicing in the Sovereignty of God. Mary had an appreciation of God’s holiness (Lk 1:49) and expressed her faith in His faithfulness BEFORE the journey to Nazareth. Lk. 1:46-56. Since she already knew she was pregnant with the most important baby in the world. Why would she take such a risky journey? Because of two reasons. She loved Joseph, and she was learning how to take her submission to God and apply it to her husband, and go ahead and go with Joseph. Joseph takes the lead in obeying the law and Mary follows! Her journey to Bethlehem with Joseph was proof that her honesty and the Angel’s message to Joseph were in harmony and to both Mary & Joseph, it was believable !  This couple had a faith in God’s ability to perform miracles! They took the journey betrothed, and had started to make plans for a wedding, regardless of the exact timing of the Baby’s birth. Their journey was an act of faith, they both surely reasoned that if God could make Mary pregnant, then God could help them get to Bethlehem and back to Nazareth for the wedding. But of course God had other plans for them in Egypt.

The honesty Mary & Joseph shared with each other is exemplary, (Mt. 1:18-25).  Her preparation is another way you can see Mary’s unwavering faith. No one accidentally finds clean swaddling cloths for wrapping a newborn to lay in a feeding trough for animals. Mary came prepared! This was an act of faith, she was determined to have Baby Jesus ANYTIME, ANYWHERE God willed it to happen. No matter how poor or how rushed, she would do her best to be prepared, Lk. 2:7. Jesus had a mother who knew preparation was very important! God did not give the Innkeeper a dream or visionary angel to announce the coming of Mary in labor, but He did give Mary the heart to be humble, subservient and prepared! Her honesty with Joseph would have helped them both to perform the delivery safely. In their day, natural child-birth was a high-risk event filled with all kinds of dangers.

Gabriel & The Host:The angelic appearances were made to Zechariah, Elisabeth, Mary, Joseph, and many Shepherds. But not to anyone inside Bethlehem!  Why? Because God’s messengers work to prepare us for humble service, Heb. 1:14.  If it’s from a barn, then that is where we start. God wants us to recognize that it is Him that makes us what we are to become in the future, not ourselves! God loves humble minds and humble beginnings, we must learn to fall in love with them too. Php 2:3-8.

Judaism has taught from the earliest times that the Messiah is pre-existent (especially in view of Mic.5:2 and Dan.7:9-18); and the claims of Jesus in the Gospels reflect this clearly.  It seems best to say that there is a hint in Prv.30:4 of the nature of the Messiah as Son,  a hint that will later be revealed in full through the incarnation of God as Baby Jesus. This solves the problem of confusion in verses like Gen.1:26 & Isa.7:14, 9:6 & Mat.1:23.

Genealogical tables in Judaism were always recorded by male descendents, never female. But Matthew inserts women! (Mt. 1:-17) His noting Joseph’s father as a “Jacob” and not “Eli or Heli” as Luke does, is best explained by the custom of brothers and uncles being used to replace men who died an untimely death in a marriage. Matthew has an interest in using the numerical significance of having 3 groups of 14, signifying his relationship as divinely royal with Abraham & David. The name David in Hebrew is only 3 letters, but in Hebrew, as in Roman numerals, some letters have a numerical significance. D 4 + w 6  + ]D* 4 =14. Matthew’s table is an obvious work of art in acrostics! Keep in mind that there were public records of genealogical tables in the Temple for readers of Matthew and Luke to compare against. Herod the Great tried to destroy them, but rumours abounded concerning their existence. This would enforce the idea of Jesus being a Davidic Messiah from God, truly a son of David with rights! And it may be the explanation for there being so many Jewish priests becoming Christians, Acts 6:7. It was important in the mind of first century disciples that Jesus have no heir, because that would ruin the idea of an eternal priesthood in Jesus which is superior to the priesthood from Abraham, who gave tithes in submission to Melchizedek, a priest forever, Gen.14:18-20 & Heb.7:1-3. Since Jesus knew this from Genesis, he would have no interest in a spouse or an heir.

Luke is concerned with showing Jesus is the Son of God since before creation and is sent for the benefit of helping all humanity have access to His heavenly family (Lk. 3:23-38). Notice there are 76 human generations plus God listed, making 77. The number 7 is always prominent in showing divine maturity, which relates to something God grows to full perfection. Christians in Christ are a part of this family. See Ephesians 3:15 & Galatians 3:26.

Both lists have this in common: A Single Mystical Generation. Matthew has only 13 in the first group of 3, but naming 3 women, Tamar, Rahab & Ruth in that group, as a mystical statement signifying that God planned on using women in His royal lineage on earth from beginning to end in Mary. Both writers want to use numerology, but show intentional anomalies reflecting the unexplainable miracle of God becoming human. The city of David, Bethlehem in Judea is prophesied to be the Messiah’s birthplace in Mic. 5:2. God was specific with Micah in clarifying which Bethlehem he was to be born in, that is Judah, not the one in the northern tribe of Zebulun. This again emphasized his lineage to King David. His birth is linked with Caesar’s census decree while Quirinius was governing Syria, Lk. 2:1-3. Luke recorded this, not for the sake of timing, but the for the sake of authenticity. The problem from our perspective is the timeframe of Quirinius governing Syria. A. W. Zumpt, of Berlin, has shown it to be probable that Quirinus was twice governor of Syria and, by striking and satisfactory arguments, fixes the time of his governorship from 4 BC to A.D. 1: the second governorship in A.D. 6-10. 

Again showing that God is not concerned with the exact calendar date, but rather He is emphasizing the fact, linking it with real secular events. From our perspective, this makes it clear that God is not concerned about which day we honor as his ‘birthday’, but rather puts more significance on the day of his resurrection.