The New Testament does not tell us too much about the childhood of Jesus. One account, though, that gives great insight is Luke 2:41-52, the story of Jesus and His parents’ visit to Jerusalem during the feast of Passover. Read it over and then answer the following questions:
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How does this story help to illustrate the decidedly Jewish character of the Gospels and how central the religion was to all that took place?
How is it [...]
John 5:1
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem (John 5:1, NKJV).
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The first major festival period in the Jewish calendar year is the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, which commences with Passover. The festival commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, when the angel of death passed over the homes of those who put the blood on their doorposts. The Gospels record three occasions when [...]
(Luke 2:21-24)
God established His covenant with Abraham, saying that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4). When God made this covenant, the ninety-nine year old Abraham had only recently fathered Ishmael and had not yet seen the birth of his promised son, Isaac. Nonetheless, he was commanded to circumcise himself along with every male member of his household, and he was instructed to ensure that every son born into his household from that day forth be circumcised [...]
Current lesson of the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. (Adobe Flash Player version.) A Youtube version of the Hope Sabbath School “Discipling Spiritual Leaders” is below. You can download the video, the MP3 audio, and the lesson outline from the HopeTV Sabbath School Site. You might want to bookmark the HopeSS Youtube channel.
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 2:21-24; Exod. 13:2, 12; Luke 2:41-52; Matt. 17:24-27; John 8:1-11; Deut. 22:23-24.
Memory Text: If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me (John 5:46, NRSV).
Many Christians have been raised on stories about Jesus’ supposedly negative relationship to the Jewish religion, an unfortunate misconception that has only helped feed anti-Semitism through the centuries. Jesus spoke out against abuses of the religion, that’s true, but not against the religion itself. [...]
Elizabeth Kimongo was born into a traditional Maasai family in Kenya. In her culture girls are expected to marry soon after their twelfth birthday. Women have little to say about their lives, but Elizabeth refused to leave school to marry. She had a dream.
Elizabeth Kimongo courtesy of the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission
While home for vacation before starting high school, Elizabeth learned that her father had arranged for her to marry an older man. With her mother’s blessing, [...]
Further Study: Read also Ellen G. White, Oath Taking, pp. 201-204, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1.
If Adam had not transgressed the law of God, the ceremonial law would never have been instituted. The gospel of good news was first given to Adam in the declaration made to him that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head; and it was handed down through successive generations to Noah, Abraham, and Moses. The knowledge of God’s law, and the [...]
However much Roman law, Mosaic law, and rabbinic law impacted the lives of Jews living in first-century Israel, many people who followed the religion of Israel lived outside of Palestine and beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. Thus, many of these laws would not have played a big role in their lives.
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At the same time, however, anyone professing to be a follower of the God of Israel would have adhered to the Ten [...]
In addition to the Mosaic laws, Jews at the time of Jesus were also familiar with the law of the rabbis. The rabbis were the scholastic arm of the Pharisees, and they took the responsibility of ensuring that the Mosaic law remained relevant to the people. The rabbis counted 613 laws in the five books of Moses (including 39 pertaining to the Sabbath), and they used these laws as the basis for their legislation. They supplemented these written laws with [...]
Read Leviticus 1:1-9, 2:14-16, 5:11-13. To what are these laws referring? What was their purpose? What important truths were they meant to teach?
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Besides the civil laws in ancient Israel, there was also what is often called the ceremonial law. This law centered around the sanctuary and its services, all of which, of course, were designed to teach the children of Israel the plan of salvation and point them to the coming Messiah. In the [...]
