Read all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration (Luke 9:27-36, Matt. 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8). (Read also Peter’s firsthand account of the incident, and note the truth the apostle establishes from his eyewitness experience; see 2 Peter 1:16-18). What additional information does Luke provide, and why is it important? Luke begins the narrative with a detail that … Continue reading –>
Read Luke 9:18-27. Why would Jesus have asked the disciples a question whose answer He already knew? What lesson was He seeking to teach them not only about Himself but about what it means to follow Him? Who do you say that I am? (Luke 9:20, NKJV). The question that Jesus asked 2,000 years ago … Continue reading –>
Although Jesus was fully conscious that He was both the Son of Man and the Son of God (Luke 22:67-70), Son of Man was our Savior’s favorite way of self-designation. The only other instances that the title appears are in Daniel 7:13, in Stephen’s speech (Acts 7:56) and in Revelation 1:13 and Rev. 14:14. The … Continue reading –>
Son of Man and Son of God are two names used in the Gospels to describe who Jesus is. The first indicates God incarnate; the second points to His divinity as the second Person of the Godhead. Together, the two phrases invite us to ponder the miracle of Jesus Christ: God who is both divine … Continue reading –>
Read the Gospels; read the New Testament. All through these books incredible claims are made about not only what Jesus did but, even more important, about who Jesus was. (Of course, what Jesus did powerfully attested to who He was.) These claims-that He is God, that He is our Redeemer, that He alone is the … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Luke 4:16-30, Luke 6:5, Eph. 1:3-5, Luke 9:18-27, 2 Pet. 1:16-18. Memory Text: He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said, The Christ of God (Luke 9:20, NKJV). Who is Jesus Christ? The question is not a philosophical or a sociological gimmick. It gets … Continue reading –>
If Joseph and Mary had stayed their minds upon God by meditation and prayer, they would have realized the sacredness of their trust, and would not have lost sight of Jesus. By one day’s neglect they lost the Saviour; but it cost them three days of anxious search to find Him. So with us; by … Continue reading –>
Luke and Matthew reverse the order of the second and third temptations. The reason is not clear, but that need not detain us. The crucial point is the ultimate victory of Jesus over Satan, proclaimed by both Gospels. The significant factor that emerges from study of the temptations is that Jesus Christ is a real … Continue reading –>
Read Luke 4:5-8. Why would Satan want Jesus to worship him? What crucial issue was at stake here? Worship is the sole prerogative of God. It is the one factor that forever separates the creature from the Creator. One of the issues in Lucifer’s rebellion against God in heaven is that of worship. Lucifer’s ambition … Continue reading –>
Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, . . . was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil (Luke 4:1-2, NKJV). Born for a God-ordained mission, commissioned to the task at His baptism, equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus the Christ retreated into the … Continue reading –>
