The Bible is one main story about one main character – Jesus.
We’re tracing that story about Jesus in the Bible from the book of Genesis, starting at creation, to the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation.
In my last blog, we traced Jesus from Creation to the end of the Old Testament, approximately 400 BC. In this blog, we pick up the story of Jesus at the beginning of the New Testament with Him being born in Bethlehem 2025 years ago. We will trace the main events in Jesus’ life up to the start of his ministry in 33 AD.
New Testament
Matthew 1:18 records the story of the Immaculate Conception, in which God, the Holy Spirit, caused Mary to become pregnant.
Luke 2:1-20 – This is the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. His birth fulfilled several prophecies in the Old Testament predicting his coming to earth. Specifically, about 750 BC, the prophet Micah predicted that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. See Micah 5:2 in the Bible.
Matthew 3:15-17 Records the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River. Jesus was 33 at the time.
Matthew 3:15-17 states, “As Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God, like a dove, settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.’”
This event is significant because no one can get a higher affirmation than what God gives. Here, God affirms that Jesus is his own Son. Therefore, Jesus is not just a good person, teacher, prophet, or religious leader. He is the Son of God. No one else can make that claim.
Matthew 4:1-11 – Right after the baptism, the Holy Spirit, who had just come to Jesus at his baptism, now leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
In that confrontation, Jesus dominated the devil and defeated him.
God set up this clash to prove that before Jesus began His ministry, He would demonstrate His power over the devil. This set the stage for Jesus’ ministry, during which He defeated the devil in everything He did.
With that fact, Jesus started His ministry. We’ll look at His ministry in the next blog. Prepare yourself for a shock! You’ll learn something about Jesus’ ministry you’ve never heard before!
That’s it for this Blog. I hope this helped make the Bible easier to understand. If you have any questions, please hit the contact button. Thanks!
© Copyright - Ren Vandesteeg
I'm Ren, nice to meet you!
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