Luke 3:7-9
Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.
And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'
As D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds us in his Studies on the Sermon on the Mount, we Christians, we who are 'poor in spirit' have no birthright claim on anything pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel.
Mother's Love
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And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Scenes in the Life of our Lord (Religious Tract Society, 1907)
Harold Copping (British,1863-1932)
Mark 12:43-44
Not the size of the offering, but the size of the sacrifice...
For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.
Mark 12:34
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him,
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Mark's record of Jesus and the scribe's discussion about the greatest commandment is interesting on multiple levels. But Christ's response to the scribe's agreement is most profound, and worth thinking on:
"You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Mark 10:43-45
But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 4:21-25
Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
Mark 3:28-29
"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" —
Matthew 28:18-20
The Great Commission.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you"
The great and first commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Matthew 22:35-40
Luke 13:29-30
And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.
Some are last who will be first,
and some are first who will be last.
This lesson is one which I find extraordinarily deep. Particularly the application in Matthew 20:16, which always confused me as a child.
Faith; not works.
Luke 24:18,25-27
Jesus meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
"Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
Psalm 22:29-31
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
Isaiah 52:13–53:12. The Suffering Servant
He was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Christ Stripped of His Clothes, 1909
Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852-1931)
"Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
The Last Supper
Pascal Dagnan Bouveret (French,1852-1929)
Matthew 21:19-21
Like the empty worship of the temple - a leafy fig tree promising fruit, but bearing none to eat.
With just a few words, Jesus gave His disciples a lesson in God's power, when we put our faith in Him.
John 12:13
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!"
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people wanted liberation. Crying 'hosanna' - 'please save us'. But as he entered the city gate he turned towards the Temple, not the Roman garrison. He would bring them salvation, but not in the way they expected.
Christ's humiliation on the cross confounded Jewish expectations of a triumphant Messiah, and for the Greeks what hope was there in a man who could not save himself. But for believers, the Cross's saving grace is beyond measure.
Micah 4:1
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it...
Micah 3:11
"Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us."
Just as the Temple was no protection to Israel when it turned it's back on The Lord, it is our hearts not the symbols and outward signs of piety, that justify us.
Joel 2:28-29
No priests in the future Kingdom... all God's people will prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions.
Kings and servants, sons and daughters, old and young.
As Luther paraphrased 1 Peter 2:9: You are a royal priesthood and a priestly kingdom.
"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it."
The Harrower, c.1890-95
Horatio Walker (American, 1858-1938)
