Intermediate Bible Study
The central character of the Bible is Jesus, the Son of God. The message of the Old Testament is that Jesus is coming, that of the New is that Jesus is here! His coming is the most important event in the history of man.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The story of the visit of the shepherds, the visit of the wise men (incidentally, the Bible does not say how many wise men there were), the trip into Egypt to escape from King Herod is known by many. The details of this part of His life can be found in Matthew 2 and Luke 1,2.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. The purpose of John's baptizing people was "for the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4) but when Jesus who had no sins came to him, he refused to baptize Him. Jesus said that John should baptize Him "to fulfil all righteousness," John then baptized Him.
Jesus performed many miracles. Some people do not know why He did this. The miracles were to show that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 2:22). Today, some people claim to have the power that Jesus had, but compare the following differences.
| Jesus and the Early Church | Men Today |
|---|---|
| People cured immediately | Often takes days |
| Cures were visible to all | Often are of sicknesses none can see |
| Everyone was cured | Only some are cured |
| Faith rarely required | Always required |
| Complete cures | Partial cures |
The truth is that men today do not have power like Jesus had; else they would do what he did!
Jesus also taught in parables. Parables are stories taught to illustrate truth. They are well known stories of the earth to teach the truths of heaven. To see some of the parables Jesus taught read Matthew 13 or Luke 15.
Another important work of Jesus was the selecting of the apostles. As Jesus knew He was soon to leave earth and go back to heaven, He picked out certain men to carry on His work. Later they received the Holy Spirit to help them do the work he had planned for them.
In Matthew 16, Jesus announced His plan to start the church (The word church as used in the Bible does not mean a building, but a group of people). Once established it was to abide forever (Matthew 1 6:1 8; Daniel 2:44). Some today do not think the church one is a member of is important, but the church Jesus started, and that is still on the earth, is of great importance. In fact, Jesus died for the church (Acts 20:28); and it is this church that He is going to save. (Ephesians 5:23; 1:22). Later in our study we'll learn more about it
Now that you have studied about the life of Jesus, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
Yes____ No_____