From the Cradle to the Cross
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“From the Cradle to the Cross”
“From the Cradle to the Cross”
Let us start of tonight with a word of prayer.
For the last few weeks we’ve been in the “Christmas Mode”, and probably still are since it’s just two days after Christmas. We’ve been studying and discussing the birth of Jesus and all the details surrounding the time of our Lord’s visit here on earth. Tonight, before we start our messages leading up to what I think, is the most important Christian holiday of the year, Easter, we’re going to just do a kind of quick synopsis of Jesus’s life. The time He spent here with us on the earth.
We don’t know a lot, about Jesus’s early years that led up to His earthly ministry. I don’t guess the Lord thought it was that important for us to know, or He would’ve included more about it in the Bible. But what we do know starts in Luke 2:22-35. And let us read that together. (Read passage). There was also a prophet named Anna there, giving thanks to God, and looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. And she also spoke about the Lord Jesus.
When they left the temple, Luke picks the story back up in verse 39. And let’s also read this passage together: (Read Luke 2:39-52.)
That’s about all the Lord chose to tell us about the early life of Jesus until John the Baptist started his ministry “preparing the way for the Lord”.
I would like to take the time at this point, to remind and share with you what the apostle John had to say about the deity of the Lord Jesus at the beginning of his gospel in John Chapter 1, the first five verses:
John 1:1–5 (NKJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
And then John goes on to say in verse 14:
John 1:14 (NKJV)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is one of the clearest passages in the Bible that explains to us that Jesus was God in human flesh. 100% human and 100% God. Jesus was “The God Man”.
After John the Baptist had “prepared the way for the Lord”, and satan had tempted Him in the desert, Jesus began His earthy ministry. One of the first things He did was start choosing His twelve disciples to teach them and help Him. All 3 of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tells us about the choosing of the twelve. And Matthew tells it in this way:
Matthew 10:2–4 (NKJV)
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
After choosing his disciples, Jesus, along with the twelve, traveled throughout Galilee and Judea preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick, driving out demons, and performing all kinds of miraculous signs to prove to the children of Israel that He was the Jewish messiah sent by God. He taught the people using many different parables to kind of explain what life would be like in the upcoming, prophesied kingdom on earth.
I guess this would be a good time to explain what a lot of people aren’t aware of. Jesus initially came to earth only for the nation of Israel, “God’s chosen people”, to prepare them, after they excepted Him as their Messiah, for the kingdom that was prophesied about in the old testament, that was to come here on the earth. But we all know that didn’t happen. Israel rejected their Messiah and Savior, therefor God turned to the gentiles, “The Body of Christ”, and just a few Jews, who believed Jesus was the Messiah. Those would be His “chosen people” for now, during this age of grace that we currently live in. But that’s a whole other lesson in itself. And I plan on getting into that down the road a bit.
As Jesus worked many miracles, and taught all the people. The Jewish “teachers of the law” grew increasingly jealous of Jesus and began to plot a way to kill Him. This went on during His whole earthly ministry as you well know. And also, as you well know, they thought they had succeeded in doing just that until God raised Him from the dead to live forevermore.
There is one miracle, other than the resurrection itself, that Jesus performed, that’s recorded in all four of the gospels. And that is the feeding of the five thousand in Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:12-17, and John 6:1-14.
Luke writes in his gospel concerning this miracle:
12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 So they all ate and were satisfied, and twelve baskets of the leftover pieces were taken up by them.
Jesus not only taught the people, but He also had to teach His disciples. On one occasion He tried to explain to them that He had to go up to Jerusalem and die for the sins of the people, but they couldn’t understand any of this, as recorded in Luke 18:31-34:
Luke 18:31–34 (NKJV)
31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” And then verse 34 says: 34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
So none of the disciples knew that Jesus had to die and be raised from the dead. With verse 34 in mind, we all know that the gospel that saves us today is that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that on the third day He was raised to life. Now earlier in Luke’s gospel in chapter 9 verse 6 Luke writes: “6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” So my question to you is what gospel were they preaching if they didn’t know that Christ had to die for our sins in chapter 19? Just something for you to think about. That’s a topic for another lesson down the road also.
As Jesus was on His way up to Jerusalem to do what He came to earth to accomplish, He stopped in Bethany, only a few miles from Jerusalem, after Mary and Martha had sent word to Him that their brother Lazarus was sick and dying. This was another great miracle Jesus performed to prove He was the Messiah as recorder in the gospel of John 11:38-44:
John 11:38–44 (NKJV)
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Kinda like Jesus’s tomb, just saying 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
Notice in verse 42, Jesus said: “42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Of course Jesus performed all the miracles of healing the sick and raising the dead out of His tremendous love for humanity, but the main reason He performed all the miracles He did was to prove that He was who He claimed to be, the very “Son of God”, Israel’s Messiah.
It’s hard for us, knowing all that we know today, how Israel could have not possibly known who Jesus was. It’s so obvious to us from reading the scriptures, that Jesus was the Son of God. But for some reason, that only God knows, Israel didn’t recognize who He was and conspired to have Him arrested and put to death by the Roman government, by having Him crucified on a Roman cross.
But after Jesus died on that cross the most wonderful, amazing, and miraculous thing that has ever happened, happened. “God raised Him from the dead”. And the apostle Matthew recorded like this: Matthew 28:1–10
Matthew 28:1–10 (NKJV)
1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Jesus had raised Lazarus form the dead as a sign to who He was, but Lazarus died a physical death again. But the apostle John tells us that Jesus said in Revelation 1:18 “18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.
Matthew went on to record after Jesus’s resurrection,
as they went on to Galilee, just as He instructed them to do, what men call, but the bible never calls it this, “The Great Commission”, in Matthew 28:16–20. “16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Let’s pray together:
The great commission is also something we will discuss down the road a ways when we start talking about all the events that lead us up to, as I said earlier, to what I think is the greatest Christian holiday we celebrate, “Easter”.
As Kristi is getting ready for us to sing our last hymn together tonight, and as we’re reflecting on the life of Jesus as He spent time with us on this earth, and if you’ve never honored Him by asking the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and be your personal Lord and savior, this would be the perfect time to do just that. God has made that so easy for us. The Bible says that anyone, and I do mean anyone, who calls on the name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED. It doesn’t matter what your past may look like. Remember the apostle Paul, before the Lord saved him on that road to Damascus, how he persecuted the church, and had the Lord’s people put in prison. And King David who commited adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered on the battlefield. Those two “Great men of God” commited terrible sins, and the Lord forgave them, and even chose then to do great things for the Lord. The Lord doesn’t care about our past, He just cares about our future. And He wants all people to spend that future with Him in eternity, in that place He calls heaven. Don’t wait another second. If you have any doubt at all about your eternal security, or what’s going to happen when you die, I beg you to get it settled. Settle it now. Get it taken care of right now, right here,--- right where you are sitting.---Just quietly, as the rest of us are singing, with your heads bowed, and your heart’s toward God, just pray a little prayer like this..............say..