Dr. Doug Bookman

Scripture: Luke 2:40-51

Notes: Jesus’s visit to the temple at the age of twelve

Questions/Observations:

1. This is the only narrative of Jesus’s youth in the gospel record. As such it is extremely important and delightfully informative.
2. There is significance to the fact that this Passover visit occurred when Jesus was 12 years of age. I believe this was the first visit after the bar-mitzvah of young Jesus, and thus the first time He would be permitted to enter the temple to witness the slaying of the lamb – which must have made a profound impact upon Him.
3. Notice especially the statement of Luke 2:51. Jesus continued in submission to His parents – and thus to His heavenly Father – even after expressing dramatically His longing to be about the work to which He was appointed.

Scripture: Luke 2:52

Notes: Jesus’s growth in wisdom and stature

Scripture: Luke 4:14-31

Notes: Jesus’s early visit to the synagogue of His youth

Questions/Observations:

This incident occurs early in the Galilean ministry of Jesus. It is interesting to contemplate here because the reaction of the townspeople – the people who knew Jesus best during the years of His youth – to His claim to Messiahship (Luke 4:21). The lesson is that Jesus’s childhood was sufficiently normal (as opposed to the picture painted by the apocryphal (and false) gospels of a miracle-working super-boy) that when He made this audacious claim, the townspeople were aghast!]

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

A. Old Testament Prophecy of John the Baptist (the Messianic Forerunner)

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-6 and Malachi 4:5-6

Notes: These Old Testament passages foretell the ministry of one who would come in anticipation of the appearance of Messiah and who would make spiritual preparation for that ministry.

B. The Ministry of John the Baptist

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; and Luke 3:1-18

Notes: Notice not only the substance, but also the impact of John’s ministry.

C. The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist

Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; and Luke 3:21-23

Notes: The record suggests strongly that after Jesus departed Nazareth to be baptized by John, He was gone (unexpectedly) for several weeks (at least three months), and that the next time He encountered His mother was at the wedding in Cana recorded in John 2.

Questions/Observations:

1. How public was Jesus’s baptism?
2. What do you perceive to be the reason that Jesus went to be baptized by John?
3. What is the significance of the Spirit coming upon Jesus so dramatically and explicitly following His baptism?
4. What do you think was the primary and necessary significance of baptism by John?
5. How do you understand the relationship between John’s baptism and “Christian” baptism (i.e., baptism practiced in the book of Acts)?
6. The baptism of Jesus is more accurately perceived as the last act of His private life than as the first act of His public life (as it is generally perceived).

D. The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; and Luke 4:1-13

Notes: Notice that the narrative of each of the Synoptics moves from the temptation to the Galilean Ministry of Jesus.

Questions/Observations:

1. You will notice that the order of the temptations is different in Matthew than it is in Luke. How would you explain this seeming difficulty, and which of the two would you regard as the actual historical sequence?
2. Do these temptations occur in the realm of space-time reality normally occupied by mortal human beings?

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17

Notes: The legal right of Jesus to the throne of David

Questions/Observations:

This genealogy traces the line of Joseph, who was Jesus’s adoptive father, and thus whose rights and possessions lawfully passed to Jesus – including the legal right to the throne of David, passed down through Solomon. Notice the reference to Jeconiah in Matthew 1:11-12 and compare the curse on his line in Jeremiah 22:29-30.

Scripture: Luke 3:23-28

Notes: The physical (blood/seed) right of Jesus to the throne of David

Questions/Observations:

This genealogy traces the line of Mary (Eli/Heli is her father, Jesus’ maternal grandfather, His closest physical male antecedent). Notice that she too is a descendant of David through his son Nathan (Luke 3:31). Thus, Jesus is twice qualified to sit on the throne of David – by blood through his physical mother, Mary, and by legal right through his adoptive father, Joseph.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Scripture: Luke 2:1-7

• Notes: Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem; the nativity of the God-Man

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

• Notes: The naming of the child

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

• Notes: The worship of the shepherds

Scripture: Luke 2:21

• Notes: The circumcision of Jesus

Scripture: Luke 2:22-39

• Notes: Presentation of the Child in the temple; homage paid by Anna and Simeon

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

• Notes: The visit of the magi (wise-men)

Scripture: Matthew 2:13-23

• Notes: The family’s flight to Egypt; the children of Bethlehem slaughtered; the family returns to settle in Nazareth

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice that the trip to Bethlehem was necessary because of a taxation decree; Joseph probably had discovered that life was intolerable in Nazareth (by reason of Mary’s “scandalous” pregnancy). Because he had to travel to Bethlehem anyway (by reason of the decree), he decided to relocate to Bethlehem. But in all of this, the prophecy of Micah 5:2 came to pass precisely.
2. In Jewish culture, the means by which a man legally adopted as his son one who was not physically his son was that the man assigned the child his name. Thus, the significance of the naming of Jesus by Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25).

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Scripture: Luke 1:57-80

Questions/Observations: Notice that there is much excitement throughout the region at the remarkable birth of this one who was announced by an angel to be the forerunner of the Messiah.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).