One a Day Through the New Testament (Page 22)

When thinking of the public ministry of Jesus, I usually think of it as beginning with the Sermon on the Mount. This would not be accurate. Immediately following his baptism and Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, Jesus went to Galilee and dwelled in Capernaum among the Gentiles. Of this period, Matthew says it was the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:1-2. The public life and ministry of Jesus began among the Gentiles, “the people who sat in darkness… and in the region…

John the Baptizer is one of the all-time great characters in all of Scripture. Concerning him, the Lord said, “Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptizer…” Because of the way John burst on the scene and his message, many have a rather monolithic view of this great man. Most think of him only in terms of his strange ways and his call of repentance (not unlike the Lord – Matt 4:17, 11:19).…

I would love to spend today’s blog talking about the false narrative of equating Jesus’ family fleeing to Egypt with thousands of “refugees” who are attempting to enter America, but that would date the blog in years to come, assuming anyone was interested in reading it. Instead, I want to focus on the four prophecies fulfilled with Jesus’ birth and subsequent events in Matthew 2. The first prophecy concerns the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem as recorded in Matthew 2:1-6.…

So sang John Anderson in his 1983 hit song. When one reads Matthew’s account of the Lord’s genealogy, he sees quite a few names of people with less than stellar character. In verse 3 we see Judah, to whom Tamar bare Perez and Terah. You may recall that Tamar was Judah’s daughter in law who posed as a harlot and tricked Judah into a sexual relationship because Judah had failed to deliver Shelah as her husband (Gen 38). So we…