21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. Luke 3:21-23 Jesus’ baptism, is the commencement of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus is now about 30 years old. John the Baptist precedes all Gospel accounts of the start of Jesus’ ministry, and this is because repentance before God is the key to starting a new life in God’s Kingdom.

When John came (Luke 3:1-2) – When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, no prophetic voice had been heard within Israel for almost 400 years. His coming was part of God’s perfect timing, for everything that relates to God’s Son is always on time (John 2:4; John 13:1; Galatians 4:4).

How John came (Luke 3:3) – Dressed and acting like the Old Testament prophet Elijah, John came to the area near the River Jordan, preaching and baptizing. He announced the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:3) and urged all people to repent of their sins against God and to repent quickly and fervently. John’s baptism looked forward to the coming of the long waited for Messiah, as promised throughout the Old Testament.

Why John came (Luke 3:4-20) – John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness. This is a reference back to the ancient prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40:1-5) and recorded for us by both Luke (Luke 3:4) and the Apostle John. 19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21 They asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22 Finally they said, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”’ (John 1:19-23)

Spiritually speaking, the nation of Israel was living in a state of unbelief and twisted spiritual reality. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God, and John was that faithful voice. It was John’s work to prepare the nation for the Messiah and then present the Messiah to them. John is compared to an axe man cutting down trees that down bear fruit (Luke 3:9) or a farmer who burns useless chaff (Luke 3:17). Many Jews of the time thought they were destined for heaven simply because they were descended from Abraham. A belief that was a misreading of their Scriptures.

John the Baptist spoke boldly and straight forward. We see this clearly throughout the Gospel record. In Luke 3:7, John depicts the crowds as snakes. John the Baptist also was a teacher. He taught people to live their new faith (Luke 3:10-14). Additionally, he told them not to be selfish, but to share their blessings with other people. Tax collectors were told by John to do their work honestly. Soldiers were to stop using their jobs for personal gain. John clearly stated that Jesus was “the Lord” (Luke 3:4) and the Son of God (John 1:34). But as we shall see next week, John was not alone in being an eyewitness of the man we know as Jesus Christ. Who were these other witnesses? We investigate that in the next of this series.

1 How the gold has lost its lustre, the fine gold become dull! The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner. -----

16 The LORD himself has scattered them; he no longer watches over them. The priests are shown no honour, the elders no favour. (Lamentations 4:1, 16)

We are reading Scripture together, particularly Psalms of lament and repentance as well as the book of Lamentations. As each Scripture is read, listen in an attitude of prayer, and perhaps repeat the words to yourself. Feel the very raw emotions of the words and agony of the original writer and at the heart of God Himself. Yet also listen out for those little words of joy and hope that are hidden within. Then after listening, pray to God using that piece of Scripture.

Lamenting can be part of our worship & prayer life – as individuals and corporately - just as it was for the ancient people of Israel and the early Church. There is much to lament in the world at the moment, particularly regarding the Corona Virus pandemic. But as we lament, we also know that God is in control and that He has not left us alone in our lament but is by our side, embracing us and wiping our tears.

Today we are reading and praying Lamentations 4. Come on in!

Jesus is the most talked about person in history. Almost everyone has an opinion about Him. He was born to confirm God's promises, to reveal God as a Father, and to be our representative before Him. He gave us an example of how to live life to the full. He was not merely a man who received some special power. He was not some strange creation that was half man and half God, with his human nature somehow absorbed into the divine. He was much more than those ideas as we will discover as we continue in through our studies about Him in this book. God’s salvation plan for humans involved triumphant victory over sin, death and the grave. However, no person could be found that was eligible or capable to do this. Therefore, God stepped into human history, so that this victory could be achieved. This God-man would be fully human, so that he would be able to live every feature of humanity, including suffering and death. This God-man would also need to remain fully God, so that he would be able to defeat sin, death and the grave. God’s mission of salvation to earth is clearly seen in these words of his good friend and disciple, John:

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).

Jesus, being sinless, was this God-man, consisting as he did of two complete natures, the God nature and the human nature. That is why Jesus being simultaneously fully God and fully human is essential. If Jesus Christ was not fully God and fully human, if he lacked in either way, he could not be the long-awaited Messiah. That Jesus is both God and human is what makes Christianity unique. It is why Jesus’ claims to be the only way to God are true and it is why millions of people today worship Him and acknowledge Him as their God. We investigate more about that next time. With that said, from what little we know of his childhood and early life, we know that Jesus grew in stature and wisdom amongst his peers and community (Luke 2:52)

1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.

2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; 3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. -----

21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:1-3, 21-23)

We are reading Scripture together, particularly Psalms of lament and repentance as well as the book of Lamentations. As each Scripture is read, listen in an attitude of prayer, and perhaps repeat the words to yourself. Feel the very raw emotions of the words and agony of the original writer and at the heart of God Himself. Yet also listen out for those little words of joy and hope that are hidden within. Then after listening, pray to God using that piece of Scripture.

Lamenting can be part of our worship & prayer life – as individuals and corporately - just as it was for the ancient people of Israel and the early Church. There is much to lament in the world at the moment, particularly regarding the Corona Virus pandemic. But as we lament, we also know that God is in control and that He has not left us alone in our lament but is by our side, embracing us and wiping our tears.

Today we are reading and praying Lamentations 3. Come on in!

The writer of the Gospel of Luke, tells us this about the birth of Jesus Christ

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (Luke 2:1-8)

That Jesus was a human male is not really disputed. The birth of Jesus is extraordinary at every level. The primary documents about him, found in the Bible, states that he was born of a woman, which tells us that at least in a prenatal state, Jesus was nurtured and formed as any other male baby is. On the physical level, Jesus was born as any person is, but about his conception, he was conceived like no other person – conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). This was so that Jesus would not be given the sinful nature past that all humans have. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Other documents, outside of the Bible from that period of time, also attest to Jesus and his existence.

Throughout the Old Testament, there is a witness to the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour. From the time of the first sin done by Adam, through the creation of Israel, the life of the Patriarchs and Kings and the oracles of the Prophets – all looking forward to the Messiah coming. The Covenants that God made with people all looked forward to when this Messiah, this Savour, this King would come and rescue Israel. This King was to be their hope, their Saviour.

Christians believe this Messiah King was Jesus Christ. Jesus’ genealogy takes his physical line back to Abraham via David. Abraham was the father of Israel and David the first King. He grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did. Anything further than this, we have no historical record, although there are several unverified apocryphal stories circulating. When Jesus was born, his name imbued the very reason he was born. His conception and birth were extraordinary at every level. So, important is our understanding of the birth of Jesus that no fewer than 4 angels come to give us a full picture of the event. Do you think that his parents, Joseph & Mary, or God, ever gazed upon him, and thought “How misnamed he is?” They did not, because they knew the very purpose for which he was born. The name Jesus means ‘one who saves’, or ‘a rescuer’. The entirety of his birth, life and death were centred on this very role - to save or rescue all those who would follow Him.

1 How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth, and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. (Lamentations 2:1-2)

We are reading Scripture together, particularly Psalms of lament and repentance as well as the book of Lamentations. As each Scripture is read, listen in an attitude of prayer, and perhaps repeat the words to yourself. Feel the very raw emotions of the words and agony of the original writer and at the heart of God Himself. Yet also listen out for those little words of joy and hope that are hidden within. Then after listening, pray to God using that piece of Scripture.

Lamenting can be part of our worship & prayer life – as individuals and corporately - just as it was for the ancient people of Israel and the early Church. There is much to lament in the world at the moment, particularly regarding the Corona Virus pandemic. But as we lament, we also know that God is in control and that He has not left us alone in our lament but is by our side, embracing us and wiping our tears.

Today we are reading and praying Lamentations 2. Come on in!

In the New Testament, we have four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ which are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These are called Gospels. But what is a Gospel, how are the four accounts different or similar and what were the main points each writer sought to communicate? Firstly, they are called Gospels, because they gave substance to the Gospel or Good News about Jesus Christ as described by one of his early followers, the man we know as the Apostle Paul (Romans 1:16) We know that during his time on earth Jesus Christ wrote nothing formally. Yet after his ascension, the stories about Him were preserved and passed on by his disciples and other Christian teachers and evangelists. For the first thirty years or so, these stories were possibly collated and stored together. That would explain the similarity in the four accounts of Jesus’ life. They are not an exhaustive biographical detail of all that Jesus did. Similarly, the Gospels are also not diaries reflecting a daily account of Jesus’ life. Rather they are selective accounts of his life, and were probably factual illustrations used by his disciples when preaching about Him. Therefore, they would represent the theology of the disciples, as each story about is Jesus is told. That is why they are trustworthy accounts as well as rooting Jesus’ life in first century Judaism and the Greco-Roman world The first three of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are what are called the synoptic Gospels. This is based on their great similarity and possibly use of a common source. Mark was probably the first Gospel written as it is shorter in length than either account written by Matthew or Luke. Mark writes as if Matthew and Luke used the Gospel written by Mark as a guide and elaborated where required. We see this in that Mark wrote none of the great discourses of Matthew (Mark 13 being the exception), such as the Sermon on the Mount. Nor does Mark show the great parables that Luke recorded. Surely if Mark had used either the accounts of Matthew or Luke, he would have used those two examples. Matthew is closer in similarity to Mark than Luke. Luke does share large portions of Mark and quite often verbatim, and with a greater use of the Greek language. The Gospel of John on the other hand, while still telling about Jesus’ ministry, has vastly different story content. Whereas in the synoptic Gospels Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God frequently, in the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about Himself much more often, as in the seven I AM statements which we will look at in Chapters 9 and 10. For this reason, the Gospel of John was probably written much later than Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Today we start a series leading up to Easter, where we are reading Scripture together, particularly Psalms of lament and repentance as well as the book of Lamentations. As each Scripture is read, listen in an attitude of prayer, and perhaps repeat the words to yourself. Feel the very raw emotions of the words and agony of the original writer and at the heart of God Himself. Yet also listen out for those little words of joy and hope that are hidden within.

Then after listening, pray to God using that piece of Scripture. Lamenting can be part of our worship & prayer life – as individuals and corporately - just as it was for the ancient people of Israel and the early Church. There is much to lament in the world at the moment. But as we lament, we also know that God is in control and that He has not left us alone in our lament but is by our side, embracing us and wiping our tears.

Today we are reading and praying Lamentations 1. Come on in!