Lesson 4 - Focusing On Jesus

About 2,000 years ago God's Son became flesh. He was the firstborn child of a poor family and lived only about 33 years in our world. Yet no other has had the impact He has had upon our world! As bad as things sometimes get, things would be far worse if not for Jesus!

Jesus once asked His apostles, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They told Jesus of the opinions held about Him and then Jesus asked another question, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:13-16).

What is your opinion of Jesus? Why does His name invoke such love in some while exciting such hatred in others? The fact is this: Jesus was much more than a simple Galilean carpenter.

THE PROMISED ONE

The prophets had foretold of a Messiah. He would undertake the most important rescue mission of all; to secure redemption from sin. There were over 300 prophecies made about Him hundreds of years before His birth. All of these prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Not a single one failed.

It had been prophesied that He would enter our world by a miraculous birth, having no human father. This event would take place in a small village called Bethlehem.

• "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
• "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2)
• Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. (Matthew 1:22-25)
• Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'" (Matthew 2:1-6)

This Mighty King and Humble Servant would be slain for the people. Even as He suffered they would mock Him as they cast lots for His clothing, not knowing that it was for them He was giving His life!

• Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. (Psalm 22:11-18)
• Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? (Isaiah 53:1-8)
• Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be"; this was to fulfill the Scripture:, "THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS." (John 19:23-24)

But death would not be the end. He would prosper and receive glory and power. He would live again! 

• But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
• I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (Psalm 16:8-11)
• While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? "He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." And they remembered His words, (Luke 24:4-8)

Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promises. There simply is no provision for redemption apart from God's Anointed One. The prophecies declare that Jesus is the Messiah.

JESUS' CLAIMS

Jesus never intended for you to think of Him simply as a great philosopher. He made claims concerning Himself that leave us with only two options: either He was an insane liar or He is who He claimed to be. We believe that His claims are true.

Jesus claimed to have existed before His conception and birth. He claimed to be eternal and equal with God.

• For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)
• So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:57-59)
• "I and the Father are one." The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." (John 10:30-33)
• "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)

He taught that He was the only way to God as the light of the world and that He had the power to forgive sins.

• Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)
• Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:12)
• "But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," --He said to the paralytic--"I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home." (Luke 5:24)

He claimed to have been given all authority by God and that one day He would judge every person who had ever lived. He said that even the angels were subject to Him.

• And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
• "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34)
• "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; (Matthew 25:41)
• "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)
• "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? "How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?" (Matthew 26:53-54)

He referred to Himself as the Resurrection and the Life. His proof would be that He would rise from His own tomb on the third day.

• Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, (John 11:25)
• For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later." (Mark 9:31)

Obviously we are not talking about someone who was simply a good human being and nothing more. The only choices are to either dismiss Jesus as a deceiver or to accept Him as God's Son. He left us no middle ground between the two.

JESUS' MISSION

Jesus came to fulfill God's plan to redeem humanity. He knew exactly what would happen and how He would be slain. In this we see the supreme example of love.

• For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
• Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (Philippians 2:5-9)

Jesus said that He came down out of heaven to do His Father's will. Jesus was faithful in this, even when God's will meant yielding His own.

• "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (John 6:38)
• And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He knew our need and came to bring hope.

• "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10).

The Lord was born into our world to be a King, though He makes it quite clear that His kingdom is not physical, but spiritual. (John 18:33-37). The Son of God came to die for the world. As He approached the time of His crucifixion He would not avoid it because it was for this purpose that He came (John 12:27-28).

• Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:33-37)
• "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." (John 12:27-28)

DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION

The central fact of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day following rose from the dead.

• Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Since this is such a crucial point in our study, perhaps it would be best to read thoughtfully the following passages:

DEATH OF JESUS

• Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified Him. The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS." They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors." Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:22-39)

HIS BURIAL

• Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid. (Mark 15:46-47)

RESURRECTION!

• When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. "But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.'" They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8)

God has said that our sins demand death. He is absolutely holy and righteous and He cannot merely ignore our sins by pretending that they never happened. But He could substitute His own willing, righteous Son to pay our debt with His own death. Now that this has been accomplished, each one of us has a decision to make: either to accept this great gift of God and the responsibilities and rewards which accompany it, or reject it and face eternal death ourselves which is what we deserved to begin with. 

• for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)
• For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

LORD AND SAVIOR!

Jesus is presented to us as both Lord and Savior. There is no indication in the Bible that He will be a person's savior who has not accepted His lordship over his or her life. This means that we must obey Jesus as Lord as we trust Him to save. Jesus Himself has gone on record on this very point. Accepting Jesus' lordship means that we obey Him. (Luke 6:46; John 12:26; 14:15, 21). Accepting Jesus as savior means we have hope in Him. (Matthew 1:21; Philippians 3:20-21).

• "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)
• "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:26)
• "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
• "He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (John 14:21)
• "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)
• For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

CONCLUSION

Jesus saves those that obey Him (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus is the hope of the world. He is much more than a simple Galilean carpenter/preacher and none of us are ready to leave this world until we have accepted that fact and acted upon it.

• And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, (Hebrews 5:9)

Lesson 5 is entitled "Eternity and Man". We will examine the differences between temporal, material things and eternal, spiritual things. We will see why it is such a mistake to ignore our spiritual needs and look at the judgment to come.

To test your comprehension of what you've just studied, email the answers to the questions below to the address on our "Contact us" page. Your graded responses will be returned by e-mail.  Be sure to include your name and email address.

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Lesson 4 - Focusing on Jesus

    THE PROMISED ONE
1. About how many prophecies were made about the Messiah? How many of these prophecies did Jesus fail to fulfill?

2. Choose a prophecy about Jesus and tell how it was fulfilled. Feel free to use one of the examples cited in the lesson or another of your own choosing.

3. What enabled the prophets to foretell with 100% accuracy (2 Peter 1:20-21)?

    JESUS' CLAIMS
4. Did Jesus say He was the way to God or that there were other ways as well (John 14:6)?

5. Why did some want to kill Jesus (John 10:31-33)?

    JESUS' MISSION
6. The lesson gave at least four main points about Jesus' mission. What are they (Luke 19:10; John 6:38; 12:27-28; 18:37)?

    DEATH, BURIAL & RESURRECTION
7. What are the facts of the gospel that are of first importance (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)?

8. What does Jesus' resurrection declare about Jesus (Romans 1:4)?

    LORD AND SAVIOR!
9. Copy Hebrews 5:9 in the space below.

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Thanks for completing lesson 4. We hope that you will continue the course with lesson 5 sometime soon.

The "Through the Bible Study Guides" Bible lesson series copyrighted by Jon W. Quinn. Used by permission.
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1995, by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.

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