The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

493 Pages·2006·1.59 MB·English

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

by Rev. Mark Perkins
Person and Work of Christ ii

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ

Table of Contents
Historical Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1
Rome at the Time of Christ ..................................................................................................... 11
The Four Gospels..................................................................................................................... 13
Jesus Christ in Eternity Past ................................................................................................... 22
The Genealogy of Christ .......................................................................................................... 22
Chronology of the Life of Christ .............................................................................................. 45
The Birth of John the Baptist .................................................................................................. 46
The Song of Mary .................................................................................................................... 50
The Birth of Christ ................................................................................................................... 53
The Night Before Christmas .................................................................................................... 54
Christ and the Shepherds........................................................................................................ 57
The Circumcision and Presentation of Christ.......................................................................... 59
The Visit of the Magi ............................................................................................................... 63
The Flight To Egypt and Return to Israel................................................................................ 64
The Early Life of Christ ............................................................................................................ 66
The Event at the Temple ......................................................................................................... 67
Jesus’ Young Adulthood.......................................................................................................... 72
Preparing the Way of the Lord (Isaiah 40)............................................................................. 74
Jesus and John the Baptist ..................................................................................................... 75
The Wilderness Temptation of Christ...................................................................................... 84
Jesus’ First Followers .............................................................................................................. 93
The Wedding at Cana of Galilee .............................................................................................. 96
The Divine Guidance of Jesus Christ ..................................................................................... 101
The First Cleansing of the Temple......................................................................................... 104
Nicodemus and Christ ........................................................................................................... 109
The Accession of John the Baptist ........................................................................................ 129
The Samaritan Woman.......................................................................................................... 134
Jesus’ Galilean Ministry......................................................................................................... 144
Ministry and Rejection at Nazareth ...................................................................................... 148
The Official Calling of the Disciples....................................................................................... 154
The Twelve Disciples ............................................................................................................. 155
Teaching in the Synagogue of Capernaum ........................................................................... 163
The Healing of Peter’s Mother in Law ................................................................................... 166
The Second Recall of the Four Disciples ............................................................................... 168
Cleansing of a Leper.............................................................................................................. 170
Person and Work of Christ iii

The Forgiving and Healing of a Paralytic .............................................................................. 172
The Call of Matthew .............................................................................................................. 175
Matthew's Banquet for Christ ............................................................................................... 175
The Dispensational Change................................................................................................... 178
John Chapter 5 ...................................................................................................................... 184
Jerusalem.............................................................................................................................. 184
Sabbath Review .................................................................................................................... 186
John 5:19-47 Outline ............................................................................................................ 190
Another Sabbath Controversy............................................................................................... 196
Healing on the Sabbath......................................................................................................... 200
Transition to the Sermon on the Mount................................................................................ 204
The Beatitudes ...................................................................................................................... 207
Waiting for the Kingdom....................................................................................................... 211
Christ and the Law of Moses ................................................................................................. 215
The Law in the Kingdom of Christ......................................................................................... 217
Oaths ..................................................................................................................................... 226
Judicial Punishment .............................................................................................................. 228
Love Your Enemies................................................................................................................ 233
Invisible Impact of Christians............................................................................................... 237
The Lord’s Prayer .................................................................................................................. 240
Fasting – Christ’s Comment .................................................................................................. 246
Grace Provision ..................................................................................................................... 247
Judge Not .............................................................................................................................. 258
Sermon on the Mount – Conclusion ...................................................................................... 270
Christ and the Centurion....................................................................................................... 282
The Raising of the Widow’s Son............................................................................................ 286
Christ on John the Baptist..................................................................................................... 288
The Woes Upon Chorazin and Bethsaida .............................................................................. 301
The Easy Yoke ....................................................................................................................... 311
The Sinful Woman Forgiven .................................................................................................. 320
The Women’s Auxiliary.......................................................................................................... 331
Christ Casting Out Demons ................................................................................................... 334
The Demand For a Sign Refused ........................................................................................... 348
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers .................................................................................................. 356
Parables, An Introduction ..................................................................................................... 360
Parable of the Sower............................................................................................................. 361
Parable of the Seed ............................................................................................................... 374
Parable of the Tares .............................................................................................................. 376
Parable of the Mustard Seed................................................................................................. 382
Person and Work of Christ iv

The Remaining Parables ....................................................................................................... 383
Calming the Storm ................................................................................................................ 396
The Demons and the Swine................................................................................................... 401
The Healing of Jairus’ Daughter............................................................................................ 411
Healing Incidents .................................................................................................................. 423
Christ Returns to Nazareth ................................................................................................... 426
The Final Galilean Ministry.................................................................................................... 431
The Commissioning of the Twelve ........................................................................................ 434
Herod and John the Baptist .................................................................................................. 457
The Beheading of John the Baptist ....................................................................................... 467
Jesus’ Withdrawal from Galilee ............................................................................................ 473
The Feeding of the Five Thousand ........................................................................................ 475
Person and Work of Christ 1

Gal 4:45, "But when the fullness of time had
Historical Introduction
come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born
John 1:15, "In the beginning was the Word, and under law, to redeem those under law, that we
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. might receive the full rights of sons."
He was with God in the beginning.
Know from the beginning that God's timing is
Through him all things were made; without him
always right, and that He sent His Son at just
nothing was made that has been made.
the right moment in human history.
In him was life, and that life was the light of
READ Isaiah 52:1353:12
men.
Know from the beginning that the life of the
The light shines in the darkness, but the
Son of God was predicted for many hundreds
darkness has not understood it."
of years, and know that He had a destiny of
Know from the beginning that Jesus was and is
sorrow and a destiny of glory.
and forever will be the Son of God.
Dramatis Personae for the Opening Act
Luke 1:14, "Many have undertaken to draw up
an account of the things that have been fulfilled Mary: a young virgin, who is betrothed to Joseph,
among us, a carpenter. They are residents of Nazareth, a
just as they were handed down to us by those small town in the hill country of Galilee;
who from the first were eyewitnesses and
Elizabeth: an older woman of the hill country of
servants of the word.
Judah, not far from Jerusalem, and Mary's cousin;
Therefore, since I myself have carefully her husband Zechariah, a priest in the division of
investigated everything from the beginning, it Abijah;
seemed good also to me to write an orderly
Wise men from the East;
account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
Shepherds near Bethlehem;
so that you may know the certainty of the things
you have been taught." Gabriel, an angel;
Know from the beginning that this is the factual An anonymous angel;
account of the Son of God, that this is the most Simeon, a righteous man who waits for the
widely documented life and times in history. consolation of Israel;
1 John 1:14, "That which was from the Anna, a prophetess more than a hundred years of
beginning, which we have heard, which we have age, and a widow for eighty four of those years a
seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and very pious woman;
our hands have touched this we proclaim
Herod, the king over the Roman province of Judea
concerning the Word of life.
an evil man full of ambition.
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to
it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which HEROD THE GREAT
was with the Father and has appeared to us.
Herod in many ways personifies the trouble in
We proclaim to you what we have seen and Israel at the time of Christ. For a long time,
heard, so that you also may have fellowship with hundreds of years, the Jews had lived under the
us. And our fellowship is with the Father and control of one nation or another, and they longed
with his Son, Jesus Christ. to be truly autonomous. It seemed like whatever
We write this to make our joy complete." empire had the upper hand in history would rule
them.
Know from the beginning that this factual
account changes lives. It has changed mine, and If it wasn't the Babylonians, then it was the
it will change yours if you will listen and Persians, when the Persians took over. If it wasn't
believe. the Persians, it was the Greeks, when Alexander
came rumbling through the ancient near east. If it
Person and Work of Christ 2

wasn't Alexander, it was the Romans, after the It is no wonder, then, there was a great fascination
death of Alexander and the disintegration of his in the nation of Israel with the prophecies about
empire. the Messiah, The one who would come and
reestablish the greatness of their kingdom and
The Jews still understood that they were a holy
their people.
people, set apart for God. They always
remembered that, if nothing else. They rankled A man who would rise up and smite their enemies
under the rule of Rome, and it especially rubbed and make them a free people once again.
them wrong that Herod, the so-called Herod the
From time to time a fairly great and famous man
Great had power over them.
would rise up, and there would be some
Herod was worse than a Gentile; he was a half excitement about the possibility of his being the
Jewish Idumean, a descendant of Esau, a wild Messiah.
desert dwelling type. The Jews considered them
Of course, things would quiet down when he
with no small amount of prejudice.
turned out to be quite human, and the slavery of
To make matters worse, Herod was hardly a model Israel droned on and on.
human being. He has been called a monster one
After a time there was even a certain amount of
who was crafty and cruel, jealous and vain and
cynicism about the whole deal.
always quick to seek revenge when wronged.
The same phenomenon exists today with the
He came to the throne over the Roman province of
fascination about the end times and the return of
Judea through cunning and manipulation of Marc
Christ.
Antony.
Herod tried bribing the Jews, so that they would
He had nine or ten wives. Even the historians lost
like him, and he could view himself as a
count after a while.
successful ruler.
On the smallest of suspicion he had even his
Julius Caesar had given Herod a fantastic and truly
favorite wife, Mariamne, put to death, along with
royal inaugural celebration back in 37 B.C., when
her sons Alexander and Aristobulus.
Herod took the throne. He always longed for that
Even while on his own deathbed, just days before past glory, when in fact the traditional Roman
he died he had his own son, his flesh and blood warning of "sic transit gloria mundi" applied to
Antipater put to death. him more than any other. The bribes came in the
form of a building program that was the very rival
Caesar Augustus was heard to say, "It is better to
of Solomon's.
be Herod's hog than his own son!"
He built monuments and buildings in the Holy
Again at his deathbed he ordered all the principle
Land, and even rebuilt their temple in magnificent
men in Israel to be rounded up and placed in the
fashion, topping it with a golden dome.
local stadium, where they could be surrounded by
his soldiers and then slain when he died. The • The rebuilding of the Temple was much like the
reason: so that there would be great mourning at building of the Winchester Mystery House in San
Jose, California.
his death.
• More was added every year. A higher roof here,
It must have been difficult for the Jews to read the
an annex there all very magnificent.
Scriptures, and to know that their destiny was so
• When Herod died, his relatives took over the
great, and yet have the reality so different.
folly and the never ending program continued
Understand, however, that this was Divine until it was finally finished in 66 AD, some 87
Judgment on the nation of Israel; that they had years after it was begun.
neglected their relationship with God, and that the
• It is one of the great ironies of history that it was
situation was appropriate to their spiritual state. In burned down just four years later when Jerusalem
this case the outward circumstances reflected was destroyed.
accurately the inward condition: slavery.
Other buildings and monuments were undertaken.
Person and Work of Christ 3

• A temple, a forum, and a theatre at Samaria. His brief reign was characterized by violence, but
• A great Greco-Roman capital, a temple, and port the real violence would begin when Antiochus
at Caesarea. heard of the coup. He returned to Jerusalem with
• The port was an engineering marvel that even his army, besieged it, and killed 40,000 Jews upon
today is remarked upon by the archaeologists who its capture, and sold at least as many into slavery.
work at the site. Then he went back to Egypt.
• Luxurious palaces and fortified retreats were built Eventually, Antiochus awoke the ire of Rome, and
at Masada, Jerusalem, Jericho, and Herodium,
he was arrested and ordered to back off from
which was near Bethlehem.
Egypt or die. He did so, but he made another stop
• In Jerusalem he had baths, a theatre, and a
at Jerusalem, where he took out his frustration on
Hippodrome constructed.
the Jews. He entered the city on the Sabbath, and
• He also promoted Greek and Roman games so murdered thousands of men in the synagogues,
that the people might be entertained.
while enslaving the women and children. He
All of these things struck a sour note as any bribe defiled the Temple in every way imaginable, and
to a slave will. The people really did not want caused the daily ritual system to cease entirely.
these things. They wanted to be autonomous and This meant war.
free. But in order to be truly free, any people must
During this time of great persecution there was a
know God, and that was exactly the problem in
priest by the name of Mattathias. He was an old
Israel.
man of noble blood, and he had retired to a little
Herod was the king. The people were unhappy. town west of Jerusalem. There he was commanded
Their response to his despotism is worthwhile to to sacrifice on the Pagan altar, and he refused. In
note. fact, he became enraged when a Judean came
forward to sacrifice, and he struck the man,
Jewish Responses To Herod's Rule; The
overthrew the altar, called upon the faithful to
Maccabaean Revolt
follow him, and fled with his sons into the
Syria had one incredibly evil ruler by the name of wilderness.
Antiochus Epiphanes. This man was so evil that he
This was the Maccabaean family. The example of
made Herod the Great look like a great
Mattathias was followed by many in various parts
humanitarian by comparison. Antiochus was the
of the country. His story was well known, and the
prototype for the Antichrist of the Tribulation.
idolatrous altars were being overthrown, and
In 168 B.C. he desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem Jewish worship and culture was being
by setting up an altar to Jupiter Olympus, where he reestablished. The rigorous life of a rebel took its
dedicated the use of the Temple to this false God toll on Mattathias, and he died just a year later, in
by offering up the flesh of a swine. This was the 166 A.D.
'abomination of desolation' of Daniel 11:31, ""His
The third son of Mattathias, Judas, took over for
armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple
him in directing the war for independence. He was
fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then
a man full of energy and clever in the running of
they will set up the abomination that causes
the war. He was an expert at guerrilla warfare,
desolation."
attacking at night, and at the most surprising times
Antiochus made a furious effort, with the help of and places. Encouraged by early success, he
the corrupt high priesthood (who helped because became even more bold, and defeated Antiochus'
of a bribe), to Hellenize the Jews. head general, Apollonius, at Bethhoron.
The high priest himself, a man by the name of It was only a little while later that Antiochus left
Jason, was power mad, and attempted a coup in Jerusalem and left the government to a man name
Jerusalem when Antiochus was mistakenly Lysias. Lysias was a military dunce, and Judas
reported dead during a military campaign in defeated his larger army at Emmaus, and later at
Egypt.
Person and Work of Christ 4

Bethsura. Judas was then able to occupy skill and political maneuvering. They had won
Jerusalem, where he purified the Temple. almost every battle that they had fought for 25
years. They had successfully manipulated the
Judas continued his triumphs on the military field,
political machines of their foreign occupants.
and after the battle of Adasa, the Jews had almost
won their independence. Almost. Bacchides led They had done everything just right, but they had
another invading army, and this time the Jews failed in the most important regard: the spiritual
were caught unaware. Able to only muster a small life.
group of men, and losing many of those on the
Just eight years after the apparent victory of Israel,
night before the battle, Judas was defeated, and
Simon and two of his sons was murdered by
died.
Ptolemaeus, and in 135 B.C. the nation of Israel
All that was gained seemed lost. The patriots were once again found itself on the brink of slavery.
in a state of total disorder, and it was only renewed
John Hyrcanus was one of the two living sons of
persecution that brought them together again.
Simon. When he heard of the death of his father,
The Jews again looked to the Maccabees, this time he marched with the army against Jericho.
Jonathan, the youngest son of Mattathias would be Unfortunately, Ptolemaeus held a trump card: he
their champion. Jonathan would fight a skillful had Simon's widow, John's mother, captive, and
defensive campaign in the Jordan Valley, and the sabbatical year of the year of Jubilee was just
when a new king took the throne in Syria, he around the corner, so the siege of Jericho failed.
gained support, and Israel a fair amount of
Seeing no further use for the woman, Ptolemaeus
freedom.
had her killed, and then he fled to Philadelphia.
Jonathan was made high priest, and there was Antiochus the sixth (not Epiphanes) then invaded
peace in the land for some 20 years. Sadly, in 144 Judea, and besieged Jerusalem, and Hyrcanus and
B.C. Jonathan fell victim to the treachery of a man the army was trapped there and placed into a
by the name of Tryphon, and was imprisoned in desperate situation.
Ptolemais, in Galilee. This act left just one
The Jews caught a break when a truce was granted
Maccabee, Simon.
for the passover feast, and Hyrcanus took the
Simon had all along been a steady military leader, opportunity to bargain with Ptolemaeus. Hyrcanus
but had left the national leadership to his brothers. compromised like crazy in order to gain the
Now it was his turn, and he placed himself at the freedom of Israel, even going to the extreme of
head of the patriot party. After a short while, opening David's tomb to pay the tribute demanded
Tryphon put Jonathan to death, and seized the by the Syrian General.
throne of Syria.
He then went to Parthia to bargain further for the
Simon had the wits to make an appeal for the freedom of Israel, and through compromise and
freedom of the Jews to Demetrius, a well known manipulation was able to establish a treaty that
general with connections to Rome. lasted for more than fifty years.
This appeal was accepted, and once again it By 30 B.C., the line of the Maccabees had died out
seemed as though the Jews would be free. with the death of Hyrcanus II, the grandson of
Hyrcanus. His granddaughter was Mariamne, who
Although Mattathias had begun the rebellion over
went on to marry Herod the Great.
the issue of the Jewish religion, after 32 years, the
war, and political freedom became the thing. Now, where were the Pharisees during all this
Relationship with God had taken a back seat to time? Well, they had begun to grasp for political
military strategy and tactics, and politics. And power, so that they might more effectively carry
remember, that no nation can remain free without out their mission. At first they were on the side of
a relationship with God. the Maccabees, but the more the rebels
concentrated on the war, the further they got away
At the time of Simon, in 143 B.C., Israel had
apparently won their freedom through military
Person and Work of Christ 5

from strict observance of the Law, and so they uphold the Law of Moses, so that the pollution of
earned the wrath of the Pharisees. foreigners and their foreign Gods would not
destroy what made the nation of Israel so distinct,
Because of the gross compromises of Hyrcanus,
and so great in their time. This is why they came
and looting of David's tomb, more and more Jews
to hate Herod so very much.
went to the side of the Pharisees. After the death
of Hyrcanus I, his daughter became queen, and For some four hundred years before the birth of
seeing the handwriting on the wall, she abandoned Christ they strove to fulfill their mission as they
her political power to Pharisees. saw it. Such an aim was not so bad, but in carrying
out that aim they became so extreme as to be
At the time of the birth of Christ, the Romans
parody of the Law.
through Herod held the outward political power,
while the Pharisees held it internally. The people Their undue attention to detail, and especially their
found themselves under a double tyranny, and it imagination in creating details which did not exist
was a difficult time indeed. resulted in their missing the point of the Law
entirely.
Concluding principles:
The Law was designed to bring the people of
• Freedom without a relationship with God is in
reality slavery. Israel to a relationship with the living God through
the provision of knowledge essential to the
• War without a relationship with God is a waste.
maintenance of that relationship. It was not
• Both slavery and freedom begin in the soul.
designed to be carried out just for the sake of
• John 8:32, "Then you will know the truth, and
accomplishment and preservation.
the truth will set you free.""
The very best way for the Pharisees to have
• Gal 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us
accomplished their aim would have been to
free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves
be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. perpetuate the Law through having a relationship
with God by it.
THE PHARISEES
Their teachings about religious matters are quite a
The word "Pharisee" is the Greek translation from
revelation of their character.
the Aramaic, and it means to be separated. To the
They tried ardently to avoid all physical contact
Pharisee, this meant a separation from the
with the Pagan Gentiles. Even touching one would
influences of the Gentiles on their religion and
make them ceremonially unclean. This is why the
culture.
Pharisees took such great offense at Christ's close
We have a very similar thing occurring in our
association with the tax collectors and sinners.
nation today. The Pagan influences in our society
They always stuck to the letter of the Law, without
are waging war against the marvelous culture and
a hint of flexibility. They defined exactly many
vital relationship with God that our forefathers
things that were not set forth in the Law. They
enjoyed. It is a natural and good response to do
were obsessed with the Sabbath, and were
what you can to protect what is good; to defend it
constantly specifying and clarifying what could
from those who so zealously attempt to destroy it.
and could not be done; how far one could travel;
Every time that the nation of Israel fell under the
exactly how much could be lifted; what the precise
rule of another nation whether Babylon or Persia
exceptions were. Of course, the point that the
or Greece or Rome, they felt like they were losing
Sabbath was designed for concentration on God
a little bit more of themselves. The foreign
was lost on them.
nationals would come in with their foreign Gods
The Pharisees were consumed with the idea of
and foreign customs and foreign games, and away
appearance. They would pray long and loud in
would go just a little bit more of what was truly
public. They would contrive special hats to cover
Jewish.
their eyes, so that they might not see a woman
The emphasis of the Pharisees was in the area of
the Mosaic Law. It was their aim to protect and
Person and Work of Christ 6

(these were called the bloody Pharisees, because Hellenizing influences of the Greeks, and thus
they were always running into things). retain their favor.
Their motivation is equally revealing. They did The Sadducees had a lot to lose to the occupation
what they did at the time of Christ for two reasons: forces of the Greeks, because they were mostly
to gain power, and to avoid judgment. The latter is prosperous, aristocratic people. In order to
especially interesting in the light of 1 John 4:18, maintain their lifestyles and possessions, they
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives placated the Greeks, giving in to their cultural and
out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. even religious influences.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
During the Maccabaean revolt, they stayed in the
They were fervent in their legalism lest they background. They were in fact very unpopular.
offend God, and thus come under His judgement When Jonathan Maccabee was appointed high
in the eternal state. But you cannot have a true priest by popular demand, it looked like the
relationship with one you fear. You must have Sadducees would be gone forever. At the time,
confidence before God, and that was one thing the almost all of the people in the land were willing to
Pharisee did not have. sacrifice anything for their freedom. The strong
oppression of the Syrians drove them to this
Another motivation, the lust for power, had been
sacrificial attitude.
hanging around the Pharisees for quite some time.
Their mission, though warped in its execution, was After about 40 years of on and off civil war, the
quite a noble one. They looked at their mission, Jews became tired of the bloodshed, and popular
and decided that they needed power, political opinion tended toward peace. In this case, peace
power in order to carry it out. Much like their meant compromise, and compromise was the game
association with the Law, their attempts to gain of the Sadducees. John Hyrcanus, of the
power led to their addiction to it, and its rule over Maccabees, was really very close to the Sadducee
them. way of thinking.
Perhaps the best characterization of their addiction However, the compromising policy of Hyrcanus
to power was their success in the Maccabaean became unpopular in a few years, and so the
Revolt, which occurred a couple of centuries Pharisees came into power. Due to the double
before the birth of Christ. tyranny of the Pharisees and king Herod, the
Sadducees had made a great comeback not long
In the intermediate period between the death of
before the birth of Christ. Let's face it: the
Alexander in 323 B.C. and the establishment of
Pharisees were no fun at all.
Roman control from 63 B.C. onward, Israel
remained under the nominal control of Greece and The religious beliefs of the Sadducees can be
even Syria. summed up in a single thought: they were always
opposed to what the Pharisees believed. They
THE SADDUCEES
believed that only the written Law is binding,
This religious group known as Sadducees came whereas the Pharisees believed that the body of
into being about 300 years before Christ. They are tradition and written interpretation were just as
characterized by their aristocracy, their cultural important as the Law itself.
surrender to the Greeks and others, and their
The Sadducees punished breaches of the Law
opposition to everything the Pharisees stood for.
severely, but the Pharisees often interpreted their
Their name comes from the Aramaic Sadduqim, way around the written Law, and thus got out of
which meant 'righteousness'. However, those who the proscribed punishment.
were in opposition to them called them saddiqim,
They had a strong belief in human free will, while
which meant 'destruction'.
the Pharisees believed in predestination to the
They came from the ranks of the priests and high point of being fatalistic.
priests of Israel, during the time of the Greek
occupation. Their desire was to give in to the