167 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 3 - Part 3 - Book 14 - John the Baptist

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 1 * BOOK 14 JOHN THE BAPTIST Then out of David would come the King. There are a lot of people who think there is a big wall between the New and Old Testament. Matthew 1:1 "THE book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Matthew 1:3a Remember in Genesis, Thamar played the prostitute. Matthew 1:5a "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab;..." Matthew 1:5 Matthew 1:6 "And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias (Bathsheba):" And you know the story of her and King David. "Moreover the law entered, that the offence (sin) might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" God's Grace! Even though back here we are not under the program of Grace, yet God's Grace has always been evident. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, did they go looking for God? God went looking for them. Only His Grace. Matthew 1:18,19 Matthew 1:20a To show that Jesus is in that royal family. In II Samuel Chapter 7, what did God promise David? All we are going to understand in the opening part of the New Testament is that the King has now made His appearance. Matthew 1:20b That Christ was virgin-born. The mother's blood has nothing to do with the baby. The blood comes only from the father. The blood comes from the father. If it had been any other way, He couldn't have shed sinless Divine blood. Because it had been spoken of in the Old Testament we see in verse 23 the following: Matthew 1:23-25 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child (without benefit of a human father) and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Now remember, Jesus is the name of His humanity; of His humility. It's Jesus upon Whom was laid the sins of the world. I think I told you that the disciples, and His followers in Scripture, never called Him "Jesus" during His earthly ministry. They would call Him the "Lord Jesus," or referred to Him as "Master," but never just "Jesus." We know the resurrected Christ. Between the Book of Malachi and the appearance of the Angel announcing the birth of John the Baptist, and to Joseph and Mary, is 400 years. Up until that time, you might say from Abraham to Malachi, God had been revealing himself through the prophets and through various other means to the Nation of Israel. But after the Book of Malachi was written, completing the Old Testament, 400 years elapse until God makes His next move with the Nation of Israel. Let's look at Malachi first to see the prophecy of John the Baptist. Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he (the messenger) shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek (now remember the Lord here is Jehovah, God the Son), shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the (what?) covenant (I'm glad we came back here. The Covenant, see), whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." That's John the Baptist being promised that he would come on the scene, and be the messenger to announce the King. The King is also the fulfillment of that Abrahamic Covenant. Here the Nation of Israel is in Matthew and their King is here. Matthew 3:1,2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea (and here's John's message), And saying, `Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" What made the Kingdom at hand? The King! Now when the King went back to Heaven at the ascension in Acts Chapter 1, where is the Kingdom? When the King comes back to Earth, where will the Kingdom be? So wherever the King is, you have the Kingdom. Now the King is here. Matthew 3:3 Matthew 3:6 Why baptism? Now remember that we are dealing with the Jew, and if you go back to the Old Testament economy, in order for the priest to be prepared for service the first thing they had to do was wash, wash, and wash some more. Throughout the whole system of the Law of Moses there was that constant washing to show to the very mind of Israel that sin was a filthy thing. Sin! Go dip in the Jordan River seven times. God did it because Naaman, as reluctant as he was, was still exercising faith. In the same way, the priesthood with their wash, wash, wash, were merely emphasizing their need for a spiritual cleansing. I guess one of the biggest questions has been, "Why was Jesus baptised? The washing. So as He went down into that baptism in the Jordan, he symbolically fulfilled the washing of the priesthood, and at the same time He identifies Himself with His Covenant people the Nation of Israel. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible