NT Framework - A Career to Follow

We often follow the career of the best college athlete to see where they go and what they become; why didn't this happen with Jesus?

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Some people did have a good response, as we'll see
here.
Verse 21 and following wheneight days had passed before his
circumcision, his name was thencalled Jesus, the name given by
the angel before he wasconceived in the womb.
When the days for theirpurification according to the
law of Moses were completed,they brought him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord.
As it is written in the law ofthe Lord, every firstborn male

(00:33):
that opens the womb shall becalled holy to the Lord, and to
offer a sacrifice, according towhat was said in the law of the
Lord, a pair of turtledoves ortwo young pigeons.
So Mary and Joseph, after thedays of purification, are going
down to the temple right inJerusalem.
They're taking the baby up.
And verse 25,.
There was a man in Jerusalemwhose name was Simeon, and this
man was righteous and devout.
He was looking for theconsolation of Israel.

(00:56):
Well, let me ask you a question.
Who's the consolation of Israel, by the way?
Oh, the Messiah.
That's who he's waiting for.
And the holy spirit was uponhim, and it had been revealed to
him by the holy spirit that hewould not see death before he
had seen the lord's christ.
We've got two people early on,before john the baptist comes
along and has his ministry.
We have two people that thelord has spoken to, simeon and

(01:21):
zachariah, the father of johnthe baptist both of these.
So you see God starting tospeak again.
We said during theintertestamental times it's
sometimes called the period ofsilence 400 years of silence.
He's starting to speak again.
Zechariah is now Simeon.
Simeon's been told he's notgoing to see death before he's
seen the Lord's Messiah, verse27,.

(01:42):
He came in the spirit into thetemple and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus tocarry out for him the custom of
the law, he took him into hisarms.
Now you're Mary, okay, you gotthe baby Jesus.
This guy comes along and justsweeps him out of your arms.
That's the picture, becausethat's what happened and the
grammar is deliberately movingthe narrative along quickly.
So we think of someone swiftlytaking a baby out of your arms.

(02:05):
And he blessed god and he saidnow, lord, you are releasing
your bondservant to depart inpeace.
In other words, I can go now, Ican die according to your word,
for my eyes have seen yoursalvation, which you have
prepared in the presence of allpeoples, a light of revelation
to the gentiles and the glory ofyour people is.
And his father and mother wereamazed at the things which were

(02:26):
being said about him.
See, they're just trying topiece all this together.
You can imagine if you were ahusband or wife with your first
baby and these things have beensaid about your child.
All these strange, uniquethings have occurred around the
conception and the birth, and soSimeon blesses them and he says
in verse 34, behold, this childis appointed for the fall and
the rise of many in Israel andfor a sign to be opposed, and a

(02:49):
sword will pierce even your ownsoul to the end that the
thoughts from many hearts may berevealed.
That is one of my favoriteverses, because obviously, the
sword piercing through her ownsoul is looking to his horrible
crucifixion that will eventuallytake place.
But also the end of thatcrucifixion is that thoughts

(03:14):
from many hearts are revealed,because it's looking at one's
response to the crucifixion.
That's why the third part ofwhat we're doing here is always
or.
The second part is how did theyrespond?
How did the people respond?
And the last section is what isthe proper response?
Right, and they're both righthere, at the end of verse 35.

(03:35):
So that's Simeon, good responseright, jew, good response.
Another good response verse 36,the prophetess Anna, the
daughter of Phanuel of the tribeof Asher.
She's advanced in years.
She had lived with her husbandseven years after her marriage
and then as a widow.
So he died.
She lived to the age of 84.
She never left the temple,serving night and day with
fastings and prayers hyperbolemeaning she was always there.

(03:59):
At that very moment she came upand began giving thanks to God.
So this is right.
After Simeon, she comes up, shebegins giving thanks to God.
She continued to speak of himto all those who were looking
for the redemption of Israel.
See, there were people who werelooking for the redemption of
Israel.
There were people looking forthe consolation of Israel, there
were people looking for theSavior, there were people
looking for the Messiah, and allthis is very close to the

(04:20):
virgin birth.
So there is this initialexcitement.
There's Simeon, there's, andthen we come to verse 36, or,
I'm sorry, 39.
Let's go to 41.

(04:41):
Now, look, that's the last storyyou hear about in all the
Gospels, about Jesus.
Okay, it's all about his birth,about that time period.
You don't hear anything elseuntil verse 41.
Now his parents went toJerusalem every year, at the
Feast of the Passover, and whenhe became 12, what?

(05:04):
What?
When he became 12, whathappened to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, and 11?
We're talking, you know, 11times, or 12 times, 365 days.
That's a lot of days that youdon't read anything.
The word went out from theshepherds and the prophetess was

(05:27):
telling people what's theproper response Again, wouldn't
you want to track the career ofthis uniquely wrought child?
But they didn't.
They forgot.
We have this now.
He's 12 years old.
They go up, according to thecustom of the feast, verse 43 as

(05:50):
they're returning.
They went in caravans withpeople from nazareth.
After spending the full numberof days, the, the boy Jesus,
stayed behind in Jerusalem, buthis parents weren't aware of it.
People today say wow what inthe world?
He's irresponsible parents.
You know, these kids would justplay.
It was a large caravan.
They'd play all the time.
I mean, if you don't see yourkid all day, that's because he's
playing with so-and-so elseKids.
We all live in the same villageof Nazareth.

(06:11):
This is no big deal, right?
They supposed him to be in thecaravan.
They went a day's journey.
They began looking for him.
Okay, at the end of the day,yeah, where is he Among their
relatives and acquaintances?
Verse 45,.
When they did not find him,they returned to Jerusalem
looking for him.
After three days they found himin the temple.
I mean, I can only imagine thestress, right, sitting in the

(06:33):
midst of the teachers.
These are the most brilliantminds in Judaism, right?
He's both listening to them andhe's asking them questions.
He's 12 years old and all whoheard him were amazed at his
understanding and his answers.
You're amazed at a 12-year-old.
You're amazed at theunderstanding of a 12-year-old.

(06:55):
You're amazed at his answers toyour questions, that you, as
the great teachers of the law,you have questions he's able to
answer.
He's able to ask questions thatyou're probably not able to
answer.
He's giving answers toquestions that you don't have
the answers for, or you stillare curious about.
What do we say?
We read in Isaiah 50, verse 4 acouple weeks ago, morning by

(07:17):
morning, the Father would awakethe Messiah and teach him, and
teach him In his true humanity.
He had to learn the Word of God.
Here he is, at 12 years old.
Don't think children can'tlearn the Word of God.
Jesus didn't get to cheat, okay.
Jesus didn't get to cheat okay,he didn't get to cheat.

(07:38):
I've seen some pretty brilliant12 13 year olds in my life.
Some of these people have goneoff to places like cambridge or
yale when they're like 12 or 13years old.
How do they do that?
I mean, they're smart people,way smarter than me, um,
probably way smarter thananybody in this room.
I don't know, some of you maybe super geniuses off the Mensa
scale, but Jesus applied himselfand he listened to his father's

(08:04):
teaching and he learned theword of God to the point that
the great teachers of the laware astonished at this kid Verse
48,.
When they saw him, they wereastonished.
His mother said to him son, whyhave you treated us like this?
And you know the't understandthe statement.
The 12-year-old understood it,but they didn't understand it.

(08:25):
Is he not unique?
But see, the point is here thejews really kind of forgot.
They're not really tracing hiscareer with great interest.
If at this point I was one ofthose great teachers and I
recognized I'm a seminaryprofessor.
So if I recognize in somestudent who's 18, 20, 25 years

(08:46):
old, even today, great potential, I don't.
You know that I will bebasically following this
person's career and I will belike investing in them as much
as I possibly can.
I've had some students who arethat way, like John Miles.
I was like, okay, this guy'skind of off the charts.
I mean, you should be teachingthe class, not me.
So follow his career with greatinterest.

(09:07):
Personally I do, but theydidn't do that.
It's the wrong response.
You think after this you'dlearn something about when he
was 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, how he'steaching in synagogue at 17, 18
, 19.
You don't read any of that.
There's nothing there.
There's nothing there untiljohn comes along and he's

(09:29):
baptizing and he comes to theJordan right Now.
That was the Jews.
And you see this declininginterest and then animosity
during the Gospels, right whenit's during his life, and it
leads to the death.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(10:01):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
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next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.