THE LIFE OF CHRIST

THE LIFE OF CHRIST

Book of Matthew

Page numbers are from the NIV Pew Bible

If you do not have a copy, just ignore the page numbers; the scriptures remain the same.

NOTE: The Bible is divided into two parts. The Old Testament is everything from the creation to the birth of Jesus, and covers approximately 4000 years. The New Testament is everything from the birth of Jesus to the death of the last apostle nearly 100 years later.

Within the Bible are 66 smaller books usually named after a main event in it, the author, or to whom it was written.

NOTE: Four men wrote the life of Christ. Matthew was a Jew and one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. Mark was a companion of the apostle Peter. Luke was a Greek physician and companion of the apostle Paul. John was a Jew and one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. Although all four accounts are similar, some include facts the others do not.

The land of Israel was divided into three parts. In the south where Jerusalem was, was the province of Judea, in the middle where half-breed Jews lived was the province of Samaria, and in the north where Jesus grew up was the province of Galilee.

Session One

Chapter 1 - Page 1

Jesus' Ancestry and Birth

DAY ONE:

VERSE 1 The human part of Jesus was a direct descendant of the Father of the Jewish (Israelite) Nation, whose name was __________________________. (Hint: See Romans 11:1, pg. 150.)

VERSE 2 Jesus descended through Abraham's grandson named _________________. (This grandson had so many children, instead of calling it a family, his descendants were called a tribe.)

VERSE 5 One of Jesus' female ancestors was ____________________. It was her vow that is repeated today at weddings sometimes: ("Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.")

VERSE 6 The first king in Jesus' ancestry was King _________________________.

VERSE 7 The next king in Jesus' ancestry, Solomon, was known worldwide for what? (See Matthew 12:42, pg. 12). _________________________________

VERSE 18 ____________________ was a virgin pledged to be married to Joseph. (See also Luke 1:26-31, pg. 53).

Jesus was born of a human mother, but the divine part of Jesus was a descendent of

_______________________________, (see Luke 1:32-35, pg. 53).

VERSE 19 In Bible times, to be engaged was as legally binding as today's marriages. That is why Joseph decided to ______________________________ her. (Note: From what we can tell, he knew Mary was pregnant and he was not the father. According to Jewish law, someone could be divorced for adultery. Apparently that is what Joseph thought Mary had committed.)

DAY TWO:

VERSE 20 Who came to set Joseph straight on how Mary became pregnant? _________________________

VERSE 21 What does the name Jesus mean? (See the footnote.) __________________________________

VERSE 23 According to the footnote, what prophet, who lived 700 years earlier, prophecied Jesus' mother would be a virgin? ________________________________ (His writings are found in the Old Testament.)

What does the word Immanu-El mean? ______________________________________________

VERSE 25 Joseph did not have marital relations with Mary until what? _____________________________

_________________________________________________. This shows that she did or did not remain a virgin the rest of their marriage? ___________________________________________

When Jesus was born, he was laid in an animal's ________________________ (See Luke 2:7, pg. 54).

The angels appeared to the shepherds the same __________________ (See Luke 2:11, pg. 54.)

Chapter 2 - Page 2

Jesus' Early Childhood

VERSE 1 Jesus was born in what town and province? ___________________________________________.

Who was king of the Jews at this time? ______________________________________________

How many Magi (wise men) arrived from "the east?" __________________________________

VERSE 2 While they were still in the east, they saw his ______________________.

NOTE: 600 years earlier, a Jew lived who in "the east" named Daniel became Prime Minister of that area (Persia). He left behind writings which predicted the exact year the King of Kings would begin to reign, and other Jewish writings which predicted this king would be a Jew represented by a star.

VERSE 3 What man and what city were disturbed when they heard a new king was born? ______________ ________________________________________________________________________________.

NOTE: Herod was a half-Jew half-Arab appointed by Caesar to be king over the Jews. When he took over the country, the Jews wouldn't let him into Jerusalem, so he had to storm the city, killing 12,000 Jews in the process, many of them in the Temple itself.

DAY THREE:

VERSE 4 Who did King Herod call together to find out where Jesus was to be born? _________________

and ______________________________________________________.

VERSE 5 How did they know Jesus would be born in Bethlehem? ________________________________

VERSE 9 The ___________________________ which they had seen while in the east reappeared to lead them to where Jesus was.

VERSE 11 By this time, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were living in a ___________________.

What gifts did they present to Jesus? ________________________________________________

VERSE 13 For a second time, God appeared to Joseph. This time he warned him to escape who what country? _____________________________

VERSE 16 King Herod had already killed his wife, his mother-in-law, his grandfather-in-law, his brother-in-law, and three sons because he thought they were trying to take over his throne. So now, Herod ordered all boys _________________years old and under to be killed.

NOTE: If the wisemen lived in Persia 1000 miles away, it might have taken them a year to figure out from archives what the star meant, and another year to travel to Jerusalem.

VERSE 22 For a third time, God appeared to Joseph to warn him not to settle in the Province of _____________________ where Herod's cruel son, Archelaeus was made governor. So Joseph went to which province that was governed by a better son of Herod? ____________________________

VERSE 23 What town did Jesus grow up in? _____________________________ This was located in the province of Galilee far north of the province of Judea where Jerusalem and the Temple were.

Chapter 3 - Pages 2-3

John the Baptist

DAY FOUR:

VERSE 1-2 Who told people to repent? ________________________. Why? _______________________________________

______________________________________________________________________.

What is another word for kingdom that was used after it came? (Hint: Compare Acts 20:28 [p. 132] with Revelation 1:5b-6 [pg. 227]) ________________________________________________________

VERSE 6 People who repented did what in the Jordan River? ________________________________

VERSE 7 The Pharisees (pronounced fair-a-sees) and Sadducees (pronounced sad-u-cees) were denominations within the Jewish religion. The Pharisees believed that after you died, God raised you back to life again to dwell with him. The Sadducees believed that once you died you were like Rover - dead all over.

Whenever John or Jesus talked about or to them, it was to their leaders. For instance, when we talk about New Democratic Party, we are referring to their leaders.

VERSE 9 These Jewish leaders were bragging that who was their ancestor? _____________________.

VERSE 10 Baptism by the Holy Spirit meant that at baptism we receive ______________________________________________

and the gift of the _____________________________________________________ (see Acts 2:38, pg. 112).

Baptism of fire is explained in the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 3:13, pg. 156. What is it? ___________________________________________________________________________________________

VERSE 13-15 Jesus insisted on being baptized so he could fulfill all ___________________________________ as our example.

VERSE 16 Jesus went _____________ _____________________ of the water. That means his baptism involved him going down into the water. Would he have needed to do this if baptism was sprinkling? ________

VERSE 16-17 This was the first time the Trinity was revealed. The __________________________________ descended in the form of a dove, and the voice was God the Father bragging on his _______________ whom he loved.

Was God happy or angry that Jesus had been baptized? _____________________

Chapter 4 - Page 3-4

Jesus' Temptation and First Apostles

DAY FIVE:

VERSE 1 Jesus was tempted by who? __________________________________

VERSE 2 Jesus fasted how long? ______________________________________

VERSE 3 The devil said he would believe Jesus was the Son of God if he performed what kind of miracle for his own benefit? ________________________________________. But does belief/faith alone save a person? (Hint: See James 2:17 & 19, pg. 213)? _____________________

VERSE 4 Jesus fought Satan by quoting from the Bible, an Old Testament scripture written by Moses about 2500 B.C., saying that true life is given by words from the _________________ of ______________.

VERSE 5-6 So Satan quoted scripture (Psalm 91:11-12) as part of his next dare. He dared Jesus to perform another miracle on his own behalf by jumping off the pinnacle of the _________________. Can you conclude from this that not everyone who quotes the Bible is using it properly? ________________

VERSE 7 Jesus again replied by quoting another scripture written by Moses saying we should not put God to the ____________________________.

Do people sometimes put themselves in dangerous situations and then get mad at God for not getting them out of it? _____________________

VERSE 10 Jesus answered with another scripture, this time one of the Ten Commandments written by Moses, "Worship ____________________________________ only.

DAY SIX:

VERSE 11 Only after resisting several times did the devil _____________________ Jesus. Then God sent his ________________________________ to take care of Jesus' needs.

VERSE 13 Jesus grew up in Nazareth. But at this time he moved to Capernaum (pronounced Cap-ern-ium) by a large _______________ sometimes called a sea.

VERSE 17 Jesus then began preaching the same message as John, that people should __________________. Acknowledging that we sin is the first step to turning to God and his help.

Jesus was how old when he began preaching? See Luke 3:23 (pg. 56) ______________

VERSE 18 The name of the large lake? _________________________________________________

What two fishermen did he call? _______________________________ and _______________________

VERSE 19 What did he say they would fish for from then on? ___________________________

VERSE 21 What other two brother, also fisherman, did he call next? ____________________ and ____________________.

VERSE 23 Jesus preached in synagogues (pronounced sin-a-gogs) and proved his message was from God by healing ________________ disease and sickness. Notice, he never failed to heal a person and then blame it on their lack of faith.

VERSE 24 News about Jesus also spread to the country just north of Palestine, _________________.

VERSE 25 Galilee was the northern province of Palestine/Israel. The southern province was Judea where Jerusalem was located, the middle province was Samaria, and a fourth province was on the east side of the bordering Jordan river called Parea. Decapolis refers to a metropolitan area in Galilee made up of ten cities.

ADVANCED QUESTIONS

Attached is a page from "The Catholic Encyclopedia," a very reliable book of the history of the Christian movement, published in 1960, regarding the history of baptism. Read it carefully.

Baptism by immersion prevailed until what century? ________________

Matthew 3 says Jesus was baptized. Attached is a page from "An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words," by W. E. Vine, Published by Fleming H. Revell, published 1940 to present. Read it carefully.

When King James' scholars translated the Bible into common English in the 1600s, they did not translate the word, "baptizo." Instead they transliterated it, or anglicized it, and called it baptism. Since then, most translations of the Bible have followed their example and not translated the word "baptizo." Why do you think they are not translating this word?

When we are baptized, we are immitating what three fantastic things Jesus did for us? See Romans 6:3-6 (pg. 145).

Look up Colossians 2:12 (pg. 188). "Having been _________________ with him in ________________________ and ________________ with him through your faith in the ____________________ of God, who _________________________ him from the ____________________________."

John 3:23 (pg. 88) says, "Now John also was ________________________ at Aenon near Salim, because there was ________________ of ____________________ there." Why do you think John needed plenty of water?

Matthew 3:16 (pg. 3) says, "As soon as ____________________ was _____________________, he went ___________ ___________ of the water. Do you think the water was poured on Jesus, sprinkled on him, or he was buried in the water?

Look up Acts 8 (pg. 118) where Philip explained the gospel of Jesus to the Ethiopian treasurer for the queen (he was also a eunuch because all men who worked with royal women in those days were made eunuchs). Verse 36 says, "As they traveled along the road they came to some ___________________________ and the eunuch said, "Look, here is _______________________. Why shouldn't I be ____________________________________?" Verse 37 is in the footnote and says, "Philip said, "If you __________________________ with all your ________________________, you may." The eunuch answered, "I _________________

that Jesus Christ is the _________________________________________________." Verse 38 then reports, "And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then ___________________ Philip and the eunuch went ________________ ______________ the ________________

and Philip ______________________ him. When they came ______________ _______________ of the ____________________, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away."

Acts 5:29 (pg. 115) says, "Peter and the other __________________ replied, 'We ___________ obey ___________ rather than ______________!" In comparing what God's opinion is of baptism (the Bible) and what man's opinion is of baptism, whose opinion should we follow? __________________________ On the Judgment Day, who will judge us - God or men?___________________

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pg. 259