Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
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.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Some people did have a good response, as we'll see here. Verse 21 and following when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the days for their purification 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 of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice, according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. So Mary and Joseph, after the days of purification, are going down to the temple right in Jerusalem. They're taking the baby up. And verse 25,.
Speaker 2:There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout. He was looking for the consolation of Israel. 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 upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would 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 the lord has spoken to, simeon and zachariah, the father of john the baptist both of these. So you see God starting to speak again. We said during the intertestamental times it's sometimes called the period of silence 400 years of silence. He's starting to speak again. Zechariah is now Simeon. Simeon's been told he's not going to see death before he's seen the Lord's Messiah, verse 27,.
Speaker 2:He came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, he took him into his arms. Now you're Mary, okay, you got the baby Jesus. This guy comes along and just sweeps him out of your arms. That's the picture, because that's what happened and the grammar is deliberately moving the narrative along quickly. So we think of someone swiftly taking a baby out of your arms. And he blessed god and he said now, lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace. In other words, I can go now, I can die according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of your people is. And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him. See, they're just trying to piece all this together. You can imagine if you were a husband or wife with your first baby and these things have been said about your child. All these strange, unique things have occurred around the conception and the birth, and so Simeon blesses them and he says in verse 34, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed, and a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. That is one of my favorite verses, because obviously, the sword piercing through her own soul is looking to his horrible crucifixion that will eventually take place. But also the end of that crucifixion is that thoughts from many hearts are revealed, because it's looking at one's response to the crucifixion. That's why the third part of what we're doing here is always or. The second part is how did they respond? How did the people respond? And the last section is what is the proper response? Right, and they're both right here, at the end of verse 35. So that's Simeon, good response right, jew, good response.
Speaker 2:Another good response verse 36, the prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She's advanced in years. She had lived with her husband seven 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 hyperbole meaning she was always there.
Speaker 2:At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God. So this is right. After Simeon, she comes up, she begins giving thanks to God. She continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel. See, there were people who were looking for the redemption of Israel. There were people looking for the consolation of Israel, there were people looking for the Savior, there were people looking for the Messiah, and all this is very close to the virgin birth. So there is this initial excitement. There's Simeon, there's, and then we come to verse 36, or, I'm sorry, 39. Let's go to 41.
Speaker 2:Now, look, that's the last story you hear about in all the Gospels, about Jesus. Okay, it's all about his birth, about that time period. You don't hear anything else until verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year, at the Feast of the Passover, and when he became 12, what? What? When he became 12, what happened to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11? We're talking, you know, 11 times, or 12 times, 365 days. That's a lot of days that you don't read anything. The word went out from the shepherds and the prophetess was telling people what's the proper response Again, wouldn't you want to track the career of this uniquely wrought child? But they didn't. They forgot. We have this now. He's 12 years old. They go up, according to the custom of the feast, verse 43 as they're returning. They went in caravans with people from nazareth. After spending the full number of days, the, the boy Jesus, stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents weren't aware of it. People today say wow what in the world?
Speaker 2:He's irresponsible parents. You know, these kids would just play. It was a large caravan. They'd play all the time. I mean, if you don't see your kid all day, that's because he's playing with so-and-so else Kids. We all live in the same village of Nazareth. This is no big deal, right? They supposed him to be in the caravan. 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 him in the temple.
Speaker 2:I mean, I can only imagine the stress, right, sitting in the midst of the teachers. These are the most brilliant minds in Judaism, right? He's both listening to them and he's asking them questions. He's 12 years old and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. You're amazed at a 12-year-old. You're amazed at the understanding of a 12-year-old. You're amazed at his answers to your questions, that you, as the great teachers of the law, you have questions he's able to answer. He's able to ask questions that you're probably not able to answer. He's giving answers to questions that you don't have the answers for, or you still are curious about.
Speaker 2:What do we say? We read in Isaiah 50, verse 4 a couple weeks ago, morning by morning, the Father would awake the 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't learn the Word of God. Jesus didn't get to cheat, okay. Jesus didn't get to cheat okay, he didn't get to cheat.
Speaker 2:I've seen some pretty brilliant 12 13 year olds in my life. Some of these people have gone off to places like cambridge or yale when they're like 12 or 13 years old. How do they do that? I mean, they're smart people, way smarter than me, um, probably way smarter than anybody in this room. I don't know, some of you may be super geniuses off the Mensa scale, but Jesus applied himself and he listened to his father's teaching and he learned the word of God to the point that the great teachers of the law are astonished at this kid Verse 48,. When they saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him son, why have you treated us like this? And you know the't understand the statement. The 12-year-old understood it, but they didn't understand it. Is he not unique? But see, the point is here the jews really kind of forgot.
Speaker 2:They're not really tracing his career with great interest. If at this point I was one of those great teachers and I recognized I'm a seminary professor. So if I recognize in some student who's 18, 20, 25 years old, even today, great potential, I don't. You know that I will be basically following this person's career and I will be like investing in them as much as I possibly can. I've had some students who are that way, like John Miles. I was like, okay, this guy's kind of off the charts. I mean, you should be teaching the class, not me.
Speaker 2:So follow his career with great interest. Personally I do, but they didn't do that. It's the wrong response. You think after this you'd learn something about when he was 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, how he's teaching in synagogue at 17, 18, 19. You don't read any of that. There's nothing there. There's nothing there until john comes along and he's baptizing and he comes to the Jordan right Now. That was the Jews. And you see this declining interest and then animosity during the Gospels, right when it's during his life, and it leads to the death.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.