The New Testament In Its World Lesson 8

The Prophet Announcing the Kingdom of God

Luke 1

⁵ During the reign of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ They were both righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. ⁷ But they did not have a child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both very old.

⁸ Now while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the Holy Place of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ Now the whole crowd of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹ An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him. ¹² And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard,and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John. ¹⁴ Joy and gladness will come to you, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. Hemust never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well.” ¹⁹ The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will be silent, unable to speak, until the day these things take place.”

²¹ Now the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they began to wonder why he was delayed in the Holy Place. ²² When he came out, he was not able to speak to them. They realized that he had seen a vision in the Holy Place, because he was making signs to them and remained unable to speak. ²³ When his time of service was over, he went to his home.

²⁴ After some time his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and for five months she kept herself in seclusion. She said, ²⁵ “This is what the Lord has done for me at the time when he has been gracious to me, to take away my disgrace among people.”

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. ³⁰ So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! ³¹ Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. ³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” ³⁵ The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.

³⁶ “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

³⁹ In those days Mary got up and went hurriedly into the hill country, to a town of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² She exclaimed with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb! ⁴³ And who am I that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me? ⁴⁴ For the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

The Birth of John

⁵⁷ Now the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father. ⁶⁰ But his mother replied, “No! He must be named John.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “But none of your relatives bears this name.” ⁶² So they made signs to the baby’s father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed. ⁶⁴ Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, blessing God. ⁶⁵ All their neighbors were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea all these things were talked about. ⁶⁶ All who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the Lord’s hand was indeed with him.

Zechariah’s Praise and Prediction

⁶⁷ Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.
⁶⁹ For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰ as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,
⁷¹ that we should be saved from our enemies,
and from the hand of all who hate us.
⁷² He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors,
and to remember his holy covenant—
⁷³ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.
This oath grants
⁷⁴ that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
may serve him without fear,
⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.
⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
⁷⁸ Because of our God’s tender mercy
the dawn will break upon us from on high
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰ And the child kept growing and becoming strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he was revealed to Israel.

Luke 3

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan River, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

4 As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.

5 Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be brought low,
and the crooked will be made straight,
and the rough ways will be made smooth,

6 and all humanity will see the salvation of God.’”

Matthew 3

1 In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ³ For he is the one about whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken:

“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

⁴ Now John wore clothing made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then people from Jerusalem, as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him, ⁶ and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, ⁹ and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰ Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am—I am not worthy to carry his sandals! He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire!”

Luke 3

⁷ So John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹ Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ So the crowds were asking him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ John answered them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” ¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ He told them, “Collect no more than you are required to.” ¹⁴ Then some soldiers also asked him, “And as for us—what should we do?” He told them, “Take money from no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your pay.”

¹⁵ While the people were filled with anticipation and they all wondered whether perhaps John could be the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one more powerful than I am is coming—I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”

¹⁸ And in this way, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed good news to the people. ¹⁹ But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil deeds that he had done, ²⁰ Herod added this to them all: He locked up John in prison.

John 1

¹⁹ Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed—he did not deny but confessed—“I am not the Christ!” ²¹ So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” ²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, ²⁷ who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!” ²⁸ These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing.

²⁹ On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ³¹ I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.”

³² Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. ³³ And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining—this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.”

³⁵ Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples. ³⁶ Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ When John’s two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?” So they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon.