All About Jesus

Zechariah Israelite Priest + Elizabeth Conceived John Division of Priests in Temple  There are actually a few clues as to when Jesus was born. One of them has to do with Zechariah, Elizabeth, and the birth of John the Baptist. In Luke's Gospel, he writes, "In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth" (Luke 1:5 ESV).  Zechariah was an Israelite priest of the division of Abijah. He was of this class of priests who performed daily duties for a fixed period in the temple at Jerusalem. It explains the divisions of the sons of Aaron in 1 Chronicles where King David organized according to the appointed duties in their service. "The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests. With the h...

Jesus, the Heir of All Things According to the author of Hebrews, long ago, at many times & in many ways, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to Christians by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. An heir is one who receives something as a possession & so Jesus Christ received possession of all things. Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glory & Exact Imprint Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God & the exact imprint of His nature, meaning He is the brightness of God's glory & an exact representation of God's real being. Christ also upholds (sustains) the universe by the word of His power.  After Making Purification for Sins After making purification for sins (which means cleansing from inward pollution), He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited (acquired) is more excellent than the...

Dear Roman Catholics, It is out of love and sincere compassion that I am writing this letter to you. I was in the Roman Catholic Church for 20+ years until about three years ago. Why did I leave? What caused this decision?  It is because of the numerous errors of the teachings of the Catholic Church when compared to the teachings of Scripture. I want to focus on the main one being salvation. The  Roman Catholic Church teaches that faith + works = salvation. Now, before I go on, I understand that Roman Catholics will argue this. In the Roman Catholic Catechism, it states the following: “The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for Christians and that the justified man is still bound to keep them; the Second Vatican Council confirms: ‘The bishops, successors of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and th...

Book of Hebrew Audience The book of Hebrews was written to a congregation of Christians. One author says the following: "One would expect it to go without saying that Hebrews was written to Christians: people for whom Jesus was God’s Son (1:2) and 'the Lord' (2:3) without qualification" (Ellingworth, P., 1993). Another states, "Were the recipients Christians at large, similar to the readers of 1 and 2 Peter, or were they a definite congregation or a group within a specific congregation of Christians? The latter seems the better option based on the internal evidence of the epistle" (Allen, D., L., 2010). Old Testament (OT) Priests vs. Christ In the OT, every priest would stand daily at his service which involved offering the same sacrifices repeatedly.  For example, in Leviticus, God states the following to Moses:  "If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, and he shall kill it ...

Children vs. Maturity The first thing the author of Hebrews does is contrast those who are children and those who are mature. He says that though by this time these Christians ought to be teachers but they need someone to teach them the basic principles of the oracles of God again. These oracles of God are considered to be the words from Scripture in general.  They needed elementary Christian instruction (milk) and not deep spiritual nourishment (solid food) for everyone who lived on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he was a child. Solid food was for the mature and for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. In other words, the mature had their senses trained and had the ability to make moral decisions distinguishing good from evil. Therefore, the Christians would leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith to...

1 Peter 2:13-17 - Peter Peter, in this instance, is writing to Christian exiles. Peter says to be subject for the Lord's sake to every system of established authority, whether it would be to the one who has the highest political office or to governors, who are sent by Him and are supposed to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good one should put to silence the people who have a lack of good judgment. Then Peter says to live as people who are free, and this pertains to being free socially and politically. He wants Christians to use their freedom not as a cover-up for evil but living as God-fearing people being subject to Him.  Peter states to show high regard for the highest political leaders and everyone.  He then says to fear God, which means to have a profound and deep-seated measure of respect and reverence for Him where we are in awe of Him.  Romans 13:1-7 - Paul Paul discusses being subject to authorities ...

Luke 10:1-10, 17-20 Jesus Appointed 70 disciples Jesus appointed 70 disciples and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He was about to go. He commanded them with tasks and said that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. He told them to do the following: Specific Instructions  - Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. - Go their way; He was sending them out as lambs in the midst of wolves. - Carry no moneybag, knapsack, nor sandals and greet no one on the road. - Whenever house they entered, say peace (which is a state of well-being) be to this house. - If a son of peace is there, their peace would rest upon him. If not, it would return to them. - Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide for the worker deserves his wages. - Don't go from house to house. Whenever they enter a town and were welcomed, they were to eat what was set before them. - Heal the sick and say that the ...