3.) The scene of the Saviour"s ministry was in Galilee, which he traversed extensively during this year. One visit to Jerusalem is related by John (John 5. 1, 2).
4.) It was a year of great activity, spent in incessant journeys, preaching, and works of mercy, and the most popular period of the Saviour"s life, when the crowds were greatest and the people seemed ready to accept Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. Yet at its close, as before, he was left alone with his twelve disciples (John 6. 66-68).
4. Another period we find in =The Year of Opposition=, again contrasted with the year before it.
1.) It begins with the Retirement to Phoenicia (Mark 7. 24) and ends with the Anointing by Mary (John 12.
1-3).
2.) It is recorded in all the gospels in almost equal measure, Luke giving the most complete account of the ministry in Peraea, and John, as usual, relating the visit to Judea.
3.) This period is peculiar in the fact that in it Jesus visited all the five provinces of Palestine. We find him in Decapolis (which was a part of the Bashan district) (Mark 7. 31); pa.s.sing through Galilee (Mark 9. 30); also through Samaria (Luke 9. 51, 52); in Peraea (Mark 10. 1), and in Judea (John 11. 7).
4.) This part of the Saviour"s life has been variously characterized as "a ministry of sorrow and humiliation," "a year of instruction," and "a period of retirement." All are correct, for during this, the last year of his life, Jesus sought to be alone with his disciples, and in order to escape the crowds visited places where he was unknown. He aimed to instruct his disciples in the deeper truths of the gospel, to prepare their minds for his approaching death and for their mission as apostles (Matt. 16.
21).
5. We now approach the close of Christ"s life on earth, and the narration is more detailed as the cross comes nearer to view. Our next period is =The Week of the Pa.s.sion=.
1.) Beginning with the Triumphal Entry on the Sunday before the Pa.s.sover (John 21. 12, 13), it ends with the Agony in the Garden about midnight on Thursday (Matt. 26. 36); thus embracing strictly but five days.
2.) It is related in all the gospels, John alone adding the teaching given at the Last Supper (John 13-17).
3.) All the events of this period took place in or near Jerusalem.
4.) This was the last call of Christ to the Jews of Jerusalem, and his final rebuke for their rejection of his ministry.
6. =The Day of the Crucifixion.= The most important day in all earth"s history was that when Jesus died upon the cross. It is also the day whose events are narrated more fully than any other in the Bible annals.
Therefore we study it apart from the rest of the week as a separate period.
1.) It begins with the Arrest (Matt. 26. 47), soon after midnight, Friday A. M., the day of the Pa.s.sover, and ends at about sunset of the same day with the Burial (Matt. 27. 59, 60).
2.) Each gospel adds its portion to the account, that of John, an eye-witness of all the events, being the most complete.
3.) The events took place in Jerusalem; but few, if any, of the localities are known with certainty.
4.) In the scenes of this day we see Jesus as the suffering Saviour, bearing the sins of the world.
7. Last of all come =The Forty Days of Resurrection=.
1.) From the Resurrection, early on the first Easter Sunday (Matt. 28. 1-8), to the Ascension, forty days afterward (Acts 1. 1-3).
2.) All the gospels give accounts of the appearances of the risen Saviour, but Luke alone tells the story of his Ascension (Luke 24. 50, 51; Acts 1. 9-11).
3.) The manifestations of Christ after his Resurrection took place in and near Jerusalem, near the village of Emmaus (Luke 24. 13), and in Galilee (Matt. 28. 16; John 21. 1).
4.) During this period the visible revelation of Christ was not constant, but occasional; to his disciples only, never to his enemies; and of a spiritual body, which was freed from the restraints of the flesh (Mark 16. 12; Luke 24. 31; John 20. 19).
Blackboard Outline
I. =Gen. Asp.= 1. Sh. 2. In Pal. 3 Am. com. peo. 4. Ac.
II. =Sev. Per.=
1. =Th. Ye. Prep.= 1) Bir-Temp. 2) Lu. Mat. Mar. 3) Gal.
4) Long. few inc.
2. =Ye. Obs.= 1) Fir. Foll.-Re. Gal. 2) Jno. 3) Jud. 4) Obs.
3. =Ye. Pop.= 1) Re. Naz-Dis. B. L. 2) M. M. L. 3) Gal. 4) Act.
4. =Ye. Opp.= 1) Re. Ph.-An. Ma. 2) All Gos. 3) All Prov.
4) Instruc.
5. =We. Pa.s.s.= 1) Tri. En.-Ag. Gar. 2) All Gos. 3) Jer.
4) Las. Ca.
6. =Day Cru.= 1) Arr.-Bur. 2) All Gos. 3) Jer. 4) Suff. Sav.
7. =For. Da. Res.= 1) Res.-Asc. 2) All Gos. 3) Jud. Gal.
4) Spir. bod.
Questions for Review
In what respects is Jesus Christ the central figure in the Bible? How long was Christ"s life on the earth?
Where was it pa.s.sed? Among what cla.s.s of people did Jesus live? How do we know that Jesus led an active life? What is the first of the seven periods into which his life is divided? With what events does the first period begin and end? Which gospel relates the most of this period? Where was it mainly pa.s.sed? How long was it? What is the second period called? What are its first and last events? By whom is it related?
Where was it pa.s.sed? What were its results? What is the third period called? With what events did it begin and end? By what evangelists is it related? In what province was it pa.s.sed? What is the fourth period called? With what events did it begin and end? What provinces were visited during this period? What were the traits of Christ"s ministry at this time? What is the fifth period called? How long was it? What in this period is related by but one evangelist? Where did its events take place? What is the sixth period called?
How long was it? With what events did it begin and end? Which account is most complete? What is the seventh and last period called? What were its first and last events? Which gospel alone relates the ascension? What were the traits of Jesus during those days?
FOURTH STUDY
The Thirty Years of Preparation
From the Birth of Jesus to His Temptation.
We have before us the longest of all the divisions in the history of Jesus, embracing thirty of his thirty-three years of life, and the one concerning which we know the least.
I. Let us study the =Places= connected with this period. These we group according to locality, and not in the order of their events. Beginning in the north and traveling southward we note the following places:
1. =Nazareth, his early home=, in Galilee, due west of the southern point of the Sea of Galilee. Here Joseph and Mary lived before the birth of Jesus (Luke 2. 39); here Jesus was brought up (Luke 4. 16); and here he was living up to the time of his baptism (Mark 1. 9).
2. =Bethabara= (Rev. Ver., Bethany), =the place of his baptism=. This was in the Jordan valley, south of the Sea of Galilee. (John 1. 28).
3. =The wilderness, the place of his temptation.= (Matt. 4. 1.) This was probably the rocky desolate region of Judea, near the head of the Dead Sea.