Jesus was on a mission. A mission decided in the Godhead before time began, before man fell, before all was lost. God the Son would become flesh and we were saved in Him before time began. But now the time was at hand. Emptied of His Godhead, God the Son became the Son of Man–by the Father’s will–as Mary conceived the Holy Seed.
The young boy would be learning to hear God His Father. He would hear His voice in the Holy Scriptures as He prayed and listened. Revelation of who He was grew, until the day He got lost in His Father’s business in the Temple at age twelve. He knew.
Jesus was on a mission. He would submit to His parents in everything and grow in the revelation of the knowledge of God; until at age thirty He was baptized by John. Immediately He was driven by the Spirit to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days. He was tempted to prove His Sonship but instead, declared “It is written.” Jesus knew.
Everyday He would pray, hear the Father speak, and hold His union with the Father in love. Jesus abided in the Father’s love. Jesus loved as He was loved by the Father. Anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. Jesus knew He would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead.
After the resurrection Jesus found His disciples: scattered, afraid, despondent, and ashamed. “Peace!” He would declare to all. His disciples could know. He breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit and the authority to forgive. He opened their understanding to know Him in all the Scriptures and to become His witnesses. Wait.
For forty days He proved His resurrection and taught of His kingdom. Soon the Holy Spirit would come and give them power to be His witnesses. They waited, they learned, they listened, they witnessed; and finally, after fifty days, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and power.
I invite everyone to journey with me into encountering Jesus in the Gospels. Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 9th) we begin. We will read two to three chapters each day for forty days. In doing so, we will walk with Jesus through His earth walk. I have arranged all eighty-nine chapters from the four gospels into a continuous read. We will read each day’s chapters aloud to the Lord, listening with our hearts to believe…to know.
The chapters to read each day are on our website. To see them or download the full list as a PDF, please click here:
My Jesus encounter Update: I just returned from the laundry room at our apartment; Cammy was out shopping and the app said the dryer was done. As I walked, I thought about our journey through the gospels with Jesus. I thought about Wednesday nights being a time to review and share how our hearts burned as we knew Jesus, even sharing our discoveries in small groups. I thought about Sunday’s message coming from the chapters we have read that week. I asked the Lord to help us. Then He said to me, “I will read them with you.” My heart began to burn.
