A Chronological Story of Jesus' Life

By Don H

The story of Jesus' life was told by four ordinary men who wrote either from their own memories of Jesus, or from what they had been told. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote their accounts - the gospels - many years after the events they described actually happened. As a result, even though all four gospels covered the main events in the Lord's life, each one is somewhat different. Those differences can sometimes cause confusion for the reader. Furthermore, the gospels reflect the lifestyle and customs of those long-ago times, and their references to those foreign ways also can confuse or put off modern-day readers.
In this volume, Don H., a devout Christian of forty years and a non-denominational minister, clears up much of that confusion with his conversational plain-English commentary, which is sprinkled throughout his excellent re-arrangement of the four gospels into a single readable story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Don H
• Release date: Aug 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463190692

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Writing and completing this book has been at least a five-year adventure, and I extend my thanks to all those who helped me with suggestions, insights, and editing.

Thanks also to HarperCollins Christian Publishing/Thomas Nelson company for permitting me to use such a large portion of its New King James Version.

And to all of you who are taking time to read this book, I want to extend my sincere thanks.

- Don H.

Minnesota, USA, 2018

Note to Reader

It might help you to understand the background of the Gospels and this chronology, and to understand the book’s terminology and format, before beginning the chronology. The following five pages are offered to provide that information.

1. Why put the Gospels in chronological order? Those who arranged our current Bible order were inspired by God to arrange them the way the Gospel chroniclers wrote them - in four separate books. Being critical of that arrangement is not my purpose or motivation. Seeing this wonderful story from God's perspective is what is driving me to find out more of this incredible mystery!

Putting this story in chronological order is like putting together a jig-saw puzzle: When the pieces all fit together in single story, it makes a beautiful picture. There are many key pieces to this puzzle that connect others together; therefore, following a chronological order makes the Bible come alive - more like a narrative story of Jesus’ life.

Paying attention to the locations where His story took place often gets overlooked - at least it was by me. Let's keep in mind that people traveled on foot back then, often through mountainous terrain. As we read this story we'll realize that Jesus and the others would have walked back and forth across Palestine, up to 100 miles, several times. It will help you visualize these travels by using the map at the back of this book.

2. Who wrote the Gospels? Keep in mind that all four Gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - were just ordinary men (natural realm men) when these incidents happened. They wrote from their own memories or from what they had been told, many years after those events actually occurred. They did not have the recording devices we have today - maybe not even a paper and pen.

Matthew and John were actual disciples who saw many of these events happen, but they wrote about them after Jesus ascended to heaven. Luke and Mark were not among the twelve disciples who actually walked with Jesus. They heard these stories second-, third- or even fourth-hand, and wrote them down some time after the events actually took place.

Many times, the same parables or stories are told by all four. One may have placed a parable early in his account, while the story comes much later in another's. Nevertheless, these will definitely be the same story: They usually contain the same people, the same location, the same results. However, there may be a few differences, which each writer remembered differently.

Sometimes only one writer included a certain story. That can make it hard to know exactly where to place it. There are also times when all four men say exactly the same thing, while at other times each account may be quite different. I have tried to position the differing versions in the same section, so you can see and compare them.

Keep in mind that whenever several people witness a certain situation, such as an accident, often they will tell different versions of what they saw, even though they are usually trying to tell the truth. Likewise, when family members tell us what they remember from their past, each person's memories may be quite different.

Do not let the different versions in the Gospels influence your opinion about their authenticity or accuracy. What those men wrote needs to be accepted and respected as the inspired word of God!

2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

3. In what language were the Gospels written? We need to consider that these words have been translated from and into several different languages. Jesus and His disciples likely spoke the Aramaic language, and possibly Hebrew. We often hear that the original Greek word has a particular meaning, but in actuality the only New Testament writer who may have spoken Greek was the Apostle Paul. Latin often gets included as an original Gospel language, but it is doubtful whether Jesus or any of His disciples spoke that language either. Obviously English was spoken by no one. So how many different languages have the current versions of our Bibles been translated into?

The different people and groups that translated our Bibles may not have completely understood the culture that Jesus lived in. From time to time, we will point out some of the differences between the culture of His time and our current American culture.

4. But let's not lose sight of this important fact: The many different versions of the Bible we use have transformed many lives all throughout history! The all-knowing God has inspired and made His word profitable to those who believe that Jesus really is God the Son.

As the various puzzle pieces come together you will see a beautiful picture of God's eternal plan. This is an incredible story: Our loving God sent His only Son down to this earth! Believing in Jesus makes it possible for every person to have an intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of this entire universe. What an awesome honor! God is willing to help you put this incredible mystery puzzle together. God desires to inspire each individual to go much deeper into His plan than is possible in this chronology. He will unravel this incredible mystery for each of us!

5. God has three forms. Who is this Triune God?

I. Father-God: The Commander and Chief, the Head of all things.

II. Jesus, God's ONLY Son: The General, sent here to win all Spiritual Realm wars.

III. Holy Spirit: Our Helper-Teacher-Comforter, in charge of Communications.

These three forms of God make up the Creation Team [Review Genesis 1-2 and John 1:1-4] All three parts of this Trinity are in different forms, each performing different functions, and at the same time, they are all God. The Heavenly Father is God; Jesus the Son is also God, even today; and Holy Spirit is God too. All three forms of God have three abilities that no other person or being has. Those three abilities were not understood or received by many of the natural realm people of Jesus’ time, while he was here on earth. Jesus performed amazing miracles in front of their physical eyes that were impossible to explain or understand.

6. The Triune God has super-human qualities:

I. Omniscience. Only God knows everything going on everywhere, all the time. Our loving God even knows every thought that every person has ever had!

II. Omnipotence. God has always had all loving power and loving authority over every person, as well as over all of His creation.

III. Omnipresence. God is not limited by time or space. He has the ability to be everywhere at the same time, since before creation, until the end of this age.

Keeping these three super-natural qualities of God in your mind will help you see what Jesus could see while He walked on this earth, through being in communication with His Father and Holy Spirit. No other person from the natural realm had that kind of ability to see into the Holy Spiritual Realm.

There could be debate about Jesus having or using the three super-natural abilities during His 33 years on this earth. There are scriptures like this next one that suggest that Jesus did not keep those three abilities during his physical life here. However, Jesus did have access to them through His Father, as the Apostle Paul, inspired by Holy Spirit, explained in his letter to the people of Philippi:

Philippians 2:5-8: Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus demonstrated for us how we also can listen to our Father, to receive directions for our daily lives. After He had emptied Himself of those three super-natural abilities, Jesus still had access to them, because he stayed in communication with the Holy Spiritual Realm.

Further instructions:

A. We need Spiritual Realm help to understand that our Triune God has always loved His whole Creation. God declared His Creation to be very good, without any flaws or any sin, since He created everything. God Himself has always been absolutely without sin of any kind.

B. God has an unlimited amount of grace and mercy that we cannot see or understand. He is not in any way dictatorial or unloving! However, God does not extend that grace and mercy when we step out of His loving path. There is no such thing as cheap grace or mercy.

C. We, natural realm men and women, have discounted, ignored or rebelled against God's sovereign, omnipotent, loving authority, which He has over His perfect Creation.

D. We believers today can experience this same kind of access to those three super-natural abilities by being in communication with our Triune God. Father-God desires to have the same kind of intimate relationship that Jesus was modeling and demonstrating for us during His ministry years here on the earth. All of us who believe that Jesus is our promised Messiah can take from Jesus’ example how we too can stay in constant, intimate communication with our all-knowing Creation Team. I will try in this book to give you an opportunity to pray and ask God to give you wisdom about the many real-life situations you face, so you too can have access to those three super-natural abilities.

E. Father-God sent Jesus down to earth with an under-cover plan to offer people on this earth this close, intimate relationship with Himself. Jesus was bringing from His Father a very different (maybe, to them, even radical) idea, which most of natural realm humanity was unable to understand or accept.

F. We also need to know that Jesus was a real human being. He spent nine months being physically formed in His mother's womb, just like every other person.

G. Try to consider that Jesus had the huge advantage of having a Spiritual Realm perspective, which gave Him awareness of everything that was happening around Him. He was communicating with natural realm people who could not see or grasp anything from the Holy Spiritual Realm. We believers today have only a limited ability to see and enter God's Holy Spiritual Realm. But be encouraged that more of that ability is being poured out on His remnant of believers today, as we humble ourselves to become His bond-servants.

We also will be trying in this book to reveal the three main obstacles - three enemies - to God's loving victorious plan during the years of Jesus’ life on earth.

The three obstacles or enemies were:

1. The world political system, including its rulers, kings and authorities. Those Roman leaders felt immediately threatened by another enemy king.

2. The Jewish religious system of Jesus’ time. The leaders were not really operating under Father-God's authority or anointing; but they believed or assumed they were.

3. The unholy, evil spirit realm, headed by Satan (the devil), and multitudes of fallen angels (demons) that had also rebelled against God. All those evil spirits make up the evil spirit realm.

This evil spirit realm was, and still is, at war with God's Holy Spirit Realm. The defeat of those three enemies has already been won because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The total surrender by those enemies and the lifting of the curse of sin from all of Creation is yet to happen

As this story unfolds in these four Gospel writers' accounts, watch for those three enemies of God. We will try to call attention to them as they come to interfere with almost everything Jesus came to do.

A word on the various types of print (font) you will see in this chronology:

1) Direct quotations from the Bible will use an emphasized typeface - in bold face, like this phrase.

2) My personal comments will use a normal typeface - like this sentence.

3) Symbols will be used to identify the source of Spiritual Realm messages, as follows:

*Holy Spirit speaking:

The above is how the Holy Spirit's prophetic words will be noted. The person speaking those words may or may not have understood or remembered what came out of their mouths. The words themselves will be in bold face.

#Angel speaking:

This is how an angel's messages will be identified. Those words too will be in bold face. That individual's memory or understanding may have escaped them about those messages also.

^Father-God speaking:

This sign will appear when Father-God spoke from the heavens. His words will be in bold face.

4) There will be times when quotations from other parts of the Bible will be included and sometimes repeated from the Gospels. These will be in bold italics.

With few exceptions, I will be using the New King James Version.

I submit this chronological order as a possibility of how, when and where these things actually took place. My hope is that you will be inspired to check out this possible order of the Gospels for yourselves. Ask God to reveal His perspective of when these events chronologically occurred. I promise you that God will reward you with many new revelations that you have never seen before. Many puzzle pieces will begin to fit together for you too!

From the author: Don H. is enough; my name is not important.

For questions, comments or doctrinal disputes, you may contact me at: [e-mail].

May your revelations increase as your intimate relationship with God grows. So let's begin putting this beautiful jigsaw puzzle together!

Chapter 1

The Creation of the Universe and Jesus’ Participation

Before, and during, the Creation of this Universe, Jesus was participating as a member of the Creation Team. The team included Father-God, Holy Spirit-God and Jesus, who is God the Son.

Genesis 1:1-

1 In the beginning [Father] God created the heavens and the earth.

2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the [Holy] Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Holy Spirit was included there as part of the Creation Team.

Jumping ahead to:

Genesis 1:26-27

26 Then God said, "Let Us [The Creation Team] make man in Our [The Father’s, The Son’s, The Holy Spirit’s] image, according to Our [God’s] likeness; let them [mankind] have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Again jumping ahead to:

Genesis 1:31

31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was VERY GOOD!

So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Ahead again to:

Genesis 2:16-17

16 And the LORD God [lovingly] commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

17 "but of the [one] tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Our loving God, Who could see the future, gave only one command - one rule - to an innocent, pure, very good man, who surely had no idea what die meant. Every loving parent knows that with a child's disobedient act, a loving consequence should follow for the child’s own good.

Genesis 3:17

17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I [lovingly] commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

From that time on, there were consequences for all sin. However; Father-God, with the full agreement of His Son, designed a loving plan to remove the curse of disobedience from mankind.

We will try to reconstruct God’s loving plan, from the four Gospel writers' accounts, in a way that we sincerely hope is close to the way in which Jesus’ life actually happened.

John 1:1-5

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In Revelation 19:13 Jesus is called the Word of God.

2

Father-God, Holy Spirit and Jesus each made up one third of the creation team.

4 In Him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Jesus brought Spiritual Realm Light and Eternal Life to the people who were living in natural realm darkness of this world. Most people who were living at that time were unable to understand what Jesus was saying from the Holy Spiritual Realm.

If people can’t accept the fact that we have a Creator, then the other option is to believe the theory of evolution. I suppose it takes faith to believe in that, just as it does in the Creator.

Skipping ahead to:

John 1:9-14

9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

The all-knowing God could see the need for the natural realm people to have Spiritual Realm Light.

10 He [Jesus] was in the [natural realm] world and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Jesus was physically born into the Jewish nation but they could not understand that He was part of the creation team or that He was God the Son.

12 But as many as received Him, [as their promised Messiah] to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

The key words in that verse are believe; receive; and right to become.

First, the people needed to believe that Jesus was God. Next, they needed to receive Him as their redeemer from their spiritual darkness. Then they would have the right to become God’s children.

13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

We will talk more about being born spiritually in: [John 3: 1-21]

14 And the Word [Jesus] became flesh [a real human being] and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word of God became a man. Jesus was sent from His Father to tell us the truth about God’s grace, mercy and His willingness to forgive us.

In these previous verses, Jesus was referred to as:

God, the Son.

Part of the creation team.

An actual man.

The Word.

The Light.

The Life.

Chapter 2

Jesus’ Ancestry

We will look at Jesus’ genealogy, which proves that He was a real human being, with physical ancestors.

To make this article in chronological order we need to realize that all of the people mentioned in both Luke’s and Matthew’s genealogies lived before Jesus was physically born.

Only the fathers’ names were mentioned in each generation. There are a few exceptions, when women were mentioned they were included as the wife of so-and-so.

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was mentioned in Matthew’s Gospel only as the wife of Joseph. Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather, was mentioned in both Luke's and Matthew’s gospels.

Here are the genealogies:

Luke 3:23-38

23 Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

The book of Matthew names Jacob as Joseph’s father, not Heli. Obviously, Joseph did not have two physical fathers.

24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph,

You probably noticed that Luke’s Gospel begins his genealogical account with Joseph, the husband of Mary, and works its way backwards all the way to the time of Adam - approximately 5,000 years. A good friend of mine traced each generation from Adam to Jesus. He and many others have arrived at the 5,000-year timeline.

25 the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah,

27 the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er,

29 the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim,

31 the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

Luke followed the line of David’s son Nathan.

Matthew’s Gospel from this point on changed over to the line of David’s son Solomon.

32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,

36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,

38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

These genealogies are more important than we may give them credit for.

Here is Matthew’s description of Jesus’ genealogy in:

Matthew 1:1-17

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

Jesus was mentioned several times in the Gospels as being both David’s and Abraham’s Son.

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

Matthew started about 2,000 years, before Jesus’ physical birth, with Abraham and worked his way forward. You no doubt know that this man Jacob’s name was changed by God to Israel, who had 12 sons. [Genesis 32:27-28] His fourth oldest was Judah.

3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.

5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,

6 and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king begot Solomon by her [Bathsheba] who had been the wife of Uriah.

This is where Luke followed David’s son Nathan’s line of descendants. Matthew followed Solomon, another of David’s sons. From here on, Matthew’s list of names will be different from Luke’s list.

7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.

8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.

9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.

11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.

13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.

14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.

15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.

16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

Joseph was not Jesus’ real physical father.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

Those three groups of fourteen generations from Abraham to David, to Babylon, to Jesus, were all pivotal times in the history of God’s chosen people.

It is important to not overlook the fact that Jesus was also born a natural realm, physical, baby boy.

Jesus was both a Spiritual Realm man and a physical person, who was sent by His Spiritual Realm Father to redeem all mankind from the curse of sin.

Chapter 3

Before the Birth of John the Baptist

The story of John the Baptist begins before his conception. Most likely it was Jesus’ mother, Mary, who after Jesus’ death passed on this information, until it got to Luke.

We are now backing up from Luke chapter 3 to:

Luke 1:1-25

1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us,

2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,

3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus,

Theophilus means loved one, so this book was actually written to everyone who loves God.

4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the

division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, [Moses’s brother, the first high priest of Israel] and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Zacharias and Elizabeth had great reputations! God inspired those words to be said about that wonderful couple!

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

8 So it was, that while he [Zacharias] was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

God was orchestrating behind the scenes for that lot to fall at that exact time, to a man and woman whom God was pleased with and wanted to bless!

10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

# Angel speaking, or prophesying:

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

The angel knew this man’s name, and his wife’s name, plus the angel had knowledge from God that He had heard their prayers about having a baby.

14 "And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

Zacharias had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit, at that time.

16 "And he will turn many [not all] of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

17 "He will also go before Him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

John the Baptist was destined to go before Jesus to prepare the way for Jesus with God’s anointing, like the prophet Elijah had in the Old Testament. All of those prophesies that the angel said there were fulfilled during John the Baptist’s lifetime!

18 And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.

That was a reasonable question.

19 And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

Certainly that had to have been good news!

20 But behold, thou shalt be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.

Grace was not something that Gabriel offered as freely as God does. Obviously God had given Gabriel the authority to make Zacharias unable to speak.

21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple.

That ritualistic service should not have gone on so long!

22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

23 And so it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house.

24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying,

25 Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.

It must have been a terrible disgrace not to be able to have children! We will see later that Zacharias did not seem to be the least bit bitter toward God for making him unable to speak.

Chapter 4

The Sinless Conception of Jesus

Not one of the three enemies - the evil spirit realm, the political system and the religious system - had any understanding of the All-knowing God's Spiritual Realm plan at that time. God’s plan was to covertly place Jesus into the natural realm world. God had already hand-picked several innocent, unsuspecting, and unimportant but faithful people to help make His plan work.

Let’s meet some more of those people in:

Luke 1:26-38

26 Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God [from heaven] to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

Gabriel was sent to earth only when God had a very important message to deliver. There are probably millions of angels. Gabriel was God’s most important message-bearing angel.

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

We can safely say that this young girl was already, at her young age, strongly committed to doing whatever God asked of her. God had prepared her for this moment, even though she had no idea of what was coming.

# Angel speaking to Mary:

28 And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!

What a nice thing for God to have said to her through the angel.

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Most everyone who saw an angel, especially Gabriel, were scared of him. Innocent, teen-aged Mary only wondered what kind of greeting the angel gave her.

#Angel still speaking:

30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Natural realm Mary, who loved God, had no idea what omniscient God was about to do.

31 "And behold, thou shalt conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

Half of Jesus’ DNA would be a natural realm man, because Mary would be Jesus’ mother. The other half of Jesus’ DNA would be from the Spiritual Realm because God would soon be Jesus’ Father. This made Jesus uniquely different from other men because He was both a Spiritual Realm man and a natural realm man.

Obviously Jesus still does not have this promised throne yet today. This will happen when the New Jerusalem comes down from the present heven to stay on the new, curse free Earth. [Revelation 21:-22:]

33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

How would you like to get a message dropped on you like Mary did? She was probably just sitting alone, just minding her own business when she got that glimpse into the Holy Spiritual Realm. Natural realm Mary could not have understood much of that message, which was given to her for all of mankind.

34 Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man?

She was a virgin!

35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

That overshadowing had to have been scary information for young Mary to hear! Since Mary was so innocent and God had supernaturally given her His peace, she did not seem to be alarmed.

Let’s not miss the importance of what omniscient God was planning. After the first disobedient act involving Eve, then Adam, a curse called sin was placed on every generation that followed. Every person in every generation has been conceived under that curse of sin since that first sin.

There was no curse of sin involved in this conception of Jesus. The Spiritual Realm Father was totally sinless. Innocent Mary was just simply being obedient to God. That is why Jesus’ conception has been named the immaculate conception.

Satan, the leader of evil spirit realm, was not even aware of what omniscient God was doing. The devil does not have those three abilities that God has:

Omniscience: The devil does not know everything that goes on everywhere.

Omnipresence: The devil cannot be present, everywhere at the same time.

Omnipotence: The devil does not have all power, and not the authority or even knowledge, to prevent Jesus from being conceived.

#Angel still speaking

36 "Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing will be impossible.

Even having a baby with no human male sperm involved? God’s loving plan was to redeem mankind from that curse of sin. That is true love!

So, that was all the information that Mary was given. How would you or I have responded? Look at how this incredible young woman responded to such a history-changing plan.

38 Then Mary said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.

Ask God to reveal to you how amazing that response was. God chose an innocent teenager because she had a soft, pliable heart that could hear God’s voice without questioning Him. She was willing to do anything God told her to do.

Most of us adults today question everything to death. Mary had been just minding her own business and Gabriel showed up, literally out of the blue, and told her those few things and she immediately said: Okay, let’s go for it!

Think about how you would have reacted to that whole plan devised by omniscient God.

How many times have we read or heard that story? Because of sin’s curse, have we missed the incredible love that our omniscient God had to buy back His very good Creation?

None of us would send our son into this sin-cursed world to end up on a cross like omniscient God’s Son did for us, would we?

Remember, we said before that Luke must have gotten this information passed to him somehow from Mary after Jesus had died. Mary would have been the only person who could have told that incredible conception story!

After several years had passed by, Mary had time to process and understand more of God’s omniscient plan. You and I can remember back to key events in our lifetimes like this too.

There is a saying: Hindsight is twenty-twenty. That's more than just a natural realm saying. God Himself likely had revealed His redemptive plan to Mary, especially when her Son was dying and after He came back to life three days later.

Chapter 5

The Prophesies of Elizabeth and Mary

Back to:

Luke 1:39-56

39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah,

Look on the map to see how far it was from Nazareth south to Jerusalem. It’s looks like about 70 miles, in a straight line. Mary, the innocent young girl, seemed to walk all alone through mountainous terrain, on rocky, winding dirt paths for those 70-plus miles. Did she tell her parents where she was going or anything about the miraculous conception story? We do not know any of that from scripture.

40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

That babe was the future John the Baptist. That must have been an incredible sensation for Elizabeth! That was a sign of her reward from God for her faithfulness to Him!

*Holy Spirit began speaking through Elizabeth:

42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43 "But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Who had told Elizabeth that Mary was pregnant? Mary had just opened the door! My guess is that it must have been Holy Spirit!

44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Wow!

45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

All of the upcoming conversations were coming from the Holy Spiritual Realm! It appears that neither one of these honored-Godly women understood much of the meaning of the words that were coming out of their own mouths!

Omniscient Holy Spirit knew those words needed to be spoken at that time, so He helped those women speak those words.

Next: It was young Mary’s turn to prophesy:

*Holy Spirit speaking through teenager Mary:

46 And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Mary mentioned soul and spirit there. There is a lot of difference between how God created our souls and our human spirits.

48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

Mary was truly humble there. Mary was not asking to be prayed to or worshipped in any way. She would not need to intercede for us either. She was simply asking all future generations to acknowledge that she was blessed to be chosen to be the mother of God’s Son!

49 For He Who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.

Mary truly appreciated being included in God’s incredible plan!

50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

It is very impressive that this young lady had such a wonderful understanding and such great respect for God, which He still deserves. She also seemed to have a good grasp of how the people of Judea and Israel of her day felt - the condition of their hearts, as well as their worldly situations.

52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.

We will see later that it will be the important people who will get put down by God. The humble, believing, no-name people will get exalted over and over as we work our way through these Gospels.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

God supernaturally puts the hunger for spiritual truths in those whom He already knows will respond to those good truths.

54 He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,

55 As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever."

How did young Mary know all the spiritual truths that she had just said?

One possibility is that God revealed those revelations to Mary during her 70-mile hike through the mountains after her meeting with Gabriel. Mary certainly would have had time to think about the angel’s message concerning her conception experience.

Another way that Mary could have known those truths was that some of those prophetic truths could have been passed down to her, through every generation.

There is still another, more likely, possibility that the Holy Spirit just spoke those words through Mary when she entered Elizabeth’s house!

It does not seem likely that Mary really understood at that time or even remembered all the words that she had just spoken.

Later, we will see that when amazing things were said about her Son Jesus, Mary marveled and pondered those things in her heart.

56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

Did you ever wonder what Mary’s mom and dad thought about their young daughter going that far, for that long, with no cell phone, text messages or Skype? They didn’t even have post office snail mail.

How many angels accompanied and protected innocent Mary on her trip to and from Elizabeth’s house? We do not know.

Chapter 6

The Birth of John the Baptist

John’s birth in:

Luke 1:57-66

57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son.

Mary had just gone back home to Nazareth.

58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her [Elizabeth], they rejoiced with her.

Obviously Elizabeth’s best friends recognized that God had blessed her. What a God-honoring baby shower that must have been!

59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias.

John was not baptized as an infant. God’s law given to Moses directed that the baby was to be circumcised on the eighth day. [Leviticus 12:1-3]

60 His mother answered and said, No; he shall be called John.

61 But they said to her, There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.

Natural realm traditions of men really are powerful to break. We just read the names of Jesus’ genealogies and they did not often name the son after the father. If every son was given his father’s name every first born male in every generation would have been named Adam.

62 So they made signs to his father-- what he would have him called.

63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, His name is John. So they all marveled.

Evidently Zacharias, as an educated priest, knew how to write.

64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God.

Talk about a miracle!

65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea.

See, that confirms that Elizabeth and Zacharias lived in Judea, far south of Nazareth where Mary lived.

66 And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, What kind of child will this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Continuing on in:

Luke 1:67-80

67 Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

Nowadays it seems that speaking in tongues is a requirement of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh silly me, that only started after Pentecost.

*Holy Spirit speaking through Zacharias:

68 "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people,

69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David,

70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began,

Zacharias had been anointed by God, to speak those important words. Many of the things that Zacharias spoke next have not been fully accomplished even today.

71 That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,

God’s believers have many enemies yet today. By His mercy and amazing grace, He has continued to protect them. His covenant promise is still in effect. Even though many of His people have not been faithful to keep their covenant promises to God.

72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

73 The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:

God’s oath to Abraham occurred approximately two thousand years before Zacharias said those words.

74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

Zacharias spoke those words supernaturally, likely with very little of his natural realm knowledge.

76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way,

Zacharias had not been able to speak at all for nine months, when God had him speak a prophetic message about his son preparing the way for the promised Messiah, Jesus!

There was no hint of bitterness toward God for being made mute. Zacharias seemed to keep his heart pure before the Lord. He had been prepared during those nine months to have the privilege to speak those important words that God revealed to him.

*Holy Spirit continued speaking through Zacharias:

77 To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins,

78 Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the "Dayspring" from on high has visited us;

79 To give light to those who sit in [natural realm] darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

80 So the child [John] grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

What Zacharias prophesied was not a ritualistic formality. Holy Spirit-God inspired all those important words to be spoken at that time.

This was the last time that Elizabeth or Zacharias get mentioned. They obviously raised John and no doubt continued serving God but that was their little part in the much bigger story.

After the teenager Mary had gotten