By Elizabeth Prata
We are coming toward the end of our look at the life of Jesus through scripture. The first section of His life was seen through verses focused on prophecy, arrival, and early life.
The next section of verses looked at Him as the Son, second person of the Trinity.
Continue reading “Thirty Days of Jesus: Day 28, Resurrection of central importance”By Elizabeth Prata
With the New Year upon us, many people are either finishing a previous Bible reading plan and perhaps looking for a different one for next year, or starting one for the first time. There are a lot of plans out there!
I’ve done several myself with I enjoyed. I liked the M’Cheyne plan, the Professor Horner plan, a plan my seminary friend devised where the Bible is read from the aspect of when each book was written (Job was 1st).
This suggestion from Answers In Genesis for how to start reading your Bible is a good one. Read Genesis 1-11, then Exodus 20, then…well, you’ll see in this 45-second video outlining a plan to get started. Facebook: https://fb.watch/wKhCxZU7qw//
Youtube: https://youtu.be/W-GPBmUVkoE?si=O8opzCfsHKxpYdf4
How to Eat your Bible: A Simple Approach to Learning and Loving the Word of God, book by Nate Pickowicz. Nate is a pastor in Gilmanton Iron Works, NH, plowing hard New England ground. He is the author of several books, including The American Puritans with Dustin Benge. Here is a synopsis of the book:
If you’re feeling distant from God, could it be because you’re ignoring His Word? But maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe the long books and strange names feel overwhelming. Maybe you just don’t like reading. Whatever the case, How to Eat Your Bible will help you cultivate an appetite for life-long study of God’s Word. Find practical guidance for overcoming the hurdles that have kept you from making Bible study a regular part of your life...
John MacArthur has an article on How to Enjoy Bible Study: “There’s nothing I enjoy more than studying the Bible. Yet it has not always been that way. My real passion for studying Scripture began when as a college student, I made a commitment to explore the Bible in earnest. I found that the more I studied, the more my hunger for Scripture grew. Here are three simple guidelines that have helped me to make the most of my study time.”
Ligonier lists 20 Reading Plans for 2025, saying, “To grow in the knowledge of God and to live in light of His truth, it’s important that we set aside focused time to study His Word.”
Michelle Lesley has listed a huge variety of plans with a short synopsis of each and links to each. Worth checking out. Bible Reading Plans for the New Year.
Pastor Jacob Abshire has an essay on Why I Ditched Bible Reading Plans with reasonable cautions and personal experience. Some people don’t connect with a ‘plan’ and that’s OK. This time of year one begins to see lots of talk about plans and you might be feeling guilty if you’re not on one. Don’t be. You can absolutely create something for yourself. As long as you’re reading progressively and steadily in some kind of structure, you will grow.
Abshire, while ditching a standard plan, absolutely advocates for reading the Bible. He devised a way to read it that was comfortable to him, and shares the specifics. His approach is kind of like the G3 “Six Ribbons” plan in Michelle’s list above.
If you start the year with a Bible Reading Plan and find it’s just not for you, that is OK too! Don’t wait until 2026 to begin a new one. Meeting with God every day is a blessing, so just read, or pick a new plan, or devise one yourself.
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
By Elizabeth Prata
This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His attributes. In His earthly ministry we’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and healer. We then looked at His attributes of omniscience, His authority, and now His sinlessness.
He came from glory where righteousness reigns. He descended to an earth that’s cursed where every single human is depraved, thoroughly drenched with a sin nature. He lived among us, sinlessly and perfectly fulfilling the Father’s commands for righteous living. He did this at every moment in every way. Not one blot, not one thought, not one act of anything less than perfection.
For this, He was reviled, mocked, hated, and killed.
He did it for us.
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Further Reading:
The Cripplegate/Nate Busenitz: In what way was Jesus ‘made sin’ on the cross? Excerpt:
In what sense did Jesus become “sin on our behalf”? Does that phrase mean that Jesus literally became a sinner on the cross? …
Based on the above passages, we can safely determine what 2 Corinthians 5:21 does not mean. It cannot mean that Jesus became unrighteous, or that He became a sinner, or that He took on a sin nature, or that He literally embodied sin. … So, then what does it mean? This brings us to our third point. … 3. The best way to understand Paul’s statement (that Jesus became sin on our behalf) is in terms of imputation. Our sin was imputed to Christ, such that He became a substitutionary sacrifice or sin offering for all who would believe in Him.
GotQuestions: Why does Christ’s righteousness need to be imputed to us?
On the cross, Jesus took our sin upon Himself and purchased our salvation. We have “been justified by his blood” (Romans 5:9), and part of that justification is an imputation of His own righteousness. Paul puts it this way: “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is righteous by virtue of His very nature—He is the Son of God. By God’s grace, “through faith in Jesus Christ,” that righteousness is given “to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). That’s imputation: the giving of Christ’s righteousness to sinners.
Ligonier: Jesus’ Sinless Life
Jesus lived a representative life. Jesus lived a sinless life, and it was, therefore, a life of representative sinlessness. Our Lord’s obedience stands in the place of His people’s sin. His law-keeping is counted as the law-keeping of those who have faith in Him.
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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
Day 22: The Intercessor
Day 23: The Compassionate Healer
Attributes
Day 24: Jesus’ Omniscience
Day 25: Jesus’ Authority
By Elizabeth Prata
This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His attributes and earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him through what He does, as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and healer. Now we look at who He is by looking at His attributes. We looked at His omniscience yesterday and today we ponder His authority.
How to represent the authority of Jesus over life, in pictorial form, since this series is mainly pictorial? That was a tough one. I settled on the notion of the dock being the long journey of finite earthly life in the flesh, then we come to an inevitable end and launch up and into the eternal heavens. Jesus has authority over every step.
I recently wrote an essay focusing on the authority of Jesus. It is linked below if you’re interested, along with a couple of additional essays from credible sources.
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Further Reading
The End Time: Jesus Has the Authority
What does this mean, exactly? Let’s look into the nature of the word authority and what it means when Jesus says He has been given all of it.
AIG: What is the extent of Jesus’ authority?
When Jesus told His disciples He has full authority in heaven and earth, His declaration came before giving them a direction: “make disciples of all the nations.” … Yet we easily forget that the implication of biblical authority is much more than defending truth. In the case of Matthew 28:18–19, upholding the authority of the Bible is about doing. If God’s Word is authoritative, we must not overlook any directive in it. We should never consider one passage more authoritative than another.
Ligonier Devotional: The Authority of Jesus
In today’s passage, Mark highlights the matter of Jesus’ authority by recording an exchange our Lord had in the temple with “the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” not long before He went to the cross.
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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
Day 22: The Intercessor
Day 23: The Compassionate Healer
Day 24: Jesus’ Omniscience
By Elizabeth Prata
We have been through a section of verses that show Jesus’ life in His earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, shepherd, intercessor, and healer.
Now we look at His attributes. Today- Omniscience.
CARM.org: The sovereignty of God: His omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence
Omniscience is an attribute of God alone. It is the quality of having all knowledge (Isaiah 40:14). God knows all things possible as well as actual because He has ordained whatsoever will come to pass according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). He does not need to experience something to know about it completely.
Ligonier: Scripture and the Two Natures of Christ
The historic Christian understanding of the person of Christ is that He is one person who possesses two natures: a divine nature and a human nature. Each nature retains its unique properties, and the two natures remain distinct, though inseparably united in Christ’s person. Thus, according to His divine nature, as the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God is omniscient, omnipotent, and so forth. According to His human nature, the incarnate Christ needs to eat food to survive, grows in knowledge, and so forth.
GotQuestions: What does it mean that Jesus is omniscient?
Despite the condescension of the Son of God to empty Himself and make Himself nothing (Philippians 2:7), His omniscience is clearly seen in the New Testament writings. The first prayer of the apostles in Acts 1:24, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart,” implies Jesus’ omniscience, which is necessary if He is to be able to receive petitions and intercede at God’s right hand.
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Thirty Days of Jesus Series-
Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
Day 22: The Intercessor
Day 23: The Compassionate Healer
His attributes
By Elizabeth Prata
This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, shepherd, and now intercessor.
Grace To You sermon: Jesus Christ: The Perfect Priest
And so the sympathetic high priest is Jesus Christ, who in the days of His flesh felt what we feel. And of course, the climax comes when He offered prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. What incident in His life does that speak to you about? Does that remind you of the Garden of Gethsemane? Sure. That was the greatest climax of His suffering for there He began to bear the sins of the world didn’t He? There He began to feel the crush of sin upon Him. He began to feel Satan bruising Him, and it hurt. Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before He went to the cross? He went into the Garden to pray and He agonized there and He sweat as it were great drops of blood and He cried to the Father. And His heart was grieving and broken at the prospect and the pain of bearing sin. And He felt the power of sin and He felt temptation. He felt everything Satan could throw at Him, and He got it all even on the cross. He felt everything you’ll ever feel.
THIS is what makes Jesus the perfect High Priest. Fully God and fully man, He knows the pain, sorrow, temptation, and devastation of sin, closely and intimately.
Ligonier: The Intercession of Christ
A time would come when Satan would sift Peter, and he would fall under the weight of temptation and deny his Lord. But what did Jesus say about that time? He comforted Peter by assuring him that he would not lose his faith. And the reason his faith wouldn’t fail was that Jesus had prayed for him. Peter would not fall away from the faith because Jesus had interceded for him.
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Introduction/Background
Prophecies:
Day 1: The Virgin shall conceive
Day 2: A shoot from Jesse
Day 3: God sent His Son in the fullness of time
Day 4: Marry her, she will bear a Son
Birth & Early Life-
Day 5: The Babe has arrived!
Day 6: The Glory of Jesus
Day 7: Magi seek the Child
Day 8: The Magi Offer gifts & worship
Day 9: The Child Grew
Day 10- the Boy Jesus at the Temple
Day 11: He was Obedient
Day 12: The Son!
Day 13: God is pleased with His Son
The Second Person of the Trinity-
Day 14: Propitiation
Day 15: The Gift of Eternal Life
Day 16: Kingdom of Darkness to Light
Day 17: Jesus’ Preeminence
Day 18: The Highest King
Day 19: He emptied Himself
Day 20: Jesus as The Teacher
Day 21: The Good Shepherd
By Elizabeth Prata
This section of verses that show Jesus’ life are focused on His earthly ministry. We’ve seen Him as servant, teacher, and now shepherd.
By Elizabeth Prata
Propitiation. A hard word to pronounce…and a hard word to understand, but we have to try, since the verse says this is the reason God sent His son.
An offering that turns away the wrath of God directed against sin. According to the NT, God has provided the offering that removes the divine wrath, for in love the Father sent the Son to be the propitiation (or atoning sacrifice) for human sin (1 John 4:10). Source: Pocket dictionary of theological terms (1996).
by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to exercise his love towards sinners. In Easton’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary. (1893)
The Easton’s definition uses the word ‘consistent’. God is able to do anything but it would not be consistent with His holy character to abandon his promise to punish wrongdoers for their sin. He could turn away His wrath by deciding to do so, but it would destroy His perfectly just nature to be inconsistent. No, God is consistent, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8). “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed“. (Malachi 3:6).
So He sent His Son to be that sacrifice and absorb God’s wrath for our sins, though Christ was sinless.
Further Reading
GotQuestions: What is Propitiation?
The word propitiation carries the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically toward God. Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and being reconciled to him.
Ligonier Ministries: What Do Expiation and Propitiation Mean?
Let’s think about what these words mean, then, beginning with the word expiation. The prefix ex means “out of” or “from,” so expiation has to do with removing something or taking something away. In biblical terms, it has to do with taking away guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonement. By contrast, propitiation has to do with the object of the expiation.
Bible Hub Topical Bible- Propitiation
That by which God is rendered propitious, i.e., by which it becomes consistent with his character and government to pardon and bless the sinner. The propitiation does not procure his love or make him loving; it only renders it consistent for him to execise his love towards sinners.
By Elizabeth Prata
From Day 12-16 we are looking at verses that focus on Jesus as The Son. Yesterday we read the scripture from John 3:16, how God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. Today we read how God was pleased with His Son whom He sent.
Jesus has been incarnated and ill-treated. (Herod’s aim to wipe Him out caused the cataclysmic genocide of all children in the region under the age of two).
While growing up, Jesus was obedient in all things to his earthly parents. God was pleased with this. Now is the time where Jesus emerges on mission to seek and save the lost. He is baptized by John.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon Him; and a voice came from the heavens: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:9-11).
Just think, a nexus point on earth where all three Persons of the Trinity were congregated, initiating the extraordinary plan of God to save His people.
And so begins the most incredible period of time on earth there ever was.
Further Reading
Gill’s Exposition: God is pleased
in whom I am well pleased. Jehovah the Father took infinite delight and pleasure in him as his own Son, who lay in his bosom before all worlds; and was well pleased with him in his office relation, and capacity: he was both well pleased in him as his Son, and delighted in him as his servant, Isaiah 42:1 he was pleased with his assumption of human nature; with his whole obedience to the law; and with his bearing the penalty and curse of it, in the room and stead of his people: he was well pleased with and for his righteousness, sacrifice and atonement; whereby his law was fulfilled, and his justice satisfied. God is not only well pleased in, and with his Son, but with all his people, as considered in him; in him he loves them, takes delight in them, is pacified towards them, and graciously accepts of them.
Ligonier devotional (2-min read) The Baptism of Christ
Matthew 3:13–17 records our Lord’s baptism by John in the Jordan River, and as we read the account we can relate to John’s confusion. In verse 14, John essentially asks Jesus why He needs to be baptized. Actually, John wanted to deny baptism to Him, and we have to admit that John was not entirely off-base.
John MacArthur sermon: The Commissioning of the King
as we come to Matthew 3:13, we read the words, “Then cometh Jesus.” And really, for the first time, the Lord Jesus appears upon the stage. Up until this time it has been preparatory. Matthew has been commenting on various elements in the beginnings of Jesus: His birth, the things surrounding His birth, His forerunner, etc. But now, finally, Jesus steps onto the stage. Jesus takes the place of prominence.
By Elizabeth Prata
We’ve flowed through the first section of this series, in looking at verses that prophesy Jesus’ coming, His arrival, and His early life.
Starting today, from Day 12-16 we will look at verses that focus on Jesus as The Son.
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Further Reading
Ligonier: What does ‘the world’ mean in John 3:16?
Understanding how undeserving the world is of God’s love is the key to John 3:16. Only then will we appreciate the unexpected gift that God gives. This point was well made many years ago by the esteemed theologian Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield. In his sermon “God’s Immeasurable Love,” Warfield probes the meaning of the term “world” (Greek kosmos) in John 3:16 in order to plumb the depths of God’s love. What is the meaning of “world” in this passage?
Ligonier: John 3:16 and man’s ability to choose God
It is ironic that in the same chapter, indeed in the same context, in which our Lord teaches the utter necessity of rebirth to even see the kingdom, let alone choose it, non-Reformed views find one of their main proof texts to argue that fallen man retains a small island of ability to choose Christ. It is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” What does this famous verse teach about fallen man’s ability to choose Christ? The answer…
Crosswalk: Why John 3:16 should be more than a slogan
For many people John 3:16 reads like a Hallmark card sent from God. In fact, when some Christians speak of the Gospel they use a play on the words of the Hallmark corporate slogan: “God cared enough to send His very best.” But John 3:16 is not a message of sentiment. When God sent His Son into the world, He was not having an emotional response to the tragedy of sin.
Spurgeon: Devotional on John 3:16, His Love, His Gift, His Son
This text is a polestar, for it has guided more souls to salvation than any other Scripture. It is among promises what the Great Bear is among constellations. Several words in it shine with peculiar brilliance…
the-end-time.org 