41 Then Jesus was sent by the Spirit into the waste land to be tested by the Evil One. 2 And after going without food for forty days and forty nights, he was in need of it. 3 And the Evil One came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, give the word for these stones to become bread. 4 But he made answer and said, It is in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need, but every word which comes out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the Evil One took him to the holy town; and he put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, 6 If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down; for it is in the Writings, He will give his angels care over you; and, In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, Again it is in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test. 8 Again, the Evil One took him up to a very high mountain, and let him see all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; 9 And he said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will go down on your face and give me worship. 10 Then said Jesus to him, Away, Satan: for it is in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God and be his servant only. 11 Then the Evil One went away from him, and angels came and took care of him.
12 Now when it came to his ears that John had been put in prison, he went away to Galilee; 13 And going away from Nazareth, he came and made his living-place in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali: 14 So that the word of the prophet Isaiah might come true, 15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 The people who were in the dark saw a great light, and to those in the land of the shade of death did the dawn come up. 17 From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
18 And when he was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, whose other name was Peter, and Andrew, his brother, who were putting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And straight away they let go the nets and went after him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with their father, stitching up their nets; and he said, Come. 22 And they went straight from the boat and their father and came after him.
23 And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom, and making well those who were ill with any disease among the people. 24 And news of him went out through all Syria; and they took to him all who were ill with different diseases and pains, those having evil spirits and those who were off their heads, and those who had no power of moving. And he made them well. 25 And there went after him great numbers from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from the other side of Jordan.
41 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, came back from the Jordan, and was guided by the Spirit in the waste land 2 For forty days, being tested by the Evil One. And he had no food in those days; and when they came to an end, he was in need of food. 3 And the Evil One said to him, If you are the Son of God, give orders to this stone to become bread. 4 And Jesus made answer to him, It has been said in the Writings, Bread is not man's only need. 5 And he took him up and let him see all the kingdoms of the earth in a minute of time. 6 And the Evil One said, I will give you authority over all these, and the glory of them, for it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone at my pleasure. 7 If then you will give worship to me, it will all be yours. 8 And Jesus in answer said to him, It has been said in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God, and be his servant only. 9 And he took him to Jerusalem and put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down from here; for it is said in the Writings, 10 He will give his angels orders to take care of you: 11 And, In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone. 12 And Jesus made answer and said to him, It is said in the Writings, You may not put the Lord your God to the test. 13 And when all these tests were ended the Evil One went away from him for a time.
14 And Jesus came back to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news of him went through all the country round about. 15 And he was teaching in their Synagogues and all men gave him praise.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been as a child, and he went, as his way was, into the Synagogue on the Sabbath, and got up to give a reading. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and, opening the book, he came on the place where it is said, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make well those who are broken-hearted; to say that the prisoners will be let go, and the blind will see, and to make the wounded free from their chains, 19 To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure is come. 20 And shutting the book he gave it back to the servant and took his seat: and the eyes of all in the Synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he said to them, Today this word has come true in your hearing. 22 And they were all giving witness, with wonder, to the words of grace which came from his mouth: and they said, Is not this the son of Joseph? 23 And he said to them, Without doubt you will say to me, Let the medical man make himself well: the things which to our knowledge were done at Capernaum, do them here in your country. 24 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, No prophet is honoured in his country. 25 Truly I say to you, There were a number of widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months and there was no food in the land; 26 But Elijah was not sent to one of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were a number of lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and not one of them was made clean, but only Naaman the Syrian. 28 And all who were in the Synagogue were very angry when these things were said to them. 29 And they got up and took him out of the town to the edge of the mountain on which their town was, so that they might send him down to his death. 30 But he came through them and went on his way.
31 And he came down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee; and he was giving them teaching on the Sabbath. 32 And they were surprised at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
33 And there was a man in the Synagogue who had an unclean spirit; and he gave a loud cry and said, 34 Let us be! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? have you come to put an end to us? I have knowledge who you are, the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus said to him, Be quiet, and come out of him. And when the evil spirit had put him down on the earth in the middle of them, he came out of him, having done him no damage. 36 And wonder came on them all and they said to one another, What are these words? for with authority and power he gives orders to the evil spirits and they come out. 37 And there was much talk about him in all the places round about.
38 And he got up and went out of the Synagogue and went into the house of Simon. And Simon's wife's mother was very ill with a burning heat; and in answer to their prayers for her 39 He went near her, and with a sharp word he gave orders to the disease and it went away from her; and straight away she got up and took care of their needs.
40 And at sundown all those who had anyone ill with any sort of disease, took them to him, and he put his hands on every one of them and made them well. 41 And evil spirits came out of a number of them, crying out and saying, You are the Son of God. But he gave them sharp orders not to say a word, because they had knowledge that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he came out and went to a waste place; and great numbers of people came looking for him, and they came to him and would have kept him from going away. 43 But he said to them, I have to give the good news of the kingdom of God in other towns, because that is why I was sent. 44 And he was teaching in the Synagogues of Galilee.
51 Now it came about that while the people came pushing to be near him, and to have knowledge of the word of God, he was by a wide stretch of water named Gennesaret; 2 And he saw two boats by the edge of the water, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat. 4 And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish. 5 And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken; 7 And they made signs to their friends in the other boat to come to their help. And they came, and the two boats were so full that they were going down. 8 But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner. 9 For he was full of wonder and so were all those who were with him, at the number of fish which they had taken; 10 And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men. 11 And when they had got their boats to the land, they gave up everything and went after him.
12 And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean. 13 And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him. 14 And he gave him orders: Say nothing to any man, but let the priest see you and give an offering so that you may be made clean, as the law of Moses says, and for a witness to them. 15 But news of him went out all the more, in every direction, and great numbers of people came together to give hearing to his words and to be made well from their diseases. 16 But he went away by himself to a waste place for prayer.
17 And it came about that on one of these days he was teaching; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him, to make those who were ill free from their diseases. 18 And some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus. 19 And because of the mass of people, there was no way to get him in; so they went up on the top of the house and let him down through the roof, on his bed, into the middle in front of Jesus. 20 And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins. 21 And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only? 22 But Jesus, who had knowledge of their thoughts, said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go? 24 But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house. 25 And straight away he got up before them, and took up his bed and went away to his house giving praise to God. 26 And wonder overcame them all, and they gave glory to God; and they were full of fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.
27 And after these things he went out, and saw Levi, a tax-farmer, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and said to him, Come after me. 28 And giving up his business, he got up and went after him. 29 And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners? 31 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill. 32 I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.
33 And they said to him, The disciples of John frequently go without food, and make prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your disciples take food and drink. 34 And Jesus said, Are you able to make the friends of the newly-married man go without food when he is with them? 35 But the days will come when he will be taken away from them, and then they will go without food. 36 And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of cloth from a new coat and puts it on to an old coat, for so the new coat would be damaged and the bit from the new would not go well with the old. 37 And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins, for fear that the skins will be burst by the new wine, and the wine be let out, and the skins come to destruction. 38 But new wine has to be put into new wine-skins. 39 And no man, having had old wine, has any desire for new, for he says, The old is better.
15 John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me. 16 From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ. 18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
19 And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you? 20 He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ. 21 And they said to him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And his answer was, I am not. 22 So they said to him, Who are you then? We have to give some answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. 24 Those who had been sent came from the Pharisees. 25 And they put this question to him, saying, Why then are you giving baptism if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet? 26 John's answer was: I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge; 27 It is he who is coming after me; I am not good enough to undo his shoes. 28 These things took place at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was giving baptism.
29 The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, One is coming after me who is put over me because he was in existence before me. 31 I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel. 32 And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him. 33 I had no knowledge who he was, but he who sent me to give baptism with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, it is he who gives baptism with the Holy Spirit. 34 This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God.
35 The day after, John was there again with two of his disciples; 36 And looking at Jesus while he was walking he said, See, there is the Lamb of God!
37 Hearing what he said, the two disciples went after Jesus. 38 And Jesus, turning round, saw them coming after him and said to them, What are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, Master), where are you living? 39 He said to them, Come and see. They went with him then and saw where he was living; and they were with him all that day: it was then about the tenth hour of the day. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two men who, hearing what John said, went after Jesus. 41 Early in the morning he came across his brother and said to him, We have made discovery! It is the Messiah! (which is to say, the Christ). 42 And he took him to Jesus. Looking at him fixedly Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; your name will be Cephas (which is to say, Peter).
43 The day after this, Jesus had a desire to go into Galilee. He came across Philip and said to him, Come and be my disciple. 44 Now Philip's town was Beth-saida, where Andrew and Peter came from. 45 Philip came across Nathanael and said to him, We have made a discovery! It is he of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets were writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 Nazareth! said Nathanael, Is it possible for any good to come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false. 48 Nathanael said to him, Where did you get knowledge of me? In answer Jesus said, Before Philip was talking with you, while you were still under the fig-tree, I saw you. 49 Nathanael said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel! 50 In answer Jesus said to him, You have faith because I said to you, I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than these. 51 And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.
(Read John 1:15-18)
As to the order of time and entrance on his work, Christ came after John, but in every other way he was before him. The expression clearly shows that Jesus had existence before he appeared on earth as man. All fulness dwells in him, from which alone fallen sinners have, and shall receive, by faith, all that renders them wise, strong, holy, useful, and happy. Our receivings by Christ are all summed up in this one word, grace; we have received "even grace," a gift so great, so rich, so invaluable; the good will of God towards us, and the good work of God in us. The law of God is holy, just, and good; and we should make the proper use of it. But we cannot derive from it pardon, righteousness, or strength. It teaches us to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, but it cannot supply the place of that doctrine. As no mercy comes from God to sinners but through Jesus Christ, no man can come to the Father but by him; no man can know God, except as he is made known in the only begotten and beloved Son.
(Read John 1:19-28)
John disowns himself to be the Christ, who was now expected and waited for. He came in the spirit and power of Elias, but he was not the person of Elias. John was not that Prophet whom Moses said the Lord would raise up to them of their brethren, like unto him. He was not such a prophet as they expected, who would rescue them from the Romans. He gave such an account of himself, as might excite and awaken them to hearken to him. He baptized the people with water as a profession of repentance, and as an outward sign of the spiritual blessings to be conferred on them by the Messiah, who was in the midst of them, though they knew him not, and to whom he was unworthy to render the meanest service.
(Read John 1:29-36)
John saw Jesus coming to him, and pointed him out as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. And the lambs sacrificed every morning and evening, can only refer to Christ slain as a sacrifice to redeem us to God by his blood. John came as a preacher of repentance, yet he told his followers that they were to look for the pardon of their sins to Jesus only, and to his death. It agrees with God's glory to pardon all who depend on the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He takes away the sin of the world; purchases pardon for all that repent and believe the gospel. This encourages our faith; if Christ takes away the sin of the world, then why not my sin? He bore sin for us, and so bears it from us. God could have taken away sin, by taking away the sinner, as he took away the sin of the old world; but here is a way of doing away sin, yet sparing the sinner, by making his Son sin, that is, a sin-offering, for us. See Jesus taking away sin, and let that cause hatred of sin, and resolutions against it. Let us not hold that fast, which the Lamb of God came to take away. To confirm his testimony concerning Christ, John declares the appearance at his baptism, in which God himself bore witness to him. He saw and bare record that he is the Son of God. This is the end and object of John's testimony, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. John took every opportunity that offered to lead people to Christ.
(Read John 1:37-42)
The strongest and most prevailing argument with an awakened soul to follow Christ, is, that it is he only who takes away sin. Whatever communion there is between our souls and Christ, it is he who begins the discourse. He asked, What seek ye? The question Jesus put to them, we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Him, What do we design and desire? In following Christ, do we seek the favour of God and eternal life? He invites them to come without delay. Now is the accepted time, 2 Corinthians 6:2. It is good for us to be where Christ is, wherever it be. We ought to labour for the spiritual welfare of those related to us, and seek to bring them to Him. Those who come to Christ, must come with a fixed resolution to be firm and constant to him, like a stone, solid and stedfast; and it is by his grace that they are so.
(Read John 1:43-51)
See the nature of true Christianity, it is following Jesus; devoting ourselves to him, and treading in his steps. Observe the objection Nathanael made. All who desire to profit by the word of God, must beware of prejudices against places, or denominations of men. They should examine for themselves, and they will sometimes find good where they looked for none. Many people are kept from the ways of religion by the unreasonable prejudices they conceive. The best way to remove false notions of religion, is to make trial of it. In Nathanael there was no guile. His profession was not hypocritical. He was not a dissembler, nor dishonest; he was a sound character, a really upright, godly man. Christ knows what men are indeed. Does He know us? Let us desire to know him. Let us seek and pray to be Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile; truly Christians, approved of Christ himself. Some things weak, imperfect, and sinful, are found in all, but hypocrisy belongs not to a believer's character. Jesus witnessed what passed when Nathanael was under the fig-tree. Probably he was then in fervent prayer, seeking direction as to the Hope and Consolation of Israel, where no human eye observed him. This showed him that our Lord knew the secrets of his heart. Through Christ we commune with, and benefit by the holy angels; and things in heaven and things on earth are reconciled and united together.
