The Path to the Cross Discovery Guide: 5 Faith Lessons - Softcover

Vander Laan, Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031032985X ISBN 13: 9780310329855

Publisher: HarperChristian Resources, 2010

Synopsis

This five-session small group Bible study, The Path to the Cross, by noted teacher and historian, Ray Vander Laan, is volume eleven of the 12-part Faith Lessons filmed-on-location DVD and Discovery Guide series.

In The Path to the Cross, God’s story continues with the intense devotion of his people. Discover how their passionate faith prepares the way for Jesus and his ultimate act of obedience and sacrifice at the cross. Then, be challenged in your life to live as they did – by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Filmed on location in Israel, Faith Lessons is a unique video series that brings God's Word to life with astounding relevance. By weaving together the Bible's fascinating historical, cultural, religious, and geographical contexts, teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan reveals unique insights into the Scriptures' significance for modern believers.

The Path to the Cross Discovery Guide (285 pages) includes five sessions. Each lesson…

- Focuses on passages of Scripture explored in the DVD
- Includes sidebars, maps, photos and other study tools
- Features questions that facilitate discussion and inspire personal reflection
- Includes 25 personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions, and turn lessons from the past into applications that impact how you live out your faith today.

The companion DVD for With All Your Heart was filmed on location in Qumran, Machaerus, En Gedi, Jerusalem and Gethsemane.

These illuminating "faith lessons" afford a new understanding of the Bible that will ground your convictions and transform your life. The Faith Lessons video series is ideal for use in small groups, personal and family Bible studies, and adult Sunday school. Individual believers and families will gain vital insights from long-ago times and cultures through this innovative approach to Bible study.

This Discovery Guide is designed for use with The Path to the Cross DVD (sold separately).

Lessons include:
1. The Way of the Essenes – Filmed in Quamran
2. The Way of John the Baptist – Filmed in Machaerus
3. Into the Desert to Be Tested – Filmed in En Gedi
4. The Last Passover – Filmed in Jerusalem
5. The Fifth Cup: Our Way of Hope – Filmed at Gethsemane

About this title

About the Authors

Ray Vander Laan is the founder of That the World May Know Ministries and creator of the Faith Lessons video series with Focus on the Family. An ordained minister, he holds the chair of biblical cultural studies as a religion instructor at Holland Christian Schools in Holland, Michigan. He and his wife, Esther, have four children and fifteen grandchildren.

Stephen and Amanda Sorenson are founders of Sorenson Communications and have co-written many small group curriculum guidebooks, including the entire Faith Lessons series.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Path to the Cross Discovery Guide

Faith LessonsBy Ray Vander Laan Stephen Sorenson Amanda Sorenson

Zondervan

Copyright © 2010 Ray Vander Laan
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-32985-5

Contents

Introduction.................................................7Session 1 The Way of the Essenes.............................15Session 2 The Way of John the Baptist........................73Session 3 Into the Desert to BeTested........................129Session 4 The Last Passover..................................171Session 5 The Fifth Cup: Our Way of Hope.....................225Notes........................................................271Acknowledgments..............................................277Bibliography.................................................281

Chapter One

SESSION ONE

THE WAY OF THE ESSENES

About 150 years before the birth of Jesus the Messiah, some of God's people-the Essenes-established a community in the Judea Wilderness near the northern end of the Dead Sea. We know it as Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Not all scholars agree that Essenes lived at Qumran, wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, or were the people the scrolls portray, so study and debate about the nature of the community continue. However, given the lack of other significant theories about Qumran, the scrolls, and the Essenes, we will take the position of mainstream Bible scholars that the Qumran ruins are those of the Dead Sea Scroll community that was part of a religious movement that included the Essenes.

In any case, our primary focus is not on the relationship between the people who lived in this community and the Dead Sea Scrolls. We will focus on why this group of God's people went into the desert to live as they did. We want to know the role they played in God's great story of redemption.

Part of the answer is revealed in the Hebrew Bible where the prophets proclaimed God's command for his people to "prepare the way" for his coming. Malachi wrote that God would come after he sent his messenger to prepare his way (Malachi 3:1). The words of Isaiah add further insight: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).

The Essenes were passionately committed to learning and obeying every word that came from the mouth of God. They knew that God wanted to dwell among them and believed with all their heart, soul, and strength that if they prepared the way he would come. So they eagerly anticipated the coming of the Messiah and went into the desert to "prepare the way" for him.

But anyone who has hiked the rugged mountains of the Judea Wilderness will likely ask, "Why did the way for God have to be pre pared in the desert, especially this one?" Throughout history this wilderness has remained virtually uninhabited. Its rough, steep terrain and lack of water make it unsuitable for good travel routes. Its summer heat frequently exceeds 120 degrees Fahrenheit, hot winds often dry out any remaining moisture, and chilling temperatures set in soon after sunset.

Wouldn't it have been easier for God's way to be prepared in the fertile countryside near the Sea of Galilee or the well-watered hillsides near Jerusalem? Why did God choose the desert as the place for his people to prepare for his glory to be revealed? Why did he choose a place where simply surviving is so hard?

Again, part of the answer can be found in the Hebrew Bible. In the exodus story, God worked through his prophet Moses to miraculously bring the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, deliver them from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea, and lead them into the "vast and dreadful desert" (Deuteronomy 8:15) where he met with them and lived among them for forty years. In the desert, they learned to depend on God and live by his every word. Isolated from the influence of Egyptian and Canaanite cultures, the Israelites became a unified people whom God molded and shaped to be a kingdom of priests who would display his character to the world.

In a sense, the desert is the perfect place for God's people (including us today) to learn to be his people. In the desert, the diversions of a comfortable lifestyle fade into silence, and God's powerful whisper can be heard. In the desert, we can survive-and even thrive-but only by God's faithful provision. In the desert, we learn that it is better to be in the arms of God during tough circumstances than to rest in paradise and forget about him. In the desert, the influence of gods of our own making lose their power, and we are drawn into intimate relationship with the one true God.

So we should not be surprised to find the Essenes in the desert. There, for weeks, months, years-and sometimes a lifetime-they exchanged lives of relative comfort for desert hardships in order to live out their passionate commitment to obey every word that came from the mouth of God. There, they created a community isolated from the self-focused, pleasure-seeking Hellenistic society and what had become a corrupt priesthood in Jerusalem. In the desert they dedicated themselves to preparing the way for God.

And out of that same barren desert, the Bible character we know as John the Baptist took up the cry. With the fiery passion of Elijah, he called on sinners to repent and prepare the way for the Lord. And just as the prophets had said, God came as Jesus the Messiah to continue the next chapter in God's great redemptive story.

Opening Thoughts (3 minutes)

The Very Words of God

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 40:3-5

Think about it

Take a few moments to think about your image of what it means to love God and live for him, then describe what you think a life of passionate obedience and faithful devotion to God looks like.

What sacrifices might be required in order to obey God and love him with all our heart, soul, and strength?

DVD Notes (29 minutes)

God shapes and molds his people in the desert The Essene community: learning to live by God's every word The Essene lifestyle: passionate obedience and intense devotion

DVD Discussion (7 minutes)

1. At times God chose to use harsh desert areas near the Promised Land as a training ground to mold and shape his people for their role in the next chapter of his unfolding story. Like a shepherd, he led the ancient Israelites through the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula to teach them to depend on him and live by his every word. Moses and Elijah spent time with God in the Sinai deserts. Elijah, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus spent time with God in the Judea Wilderness. The Essenes went into that same wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord-to know his words and obediently "walk" his path.

On the map on page 21, locate the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, En Gedi, Qumran, and Jericho. Next locate specific desert areas in the region: Judea Wilderness (Judah Wilderness in Old Testament times), Desert of Zin, Negev, Desert of Paran, Desert of Sin, Desert of Shur. How far was the Judea Wilderness from Jerusalem? From Bethlehem?

2. What new insights into the Essenes and their lifestyle did you discover as you watched the video?

In what ways does the Essenes' level of dedication, commitment, and faithfulness in seeking to obey every word of God make an impact on you?

How does the extent of their personal sacrifice help you to comprehend how much they valued the opportunity to participate in preparing the way for the coming of the Lord?

3. In what way(s) do you think the desert wilderness setting helped to fulfill the deep spiritual commitments that defined the Essene community?

4. Do you think the Essenes could have accomplished their objectives in a more hospitable environment? Why or why not?

Small Group bible discovery and discussion (15 minutes)

The Path of Obedience

God brought the ancient Hebrews into the desert to teach them how to obey his words and, by their obedience to his words, to walk in his ways. His words were so important that he instructed Moses to write down all of them in the Torah (Deuteronomy 31:9-13). God also instructed his people to return to the desert-either literally or by recalling the Hebrews' time there-in order to remember (obey) his every word and to prepare the way (or path) for his coming.

The Essenes acted on these words. They dedicated themselves to walking the path of obedience. With great passion for obeying God, they willingly endured the desert hardships in order to learn to live by his every word. They had an intense desire to prepare the way for their God in the desert, and their faithful obedience greatly impacted their world. It helped to prepare people to more easily understand and apply the teachings of Jesus and influenced the theological climate of the Jews for about two hundred years. Let's consider what it means to walk the path of obedience and "prepare the way" for God.

1. The discipline of desert life may seem especially harsh to us. So to better understand the way of the Essenes, it will be helpful to revisit why God allowed the ancient Israelites to experience hard times in the desert. From God's perspective, how important was it-and how great a price was it worth-for his people to learn to live by his every word? (See Deuteronomy 8:2-3.)

FOR GREATER UNDERSTANDING: THE "WAY OF THE LORD"

Writers of the ancient Hebrew text used concrete language to describe God and the character he expects of his people. They frequently used halak ("walk") and derekh ("path" or "way") to describe a person's daily life and relationship with God. So rather than saying "Live a good life" as Westerners might say, a writer of the biblical text might say something like "Walk a good walk" or "Walk in the path."

For the Israelites, walking was the primary means of transportation. Sometimes walking was hard and sometimes it was easy. A person could choose one path or another. So the Israelites readily understood what it meant to "walk in the way." Just as we choose a path when we "walk" from one place to another, we choose a lifestyle "path" as we journey through life. The Bible describes an obedient and righteous lifestyle as "God's path" or the "way of the Lord" (Genesis 18:19) and a rebellious and sinful lifestyle as our "own way" (Isaiah 53:6) or "the way of the wicked" (Psalm 1:6).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Path to the Cross Discovery Guideby Ray Vander Laan Stephen Sorenson Amanda Sorenson Copyright © 2010 by Ray Vander Laan. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperChristian Resources
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031032985X
• ISBN 13: 9780310329855
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288