Christ knew we would never be happy without a personal, viable relationship with him and his Father. He knew the only way for us to truly know him would be to learn his story. This is why Jesus' last commission to his disciples was for them to study the Word in order to teach the Word to others. Through intense study of the New Testament, The Good News of the Apocalypse shows you how to have a meaningful and an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Pastor Sedinger offers a complete overview of the books of the New Testament. She breaks down each book through guided readings and gives a thorough explanation of the book's events and message. In addition, Sedinger incorporates other biblical studies in her narrative to provide a well-rounded understanding of the New Testament. At the heart of this study is the overwhelming importance of accepting Jesus as your personal savior and developing a relationship with him. Knowing about him is not enough to build this relationship. Instead, we must study Scripture and apply it to our lives. The Good News of the Apocalypse will help you in this remarkable journey by complementing your Bible reading and giving you a new understanding of the Gospel.

THE GOOD NEWS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Volume II: A Guided Voyage through the New TestamentBy Ione L. Sedinger

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Rev. Ione L. Sedinger
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-5808-2

Contents

Preface..................................viiMatthew..................................1Mark.....................................75Luke.....................................97John.....................................136Acts.....................................168Romans...................................203I Corinthians............................216II Corinthians...........................228Galations................................230Ephesians................................231Philippians..............................234Colossians...............................235I Thessalonians..........................236II Thessalonians.........................238I timothy II timothy.....................238Titus....................................241Philemon.................................242Hebrews..................................242Jude.....................................250Exploring Revelation.....................252Epilogue.................................313Bibliography.............................317

Chapter One

MATTHEW

CHAPTER 1

Most early church writers stressed the fact that Matthew wrote his Gospel with the purpose of convincing the Hebrew people in his day that Jesus was one of them; but more than just one of them, He was their promised Messiah. What more important information would they need than to know Jesus' genealogy? "This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of King David and of Abraham." (Matt. 1:1)

You will read 15 verses of "begats" down to verse 17: "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto the Messiah are fourteen generations."

My grandparents were deceased before I was old enough to remember any of them; and my mother and dad didn't talk much about them. They did not seem interested in their past; so I had never thought about my ancestors. Many of our friends are hooked on the study of Genealogy. A few years ago, when others began talking about genealogy it shed a new light on the first chapter of Matthew for me. Jesus' genealogy became more important and I began to study it with far more interest; for I needed to satisfy myself that his genealogy fulfilled all the predicted requirements.

Genealogy was always very important to the Hebrews because they took pride in the fact they were the people chosen by God. God had made the first promise as a conditional covenant with Abraham. The condition was: Abraham would come out from the midst of his idol worshipping relatives and obey the one God: Jehovah, God almighty. One teenager said to me, "That sounds like an egotistical God." That condition, God gave Abraham, was not then nor is it now because God is an egotistical God! It is because God is holy.

Holiness is not only being set apart but it includes the sum total of all the desirable attributes (fruit of the spirit) which God has and wants all people to strive for. God loves us and knowing what is best for our well being he continually challenges us to be holy. Loving and obeying God, yielding our spirits to the Holy Spirit and not to the things of this world will cultivate holy attributes in us. "The fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22, 23)

The promise was renewed with Abraham's son, Isaiah, and with Isaiah's son, Jacob. That covenant and promise was renewed again through Moses when he was chosen to lead this nation out of slavery in Egypt. God told Moses that he would one day send a Deliver to his people just like Moses. It was renewed through Joshua by the fact that his name means Salvation. God promised to send a Savior. God renewed the promise through King David in telling David that one of his descendants, a sovereign King, would rule and reign over all nations forever. (See Volume I for more details) from the time of David until the end of the Old Testament the Hebrew Prophets were foretelling the Good News that their Messiah was coming to redeem God's people.

The Prophets who came along after King David, prophesied of the one who would be a suffering servant, and a sacrificial Lamb meek and righteous etc.; but the people could not put all four of those descriptions together to understand them as one and the same. When Jesus came they were only looking for the one who would deliver them from the Romans as Moses had delivered them from the egyptians. Some did think of him as being a conquering king but none thought of him as a suffering servant or as a lamb.

That promise of an Israelite deliverer, savior, was implanted in the minds of every Israelite from childhood. They would never have considered a person of any other race becoming a child of God much less becoming their Messiah. His Hebrew nationality and his linkage to Abraham and King David would have to be the very first credential presented to convince the Hebrews that Jesus was their promised Messiah King. Matthew certainly accomplished describing Jesus as fulfilling that requirement in the first seventeen verses.

The next question with some people today is: "Was Matthew actually the author of this first Gospel?" Some early documents were credited to Matthew the disciple of Jesus; however, today many scholars decline to believe he was the author of our first New Testament book. This book is not meant to get into critical details about the Bible. There are numerous writings one may study if such is your aim see the Bibliography at the close of this book for resources for my comments in this book. My only purpose for this volume is that my readers will accept Jesus as their Savior and make Him Lord of their life. Making Christ your Savior and making Him Lord of your life are two different undertakings. Not every Christian understands that! Hopefully you will know the difference after studying The Good News of the apocalypse.

More than just as Savior, my prayer is that my readers will come to have a close personal relationship with him as Lord, Ruler of their life now. In such relationships we glorify God the father; so, as I wrote in the preface all the scholarly details about the Bible, just for the sake of knowledge, are not required for forming that relationship.

You will also read in many commentaries that Matthew copied Mark's Gospel. Why would Matthew want to copy someone who had gotten his information from someone else; it is not proven that Mark even knew Jesus personally. Every source I have read seemed to be statements which we could reverse to prove that Mark copied Matthew if it mattered. Matthew was one of the twelve. He would have been with Jesus throughout his ministry; so, all of his writings were first hand experiences. My readers can find many sources besides my Bibliography for all such information if one is that interested. That is not important for our goal.

1:18-25 The Virgin birth of Jesus: another issue Matthew would have to explain to his Hebrew readers would be that of Isaiah's prophecy about the Virgin Birth. "The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Is. 7:14) Therefore, beginning with 1:18 Matthew does just that; he explains the birth of Jesus in just the proper order to confirm Isaiah's prophecy! Some writers argue that the word used in Isaiah was a Hebrew word which did not mean virgin. However the Greek word used here by Matthew does mean virgin. There was no human man involved in this conception. You'll find that in one of the commentaries of my Bibliography.

Many years ago I read something written by a physician to the fact that all the blood cells in an embryo are contributed by the father's sperm. If that is true, that would explain why Jesus had no inherited sins. He had no man's blood.

The words espoused or betrothed means engaged or pledged to be married. Even at this early age in history, for a woman to be unfaithful was considered adultery and the punishment was death by stoning. We are told that Joseph was a righteous man. Surely he was devastated by Mary's pregnancy. What a merciful man he must have been! Until the angel came to tell him that Mary's conception was from the Holy Spirit, he had no way of knowing that Mary had not been unfaithful to him. How could he have believed Mary's explanation for her pregnancy? after all, no one had ever heard of such a thing happening before!

Hardly anything is told us about Joseph. We know he must have been a kind, and merciful man to go through with the engagement and marriage to save face for Mary. What a wonderful father he must have been to Jesus. Jesus never complained about his home life. We will read in another Gospel about trouble he caused his parents at the age of twelve but nothing was said about Jesus being punished; so, Joseph must have forgiven him the worry he had caused them.

Today some Catholics praise and honor Mary, but we never read much of honor to Joseph. Certainly we should not worship either of them. It was Joseph who was given the name for Jesus. The angel told Joseph he was to "name the child Jesus for he will save his people from their sins." In the Old Testament, Isaiah had been told that his name would be Immanuel, (meaning, God with us) what beautiful names!!

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Do not fear to take Mary for your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Matt. 1:21-23)

The name Jesus is the equivalent to the name Jehovah in the Old Testament. That certainly becomes the name that is above every name. The angel told Joseph that it meant God would be with us to save us from our sin in and through this one to be born to Mary. In that name we will find more than salvation from our sins.

In that name is indicated the Grace that will come to all people who believe for it. Just what is that grace? The answer most often given is unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor. Those are indeed true definitions. But my favorite definition for the word grace is "Divine Enablement." That means God's grace is providing us the ability and needs by which we can do or be whatever God has called us to do or be. Amazing! It definitely is that.

Questions for thought: The next time you sing "Aamazing Grace" think about all the Divine Enablements you have received through God's grace. List them one by one, it will surprise you what the Lord has done. Those are old hymns; do you sing them in your church? Begin today to sing them with a new joy in your spirit

CHAPTER 2

After the Jewish captivity when they had been scattered out among other nations, many Jews had never returned to Israel. It could have been that the Astrologers of the east who came to seek the Christ child had heard about this promised King, from some of the Jewish refugees. When the Star appeared they dropped everything and followed it bearing many costly gifts. They came to worship him. Why were all the supposedly sacred priests and scribes in Jerusalem not looking for their promised Messiah, the King to be? Did they never look up, or was the special star not visible in the sky where they were? Maybe they were too busy with current affairs like you and I get. Someone once suggested the men were called wise not because they saw the star but because they followed the star to Jesus.

The Wise men came to Jerusalem to inquire where to find Jesus. King Herod heard of these men and their mission. He gathered all the chief Priests and scribes to ask them where the Messiah King would be found. They were supposed to know all those Old Testament prophesies about Jesus. The Herods were Edomites, the descendants of Esau, Jacob's twin brother. Esau was the one who cared so little about the birthright that he sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew.

Now these Edomites were puppet kings appointed over Israel but under the control of Rome. Herod instructed the Wise men to come back and tell him where they found Jesus. It was no surprise that he would attempt to have the baby Jesus killed; for, Herod the Great was a very jealous, brutal king. He thought Jesus was meant to be a human king who would take his throne. The wise men were alerted to his plans by an angel who directed them to return by another way. Herod was infuriated and sought to kill the Babe by having all babies killed who were two years and under. Evidently the wise men had told Herod that the star had appeared two years earlier.

We always refer to them as three wise men but the Bible does not give a number. We just know they brought great wealth. Our Christmas plays, cards and decorations also include them in with our Christmas events as if they all happened together. The time was not the same. It could have taken the wise men anytime up to two years in coming. It has been noted God was providing this wealth they brought as a means by which the family could escape to Egypt. They lived there until God again informed Joseph, in a dream, Herod was dead and they could return to Israel. He took the family back and settled in Nazareth. The Old Testament prophecy had been that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. Nazareth means Branch and Jesus had been referred to as a Branch in prophecy

We would do well to think of those men of old as being wise because they came prepared to worship him with gifts. The question then should come to each of us, "What preparations am I making to meet my Savior?" When we come to the end of our journey to meet him each of us will be responsible for what we have brought in our hearts to present before our Lord and Savior. Our time and talents were meant to be used that we might do and be what he has called us to do or be. I ask myself each evening if I have used them wisely that day. Approximately 30 years pass before Matthew picks up the story again. Here Mathew turns our attention to John the Baptist who is out preaching in the wilderness of Judea

Questions for thought: everyone has been given a gift or gifts, time talents, or money; these are all gifts the Lord has graced to us. Ask yourself each evening, "Have I used my gift wisely today?"

CHAPTER 3

John came preaching a message of Repentance; "Turn from your sins and turn to God because the kingdom of heaven is near." Matthew reminds his readers that Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet, had prophesied about John. Many Israelites believed John. They flocked to hear him and be baptized.

Jesus and John were related. Mary had stayed with Elizabeth, John's mother, for some months before John or Jesus was born. Both families had been informed by angels of what their boys' mission in life would be. We would think both parents had told the boys about their foretold missions. John did know for he had already begun his mission, calling people to repentance and baptism.

This is the first time Matthew brings our attention back to Jesus. Jesus is now a grown man who came to John to be baptized of him. John questions Jesus as to why he would desire baptism. John somehow knew in his spirit that Jesus had not sinned. This conversation between John and Jesus opened the way for Mathew, in his Gospel, to begin giving his Hebrew readers important information about Jesus.

When we read of these events this side of the cross and Resurrection, we sometimes forget how much of the information we take for granted was not available to those Hebrew readers whom Matthew was writing this book to convince. He could not have imagined this book would be read by us over 2000 years later. His only concern was persuading the Hebrew of his day that this was their prophesied Messiah. "Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent him, saying, `I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' But Jesus answering said to him, `Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." (Matt. 3:13-15)

Each Gospel writer worded this a little differently but the meaning was the same. The righteousness being that Jesus was accepting baptism in the name of all people whose sins he was taking upon himself. "He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bares the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isa. 53:12)

In his crucifixion he was exchanging his righteousness for our unrighteousness; thereby redeeming us. The important incident at this baptism was the confirmation to these two men of what their parents had probably told them about their births. "after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him, and behold, a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (3:16-17) what a miraculous confirmation! can we even imagine the joy these two men must have felt? No! We cannot for it was too sacred for us to even desire to intrude into that scene.

When writing their Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke all remembered that Jesus was immediately led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. Many ministers of the Lord have been led to go out alone after such holy encounters. It is a time of preparation for their souls before beginning their ministry.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE GOOD NEWS OF THE APOCALYPSEby Ione L. Sedinger Copyright © 2011 by Rev. Ione L. Sedinger. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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