40 Days Through the Gospels (with the One Year Chronological NLT Bible)

Since God grabbed hold of my life, the road has continued to be bumpy. Most of those bumps have been my own sinful choices, but sometimes, God allows difficulties in our lives so we will draw closer to Him. The greatest lesson learned is that nothing surprises God.  He loved me and saved me, knowing every sin I ever would commit.  Just as the Father welcomes the Prodigal Son after squandering his inheritance in Luke 15, our heavenly Father is there with open arms waiting for our returns.  He knows the moment when that return will come, and throws a party when that occurs.  It is hard to explain God’s love, as it is like no other love we ever have experienced. This book is dedicated to the Father who welcomed me back; His Son Jesus, who died for me and paid the full price for all of my horrible choices; the Holy Spirit who lives inside me now and convinces me of the way I should live; and the many Christians whom God has placed to walk beside on this road called life, especially Jeff Kirst, Dave Rann, Todd Williams and Tom Thorne. Thanks to the men in the Bible study, Bill Wynne, Terry Reynolds, Chuck Burney, Glen Simmons and Greg Brace. And finally, this book is also dedicated to the unbelievers God is yet to place in my path.  I pray that God will en- able me to truly and accurately share with them about a God who forgives.  Lord, give me the words to speak and the heart to share Your love with them!

Maranatha!

Preface:

This project began without a conscious decision. A dear friend, Jeff Kirst, invited me to be a part of a men’s Bible study. The format of the study was quite different than anything I had attempted before.  Using the New Living Translation One-Year Chronological Bible, each person in the group accomplished the reading for the week, and then on Saturday morning we met. At that time, each person made one comment on at least one passage each day, so seven comments for the week. Along with most comments came much discussion.  In preparation for the first week, I wrote 25 pages of notes, as I did not really understand the format. Yet instead of making one comment per day, at least on paper, I wrote at least one comment on each passage.  In the previous year, I had not spent as much time in the Word, and with this study, I devoted about two hours a day to the Bible. Almost instantly, joy returned to my thirsty soul.  It made me reflect on an encouraging comment years earlier from Victor Buczarski: tithe your time.  God does not just desire our finances; He desires our time, for no relationship deepens without time spent together.

The format of the study is a great idea, but in addition, I never had read the NLT. This version simplifies the Bible, and though it is not my favorite translation, the different wording sometimes can help me to think in a different direction than usual.  I really love the chronological format, as it groups verses in the historical order of when they occurred.  Especially in the Gospels, I found this very useful as it helped to differentiate between the differences in each description of a given situation. While some might view the discrepancies as errors, and think that they disprove the veracity of the Bible, I see it in a completely different way.  If you ask the survivors of September 11, 2011, the order of what happened, and asked them to describe that day, everyone would have a different perspective, and in many cases, a different order of events. The Gospels are similar, as each has a different voice.  But instead of looking at the differences, look at the similarities, and we quickly discover what each of these authors agreed upon!  Jesus lived, performed miracles, died on the cross and rose from the dead for our sins!

As my weekly notes began to pile up, I decided to put them into book form.  Basically, this is a commentary on the four Gospels.  Yet instead of going verse-by-verse. I have made at least one comment on each section.  In the Bible, the number 40 is emblematic of a test or trial. There are so many instances, that it is not merely a coincidence.  God rained upon the earth for 40 days and nights; Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and was there for 40 days and nights to receive the 10 Commandments; when he descended and found the children of Israel worshiping a golden calf, Moses again went up the mountain for another 40 days and nights; King David reigned for 40 years; the children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years; and Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and nights.  I decided that a nice trial, or challenge, would be to study the Gospels for 40 days!

In the NLT One-Year Chronological Bible, the New Testament and Gospels begin on September 24 and the Gospels continue for 44 days.  In this book, I have condensed those 44 days to 40 to stay with the biblical significance of the trial. The easiest way is to purchase that Bible. The hardback large print is about $20.00, but it makes it simple to accomplish the daily readings in the same order as the readings in this book.  On each section of this book, I have placed the page numbers from that NLT One-Year Chronological Bible. Yet this will work with any Bible.  I would encourage you to read the verses in each section and listen to the Holy Spirit to see what He is teaching you...before reading the notes that I have made on the section. Any commentary can be a huge blessing or incredibly dangerous. The analogy I use is rock-climbing.  If someone has placed pitons in the rock to help us climb, we do not really know how long the pitons have been there or who placed them there.  Consequently, trusting in those pitons and the man who went before you may save lots of time, or could also lead to the loss of your life.  I have done my best to explain the verses, and have spent countless hours in God’s Word. Yet I am not God.  I am a man, who makes mistakes.  Do not accept my word as God’s Word, but instead, follow the footsteps of the Bereans:

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

Acts 17:11

Just as a Berean, search the Scriptures daily and if you find anything I have written that you disagree with, let’s discuss it. You can reach me at gg4jesus@gmail.com.  For me, studying God’s Word is a hunger, and the more I read the Bible, the hungrier I am. My goal in writing these books is to encourage others to deepen their own relationships with Jesus. We tend to waste so much time. Time is never wasted when spent in the Bible.

Take the challenge to study the Gospel for 40 days.  God’s Word is life-changing. Remember, Jesus is the Word, according to John, and He is the living Word of God.  God speaks to us through His Word.  May you deepen your understanding of Him as you walk together!

Day 1

A. Mark 1:1a (page 1298)

Mark 1:1 (page 1298)

This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.*

All of the Gospels have different authors and different audiences. Mark was written to the Gentiles. Specifically, Mark’s audience was the Romans, and we can see Mark’s explanation of Jewish traditions to non-Jewish Christians.  Mark depicts Jesus as a servant, and it is the only one of the Gospels that does not mention a genealogy. (John’s genealogy shows Jesus as the pre-existing God). The focus of Mark is on what Jesus did.

B. Luke 1:1-4 (page 1298)

Luke 1:3 (page 1298)

Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account or you, most honorable Theophilus,

Luke, on the other hand, was written to the Greeks, and depicts Jesus as the Son of Man.  Luke is the only Gospel with a sequel, as Doctor Luke also wrote the Book of Acts.  This book is about what Jesus felt. It includes the genealogy from Adam to Mary and Luke’s genealogy shows the bloodline of Jesus.

C. John 1:1-18 (pages 1298-1299)

John 1:2 (page 1298)

He existed in the beginning with God.

John was written to the Church, and his genealogy reveals Jesus as the pre-existent God! This Gospel depicts Jesus as the Son of God, and is about who Jesus was.  The beginning verses in John parallel the beginning verses in Genesis.  This identifies Jesus as Creator, along with the Father!

John 1:14 (page 1299)

So the Word became human* and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.* And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Here is the same verse in the New King James Version (NKJV):

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14 (NKJV)

Jesus did become human, though at the same time, He was still 100% God and 100% man.  I do not know if He really made His home among us, however, as we are told in Hebrews 13:14 that the world is not our home. We are sojourners on this earth, in the world, but not of the world.

Interestingly, the word for dwelt also means to be tabernacled. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the tabernacle. In the New Testament, God dwelt in a body on the earth. Today, He dwells within our hearts!  Immanuel = God with us!

D. Matthew 1:1-17 (page 1299-1300)

Matthew 1:1 (page 1299)

This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David* and of Abraham:

The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy of Jesus to Joseph, the husband of Mary, and reveals the legal right of Jesus to the throne. While Luke begins with Adam (the first man), Matthew begins with Abraham (the first Jew).  Matthew was written to the Jew, and is about what Jesus said!  Matthew focuses on Jesus as Messiah!

E.  Luke 3:23b-38 (page 1300-1302)

Luke 3:23 (page 1300)

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Heli.

One of the important names in this genealogy is Jehoachin.  What an interesting paradox the Lord created when He declared a blood curse on Jehoachin, whose name in Hebrew means, "Yahweh will establish":

This is what the Lord says:

‘Let the record show that this man Jehoiachin was childless. He is a failure, for none of his children will succeed him on the throne of David to rule over Judah.’ Jeremiah 22:30

Jehoachin, also called Jeconiah, did have a son, Shealtiel, but that son never sat on the throne. This is another reason that Joseph could not have been the actual father of Jesus, as Joseph was in that lineage according to Matthew 1.  So with that statement in mind, that came from God through Jeremiah, if Jesus was a blood relative of Joseph, He never could reign on the throne of David!

With that statement, God seemed to paint Himself into a corner as He had promised that the Messiah, who would rule and reign on the throne of David, would come from the tribe of Judah, and then God proceeded to curse the same bloodline.  Certainly Satan celebrated early on that day, just as he must have done on the day of the crucifixion, only to be once again, thwarted by God.  For we know that all things are possible with God, and once again, He proved it with His solution.  Interestingly, the Gospels all give different perspectives on the life of Jesus, and two of those Gospels give us different lineages.  Matthew, also known as Levi, accounted for the legal bloodline of our Lord through a Jewish perspective (Matthew 1). Jesus was to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and consequently, that bloodline was traced through Abraham, to Judah, to King David and all the way through Joseph. While Joseph’s blood may not have run through the veins of Jesus, he was legally the father. Yet as Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He did not inherit the blood curse! Then Luke traced a different lineage, for as a doctor, he took a more medical perspective of the blood being passed down. Luke began with Adam and also went through David, but instead of Solomon, traced the path through another of Bathsheba’s sons, Nathan, and continued to Heli, the father of Mary (Luke 3).  Amazingly, both of the parents of Jesus came through that same tribe of Judah, whichever way the ancestry was traced.

The Bible actually mentions two different fathers of Joseph. Matthew 1:16 says,

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

Luke 3:23 says,

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Joseph was the son of Heli.

Heli was actually the father of Mary, though, and this provision occurred due to an event that had happened many years before. When Moses was preparing to divide the Promised Land, an exception was created when the daughters of Zelophehad questioned Moses on their right of inheritance, while the land was being split between the 12 tribes.  Moses spoke with God concerning that appeal from Zelophehad’s daughters, and God made provision, when there was no son to receive the inheritance and when the surviving daughter(s) had married within the same tribe (Numbers 26-27).  Apparently, Heli (the father of Mary) had no sons, and under the same exception granted to the daughters of Zelophehad, received the inheritance of her father (as she married within the tribe of Judah).  In that case, the father without a son legally adopted his son-in-law   (We can see examples in Ezra 2:61, Nehemiah 7:63, etc.).  In this case, that exception occurred with Mary and Joseph. Because of the exception granted by God, Mary also did not inherit the blood curse.

This demonstrates to us the height, length, breadth and width of God’s love and how far He is willing to go to provide salvation for His children!  Yes, Yahweh will establish! That should give us enormous faith in every promise He has made to us, regardless of what appears to be occurring, for we know we are to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). It also reveals to us the depth of God’s Word and the importance of reading it for not only the milk and honey, but the meat! Praise Him for His provision of a Messiah, and praise Jesus for coming!

This provision reveals that nothing can change the plan or will of God.  Though Satan continues to do his best to win the battle, nothing can battle a God who is outside of time.  Because of His omniscience, God sees every attack before it is even conceived.  In this case, God made provision for the bloodline of Messiah to remain intact even before He placed the blood curse on Jehoachin (Jeconiah). In that plan, God sent the Messiah to save the Jews, and us!

F. Luke 1:5-25 (page 1302)

Luke 1:5 (page 1302)

When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron.

Zacharias (also called Zechariah in some Bible versions) means God remembers and Elizabeth means, His oath.  Put that together and their names together are, God remembers His oath. What was His oath? God swore to David that one of his descendants would reign eternally.

Luke 1:13 (page 1302)

But the angel said, "Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were praying for a son. How do we know? Because the angel said, God has heard your prayer. And we also know how God answered that prayer. Think of how long this couple had been praying for a son.  Just because God does not always respond immediately does not mean He is not listening. Answers to prayers are on God’s timetable.

Luke 1:18 (page 1302)

Zechariah said to the angel, How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.

God wants us to pray, believing that He is capable and willing to answer our prayers. Zacharias was praying for a son, and when the angel told him that his prayer was answered, Zacharias doubted God’s ability to perform that task.   Regardless of the ages of Zacharias and Elizabeth, God performed this miracle.  Why would Zacharias pray for a son if He didn’t think God could answer that prayer?  Maybe Zacharias had another solution in mind? Abraham and Sarah were in a similar position, and their solution, rather than trusting in God for a miracle, was for Abraham to sleep with Sarah’s maid, Hagar.   Hagar conceived Abraham’s son, Ishmael, but that was not the way God intended to answer that prayer.  Nor was it God’s way of answering the prayer of Elizabeth and Zacharias.

G. Luke 1:26-38 (page 1303)

Luke 1:26-27 (page 1303)

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.

Many Christians do not believe in the virgin birth.  Though God made all of the natural laws of the universe, He is also able to break those laws.  How else could people be brought back to life after dying, and we see eight of those events in the Bible?  Many claim that the term used for virgin also means young maiden but looking at the prophecy of this event in Isaiah helps us to understand that God’s promise was that a virgin would conceive. Isaiah offered for God to perform a miracle for the disbelieving King Ahaz. Ahaz stated that he would not test the Lord, and then in Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah said,

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

After offering an ostentatious miracle to prove the power of God, why would that miracle be something as commonplace as a young maiden conceiving?  That happened daily. Instead, a virgin conceiving would be miraculous indeed!

H. Luke 1:39-45 (page 1303)

Luke 1:41 (page 1303)

At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth  was filled with the Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even before His birth!  Before the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to people for a time and purpose.  But after the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to remain with believers, forever. When Jesus returned to heaven, He said in John 14:16:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another

Advocate,* who will never leave you.

That word for another is allos in Greek, which means another of the same sort. Another word that could have been used there was heteros, meaning another of a different sort.  The Holy Spirit is God, just as Jesus and the Father—the same sort. This New Testament provision is much different than that of the Old Testament. Remember David‘s prayer in Psalm 51:11?

Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit* from me.

That is not a prayer a New Testament Christian needs to pray, as the Holy Spirit remains with us!  Many believers yearn to be like the disciples, and would have loved to walk with Jesus.  But think about it, the disciples alive at that time spent part of each day for three years with Jesus. Instead, we have God with us every moment, living inside of us. What a gift that is!

Day 2:

A. Luke 1:46-56  (pages 1303-1304)

Luke 1:48 (page 1303)

For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.

Mary is certainly blessed.  God could have chosen any woman throughout all of time to bear His Son into the world, and this is the woman He chose.  But in no passages in the Bible has Mary ever been lifted to deity. Why pray to Mary, when God who hears our prayers is willing to listen, and willing to answer?  One Catholic woman gave the explanation that she prays to Mary because God is busy.  Her God is smaller than my God!

B.  Luke 1:57-66 (page 1304)

Luke 1:63 (page 1304)

He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, His name is John.

After not speaking for 9 months, it is wonderful that Zacharias’ speech began with praises for God. We often are ungrateful children, and pray for God to help us but fail to thank Him when He does.  Imagine how long Zacharias had waited for this miraculous son?

C. Luke 1:67-80 (pages 1304-1305)

Luke 1:76 (page 1305)

"And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord.

When a son is born, we can have many hopes and dreams of what that son will accomplish.  Sometimes, we can try to live vicariously through that son, hoping he will achieve all of the things we failed to achieve. This prophecy of Zacharias has none of that, and demonstrates the prophetic words of the Holy Spirit.  John the Baptist did not point to himself, but spent his life pointing the way to Jesus.  In Luke 7:28, Jesus said of him:

I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!"

D. Matthew 1:18-25 (page 1305)

Matthew 1:24-25 (page 1305)

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Not much space in the New Testament is devoted to Joseph. Though Joseph did not physically conceive Jesus, God chose Joseph for his role just as much as God chose Mary for her role. This verse gives us an inkling into Joseph’s character.  Joseph dreamed, and in that first dream, an angel spoke to him.  Joseph acted on that dream immediately after waking, and this became common- place for him.  God continued to give Joseph dreams, and if Joseph had not been a man of action, the lives of Joseph, Mary and Jesus would all have been in peril.

E. Luke 2:1-7 (page 1305)

Luke 2:4 (page 1305)

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.

This distance between Bethlehem and Nazareth was 70-80 miles, which might not seem like much today, when we can hop in a car and make that trip in an hour and a half.  But this was a very pregnant woman, probably on a donkey, and was quite an undertaking!

F. Luke 2:8-20 (page 1306)

Luke 2:8 (page 1306)

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.

The announcement that a Savior had been born was made to shepherds. This is highly important, as the birth of Jesus was not announced on CNN or announced to the rich and famous.  Instead, God chose the shepherds to hear that message first. And after He had grown up, Jesus said, I am the good Shepherd.  God spoke to the humble servants!

G. Luke 2:21-24 (page 1306)

Luke 2:21 (page 1306)

Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.

Eight is an interesting number. The number eight is very significant in the life of a baby, particularly in the Old Testament. That was the day that an infant boy was to be circumcised in the Hebrew custom (Genesis 17:12).  Circumcision was a symbolic event pointing to the cutting away of the flesh, as the greatest challenge to each child of God is to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Circumcision also demonstrated that the Jews were set apart by God. Certainly, when Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s court, he always could be identified as Jewish by anyone who saw him naked.  Customarily, eight seems to stand for new beginnings in the Bible.  In addition to the rite of circumcision occurring on that eighth day, children were dedicated to the Lord at that time, including the baby girls. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 2:21) and taken to the Temple in Jerusalem in dedication to the Lord.  John the Baptist also was circumcised on the eighth day (Luke 1:59).

Many of the Levitical rites dealing with impurity also occurred upon the eighth day, including a sacrifice of two turtledoves by women after their monthly cycle (Leviticus 15:29). Though Leviticus can be a very difficult book to understand, so many rites occur on that all-important eighth day that significance is obvious. Remember, God gave these Laws to the Jews as a tutor.  Covering sins and impurities with sacrifices took much time and energy. When Jesus died, and earned for us forgiveness of sins through His selfless act, His grace radiated throughout, especially with the re- minder that because sin must be covered by the spilling of innocent blood, He had taken away the difficult rituals.

One of the earliest references to the importance of new beginning occurs in Genesis. When God destroyed the earth with the Great Flood, He spared only eight people upon the ark. Those eight people gave a new beginning to the world we know today and our blood runs from the bloodlines of Noah’s family, just as it does from Adam and Eve:

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

2 Peter 2:4-5 (NKJV)

who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

1 Peter 3:20 (NKJV)

While it is simple to search for the number eight with Bible soft- ware, the most interesting aspects of that number in the Bible occur in regard to repetitive actions.  One of the most unusual of that variety is the fact that eight people miraculously were brought back to life in the Bible.  Of course, that number does not pertain to Jesus, for the eight resurrected people tasted of death twice in their lives.  Jesus only died once! Those eight resurrected people are the widow’s son by Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-25), the son of the Shunammite woman by Elisha (2 Kings 4:32-37), the man placed in the tomb of Elisha (2 Kings 13:20), The widow of Nain’s son by Jesus (Luke 7:11-18), the daughter of Jairus by Jesus (Luke 8:41-56), Lazarus by Jesus (John 11), Dorcas by Peter (Acts 9), and Eutychus by Paul (Acts 20). Talk about a new beginning! The words of Jesus to Lazarus should resonate with us all, Lazarus, come forth!  If Jesus had not used his friend’s name, it is easy to assume that all the dead would have emerged from their tombs by the power of Christ!  Someday, we should all hope to hear those same words when He calls us home!

Interestingly, there are eight miracles of Elijah mentioned in the Bible: the shutting up of the heavens, multiplying the widow’s meal, raising the widow’s son, causing rain to come down from heaven, causing fire to come down from heaven, causing fire to come down from heaven again and lastly, dividing the Jordan River.  When