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welcome to Sunday school thank you for being here we’re back in the gospels as we continue our introduction to the New Testament today today’s lesson is entitled the life of Jesus before we get to that just a little review last week we looked more closely at the specific purposes and emphases of each gospel the four gospels so that Matthew Matthew shows that Jesus is King but not just that Jesus is King he’s the king who will bring the kingdom Mark shows that Jesus is the servant who must be followed these people must become like him rasaan Luke that Jesus is the son of man who came to save all men not just the Jews not just the religious but all men and then we saw in John that Jesus is the god who must be believed he must be truly believed I find it interesting and maybe you notice this too I find it interesting how well the gospels complement each other you have emphasis on two sides of an issue for example we have both Jesus as king and servant both God and man and that’s mentioned in all the gospels but it’s emphasized in different Gospels similarly and this goes back to some of the audiences that the background on audiences that I shared with you we have embassies on both Jew and Gentile written to both you and Gentile and also believer and unbeliever we see a symmetry there and there’s one new set of complementarity based on what I shared with you last week we have in Matthew an emphasis on the specialness of Israel with the Kingdom of Israel emphasized but Luke emphasizes the inclusion of the Gentiles so you see the two sides of that issue also in John we have a stress on belief well Mark stresses action you’ve got to follow and become like your savior like the Messiah now again each gospel includes those four different aspects of the gospel and of the life of Jesus but there are particular stresses in each gospel that complement each other when viewed as a whole now we’ve already come at the gospels from two introductory angles we’ve examined their similarities and differences and we’ve identified the unique audiences and purposes of the gospels but we’re going to take one more introductory angle today and that is we’re going to use a Harmony of the gospels to establish a general chronology of the life and Ministry of Jesus how well do you know the Life of Christ you may know he was born he died and he rose again but what about all the in between what was the sequence what happened when in Christ’s life I mentioned you before that though there are differences in the gospels they all follow a general chronology for Jesus life and when we compare the gospels and how they’re different and one information they include we can come up with a more precise order of events by establishing a more specific chronolog chronology of Jesus life we can better understand and appreciate the different events of Jesus life whenever we examine them in closer detail so that’s our goal for today we want to establish this outline of the Life of Christ here’s the outline that we’re going to be creating it’s consisting of nine points we’re gonna highlight these different points and populate them with some details but we can at the highest level Divine Jesus life into three segments is preparation for Ministry his actual Ministry and then the culmination of his ministry but within that within those three larger sections we can also highlight nine specific events or segments his birth is growing up is baptism and temptation is the different years of his ministry his three-year Ministry and then the culmination of that Ministry and the passion week is resurrection and Ascension so we’re going to look at each of those pieces like last week we won’t really be analyzing any text in depth today but we will note certain verses that play important roles in the chronology of Jesus life or an illustration of that chronology this chronology that I’m looking to establish with you today is based chiefly on the harmony that is presented by Dr Keith Essex and his new testament studies class at the master Seminary that’s right before we go on my God we thank you thank you for sending your son Jesus In the Flesh so that he lived on the end uh in from eternity help me to be able to explain this well and help those who are listening to people who understands that we can have a firmer grasp on what actually happened in the life of your son so Jesus we can appreciate we can appreciate your life and Ministry on our behalf I pray to you bless this time amen all right let’s begin our Outline by focusing on the three events that constitute Jesus preparation for Ministry and we start with Jesus birth this event naturally Begins the life of Jesus so that that’s what his life actually begins and the gospels record important information regarding the time before Jesus birth such as the genealogical information of Matthew 1 or Luke 3 and the explanation of the word that is another way to describe Jesus the Eternal words existence with God as explained in John 1. but Luke chapters one to two and Matthew 1 speak of the time immediately before and including the actual birth of Jesus via Mary when in history was Jesus birth now I have some dates listed on there but to answer that question and to explain the answer to that question we need to identify some historical details as given in the gospels so open your Bibles please and turn to Luke chapter 1.
turn to Luke and you may remember Luke gives us lots of historical information as his purpose was to make Theophilus confident in the exact truth regarding the events of Jesus life and the teaching of Jesus and in Luke chapter 1 verse 5 we get our first one of our first important details of the historical situation of the year before Jesus birth so right near Jesus birth Luke chapter 1 verse 5 we read this in the days of Herod King of Judea there was a priest named Zacharias the division of it was about the year in which Jesus was born now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth this was the first census taken while chlorinis was governor of Syria now note the specific details we see in this verse Caesar Augustus is the one rating coronis is governing Syria Augustus has just issued a census and this census is the first one taken during corinis governorship now those are very specific details and when we combine that with the detail we’re given in chapter one or if we connect that with what’s given in chapter one and if we can fill out historically when those other events took place when all those criteria were fulfilled we can know the exact date of Christ’s birth we can know which year it happened if we can identify when those other things took place we have discovered much of this information we do know when Caesar Augustus reigned or her when he gave different censuses from archaeological and historical study however the information that we have and understanding of that information is incomplete we have a number of pieces of the puzzle but we don’t have all the pieces because of the pieces we have we cannot fit them totally precisely perfectly together there’s a little bit of a little bit of uncertainty as to how what we see in the Bible can fit with what we know now or how it fits perfectly so for that reason we cannot be exactly precise of when Jesus was born and there are a couple different dates that are usually proposed they are the the major positions for understanding the year of Jesus birth there would be six BC five or four BC and then two or three BC so this is a major position six BC five or four BC or three BC two or three BC probably one of those dates now you might be asking wait a second those are all BC dates doesn’t BC mean before Christ how could Jesus be born before before Christ well that is the meaning of BC but our historical knowledge has gotten better since the BC and AD years were first calculated and popularized in the Middle Ages we’re now pretty sure that 1ad was not the date of Christ’s birth it actually was a couple years before in the BC what we call the BC era by the way what does a d mean in our dating system anno domini which translates to the year of Our Lord yeah it’s Latin so it’s not after death it’s anno domini the year of Our Lord note to that and this is just an aside there is no zero BC or zero a D in our system in our dating system we go straight from one BC to 1 a d now you may ask yourself why are we so insane as to do that well it actually is logical zero years before Christ if we did have a zero BC zero years before Christ would equal Christ’s arrival which would actually be 1 A.D that’s the first year of Our Lord so logically there can’t be a year zero you just go from one year before Christ to the year where actually Christ is here and that’s 1 A.D or at least that was the original logic so for right now we’re going to take we’re just going to put a range for Christ’s birth 6 to 4 BC the two or three BC date has a little bit more problems than the six or four BC date each one has some issues which we’ll discuss in the later lesson but probably six to four BC is our best bet for when Christ was born so this is the first event in our timeline and our chronology for the life of Jesus Jesus is born and we can put the date of six to four BC now after the birth narrative Matthew gives us some additional information about Jesus as he starts to grow up there’s a visit from his just an infant when he as he’s growing up one or two years old eventually though Jesus Joseph and Mary returned to Israel and they live in Nazareth and Galilee and where Jesus grows up and next time we see Jesus he’s almost a man or at least a man in the eyes of the Jews he’s almost 13. look now to Luke Chapter 2 verses 41 to 43.
so just a little bit further down in this chapter Luke Chapter 2 verses 41 to 43. so next time we hear about something in Jesus life as he’s growing up so verse 41 now as parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover and when he became 12 they went up there according to the custom of the feast and as they were returning after spending the full number of days the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but his parents were unaware of it and you remember what happens after this there’s a prolonging search for Jesus it ends with finding Jesus in the temple and then Jesus profound statement in verse 49 of chapter 2. so verse 49 Jesus says in response to his parents why is it that you were looking for me did you not know that I had to be in my father’s house or what could be translated in the things of my father so before his bar mitzvah Jesus is already showing his awareness and Conformity to the or to the Salvation plan of the father the only other statement we get on Jesus childhood is at the end of this chapter verses 51 to 52. so Luke Chapter 2 verses 51 to 52 it says and he went down and he went down with them that is his parents and came to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them and his mother treasured all these things in her heart and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man and that’s basically all we get from the Bible about Jesus’s years of growing up we may want to know more of what it was like when Jesus was a child or when Jesus started his carpentry work but God’s spirit did not consider that a knowledge important for us to have apocryphal writing is notwithstanding there is a there’s a false work out there that purports to give more of Jesus childhood so this is our second point in our timeline of Jesus life the life of Jesus Jesus grows up that compasses a couple decades so we have Christ’s birth poor 6 BC then Jesus grows up many years go by um wilderness Ministry of John the Baptist you know as we transition to John and John’s baptizing and teaching in the wilderness Luke again in his gospel is very helpful in giving us some specific historical markers now look at Luke chapter 3 verses one to two Luke 3 verses 1 to 2 and now we hear this now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was tetrack of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of iteria and trachonitis and lysineas was tetrarch of Abilene in the high priesthood of anus and Caiaphas the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness wow talk about specificity look at all those those specific historical details Luke knows how to confirm an account we’ve got six details here that help us date the Wilderness Ministry of John so when we connect those with our research from from outside the Bible we can get closer to assigning a date to to this moment soon after John’s Wilderness Ministry begins Jesus himself appears and is baptized they’re not very much separated in the narrative he just look down at Luke chapter 3 verses 21 to 22 we see Jesus appear again Luke 20 Luke chapter 3 verses 21 to 22.
now when all the people were baptized Jesus was also baptized while he was praying heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came out of Heaven you are my beloved Son and you I am well pleased so John appears and Jesus appears and is baptized but he doesn’t begin his ministry right away this is still part of his preparation because after his baptism where does Jesus go Into the Wilderness himself to be tempted and now Luke records this event in chapter 4 of his gospel how long does Jesus period in the wilderness and his period of Temptation last 40 days that’s right we see that in Luke chapter four in the beginning verses he’s in the wilderness for 40 days and it’s after Jesus comes back from the Wilderness that he begins his ministry now who now how old is Jesus when he returns Luke actually gives us this information before he describes Jesus return from the Wilderness back in chapter three chapter three verses 23 a the first part of verse 23 . Luke tells us when he as Jesus began his ministry Jesus was Jesus himself was about 30 years of age another important detail there but a little more a little more a little less specific doesn’t mean that Jesus was 30 years exactly in Chapter 2 Luke told us that Jesus was 12 years old when he was found in the temple not about 12 but he was 12. but here Luke says Jesus was about 30. which conceivably could include or could mean an age between 26 and 34. 25 to 80 26.
now some people would go a little bit further all the way to maybe 80 29 or 80 30.
that kind of depends on uh a lot of these chronological or a lot of the specific dates depend on when you put the birth and when you put the crucifixion but for now we’re going to say 80 25 to 80 26 is when Jesus begins his ministry and he would be about 30 years old if he was born in six or four BC so we have our third point on Jesus timeline Jesus is baptized and tempted and this happens in the same year that our fourth Point begins on the timeline that Jesus actually begins his three-year Ministry so let’s now move over to the three-year Ministry of Jesus there there are some different there are different views on just how long Jesus ministry was not everyone would say it was three years some would say two or some would some would uh I think someone would even say four but the majority of you is three doctor X6 Dr Essex specifically notes how if you examine the gospels there are four distinct passovers that Jesus has recorded as participating in and that suggests three years just overlapping a little bit more than three years so three and a half years maybe so Jesus has his formal Ministry for three years three and a half years but that also can be divided into three parts roughly corresponding to about a year each in which a particular quality characterizes Jesus’s Ministry and we’ll examine each one of those parts each one will be a point on our timeline so Point number four is the year of obscurity the first part of Jesus through your ministry is characterized as a year or can be characterized as a year of obscurity in this beginning point of Jesus ministry is only beginning his ministry and is not yet the receiver of wide Acclaim or opposition this part of Jesus ministry and I’ve I’ve included a number of details there you can see on this slide and in the preceding slides that kind of fill out some of the things that I’m saying more specifically just to summarize a little bit this first year this first part of Jesus ministry includes things like Jesus turning the water into wine at Canaan and Galilee Jesus first visit to Jerusalem at the Passover and is cleansing the temple for the first time Christ teaches Nicodemus Christ ministers to the Samaritan woman Jesus heals an official son he calls Peter James and John Peter James John and Andrew as full-time disciples so they actually were with him or yeah they he he calls them first and then um he more formally calls the disciples again later a larger group of disciples and Jesus does Miracles at Capernaum so just to give you a little illustration a little flavor of this let’s look at a few verses that correspond to this year of Jesus ministry look at John chapter 3.
John 3 Verses 22 to 24.
so John 3 verses 22-24 here Jesus begins his first Judean Ministry as first time in Judea this is what it says John 3 verse 22.
after these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea and there he was spending time with them and baptizing John also was baptizing so that’s John the Baptist in Anon near Celine because there is much water there and people were coming and we’re being baptized for John had not yet been thrown into prison this is an early part of Jesus ministry look over back to Matthew Matthew chapter 4.
Matthew 4 verses 12 and 13.
Matthew 4 we read Matthew 4 verse 12.
now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody he withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth they came and settled in Capernaum which is by the sea in the region of Zebulon and naphthali so in this first year we have John partly ministering at the same time as Jesus but then John being put into prison look down to verse 17 of Matthew 4.
Matthew 4 17 from that time Jesus began to preach and say repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand so Jesus is ministering but he hasn’t he hasn’t yet become widely known or super popular now look over just to Mark chapter 1 for a moment mark one verse 38 to 39.
Mark 1 verse 38 two verses here and he said to them right or yeah he said to them let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby oh I should get some context this is right after Jesus had a great day of doing Miracles and casting out demons and Capernaum he praised during the night and then the next day he says let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby so that I may preach there also for that is what I came for and he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee preaching and casting out the demons so this is our fourth piece of our life of Jesus timeline the year of obscurity but Jesus is not going to remain Jesus does not remain obscure for long you can’t demonstrate that kind of authoritative power that authoritative teaching and stay obscure so we come to the second part of Jesus three and a half year Ministry three-year Ministry and that is the year of public favor during this year Jesus becomes well known and well loved by the People by the people of Israel and Galilee in general who increasingly see him as their political medical and economic savior the crowds start following Jesus everywhere and though Jesus is mostly well liked during this year opposition builds against Jesus during this year starting out with questions and ending with more sister accusations of Jesus against Jesus even that he is demon-possessed and he works with the power of demons in the face of such opposition towards the end of this year Jesus transitions to teaching in parables now let’s look at a few verses to illustrate this year pick up Mark chapter 3 verses 7 to 10.
Mark 3 we read Mark 3 verse 7.
Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples and a great multitude From Galilee follow and also from Judea and from Jerusalem and from idumia and Beyond the Jordan and the vicinity of tire and sidon a great number of people heard of all that he was doing and came to him and he told his disciples that a boat should stand ready for him because of the crowd so that they would not crowd him for he had healed many with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around him in order to touch him so you can understand this obvious public favor this is a great amount of people following Jesus and we see this in some other verses too turn back to Matthew Matthew chapter 9 Matthew 9 verses 2 to 8.
here we see some beginning opposition to Jesus but also the favor of the crowds that he enjoyed Matthew 9 verses 2 to 8.
and they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic take courage son your sins are forgiven this opposition would increase though look back or look at Matthew chapter 12.
Matthew 12 verses 22-24 Matthew 12 22 this is more towards the end of this year public favor verse 22 then the demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and he healed him so that the mute man spoke and saw all the crowds were amazed and were saying this man cannot be the son of David can he but when the Pharisees heard this they said this man casts out demons only by BL zebel the ruler of the Demons it’s not just the leaders who turn against Jesus even the cry after six John chapter 6. verses 66 to 69.
John 6.
now this is right after Jesus has multiplied food for 5 000 plus people multiplied bread but Jesus connected that event with teaching about himself he proclaimed I am the bread of life don’t work for their bread that perishes you need to take me in you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood in other words you need to believe in me wholeheartedly if you want to be saved verse 66.
as a result of this many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore so Jesus said to the twelve you do not want to go away also do you Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go you have words of eternal life we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God so Jesus starts out this year becoming more and more popular and becomes immensely popular but by the end many followers have become disillusioned with him and the Jewish leaders had become bold in their opposition to Jesus so this is the fifth point of our timeline for Jesus A year of public favor and this transitions us into what is not surprising the last part of Jesus ministry the last year or so of Jesus ministry the year of opposition during this part of Christ’s Ministry Jesus sees more and more belligerence from the Pharisees and scribes but he uses the time to expose the Pharisees publicly rebuke them and to teach his core disciples who confessed that Jesus is really the Messiah Jesus ministers one last time in Judea and Korea and even does one of his most amazing Miracles raises Lazarus from the dead at the finish of this year Jesus proceeds on this final journey to Jerusalem let’s look at a few more verses look over to Mark chapter 7.
yeah mark seven versus five to eight so here we see a confrontation with Jesus and the religious leaders Mark 7 verse 5.
and following the Pharisees and the scribes asked him why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat their bread with impure hands and he said to them rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far far away from me but in vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men neglecting the Commandment of God you hold to the tradition of men so you can see Jesus exposing the Pharisees and religious leaders here didn’t sit well with them look back over to John chapter 7.
John 7 verse 1.
just one verse to read here I think it’s quite Illustrated usually means the religious leaders of the Jews scribes and Pharisees they not only oppose Jesus but now they’re trying to kill Jesus more and more they’re trying to kill Jesus but Jesus is concerned with not only exposing the hard-heartedness of Israel but also of training his disciples look over to Matthew 18.
Matthew 18 and following is a lot of teaching specifically for the disciples now that it becomes clear that Jesus is not going to accept them or the Israel is not going to accept their Messiah look at Matthew 18 verses 1 to 6.
Matthew 18 verse 1 to 6.
Jesus is teaching his disciples here and he says or actually I’ll start with the narrative at that time the disciples came to Jesus and said who then is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven he called a child to himself and sent him before them and said truly I say to you unless you are converted and become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven whoever then humbles himself as this child he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven who never receives one such child in my name receives me but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him to have a heavy Millstone hung around his neck to be drowned in the depth of the sea one more verse to look at here look at Luke 18.
one more set of verses this is also characteristic of the last year Jesus’s Ministry he warns his disciples repeatedly at what’s about to happen in Jerusalem and we see one of these in Luke 18 verses 31 to 33.
Luke 18 verse 31.
then he took the 12 aside and said to them behold we are going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through their prophets about the son of man will be accomplished he will be handed over to the Gentiles will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon and after they have scourged him they will kill him and the third day he will rock on our life of Jesus the year of opposition so he had his birth he had his growing up we had his baptism and temptation and then we had the three years of his ministry the three phases of his ministry the year of security the year of public favor now the year of opposition as we move to our seventh item we transition to the ministry culmination of Jesus or the the culmination of Jesus ministry the seventh item on our list is Jesus passion week which culminates with Jesus’s crucifixion foreign this week concludes Jesus final arrival in Jerusalem his betrayal and then as I said his crucifixion now the now there are some again some historical details given in the gospels that play into dating this part of Jesus ministry or Galilee we see them both featured in the trials that took place before Jesus crucifixion so combining this with what we said earlier about Jesus beginning his ministry at a certain time and his ministry lasting a certain number of years we can assert a date range of about 28 to 29 A.D again some people would go a little bit further in time even 30 A.D or even as far as 33 A.D but for now we’re going to say 28 to 29 A.D now this part of Jesus’s Ministry is very much detailed in each of the gospels it’s a strong focus on Jesus passion week the week of his crucifixion in the gospels and that’s great because that means we can really specifically identify which events happen on which day it can be pretty specific about that the only issue with this potential issue with this is Wednesday the gospels extensively describe the actions of Jesus on all the days of the the passion week except Wednesday why does it seem like nothing happens on Wednesday or very little happens well one answer it has been proposed is that Jesus actually entered into Jerusalem not on Sunday but on Monday and therefore there is one less day to account for in Jesus’s Ministry in Jerusalem the reason that very little seems to happen on Wednesday is because we actually started on Monday and not on Sunday that’s one explanation John 12 1 does say that Jesus I’ll read the verse John 12 1. Jesus therefore six days before the Passover came to Bethany where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised from the dead so it says six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany and Bethany is the time he’s really close to Jerusalem so if we don’t count Friday six days before and Friday would be the day the official day of Passover six days before is Saturday which means that he would come into Jerusalem on Sunday but if you do count Friday then six days before is Sunday he would arrived in Bethany on Sunday and enter Jerusalem on Monday so there is that view the majority of you though and the traditional view is that Jesus entered Jerusalem on Sunday so accepting a Sunday arrival in Jerusalem the passion week breaks down as I’ve detailed for you on the screen so Sunday Jesus has his triumphal entry and he inspects the temple and this should be familiar to you I think because of the pastor’s recent Series in Mark which is focused on the passion week so Sunday he has his entry and he inspects the temple Monday he curses the Fig Tree he cleanses the temple and it meets with certain Greeks who are wondering about him certain Greek speak preparation on Thursday the disciples prepare the Passover and the disciples in Jesus eat the Passover meal in the Last Supper which gets transformed into the Lord’s supper and then the disciples go with Jesus and the the waning part of the day into the night to the Garden of Gethsemane item on our chronology of Life the passion week of Jesus culminating in the crucifixion probably in the Years 28 to 29 A.D the eighth item on our list though as you know is the Resurrection on the first day of the next week which is our Sunday Jesus rose again look over to Luke chapter 21 or Luke 24 verses 1 to 7.
foreign see this described explicitly Luke 24 but on the first day of the week at early Dawn they came to the tomb bringing the spices that’s the women which they had prepared and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus well they were perplexed about this behold two men suddenly stood near them and dazzling clothed half days moreover Jesus Promised specifically in Matthew 12 40 Matthew 12 40 for justice Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth how was Jesus there three full days and three full nights if he went into the grave on Friday and Rose on Sunday in reply some Christians have sought to retool the chronology of the passion week to give the the three full days and three full nights but such jury rigging is not necessary simple answer here is that the Jews sometimes regarded part of a day as counting as a full day if you did something for part of the day it counted as if you did it for that day even that phrase three days and three nights need not refer to complete 24-hour Cycles that phrase can be fulfilled by simply doing something for part of a day for three days and that’s exactly what happened by going into the tomb on Friday which was part of a day remaining there on Saturday and rising from it on Sunday which was part of a day Jesus Faithfully fulfilled his promise to rise again three days later even even using the phrase three days and three nights it just indicates three partial days at least three partial days so Jesus was faithful to his promise but but Jesus didn’t rise from the tomb and then disappear he made himself known and a number of appearances to his disciples and you can see many of those listed on the screen the Apostle Paul actually summarizes many of many of these appearances in First Corinthians so actually let’s exit the gospels for just a second go to First Corinthians chapter 14 15.
First Corinthians 15 verses 3 to 8.
so end of first Corinthians chapter 15.
verse 3.
Paul’s teaching on the resurrection here summarizing what is given in the Gospels verse 3. for I deliver to you as a first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised in the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to cephas as Peter then to the twelve after that he appeared to more than 500 Brethren at one time most of whom remain until now but some have fallen asleep then he appeared to James and to all the apostles and last of all it’s the one untimely born he appeared to me also of course his appearance to Paul is not recorded in the gospels as recorded in the book of Acts we do see many of these appearances specifically outlined in the Gospels and how many days did Jesus remain on the earth after his resurrection 40 days 40 days again and we get this from the book of Acts Acts chapter 1 verse 3 acts 1 3 to these that is the apostles he also presents himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God so in this eighth part of our timeline for Jesus we talk about his resurrection but we include in that his appearances to his disciples he says surprises from the dead and presents himself to the decision finally though Jesus brought the disciples to the Mount of Olives and gave a last commission to preach the gospel make new disciples and to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit Luke records this event in chapter 24 so turn back over to Luke Luke 24 verses 50 to 53 . it’s interesting that not every gospel records the Ascension but Luke does and Matthew nearly does he he brings you rights to the Mount of Olives but doesn’t have Jesus actually Ascend but Luke does Luke chapter 24 verses 50 to 53 And he as Jesus led them as the disciples his followers let them out as far as Bethany and he lifts it up his hands and blessed them while he was blessing them he parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they after worshiping him returned to Jerusalem with great joy and we’re continually in the temple praising God so this is the last the ninth and last item on our life of Christ taking place in the same years Jesus crucifixion it’s only 40 Days Later Ascension so there’s our nine different segments of the Life of Christ did you follow all that let’s review the sequence so again we could broadly divide Jesus’s life up into three main sections it’s preparation for Ministry is three year or three and a half year Ministry and then his ministry culmination and we can break that down more specifically and assign a few dates first Jesus is born around six to four BC it grows up he’s been so