Contemplating the Life of Jesus

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18.

"It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ." The Desire of Ages, p. 83.

You may have at one time seen in an old academy Bible textbook a summary of Jesus' character traits based on statements from The Desire of Ages. What a blessing that has been to me over the years! I'm now providing a link to that file so we can all think on these things:

The Character of Christ

Prophetic Time Periods of Revelation 9

The fifth trumpet actually has two different 150-year time prophecies.

The first one is mentioned in Revelation 9:5 and extends from when Mohammed announced his prophetic mission in Arabia until the Islamic headquarters were moved to Baghdad, outside Roman territory, bringing a reprieve to the Christian empire.

The second 150-year period is mentioned in Revelation 9:10 and goes from when Osman I (or Othman I) first invaded the territory of Nicomedia until the year in which the Byzantine emperor could rule only by permission of the Turkish sultan.

The sixth trumpet extended from that point in time until the Sultan finally acknowledged his dependence upon the European powers, 391 years later.

Why Jesus Came to Earth

"He shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29

"He was manifested to take away our sins." 1 John 3:5

"Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:14

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Peter 2:24

"Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Acts 3:26

"He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." 2 Corinthians 5:15

"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3

"That we might be partakers of his holiness." Hebrews 12:10

"The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God." Ed 125

"The very essence of the gospel is restoration." GW 213

"Those who believe in Jesus Christ are changed from being rebels against the law of God into obedient servants and subjects of His kingdom." FE 332

"God has expended amazing sacrifices upon men, and mighty energies for the reclaiming of man from transgression and sin to loyalty and obedience." YSRP 168

"Christ came to mediate between God and man, to make man one with God by bringing him into allegiance to His law." 1SM 229

"Christ came in human form to show . . . that ample provision has been made to enable human beings to live in loyalty to their Creator." Signs of the Times, August 2, 1905

"God has made provision through the death of His beloved Son, that every soul may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work." YSRP 152

"God loved the world so dearly that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would accept Him might have power to live His righteous life." 1SM 223

"Through the plan of salvation, Jesus is breaking Satan's hold upon the human family and rescuing souls from his power." PK 586

"The work of Christ was to take from the claims of Satan his control of man." MS 1, 1892

"Christ desires nothing so much as to redeem His heritage from the dominion of Satan." COL 174

"The Redeemer of the world came from heaven to help man in his weakness, that, in the power which Jesus came to bring him, he might become strong to overcome appetite and passion, and might be victor on every point." 3T 488

"Jesus came to bring moral power to combine with human effort." 1SM 262

"Jesus in the synagogue spoke of the kingdom He had come to establish, and of His mission to set free the captives of Satan." DA 255

"To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized - this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life." Ed 15, 16

"The burden of disease and wretchedness and sin He came to remove. It was His mission to bring to men complete restoration; He came to give them health and peace and perfection of character." MH 17

"'Be ye therefore perfect' (Matt. 5:48) is God's word to us. And in order that we might obey this word, He sent His only-begotten Son to this earth." IHP 166

"Christ came to make us 'partakers of the divine nature,' and His life declares that humanity, combined with divinity, does not commit sin." MH 180

"Jesus came to our world to bring divine power to man, that through His grace we might be transformed into His likeness." TMK 229

"Christ gave His own life that men and women might be lifted above the cheap, common, perishable things of this world, to the life which measures with the life of God." RH 11-6-1900

"He came to our world to give us an example of how we should work, and what spirit we should bring into our labor." COL 331

"It was in our behalf that Christ came to this world to make known the will of His Father, and to show human beings what they must become before they can stand before God in the heavenly courts." UL 341

How to Give Bible Readings

I was delighted to discover that this book is now available as a free PDF download. Prepared by the General Conference as a textbook for personal evangelism classes, it served for many years as the standard training manual for Bible work.

View and Download

Revelation Chiasm

The book of Revelation is introduced in its first verse as "the revelation of Jesus Christ." It tells the behind-the-scenes story of Jesus' heavenly ministry throughout Christian history. In the context of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, His work involves redemptive, judicial, and confrontational aspects. The book of Revelation covers each aspect and in fact is structured according to these three facets of Jesus' work. Here is Revelation's seven-part structure, outlining the three features of Jesus' heavenly ministry:

1. Redemptive (3 chapters)
    2. Judicial (4 chapters)
        3. Confrontational (4 chapters)
            4. Synopsis (1 chapter)
        5. Confrontational (4 chapters)
    6. Judicial (2 1/2 chapters)
7. Redemptive (3 1/2 chapters)

Notice the mirror relationship of the two halves of the book. This thematic structure is called a chiasm. Here's how the 22 chapters of Revelation are laid out. For more detail, see patmospapers.com.

Diagrams of Salvation

The Seven Miracles in the Gospel of John

A decade ago, when I was working on the chiasm in Revelation, someone suggested to me that there might be a chiasm in the gospel of John. After a little investigation I found one, and as in the book of Revelation, it has helped me see some thematic emphasis in the book.

I found that John records only seven of Jesus' miracles. Since Revelation is full of sevens, and Revelation's chiasm has seven sections, it makes sense that John structured his gospel around the seven miracles of Jesus that he records.

Six of the seven miracles are recorded exclusively by John. The other three gospel writers don't mention them. But the central miracle in John's gospel, the feeding of the five thousand, is the only miracle recorded by all four gospel writers.

John tells us two reasons for his gospel in John 20:30, 31.

Here's a brief look at these seven miracles, and their chiastic relationships:

The lessons that Jesus gives in the narrative that follows each miracle, provides the thematic structure of the book.