Bible text:
John 1:1-5 MEV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were created through Him, and without Him nothing was created that was created. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
John 5:19 NKJV Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
John 8:26 NKJV
I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.”
Left off with
John 1:29-34 MEV
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water: so that He might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and have borne witness that He is the Son of God.”
Jesus Tempted
Matthew 4:1-11 MEV
1 Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. 2 And He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, and then He was hungry.
3 And the tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be turned into bread.” 4 But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him on the highest point of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning you,’ and ‘In their hands they shall lift you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is also written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur, 9 and said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. ” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get away from here, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’ ”
- Satan abuses scripture. You see here, the devil can also quote scripture. The devil knows that scripture quite well, but he usually quotes it inaccurately. The devil is referring here to a scripture in Psalm 91:11-12, but he does not quote the scripture accurately. He added three words, “at any time,” so that he made it read, “He shall give His angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash they foot against a stone.” “Lest at any time.” Those three words, “at any time,” are not in the original scripture. The scripture that said, “Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone,” The devil makes it, “Lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” What the devil is trying to say is that you can just do whatever you want to do; you don’t have to follow the precise plan of God. But Jesus then spoke to the devil, “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:7)1
11 Then the devil left Him, and immediately angels came and ministered to Him.
- Christ knew these angels, for He had created them. But notice they were not ministering to Him as God, but to Jesus the human being. When Jesus came to earth He voluntarily put limitations upon himself. And as long as He was in the flesh He was tempted the same way we are. He used the same Word of God, the same faith, the same grace of God, and relied upon the same angels to minister to Him. He didn’t use anything that is not available every moment to you and me today in our battle with the devil. We have the Word; we have faith, we have God’s grace; we have God’s angels present to minister FOR us (Hebrews 1:14). Whether you ever see one or not, angels are ministering FOR you constantly. You are on the winning side.2
Since Lucifer—satan, or the devil—was created by God with the WORD, he is subject to it. On the Mount of Temptation Jesus backed him down using the power of the written WORD of God that created him. In Matthew 4 Jesus passed the temptations Adam had failed by saying to satan, “It is written,” and spoke God’s WORD to counter each temptation (verses 4, 7, 10). The devil had, and still has, no defense against the power and authority of the written WORD of God. Notice, verse 11 says, “Then the devil left Him, and immediately angels came and ministered to Him.”
Jesus has given you His authority and the power of attorney to use His Name to bind the devil and his demons’ activity in the earth.3
Jesus’ Ministry Begins
Beyond the Jordan: Headed to Galilea
John 1:35-51 MEV
Again, the next day John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 Looking upon Jesus as He walked, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39 Jesus said to them, “Come and see.” So they came and saw where He stayed and remained with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ). 42 Then he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
43 The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip, and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, as well as the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him and said concerning him, “Here is an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Hereafter, etc. — The key to this great saying is Jacob‘s vision (Genesis 28:12-22), to which the allusion plainly is. To show the patriarch that though alone and friendless on earth his interests were busying all heaven, he was made to see “heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon a” mystic “ladder reaching from heaven to earth.” “By and by,” says Jesus here, “ye shall see this communication between heaven and earth thrown wide open, and the Son of man the real Ladder of this intercourse.”4
First Miracle
John 2:1-12 MEV
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there. 2 Both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” 4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
- These are the last recorded words of Mary, the mother of Jesus. She did not tell Him what to do. She just said, Whatever He say, you do it. Whatever He says. That is a powerful statement. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it. 5
6 Six water pots made of stone were sitting there, used for ceremonial cleansing by the Jews, containing twenty to thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 Then He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it.
9 When the master of the feast tasted the water that had been turned into wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who drew the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 and he said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and after men have drunk freely, then the poor wine is served. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
11 This, the first of His signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and He revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
12 After this He, and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples went down to Capernaum. They remained there a few days.
Read page 60, Oral Roberts “My Personal Commentary” KJV Bible
First Cleansing of the Temple
John 2:13-22 MEV
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers sitting there.
15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. He poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
18 Then the Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show us, seeing that You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking concerning the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them. And they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
Honor God…and He will honor you.
1 Samuel 2:30 MEV
“Therefore the LORD God of Israel says, ‘I surely said that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before Me forever,’ but now the LORD says, ‘Far be it from Me to do so, for those who honor Me, I will honor, and those that despise Me will be humbled.
- The New Testament Comes Alive, Oral Roberts, Volume 1, p. 26 ↩
- The Holy Bible with Personal Commentary by Oral Roberts, KJV ↩
- The Kenneth Copeland Word of Faith Study Bible, p. 1335. ↩
- Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, John 1:51 ↩
- The New Testament Comes Alive, Oral Roberts, Volume 1, p. 392 ↩