Ray Vander Laan - In the Dust of the Rabbi Discovery Guide: Learning to Live as Jesus Lived

That the World May Know with Ray Vander Laan

Volume 1: Promised Land

Volume 2: Prophets and Kings

Volume 3: Life and Ministry of the Messiah

Volume 4: Death and Resurrection of the Messiah

Volume 5: Early Church

Volume 6: In the Dust of the Rabbi

Volume 7: Walk as Jesus Walked

Volume 8: God Heard Their Cry

Volume 9: Fire on the Mountain

Volume 10: With All Your Heart

Volume 11: The Path to the Cross

Volume 12: Walking with God in the Desert

Volume 13: Israels Mission

ZONDERVAN

In the Dust of the Rabbi Discovery Guide

Copyright 2006 by Ray Vander Laan

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That the World May Know is a trademark of Focus on the Family.

ePub Edition August 2015: ISBN 978-0-310-87967-1

All maps created by International Mapping.

All artwork is courtesy of Ray Vander Laan unless otherwise indicated.

All Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission.

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Cover design: DoMoreGood

Cover photography: BiblePlaces.com

Interior design: Ben Fetterley, Denise Froehlich

CONTENTS

Ebook Instructions

In this ebook edition, please use your devices note-taking function to record your thoughts wherever you see the bracketed instructions [Your Notes] or [Your Response]. Use your devices highlighting function to record your response whenever you are asked to check-mark, circle, underline, or otherwise indicate your answer(s).

Because God speaks to us through the Scriptures, studying them is a rewarding experience. The inspired human authors of the Bible, as well as those to whom the words were originally given, were primarily Jews living in the ancient Near East. Gods words and actions spoke to them with such power, clarity, and purpose that they wrote them down and carefully preserved them as an authoritative body of literature.

Gods use of human servants in revealing himself resulted in writings that clearly bear the stamp of time and place. The message of the Scriptures is, of course, eternal and unchanging but the circumstances and conditions of the people of the Bible are unique to their times. Consequently, we most clearly understand Gods truth when we know the cultural context within which he spoke and acted, and the perception of the people with whom he communicated. This does not mean that Gods revelation is unclear if we dont know the cultural context. Rather, by learning how to think and approach life as the people of the Bible did, modern Christians will deepen their appreciation of Gods Word. To fully apply the message of the Bible, we must enter their world and familiarize ourselves with their culture.

That is the purpose of this study. The events and people of the Bible are presented in their original settings. Although the DVD segments offer the latest archaeological research, this series is not intended to be a definitive historical, cultural, or geographical study of the lands and times of the Bible. No original scientific discoveries are revealed here. My goal is simply to help us better understand Gods revealed mission for our lives by enabling us to hear and see his words in their original context.

Go! And Make Disciples

The mission of Gods people has always been to live so that the world would know that their God was the true God. This was true when the Hebrews left Egypt and possessed the Promised Land. This was true during the years of the exile in Babylon. It was true during the time Jesus lived on earth after the Jews had returned to Israel. And it was true for the disciples of Jesus who followed him as their Rabbi and, after his death and resurrection, obeyed his command to go out into the world and make disciples.

When Jesus came to earth to bring the good news of the kingdom of God and to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice to redeem the whole human race, he also chose disciples who would continue proclaiming his message and making disciples long after he returned to heaven. Jesus selected his disciples from a unique people in a unique place a four-by-six-mile area on the northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Jews living in this part of Israel were the most obedient, faithful followers of God to be found. These people knew the Scriptures, they knew how to apply the teaching of Scripture, and they were committed to obeying God in everything every day of their lives. From among them, Jesus chose a handful to carry the news of his kingdom to the world.

To some, Jesus disciples would seem like an unlikely group. To their world, they werent the brightest and the best Bible scholars; most of them were fishermen. They didnt know their way around the huge, sophisticated cities of the Roman Empire; they came from small, rural villages. But they had just what Jesus needed the commitment, the passion, the desire to be his talmidim. For three and a half years, the disciples walked with Jesus. They followed him everywhere. They did everything they could to learn to be like Jesus to know and interpret the Scriptures as he did, to pray as he did, to obey Gods laws as he did, to love as he did, to proclaim the news of Gods kingdom as he did, and to make disciples as he did.

Before he ascended to heaven, Jesus commanded them to go out into the world and make disciples. And they did. One of the places they went was Asia Minor the most sophisticated, prosperous, immoral, perverted, educated, and religious (but pagan) region in the whole Roman Empire! And when the disciples lived out the message of the kingdom of God and made disciples in Asia Minor, it impacted that region like an earthquake. In little more than a century, that region had become predominantly Christian.

In this study, we will investigate the world they went into and how the disciples made such a great impact. This is important to us because our world is much like the world of Asia Minor. If we expect to make the impact the disciples did, then we must learn to be like them that is, like Jesus. The life of faith is not a vague, otherworldly experience. Rather, it is being faithful to God right now, in the place and time in which he has put us. God wants his people in the game, not on the bench. Our mission as Christians today is the same one God gave to the Israelites when they possessed the Promised Land, the same one Jesus gave to his disciples. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might, and to love our neighbors as ourselves so that through us the world may know that our God is the one true God.

The Assumptions of Biblical Writers

Biblical writers assumed that their readers were familiar with Near Eastern geography, history, and culture. They used a language, which like all languages, is bound by culture and time. Therefore, understanding the Scriptures involves more than knowing what the words mean. We need to understand those words from the perspective of the people who used them.