Notes
Notes
Chapter 4: The Everlasting Father
1. Henry F. Lyte, “Abide With Me,” verse 2.
Chapter 6: The Nazarene
1. Actually both Jonah and Nahum came from towns in Galilee, Jonah from Gath-hepher in Zebulun (2 Kings 14:25), and Nahum from Elkosh (Nahum 1:1), which has traditionally been placed in Galilee.
2. A different Hebrew word (tzehmah) is used for the “Branch” messianic prophecies in Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15; and Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12. D. A. Carson writes, “It is possible at the same time that there is a discreet allusion to the netser (branch) of Isaiah 11:1. . .” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, editor; vol. 8, p. 97). But Matthew wrote of fulfillment and that suggests specific prophecies.
3. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 27, p. 672.
Chapter 7: The Pioneer
1. When Jesus compared faith to a “grain of mustard seed,” the smallest seed people knew at that time (Matt. 17:20), he was speaking of the dynamic life within the seed and not the smallness of the seed. Living faith in a living God is a dynamic force that must grow and express itself. “Mustard Seed” faith is faith that is vital and dynamic.
Chapter 12: The Firstborn
1. This law explains Elisha’s request that Elijah give him a double portion of his spirit (2 Kings 2:1–15). He was asking to be treated like Elijah’s firstborn son, but he wanted a spiritual inheritance, not a material one.
2. Often God rearranged the birth order and chose the younger rather than the elder. Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son, but God chose Isaac; Esau was Isaac’s firstborn, but God gave the inheritance to Jacob. When Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons, he put Ephraim, the younger, ahead of Manasseh (Gen. 48).
The other two references are Hebrews 11:28 (the firstborn in Egypt) and Hebrews 12:23 (“the church of the firstborn”).
3. During his earthly ministry, Christ’s half-brothers did not believe in him (John 7:1–9; Ps. 69:8; Matt. 12:46–50); but after his resurrection, they did become believers and a part of the fellowship (Acts 1:14).
4. The Levites were dedicated to God in the place of the firstborn to serve him and assist the priests (Num. 3:11–13, 45).
5. “Those who have done good” and “those who have done evil” are phrases that describe the saved and the lost. Paul uses similar wording in Romans 2:5–11. There’s no suggestion here that sinners can be saved by their good works.
6. Predestination in Scripture describes God’s wise plan to accomplish certain things for his own people. They are predestined to be like Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29), which Ephesians 1:5 calls “the adoption” and Romans 8:18–23 says will occur when Jesus returns. We are also predestined to share God’s glorious inheritance (Eph. 1:5; 1 Peter 1:3–4).
Chapter 13: Immanuel
1. Some interpreters take this to mean “before he becomes a son of the Law at age twelve.”
2. The fact that Isaiah’s first two sons were “signs” to the nation may argue that the mother was the prophet’s wife (Isa. 7:3; 8:1–4). Some students see a parallel between Isa. 7:14–17 and 8:1–4. However, the birth in Isaiah’s day was not a virgin birth. The woman was a virgin when the prophecy was given, but the son was conceived in a natural way.