Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ray Vander Laan is the founder of That the World May Know Ministries and creator of the Faith Lessons video series with Focus on the Family. An ordained minister, he holds the chair of biblical cultural studies as a religion instructor at Holland Christian Schools in Holland, Michigan. He and his wife, Esther, have four children and fifteen grandchildren.

Stephen and Amanda Sorenson are founders of Sorenson Communications and have co-written many small group curriculum guidebooks, including the entire Faith Lessons series.

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The Path to the Cross Discovery Guide

Zondervan

Contents

Introduction.................................................7Session 1 The Way of the Essenes.............................15Session 2 The Way of John the Baptist........................73Session 3 Into the Desert to BeTested........................129Session 4 The Last Passover..................................171Session 5 The Fifth Cup: Our Way of Hope.....................225Notes........................................................271Acknowledgments..............................................277Bibliography.................................................281

Chapter One

THE WAY OF THE ESSENES

About 150 years before the birth of Jesus the Messiah, some of God's people-the Essenes-established a community in the Judea Wilderness near the northern end of the Dead Sea. We know it as Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Not all scholars agree that Essenes lived at Qumran, wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, or were the people the scrolls portray, so study and debate about the nature of the community continue. However, given the lack of other significant theories about Qumran, the scrolls, and the Essenes, we will take the position of mainstream Bible scholars that the Qumran ruins are those of the Dead Sea Scroll community that was part of a religious movement that included the Essenes.

In any case, our primary focus is not on the relationship between the people who lived in this community and the Dead Sea Scrolls. We will focus on why this group of God's people went into the desert to live as they did. We want to know the role they played in God's great story of redemption.

Part of the answer is revealed in the Hebrew Bible where the prophets proclaimed God's command for his people to "prepare the way" for his coming. Malachi wrote that God would come after he sent his messenger to prepare his way (Malachi 3:1). The words of Isaiah add further insight: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3).

The Essenes were passionately committed to learning and obeying every word that came from the mouth of God. They knew that God wanted to dwell among them and believed with all their heart, soul, and strength that if they prepared the way he would come. So they eagerly anticipated the coming of the Messiah and went into the desert to "prepare the way" for him.

But anyone who has hiked the rugged mountains of the Judea Wilderness will likely ask, "Why did the way for God have to be pre pared in the desert, especially this one?" Throughout history this wilderness has remained virtually uninhabited. Its rough, steep terrain and lack of water make it unsuitable for good travel routes. Its summer heat frequently exceeds 120 degrees Fahrenheit, hot winds often dry out any remaining moisture, and chilling temperatures set in soon after sunset.

Wouldn't it have been easier for God's way to be prepared in the fertile countryside near the Sea of Galilee or the well-watered hillsides near Jerusalem? Why did God choose the desert as the place for his people to prepare for his glory to be revealed? Why did he choose a place where simply surviving is so hard?

Again, part of the answer can be found in the Hebrew Bible. In the exodus story, God worked through his prophet Moses to miraculously bring the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, deliver them from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea, and lead them into the "vast and dreadful desert" (Deuteronomy 8:15) where he met with them and lived among them for forty years. In the desert, they learned to depend on God and live by his every word. Isolated from the influence of Egyptian and Canaanite cultures, the Israelites became a unified people whom God molded and shaped to be a kingdom of priests who would display his character to the world.

In a sense, the desert is the perfect place for God's people (including us today) to learn to be his people. In the desert, the diversions of a comfortable lifestyle fade into silence, and God's powerful whisper can be heard. In the desert, we can survive-and even thrive-but only by God's faithful provision. In the desert, we learn that it is better to be in the arms of God during tough circumstances than to rest in paradise and forget about him. In the desert, the influence of gods of our own making lose their power, and we are drawn into intimate relationship with the one true God.

So we should not be surprised to find the Essenes in the desert. There, for weeks, months, years-and sometimes a lifetime-they exchanged lives of relative comfort for desert hardships in order to live out their passionate commitment to obey every word that came from the mouth of God. There, they created a community isolated from the self-focused, pleasure-seeking Hellenistic society and what had become a corrupt priesthood in Jerusalem. In the desert they dedicated themselves to preparing the way for God.

And out of that same barren desert, the Bible character we know as John the Baptist took up the cry. With the fiery passion of Elijah, he called on sinners to repent and prepare the way for the Lord. And just as the prophets had said, God came as Jesus the Messiah to continue the next chapter in God's great redemptive story.

Opening Thoughts (3 minutes)

The Very Words of God

A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 40:3-5

Think about it

Take a few moments to think about your image of what it means to love God and live for him, then describe what you think a life of passionate obedience and faithful devotion to God looks like.

What sacrifices might be required in order to obey God and love him with all our heart, soul, and strength?

DVD Notes (29 minutes)

God shapes and molds his people in the desert The Essene community: learning to live by God's every word The Essene lifestyle: passionate obedience and intense devotion

DVD Discussion (7 minutes)

1. At times God chose to use harsh desert areas near the Promised Land as a training ground to mold and shape his people for their role in the next chapter of his unfolding story. Like a shepherd, he led the ancient Israelites through the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula to teach them to depend on him and live by his every word. Moses and Elijah spent time with God in the Sinai deserts. Elijah, David, John the Baptist, and Jesus spent time with God in the Judea Wilderness. The Essenes went into that same wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord-to know his words and obediently "walk" his path.

On the map on page 21, locate the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, En Gedi, Qumran, and Jericho. Next locate specific desert areas in the region: Judea Wilderness (Judah Wilderness in Old Testament times), Desert of Zin, Negev, Desert of Paran, Desert of Sin, Desert of Shur. How far was the Judea Wilderness from Jerusalem? From Bethlehem?

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