“Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.”

—Luke 21:37–38

Recently during a trip to Jerusalem, I visited the Southern Steps, which led into the ancient temple. Those were the steps the common person would travel to present a sacrifice, but they also were often referred to as the Teaching Steps because rabbis went to that location to teach their disciples. Many scholars believe Peter also preached his cutting sermon in Acts 2 from this very spot.

Yeshua also taught some of His parables from those steps. Each day, crowds gathered around Him, calling Him Rabbi. He was clothed in the rabbinic anointing, yet He was superior to any of the other leading Jewish figures of His day. In fact, when people heard Him teach, they said, “This man teaches not as our scribes. He teaches as one with authority.” (See Mark 1:22.) The anointing on Yeshua HaMashiach was so powerful, the people were astounded.

Beloved, our faith is not rooted in the clouds somewhere. Our faith is rooted in the fact that the transcendent God—the God of eternity, the God who has no beginning and has no end —descended into time and space. Because He loves us so much, He clothed Himself with flesh and blood, lived as a Jew, and ministered right here on the earth from these Southern Steps to the temple.

God is nearer to us than we know. Jesus is present. Even as He incarnated Himself in flesh and blood and walked the Teaching Steps, Yeshua is personally with you right now, touching you by His Spirit, training and teaching you today.

Let’s stop just thinking about God in general terms and instead bring Him into the details of our lives. He is not just the God who is “out there.” He is the God who became one with you through Messiah Yeshua. He is here and now.

Father, thank You for knowing and loving me, specifically, individually, and personally. Thank You for being right here with me in the very details of my life, even knowing the very number of hairs on my head.

Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider, Rivers of Divine Truth (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2021), Used by permission.