Christ's Ministry Continues On

Start off with reading John 10:40-11:46. Just a quick refresher: Jesus has left Jerusalem after speaking at the Feast of Dedication moves onto Perea and then Bethany.

While in Perea, we see the results of John the Baptist's work. These two verses reference "many,"  and in this context, they are most converts of John the Baptist. We find that as a result of John's ministry and the words he shared, that many believed him. This is a great lesson to us of the seeds that we are planting even when we don't see the results.

While Christ was staying in Perea (this is in January), Lazarus, a dear friend and follower of Christ became very sick and died. However, instead of running straight to Bethany, Christ stays in Perea for two more days. This story of Lazarus teaches us a couple of things about God. First of all, that God's ways are not our ways and that we cannot always understand God's actions or why or when He does certain things, but we can rest in the assurance that what He does is perfect and the best option for us. 

Before we continue on with the story, let's look at the disciples' reaction here to Christ. First of all, in verse 8, they show a lack of courage, because if they believed that Jesus truly was who he said he was, then they wouldn't be afraid to go any where he said. We also see a lack of understanding from the disciples in verse 12. They don't quite get Christ's "drift" when he said that Lazarus was sleeping and it takes Christ spelling the situation out to them. We also see a lack of faith in Christ's power and plan in verse 16. Again, if Christ was who he said he was, then he was in complete control of the situation and Thomas would understand that and not automatically assume that he was going to lose control and die.

So, Christ and the disciples moved onto Bethany. Martha meets with Christ and displays immense wisdom since the last time she was discussed in the scriptures. She shows faith in Christ and his power in verses  23-27, but she still has her limits and is convinced that Lazarus is beyond healing. There's a reason for this. The Jews believed that the soul of the deceased wandered around the tomb for three days before leaving the earth. This is why Martha and Mary both say if only he had come sooner, then Lazarus could have been saved. They are convinced that this is it for Lazarus. I believe that the reason Jesus waited for so many days was to prove that he truly had power over death and so that no one could claim that Lazarus's soul just rejoined the body.

It's at this point that one of the arguable most well known verses takes place..."Jesus wept." Christ's tears here aren't out of pity for Lazarus or tears for his own loss (really, as God, how much sense would that make?). No, Jesus was crying for the lack of faith around him and the separation of man from God because of sin.

I love how Jesus performs this miracle. There's no show, just his words. And it's important to note that the people moved the stone, but it was Christ's words that moved Lazarus. Only Christ could do this. And this is the final miracle that John records before Christ's resurrection. It shows that Christ is God because of his power over death.

 

A Little Hanukkah...

Read John 10:22-39. After Christ finishes his Good Shepherd Sermon, Christ finished up his ministry in Jerusalem. John doesn't mention anything for the next three months until Christ returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (also called Hanukkah).

So, a little background: Judas Maccabeus instituted the Feast of Dedication in 165 B.C. when the altar was rebuilt and the temple was purified during a very brief period of Jewish independence. So, this was an 8 day feast that occurred during the winter (around our Christmas).

 

Picking up in verse 22, Christ is in the temple, specifically in Solomon's Porch, and the Jews (think religious leader) rush there again to ask him if He truly was the Christ. And Christ begins to lay out his credentials for them to prove his deity.

 

Starting in verse 25, Christ states that his sayings prove his deity. In addition, his message is matchless. There is no one else who can offer what Christ does (think John 3:16).  Staying along the lines of John 3:16, Christ also never wasted a word.  John 3:16 is exactly 25 words (in both Greek and English!) and it is the full message of salvation.

 

Also, Christ has always shown in all of his sermons that his wisdom is matchless. If you look at Luke 20, the Jewish leaders try to catch him with the issues of taxes. And Christ gives them the perfect answer. Verse 26 even says that they were amazed at his answer! Luke 4:22 says that the Jewish leaders were amazed at Christ and his words and the wisdom behind them, especially considering he was just a simple carpenter.

 

Christ's words are also powerful. Only Christ had the power to raise men from the dead with his words, heal diseases with words, bring men to conviction and salvation with his words. He also had control over his words. He never spoke out of anger and he never spoke unwisely. Christ spoke in ways that everyone could understand. And lastly, Christ's words were pure.1 Peter 2:22-23 says that Christ did not sin and no wickedness was found in his speech. Those are all ways that Christ's words alone proved his deity. And of course Christ's miracles prove His deity.

 

Christ not only has the credentials to prove His deity, but also the dignity of person, power, and position that accompany the deity of God. He has the power to save and to keep (vs. 28-29), he is the Father's equal (vs. 30-33), he is bold and honest (vs. 32), he is wise and intelligent (vs. 34-39), he is sent by God the Father (vs. 36), and he is the Father's Son (vs. 36). All these are qualities of someone who is truly God and shares in God's characteristics. Yet again, we see John highlighting the words of Christ to reveal his deity.

           

The Good Shepherd

Read John 9:39-10:21. This is Christ's final message to the public before He disappears for 3 months. Here, in John 9:39-41, we get a glimpse at the continued blindness of the Jewish leaders. They thought that they could see the truth, but they were truly blind. If only they had admitted their spiritual blindness and need for Christ, because then they could have received their spiritual sight. If you think about it this way, you have to realize that you are a sinner before you can become a saint. These Jewish leaders needed to receive their spiritual "sight" before they could receive Christ. But, instead of seeing their own sinfulness, they were always comparing themselves to someone else who seemed worse, making them look good. In reality, the only measure we can use is Christ and God's Word, and by that measure, there is no one truly righteous (Romans 3:10).

So, Christ proceeds to teach a lesson to further illustrate the difference between Christ's true followers and the Jewish leaders. And, he uses and illustration that the people could relate to very well. He uses the illustration of the sheep and the sheepfold. This was a place of shelter where the sheep would go at night to be safe from thieves and wild animals. This shelter had a stone wall that had a layer of protective thorns (think barbed wire) on top of the wall, a small building, and one single guarded doorway.

Now, the shepherd knew exactly which sheep were his and actually gave them each a name. And even though we consider sheep to be pretty dumb, they do recognize their own shepherd's voice and they will come when called by him and him alone. This is the scenario that Christ is using here. The sheepfold represents heaven, the sheep are Christ's followers, and Christ is the shepherd. Let's talk about the thief. If you think about it, most thieves try to enter into a building through something other than the door. So, who represents the thieves in this scenario? Well, specifically the Jewish leaders who are trying to get into heaven through works, but this can be used for an even bigger picture or anyone who tries to get into heaven through anything other than Christ.

What Christ is illustrating here for the people in a very relatable (is that a word?) scenario from their world, is that the only way into heaven is through him and that anyone who chooses to follow him will recognize his name and will only follow him.

One final thought on Christ as our true shepherd. A true shepherd would be willing to sacrifice his life for his sheep just as Christ willingly sacrificed his life for us.

                  

 

The Progression from Blind to Seeing

Start with reading John 9:1-41.

Let's start with looking at Christ's compassion in this passage. In the midst of Christ trying to elude his would-be murderers, he stops to look after someone else who needs him. And this shows us a few things about Christ. First of all, He is never too busy to win someone to himself. Secondly, he is more concerned with the welfare of others more than his own welfare. And lastly, he notices those around him who are typically ignored by others. And of course, this is a great lesson to us. Too many times we try to allow our schedules and interests to overtake our lives and we forget to share the love of Christ with those around us who need it. We need, instead, to take the focus off of ourselves and make sure that we are ministering to those around us and pointing them to Christ.

 

We can also learn a lesson from the Disciples faulty thinking here. They believed, and this was a common belief among the Jews, that physical problems are God's way of punishing someone for sin in their life or in the life of their parents. So, they believed that either the blind man or his parents must have committed a HUGE sin. Now, we know that that is not how God works. Sometimes, physical problems are results of sin (think STDs), but not always. And many times, God does use these types of circumstances to bring glory to His name and to draw people to Him.

 

So, Christ shows the truth here. He shows them the mistake in their thinking and then heals the blind man, using this man's weakness to bring glory to God.

However, Christ doesn't leave this man with just physical healing. He also brings him spiritual healing. This man comes to know Christ in stages, which is revealed through the Jewish leaders questioning of him. First of all, in verse 11, he sees Christ as a mere man and that's how he answers their questions. Then, in verse 17, he starts to recognize that there was someone special about Christ and this time when the Jewish leaders question him, he answers that Christ is a prophet. He even goes so far in verses 27-28 in which he rebuked the Jewish leaders for their questioning of him and Christ's miracle. Moving onto verses 30-33, we see that the blind man finally sees Christ as God and this is how he answers the Jewish leaders when they again question him. And if you think about it, this is how many people have to come to Christ. I like how this passage ends with the man worshipping Christ as he finally realized who Christ is for him.

 

                           

           

The Day After The Feast

Start with reading John 7:53-8:59. Remember, last week, we saw Christ at the end of the Festival of Booths making another claim to His role as God. Well, after all of this, Christ comes back to Jerusalem. Some may ask why, since Christ clearly knows the hearts of the Jewish leaders and their desire to put him on trial and eventually put him to death, would Christ come back at this point. It's important to remember that Christ had a job to do and that he was in complete control of the situation. In other words, the Jewish leaders could not touch Christ until it was the right time.

 

So anyways, while Christ is teaching, the Jewish leaders develop a plan that they think will work and trap Christ and hopefully get him out of their hair. The know that they cannot legitimately accuse Christ of doing anything wrong (because he hasn't done anything!), so they decided to set a trap for Him. In fact, for the next six months, the Jewish leaders would try to catch Christ in some mistake so that they could find some reason to eliminate Him.

This is the first of those tests that John records. They come to Christ with what they sure is a problem that he can't solve without incriminating himself. They bring a woman to Christ who has been caught in the act of adultery. In their minds, Christ has two options:

Option #1: Say that the woman should be stoned and then He contradicts His own mission of mercy and ends any speculation that he might be the Messiah in the eyes of the people.

 

Option #2: Say the she should be free and He then contradicts the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10) and they can then accuse Christ of sinning (breaking the Law).

                                                        

However, as we know, Christ is God and knows what they are thinking and already has a better answer for them. He acts very cool, calm, and collected and begins drawing in the dirt....wait? What's he doing? He begins drawing in the dirt. Now, we don't have any record of what he did, but maybe he was writing the sins of the woman's accusers in the dirt (that's what some believe). What do you think?

So, after a bit of time Jewish leaders probably angrily murmuring among themselves, Christ gives a third option: "Stone her and let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone." Wow! Christ not only came up with a third option, but he twisted the situation around and made the Jewish leaders examine not the hearts of those around them, but their own hearts. How many times has Christ done this to you and in what way?

Oh, and here's the embarrassing part: this was in front of a crowd. Jesus had been teaching and the Jewish leaders interrupted him sure that they had the upper hand. Now, they're viewed as hypocrites. An interesting thought is seen in verse 9. Look at who left first. The oldest leaders. Perhaps they were beginning to see some of the wisdom Christ's teachings.


However, John begins to delve into several areas that the Jewish leaders are ignorant spiritually over the next several verses. Start in verses 13-18. This verse shows that they are ignorant of Christ's truthfulness. They accused Christ of lying about who he was and Christ turns around and says  that He is not the only one who is claiming that He is God and he uses their own Laws against them (verses 17-18).

Next, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's Father. In verse 19, they think that Christ was referring to Joseph and treat this as a joke. They don't either realize or are choosing to ignore the Father to whom he is truly referring. Perhaps they even know the stories surrounding Christ's birth and the fact that his birth appeared to be illegitimate.

Next, we see their ignorance of Christ's destiny in verses 22-24. When Christ says that He was going to go away and they could not follow, they think that Christ means that he is going to kill himself because they are so confident in their eternal security and say that Christ must be going to hell because that's the only place they can't go. The phrase Christ uses to say "Where I am going, you cannot go away," what he really means is "I am withdrawing myself."

In verses 25 through 33, we see the Jewish leaders ignorance of Christ's Identity. I love Christ's response to them when they ask "who are you?" He basically say, "I've already told you; you're not getting another answer because it hasn't changed."

Verses 33 through 47 shows their ignorance/forgetfulness of their own history. In fact, they get offended when Christ says that they will be set free! Wait a minute, when they say they have never been enslaved, aren't they forgetting their time in Egypt? They are so blinded by their hate of Christ, that they are missing the message of hope that Christ was offering them and forgetting their need for freedom from sin.

Continuing onto verse 48 through 52, we see that the Jewish leaders are ignorant of Christ's character. They call him a Samaritan, a highly offensive name for the Jews. They call him this to mock his love and compassion for all men, even the dreaded Samaritans. They even go so far as to accuse Christ of demon possession. They would rather not see the acts of God as they are and would rather ignore it and attribute it to the devil.

 

In verses 53-56, the Jewish leaders show their ignorance of Christ's greatness because in their eyes here, he has made himself greater than Abraham and no one can be greater than Abraham. They've forgotten that the Messiah should be greater than Abraham.

Lastly, in these last few verses, they show their ignorance of Christ's eternality. Again, they get hung up on this Abraham issue. How could anyone be greater than Abraham or have lived before him.

So, here we see one of Christ's greatest claims to deity. "Before Abraham was, I AM." First of all, notice the phrase "I Am." This is God's name. But even more than that, notice the grammar. Before Abraham was (past tense), I am (present tense). No, this is not an accident. What Christ is saying is "I am always present, even 2,000 years before the time I am walking here on earth." Wow, what a way to end this passage!

Division at the Feast

Depiction of the Last Day of the Festival of Booths

Start by reading John 7:32-53. We see in this passage that Christ is making clear that he did not come to bring the kind of peace that the Jewish people were expecting.  As we dig into this passage, ask yourself, where would you fit in this story? What position would you take?

After the craziness of the last passage, we see the Pharisees are now moving in on Christ to question him about who he is and what he is teaching. It's a short conversation, however, because Jesus confuses them. When he says he is going where they cannot find him, they completely miss Christ's meaning and assume that he is going to the Greeks. Obviously now, we know that Christ meant heaven and that those who do not believe in him could not follow him. As their trying to puzzle out his meaning, Christ slips away.

Fast forward a few days and we see Christ emerge back into the public eye to give a prophecy about the Holy Spirit. If you look at what Christ says, it would sound pretty crazy if you were standing there. So, what did Christ mean when he said "Come unto me and out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water"? Well, let's get some background. This is the last day of the feast and on this day, there was a special ceremony called the Feast of the Rejoicing of the House of the Water-Pouring. This ceremony was meant to point towards the coming Messiah. It celebrated two events: 1) the water that flowed from the rock at Sinai (Exodus 17:1-7) and the coming reign of the Messiah and the river of living water that would flow from His throne (Ezekial 4:1, 9). It was at some point during this ceremony that Christ made his startling announcement. It makes a little more sense now, knowing what the ceremony was supposed to point towards. Christ was making yet another claim to being the Christ, and if you remember, John's purpose is to prove Christ as God, so it makes sense that he records this passage.

As a result of this claim of Christs, we see at this point, that people are still dividing themselves in regards to who Christ is. Some believe in Him as the Messiah (vs. 40-41), some are still confused about Jesus (vs. 41-42), some choose to reject Him (vs. 44), some who are afraid of Christ and touching Him (vs. 45-59), and lastly, one who is recorded as defending him (vs. 50-53). So, I ask again, where would you stand if you had been a part of that crowd that day?

 

         

             

                     

                    

 

 

 

 

The Feast of Tabernacles

Let's start with a little background....

Leviticus 23:33-44 deals with the Feast of Tabernacles and gives us an idea of what Jesus was coming into in this passage in John. Read the passage and look for the following facts:

1. What was the date/time of year for this feast?

2. How long did it last?

3. What customs were followed and why?

Now, read John 7:1-31. If you notice, this chapter begins with "after these things," which represents to us that there was a gap of time between John 6 and John 7. Based on the history and timing, there is a gap of six months here. Now that we're in chapter seven, John 7 through 10 are going to deal with this broader event of Christ's time at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Before we look at this passage, let's talk about where Christ as been. During these six months after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus had begun a series of withdrawals from the public eye for a few reasons. One reason is the season. It was a hot time of year and he and the crowds didn't travel around as much. Another reason is the Pharisees were growing more and more antagonistic towards Christ and His message and it wasn't the right time for them to seize him. Yet another reason is while the Pharisees were hating him more and more, the common people were loving him more and more and desiring to make him king, and Christ knew it was right to remove himself from them as well. In addition, Herod was starting to grow suspicious about the activities of Christ. Christ also needed rest and time with his disciples to prepare them for their roles as he approached his death and resurrection.

Okay, enough background. Let's dig into the passage. We are 6 months out from Christ's death and it is September, time for the Feast of Tabernacles. The disciples come to Christ with a request. They want him to go to Jerusalem with them to celebrate. Some scholars say that they wanted this for selfish reasons. Basically, they wanted to show him off and have the attention of the large crowds present for the feast. This demonstrates a few things. First, that they still weren't really understanding Christ when he said he would die. Second, they were convinced that he was going to set up a kingdom based on their terms.

So, the disciples ask and Jesus tells them no. He's God and he's omniscient. He knows that the timing is not right for him to go up to Jerusalem in such a public way. He knows how the people would react, both in positive and negative ways. Christ also knew his disciples hearts. He knew that they weren't quite ready to separate themselves from this world. Ultimately, by telling them no, Christ wasn't avoiding His death, but was rather making sure it happened at the exact time it was planned.

 

Now, Christ telling his disciples no doesn't meant he wasn't going to go. In fact, in verses 10-13, we see that Christ does go, he just goes on his own timing, demonstrating that he was completely in control. While there, he spends some time in the temple teaching. If we look at verses 15-31, we see the various reactions of people to Christ. In verses 15-16, we see that they are amazed by this simple carpenter who speaks so wisely and eloquently. He then takes advantage of the situation and points out their contradictions and accuses the people of seeking to kill Him in verse 19, which causes the people to deny the idea. Christ then proceeds in verses 21-24 to point out the fact that they take issue with him healing ("work") on the Sabbath when they circumcise babies (also "work") on the Sabbath.

 

Well, after hearing his argument, the people start to wonder if he could be the Messiah, but then they doubt it because of the limits they have placed on him, namely that the Messiah surely couldn't be from Nazareth! And this is where Christ again drops a bombshell. He states "I am," which any devout Jew would recognize as him claiming to be God, and, therefore, blasphemy. And, if you look at verse 30, we see that they seek to arrest him, but God goes before him because his time had not yet come. Ultimately, through this scene, we see that many again believe in him because of the signs that he has done and the arguments that he has provided. Which tells me that it really does come down to the heart and who was there listening with open hearts and who was there trying to fit him into their own box. What do you think?

 

         

 

Finally, the Bread of Life, Part 2

Finally, I'm getting my act together. So, to prepare for this part, read John 6:32-71.

If you remember when we last talked (or took a peek at the last post), you'll remember that we have an outline for this chapter. 

                 I. The Setting of Christ's Sermon

                       II. The Command of Christ's Sermon
                       III. The Unbelief of the People
                       IV. The True Bread
                       V. The Living Bread
                       VI. The Broken Bread
                       VII. The Results

 We discussed the setting, the command, and the unbelief last time. Let's look at what Christ had to teach his people now.

IV. Christ as the True Bread

So, if you remember, last time, we discussed the fact that Christ called the people on the fact that they were looking for a miracle after he had just fed 5,000 of them with a few loaves and fishes. And they tried to rationalize away what he did by saying that Moses had given the people of Israel manna while they were in the desert. So, Christ rebukes them again, this time for crediting Moses with the work of God.

      Now, he dives into the fact that they do not need earthly bread, but that they need him, the true bread. So, what are the characteristics of the true bread? Well, it is a person (verse 33), it gives life (verses 33 and 49) and it perfectly satisfies. Stop for a minute and think about how this parallels with what bread does for the physical body. Think about it this way: Bread (food) is a necessity for our earthly bodies to live and Christ is a necessity for our spiritual bodies to live. Bread is needed daily for us to function properly physically and Christ is needed daily for us to function properly spiritually. Lastly, bread must go through a process (after the grain grows, it is cut down, ground down, and then baked) in order to be eaten just as Christ had to go through a process (arrested, tortured, killed, and resurrected) to become our living spiritual bread. Isn't it neat the simple parallel and image that he has given us? However, the people at this point still didn't get it and didn't really want what Christ had to offer them (see verse 36).

V. The Living Bread (vs. 41-50)

OK, we're going to make a transition. The word "Jew" used in this passage is now meaning the religious leaders who have come to confront Christ. Verses 44-45 give us an answer as to why these leaders have specifically chosen to reject Christ. These verses show us that those who have not been saved cannot understand Christ's teaching, even one as simple as the image of Christ as living bread. He needs the Spirit to work in his heart (1 Cor. 2:14) and as we know, many of these leaders did not have open hearts to the working of the Spirit. Their rejection of Christ is proof of their sin and hardened hearts. Ultimately, they needed to realize that they were spiritually dead and in desperate need of the bread that Christ was offering and needed to be open to the call of God. So, how does God call someone to himself? If you look at verses 44-45, it shows us that God uses the preaching of His word to lead to an understanding in the mind of the believer. And, if you have an open heart to this message and partake of the Living Bread, verses 47-50 show us that you will live forever.

           

VI. The Broken Bread (vs. 51-59)

This is where people sometimes get weirded out. Is this passage literally talking about eating Christ? That's what some people thought when they heard this message. However, this is actually referencing the fact that Christ would be broken for all of man on the cross. Just as Christ broke bread to feed the people in the feeding of the 5,000, he will allow his body to be broken on the cross to "feed" all who choose to believe in him.

VII. The Results (vs. 60-71)

Imagine you're hearing this message in ancient Israel. How would you react? Well, many rejected Christ because of his words. If we look at John 12:32-34, it tells us that these people wanted to believe, but they also believed that the Messiah would live forever (physically) and so they didn't exactly want to hear that he was going to be "broken." In their minds, this couldn't be the Messiah.

However, not everyone rejected Christ. We know that the twelve disciples stayed with him (67-71). Christ turns to his disciples after many people are walking away from him and asks if they are also going to reject him. And Peter (you gotta love Peter), takes on his self-assigned role as disciple speaker and say that they would always stand by him. This truly identifies those who are willing to follow Christ, even when everything he says sounds crazy or scary.

VIII. Why Men Follow Christ

So, looking at this John this far, we see many reasons why people follow Christ. Look at this list and think about where you fall in. This also helps us understand many of why people were following him.

            A. Because of Miracles (7:2)

            B. Because of the Multitudes (7:5)

            C. Because of the Meal (6:26)

            D. Because of the Money (6:70-71)

            E. Because He is the Master (6:68-69)

The Bread of Life, Part 1

Read John 6:22-32

 

We're going to take this passage in two parts. Starting with the setting of the passage. Christ is in a synagogue in Capernaum, which is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee from where the feeding of the 5,000 occurred.  This is the day after the feeding of the 5,000. The best guess is that the people who had been at the feeding of the 5,000 found out where Christ had gone and followed him back across the sea.

So, all these people have come to Christ, probably looking for miracles, maybe another free meal, and he calls them on it. In verse 26, we see the people trying to find out how Jesus had crossed the sea (he wasn't with them), but Jesus doesn't answer their question. Why? Well, because he knew that the real issue that needed to be faced was the fact that they had followed him looking for more. If we look back at verse 2 in this chapter, we see that the people had followed Christ because of his miracles. Now, in 26, they're following him because they wanted to be fed again.

So, Christ begins to deal with their hearts. He calls them on what's in their hearts, basically saying "if you cared as much about knowing God as you do getting another free meal, then I would give you salvation." Think about how we can be just like this. We get so caught up in earthly things and worries and forget to use our energy towards seeking God. What are some of the things that you seek after and forget to give you energy towards God.

However, when Christ gives them this command about seeking after God, the people hear instead that they think Christ is telling them to work for eternal life (verse 27). They completely missed what Christ was saying. We know this because if you look at verse 28, they ask Christ what works they had to do to do the work of God. They completely missed the best part of what Christ said....they eternal life is a gift from Him!!!!! Christ wasn't saying work for eternal life, he was saying don't work so hard for earthly things; focus on eternal things.

           

Look at verse 30. Do you seen anything wrong with this verse? They're asking Christ for a sign and it's the day after the feeding of the 5,000 and we know that many of them were present!!!!! So, how do they explain away this feeding? They claimed that Moses fed the whole nation of Israel for forty years with manna from heaven and he wasn't the Messiah. The problem here is the people's unbelief. Christ had given them plenty of signs, after all this is the third year of His ministry.

We will finish up this chapter next week, but here's some final thoughts for you.

Why does man insist on receiving or seeing a “sign” before he will believe? How do visible means of portraying God lead to idolatry? Give examples, both from the Bible and history and life.  What has God often done to ensure that His people do no fall into the trap of idolizing various objects?

John 6:1-21

Read John 6:1-21

Please note the time of year in verse 4. We've jumped another year and are into the third year of Christ's ministry. This is the beginning of the end, I guess you could say, or for us, the beginning of eternity. This is where John spends the majority of his focus.

So, let's pick up with the next Passover. This time, rather than being in Jerusalem, Christ stays in Galilee and ministers to the people there. I believe he did this to prove a point that it's not about where you are to worship so much as your heart. Anyways, this is the big miracle and the only one that all four Gospel writers included in their accounts. This is the feeding of the 5,000. Obviously this is an important miracle if all four writers made the effort to include it. But why? Well, this miracle was performed int he presence of many more people than any of the other miracles that Christ performed. This was a miracle of creation, while all of the other miracles, with the exception of turning the water into wine, were miracles of restoration.. This was also a picture of Christ and foreshadowed Christ as our Bread of Life, who was broken for us.

So, here's a little background. This miracle was just following an exhausting preaching tour of Galilee and took place right before the Passover Feast. It was time to rest.

(Just a quick side lesson that we can take from Christ here. First of all, there's nothing wrong with needing to take a break in ministry. Secondly, even as he was resting, we see Christ was ready to serve the Lord. And lastly, Christ was not only ready, he was willing to stop his rest in order to serve. Just some food for thought) 

Anyways, this miracle, as I mentioned earlier, was taking place near the time of the Passover. John includes the time of the miralce on purpose. John really wasn't too terribly concerned with timing, so when he takes the time to mention is in his account, take note. He records this time in order to mark the timing in Christ's minsitry. In addition, he was probably emphasizing the fact that Christ is the ultimate Passover Lamb.

Moving onto the story. Christ is ministering to these people (5,000 men alone!) and he stops and asks Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed them. Now, Christ already knew what he was going to do, so why did he stop to ask Philip? It was probably to test Philip's faith and trust in Christ. However, we see in verses 7 and 9 that both Philip and Andrew still aren't quite getting it and still thinking of Christ as a regular man. They forgot that they were working with God and focused on their circumstances instead of who they were with.

                    

So, let's look at the Miracle itself. After testing Philip and Andrew, Christ takes the bread and fish and performs this incredible miracle. And in this miracle, Christ reveals His sovereignty. Christ knew what he would do and that he was totally in control despite the circumstances around him.

In addition, we see that this miracle required man's obedience. Look at verse 10, can you imagine what was going through the disciples' minds when Christ said "make them sit"? They must have thought "why? We don't have anything to give them. We're going to have a mob here!"

We also see God's orderliness here. This might seem a simple point but, we see the people being seated into groups. This way, Christ was able to monitor who was being served and still needed food to prevent a riot.

This miracle also reveals Christ's omnipotence and the fact that he took what seemed like a lunch only enough for a boy and used it to accomplish His purposes. This miracle also shows the blessing that comes from serving. The disciples obeyed Christ and served the people and in the end there are left 12 baskets of food left, enought for each disciples.

Lastly, this miracle reveals Christ's sufficiency, but we will talk about this more specifically this week. We will also talk about the other miracle (walking on water) mentioned in this passage.

   

A Sermon on Deity

Read John 5:17-47

So, because of the Jewish Leaders' persecution of Jesus after healing the lame man, Christ stops and gives seven proofs of his right to heal the lame man on the Sabbath and four witnesses of his right, ultimately pointing to the fact that he is God.

Let's look at Christ's Deity shown in His...
                      1. Service
                      2. Will
                      3. Intelligence
                      4. Power
                      5. Honor
                      6. Power to Give Life
                      7. Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven/Hell

           1. Christ's Deity as shown in His Service (verse 17-18)
 The phrase "my father" that Christ uses here means more than what we mean when we say "God our Father." Christ is literally saying that He is God's Son, and the Jews recognize this. Christ saying "and I work" shows that he does the same thing as his Father. In other words, Christ is saying that he does the same thing that God does.

           2. Christ's Deity as shown in His Will (verse 19)
When Christ says that he can do nothing by himself, he isn't saying that he is helpless. Rather, he is saying that He can do nothing of his own self. Or, you could say that He and the Father are of the same will (verse 30). If we look at other passages of the Bible, we see in Luke 2:49 that Jesus explains that His Father's business is His priority, in John 4:34, Christ says that He is sustained by doing God's will, and Luke 22:42, Jesus explains that His Father's plan is more important than His physical desires. All of this says that Christ and God share the same will.

            3. Christ's deity as shown in His Intelligence (verse 20)
When Christ says that the Father shows him all things, he is meaning that there are no secrets between them because they have equal knowledge. Another thought on this, why would God discuss "all things" with a man? He isn't going to do that! He would only reveal His will completely to Christ.

            4. Christ's deity as shown in His Power (verse 21)
 Christ is basically laying out here the fact that he has the same power and right to heal and raise whom He will. He has all of the same rights and privileges of the Father. They key phrase that is used here is "to whom he will." In other words, we might have the ability to harm someone, but we don't have the right to do that. Only Christ as the power to do as he pleases.

            5. Christ's deity as shown in His Honor (verse 22 and 24)
Because Christ is the judge of all men, he deserves the same honor and glory as the Father does. In other words, he is equal with God.

           6. Christ's Deity as shown in His Power to Give Life (verses 24-26)
Christ demonstrates here that he is equal with God in His power to save the lost and to provide eternal life.

          7. Christ's deity as shown in His Sovereignty to Send Men to Heaven and to Hell (verse 27-29)
Verse 27 seems to echo verse 22 here and we see that because God has given the Son the ability to judge, that all should honor Christ. In addition, the Father has committed all judgement to the Son because is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. In other words, because he walked on earth as a man and lived a perfect life, he is the only one who has the right to judge all.

So, not only does Christ give these seven proofs of His deity and equality with God,, but he also stops and just to really back himself up, provides four witnesses of His deity as well. (In standard Jewish court, two witnesses were all that were required, so Christ was in overdrive here.)

Witness #1: John the Baptist (verses 32-35)
John was a witness and testified that Christ was the true Messiah.

Witness #2: Christ's Own Works (verse 36)
His miracles, specifically the seven John records, that demonstrate different aspects of Christ's deity.

Witness #3: The Father (verses 37-38)
God showed Himself and His "endorsement" of Christ at Christ's Baptism.

Witness #4: The Word of God (verses 39-47)
When Christ says "you search the Scriptures," he's basically pointing out the obvious and saying, "come on, you should know this!" They were searching the Scriptures for doctrinal and practical truth, but missed the real deal. People do this today. They can know the Bible, and yet never really know Christ.

    

The Pool of Bethesda

         
          The past blogs have been about Christ's first year of ministry. However, John obviously left out a lot of Christ's life. For example, we just ended in John 4 with Christ ministering in Galilee a few months after the Passover in Jerusalem. Now, we're in John 5 and Christ is back in Jerusalem for the next passover. So, before we go onto John 5, let's reference the other gospels to know what was going on in between. So far, we know that Christ performed his first miracle at the Cana Wedding in A.D. 29, he has cleaned out the temple in A.D. 30, he has met with Nicodemus and the woman at the well and has performed his second miracle by healing the nobleman's son.

          So, here is what else was going on after all of the above. (Side note, remember, the phrase "after this" represents a gap of time) Christ went from Cana to Nazareth where he was rejected in His own town. He then moved onto Capernaum where he officially called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be His disciples. He healed Peter's mother-in-law, he led the four disciples on a preaching tour of Galilee, he healed a leper, a man who was sick from palsy (the guy lowered through the roof), he called Matthew to be His disciples, and "after this," Jesus comes to Jerusalem, beginning his second year of ministry.

So, now read John 5:1-18. At this feast, Christ makes the effort to reveal his deity to his followers. This is the third miracle that Christ performs. This is near the sheep gate of Jerusalem. There were twelve gates that led into the city of Jerusalem and the sheep gate was one of them. This was the one that the sheep were led through to the city to be slaughtered for sacrifices. There was/is a pool close to this gate called Bethesda. This word means "house of mercy." This pool had a sort of awning type structure built over to protect the lame and the sick who came to the pool to be cured of their problems. This pool was cut from a solid rock, is about 55 feet long and 12 feet wide with a flight of steps that go down into the water. It was common tradition that when the water in the pool stirred, it was an angel stirring the water and the first person to get into the water would be healed. This is why the sick and lame would gather around the pool and wait there.

           Christ is at the pool and while there, he speaks with a lame man, who tells Christ his problem. Notice that Christ doesn't rebuke him for his spiritual ignorance here. Instead, he shows his own power, his compassion, and ultimately, his deity. Because this miracle takes place on the Sabbath, this miracle shows Christ's power over time here, proving to the Jewish leaders that he is all-powerful and not held to the time constraints of man.

            We can also learn about salvation here. If you look at the man and have him represent the condition of the world, it creates a beautiful picture of salvation. First of all, the man was physically weak and couldn't even save himself if he wanted to, just like we can't save ourselves either. Secondly, he was lame and couldn't go anywhere for salvation, and we can't go anywhere but to Christ for our salvation. The man couldn't even use his hands to pull himself down to the pool and we can't use our works to save ourselves. The man was waiting at the pool, hoping for a miracle, and many in the world are still waiting for a Messiah. Following along the same lines, the man did not recognize Christ for who he was and many in the world have not recognized Christ even today. Lastly, the man needed help. He didn't really need the water; he needed Christ, just like we don't need anything else in the world but Christ.

After all of this, Christ was persecuted for helping a man and changing his life! This is a good reminder that sometimes we will also face persecution for sharing Christ and changing people's lives. Isn't it reassuring to know that our Savior has walked the road before us?

Christ's Ministry in Samaria and Cana

Read John 4:31-54.

 Let's look at the disciples....

            

          In this passage, they miss the opportunity to see a woman converted and to see Christ in action, modelling how to witness to a non-believer. Where were they, you ask? Well, they were off looking for food because they thought that's what Christ needed most at the moment. Sometimes it's easy to get distracted by the physical things in life. Now, did they know what was about to happen? Who knows? But, they missed it all the same.

       Verses 32-33 show us the spiritual immaturity of the disciples at this point in time. Even though they were Christ's disciples, they still didn't quite get it. They hadn't yet learned the reason for ministry. They still didn't understand that as they gave more of themselves to God, they would be blessed in return. The cool thing is, if you look at the later epistles, they had grown spiritually in the Lord.

     Okay, Christ doesn't leave them in this spiritually blind and immature state. He takes the moment to teach them. In verse 35, he rebukes them and begins to teach them about spiritual vision. In verses 36-38, he teaches about the blessings of witnessing.

    Now, let's look at the Samaritans in verses 39-42. First of all, these people are desperate!!!! They believe the message of a woman who the majority of them looked down on as well. These people were hungry for Christ. This is a great example of how God uses the weak to draw the mighty to Him. In the end, we see that the Samaritans were so hungry and are so filled by Christ that they beg him to stay with them.

    We're going to switch gears a bit and look at another miracle. This is miracle number two. Christ has decided to move on from Samaria, where a spiritual revival has taken place and moves onto Galilee, a spiritual wilderness, where he received no honor or welcome. This doesn't phase Christ and he continues to minister to those willing to listen. As Christ comes to Cana, it seems almost as if John is comparing and contrasting the first miracles with this one. Take a look at the water into wine miracle and compare it to this miracle and see what kind of similarities there are. We will look at this week the individuals of the passage, so for now, just enjoy this miracle of Christ and see what you can take from the passage.

Christ and the Woman at the Well

Read John 4:1-43

Christ is on the way to Samaria. Why? He's left Jerusalem because, just like in John 2:24-25, Christ as fully God (deity, right?), knew what was going on around him. He knew of his growing popularity among the common people. He knew of their desire to make him their political King. All in all, the people still didn't get who Christ was, so it was time for him to leave Jerusalem.

So, onto Samaria. Samaria is located between Judea and Galilee. Just a little background, Samaria was used after the nation of Israel split into two parts (Israel and Judea), to be the capitol of the northern kingdom of Israel. The people of Samaria were not even around until after the captivities. During the Assyrian captivity, the Assyrian king conquered Samara (the capital of Israel) and repopulated it with heathen people, who eventually intermarried with the Jews left behind and eventually adopted many of the forms of Jewish worship. The Orthodox Jews looked down on these Samaritans and would avoid them at all costs. Until now, when we see Jesus, an orthodox Jew, go directly through Samaria.

Let's talk about the Samaritan woman. She had many strikes against her. First of all, she was a Samaritan. Second of all, she was a woman--women were not valued at this point and Jewish men did NOT talk to women in public. Thirdly, she was an adulteress--the lowest of the low--this is why she was going to the well in the hottest part of the day--everyone hated her, even her fellow Samaritans.

We've seen how far apart and sinful Samaritans and Jews are. So, what can we learn about Christ from this passage?

Well, we see his humanity. Christ had grown weary (vs. 6) and he looked like any other Jewish man--she recognized him as a Jew (verse 9). We also see his deity. He offers her eternal life (verse 14), he is omniscient (verses 16-18), and he claims his deity (verses 25-26).We also see Christ's dedication and urgency to do God's Will. Verses 34-35 show us Christ's heart and a deep, determined desire to do God's will. In fact, as we know, Christ was willing to sacrifice all. Lastly, we see Christ's concern for His disciples. He wanted his disciples to have the same burden for souls as he did. Thought here, if we claim to be Christians, then we claim to be imitators of Christ and need to have his same burden.

So, a few final thoughts that we can take from Christ about Evangelism. He gives us the ultimate model for how to witness.

1. He stirred her curiosity (verse 7)

2. He made her face her need (verses 13-15)

3. He made her see her sin (verses 16-18)

Some final thoughts about Salvation that we can take from this passage:

1. Salvation is a gift

2. Salvation brings everlasting life

3. Salvation is for whoever will believe

4. Salvation is not related to race, wealth, or intellect





A Radical Idea

 Read John 3:1-21

This is one of my favorite chapters in John. I guess because often I identify with Nicodemus and am convicted when I read this passage, asking myself, "would I feel the same way as him? Would I come to him in the same way?"

Just a little background to get a better grasp on the chapter....

Christ has just cleansed the temple of the money changers and animal sellers. It is the spring of A.D. 29 and it is around the time of Passover.

Nicodemus is an interesting character. He was a member of the Sanhedrin ("a ruler of the Jews"). When he comes to Christ, he displays both cowardice and courage. We see his cowardice in the way that he comes to Christ at night. He came to Christ in secret because he didn't want anyone else to recognize him. He had a lot to lose if he was caught talking to Christ. He could lose his place on the Sanhedrin (a group of 70 of the best and brightest Jewish rulers of Israel), he could lose his financial wealth, and he could lost his place of honor among his peers. Not to make excuses for him, but I can see where he was coming from.

We see Nicodemus's courage by the fact that he still became a follower of Christ despite what he would have to overcome. If you jump to John 7, we see Nicodemus defending Christ to the Sanhedrin. And in John 19, he helped to publicly ask for and bury the body of Christ. These show us just how much salvation in Christ and change a person and their values. But more on that later.

So, Nicodemus comes to Christ and says that he recognizes that Christ's miracles show that he comes from God. Christ's miracles were radically different from anything they had ever seen before. Maybe Nicodemus was recalling the passages of Scripture that he knew so well and recognizing them coming true in Christ.

 However, obviously Christ knows Nicodemus still doesn't quite believe, because he gives Nicodemus this line about being "born again," referencing why he, Christ, was on earth. You can imagine what went through Nicodemus's head at this point. "Huh? Maybe this guy has lost it."

Well, we can see the importance of Christ's use of this phrase in this passage in three ways, and eventually, Nicodemus gets it too:

1. This was the first message that Christ discussed publicly, i.e. not with his disciples.

2. Jesus uses the phrase "truly, truly" to emphasize the importance of what was said.

3. Jesus is giving the answer for how to get to heaven.

So, what's the nature of this "new birth"? Well, it is not a physical birth. That's what Nicodemus thought Christ meant at first. Which is why Christ follows up with this phrase about being born of water and then of the Spirit (and yes, we have now managed to bring the subject of "birth" up in our blog as well). Water represents the physical (I'm not going to go into the details) and Spirit is spiritual. This can be tied to Romans 8:8, which tells us that the flesh cannot please God and we HAVE to have this new birth of the spirit to be with God.

This birth is NECESSARY. There is no other way to heaven! Not only that, but it is IMPERATIVE. Christ doesn't say, "if you want to" or "if you feel like it." He says "You MUST be born again." However, Christ does provide for this new birth. 3:14-18 explains that Christ would die on the cross for man's sin so that man can be born again. And the best part, there's only one requirement. We have to believe in Christ. "To believe" literally means "to trust, to rely upon, to commit oneself to totally." That's it! Simple, right?

And of course, we have the most known and "googled" verse in this passage that makes it clear that this message is for everyone (John 3:16). All they have to do is "be born again."

               

A few final questions:

1. Have you been like Nicodemus before this passage, or after? Have you been courageous or cowardly about Christ?

2. Practically, what would being courageous for Christ look like today?

3. How often do we let our knowledge of the Bible and Christianity get in the way of the simple fact that all we have to do is be "born again"?

4. If you were in Nicodemus's shoes, how would you have approached him? How would you have reacted to this radical idea of being "born again"?         
   

                                   

                       

Conversion Experiences

Read John 1:35-51

In this part of John, John focuses on the disciples' conversion experiences, specifically five of the 12. John demonstrates in this passage that first of all, conversion experiences differ, and secondly, the different instruments that God uses for witnessing.

We can learn a few lessons from this passage on sharing salvation. First of all, when sharing Christ with others, we see from this passage that different personalities need different approaches (we will look at this more closely in a bit). We also see that only the Holy Spirit can effectively lead us in witnessing. In addition, we see that no method or system works every time. Ultimately you have to seek discernment from the Holy Spirit for each time you are witnessing.

           

The first two men mentioned in this chapter heard a preacher (Andrew and John), Simon and Nathanael were brought to Christ by other individuals, and lastly, Philip was found by Christ himself. Looking at these five men's experiences, we see God's instruments for witnessing. First of all, God uses the preaching of his followers, secondly, he uses the personal work of individuals, and sometimes, even if the first two are present, he uses circumstances to draw his people to him. We also see that Christ's way of addressing these men who became followers of him varied according to the individuals' needs and personalities. For the first two men, he tested their motives by asking them "what do you seek?" He let Peter know that He knew all about him but would transform him. He simply commanded Philip to "Follow me." And he spoke a gracious word to disarm Nathanael.

Now, when I taught this in class, I took time here to discuss their own salvation. So, before we dig farther into each of these men's conversion experiences, I will share with you some of the applications we discussed in class. After we discussed salvation and I gave the students a chance to write their conversion experiences, we discussed some signs of salvation. First of all, upon meeting Christ, we see that the disciples wanted to be with Jesus all of the time, which is a sure sign of salvation. In addition, we discussed that sometimes your interest and desire for Christ may wane, but that we have hope in Christ and the fact that He will not let us go.

*OK, Let’s look at how Christ  met His disciples’ specific individual needs.*

Looking at John 1:40-41, we see the conversion experience of Andrew. In this passage, it says that he is one of two who heard a preacher (this preacher was John the Baptist). We assume that this is John the Apostle because the writer does not give a name. In this passage however, looking at Andrew, we see that he is satisfied with Christ and has so much joy in Christ that he immediately needs to share it with others ( a sure sing of his salvation). If you think about it, we tend to advertise the things we enjoy. So, if we are satisfied in Christ and enjoy our relationship with Christ, it is only natural that we will have a desire to share Christ with others.

Next, look at John 1:42. In this verse, Christ empowers Peter. Obviously, in this brief conversation with Christ, we see that Christ was aware of Peter's personality and his strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps Peter was thinking, "I can't follow him. I'm too weak; I curse, lie, and cheat; I'm only a rough uneducated fisherman." However, we see Christ calm those fears by telling Peter, "You shall be called Cephas," which translated means rock. Christ is demonstrating the fact that He can take a man who would be considered unfit and make him into one of the great leaders of our church.

Moving onto John 1:43-44, we see the conversion experience of Philip. If we look at Luke 19:10, we see that Philip was a doubter. However, even despite the fact that Philip had doubts in life, we see that the simple command of Christ's to "follow me," rang with so much authority and power for Philip that he simply followed Christ in blind obedience. In fact, he then sought out Nathanael, who we will come to in a minute. The incredible part of this passage is that Philip had not met Christ before, yet he left everything to follow this stranger upon Christ's simple command. Not only does this demonstrate Philip's blind obedience to Christ, but Christ's power and influence (Mark 1:22 states that Christ "taught them as one that had authority, and not as scribes.").

The last one that we will look at is Nathanael in John 1:43-51. In this passage, Christ sees Nathanael and declares him to be an "Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" Guile means to be "open and honest." Now, backing up, when Philip comes to find Nathanael, Nathanael is sitting under a fig tree. In 1 Kings 4:25 and Micah 4:4, the fig tree is used as a place of safety. This is symbolic because Nathanael is called away from the security of the fig tree to the greater security of Christ. Of course, these is a lesson in here for us in the fact that we need to learn to leave the security of our money, homes, popularity, etc, to follow Christ.

Not only does the fig tree represent security, but it was also the traditional place of mediation for devout Jews and rabbis. Because of its great shade, it was a most comfortable place to meditate on the Old Testament law. Obviously, Nathanael was a very devout Jew. So, when Philip came to him speaking of the Messiah, Nathanael challenged Philip and said, "can there be any good thing that comes out of Nazareth?" Philip, being new in his faith, handled this doubt/question well by simply taking Nathanael to Christ. When he does meet Christ, Christ answered Nathanael's objections by displaying omniscience and omnipresence, demonstrating that Christ knows all about us, including our hearts.

Reflection: Can you identify with any of these men's experiences? How did you come to know Christ? How is your life a testimony of God's instruments of witnessing?

                  

The Forefunner of Christ

Read John 1:19-34

Let's set up the story here.

Character One: John the Baptist was Jesus' cousin and was born six months before Christ. As an adult, he preached about 30 miles from Jerusalem in the wilderness of Judea. John had two purposes in preaching. First of all was to bear witness of Christ (verse 15) and second, was to reveal "the record" about Christ (verse 19).

John had an unusual way of living. We know from Mark 1:5-7 that he dressed in camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist.He also had an unusual diet of locusts and wild honey. Yummy, right? We also see that John was very humble. Even as the Jewish leaders confront him, he doesn't make great claims for himself or try to draw honor and glory for himself.

Character(s) Two: When the word Jews is used in the Gospels, it is generally meant to refer to the Jewish religious authorities.

There are two different types of Jewish authorities that we are going to focus on here.

 The first is the Levites. They were of Jewish descent, most specifically from the tribe of Levi (one of Jacob's twelve sons). They were God's chosen servants and were called specifically by God to serve as his priests and/or workers in the temple. However, by the time of Christ, they were not the devoted followers of God that you would imagine a called servant of the Lord would be. By the time of Christ they had become calloused, cold-hearted, and self-righteous. They were obsessed with tradition (think "Fiddler on the Roof") and were no longer following God out of devotion, but out of duty and routine.

The second group of Jewish authorities that we will focus on are the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group of men who emerged during the four hundred "silent years" before Christ's birth (between Malachi in the Old Testament and Matthew in the New Testament). These men believed that because Israel did not follow God's law, this was the reason why they were taken into captive in the Old Testament times. So, they believed that to return to the true nation of Israel, they needed to bring Israel back to God by strictly following the Old Testament Laws. Was it such a bad idea that they had? What are some examples that you can think of that can be used to illustrate the Pharisees and Levites as described here?

                                                         

Now, in this passage, the Jewish leaders approach John with five questions to figure out just what this crazy man was doing and preaching to their people. What are these five questions and how does John answer them? Why do you think they came asking John these questions.

Let's look a little more closely at the Spiritual Condition of the Jewish Leaders. They are suffering from three different spiritual "ailments". The first one is Spiritual Ignorance. Isaiah 40 gives a complete prophecy of John the Baptist. In fact, it is almost verbatim in its description of John. So, the Jews should have known and recognized John as the prophesied forerunner. However, they still come and ask him "who are you," hinting at the fact that they don't recognize him even there.

They also suffer from Spiritual Pride. They come to question him because they are afraid of the power that John might have and the fact that he might steal their job. It's almost like they're saying, "who do you think you are to tell men to repent? You aren't one of us!!!! You don't have the right religious education and training, like us!" So the question becomes, did John have the right to baptize? Why? Well, John stands his ground under their pressure and confesses, first who he was, and second, he didn't deny who he was or what he was doing. He knew that he was called by God and in the right.

Lastly, the Jews are suffering from Spiritual Confusion. After questioning him and hearing his answer, they still ask him if he was Elijah ('that prophet").  Now the reason they ask him this is because at this point in time, the Jews believed that Elijah, who if you recall, had not dies but had been lifted up to heaven in a whirlwind (1 Kings), would come back to earth. So, they were thinking he was truly Elijah. As an interesting note, we see that the disciples weren't confused in Matthew 16:13-14. They knew exactly who the true Christ was, and they didn't have the educational background!

Enough about the Jewish Leaders. Let's look at what John does to place Christ in the spotlight despite the blindness of the Jewish Leaders. First of all, John calls himself a voice. This is very significant. If you remember in the beginning of John 1, Christ is called the Word. Think of it this way:

1. The Word exists in the mind before the voice utters it--Christ, the Word, had existed before John, the voice, came to announce Him.



2. A voice is heard, not seen. In other words, as we see in this passage, John didn't put himself in the spotlight, but continued to point to Christ.

3. The Word remains after the voice is silent. Even after John was silenced, Christ remains.

OK, continuing with what John did to place Christ in the spotlight. The second way is that he exalted Christ. Verse 25-27 move the spotlight from John to Christ. John even goes so far as to say he is not worthy enough to untie Christ's sandals. Why would this be a significant statement?

We see on the next day in Bethabara, or "Bethany beyond Jordan," that John continues to exalt Christ and place him in the spotlight as the Lamb of God. This is when Christ's baptism takes place. It occurs the day after the Jewish leaders had publicly questioned John. In fact, we see in verse 30, that John refers to the questions of the day before and then reveals that Christ was the very man they were looking for. However, they weren't really looking for Jesus as we know him. They were looking for a prophet, Elijah, a king. They didn't want the spiritual Savior that Christ represented. And this sets us up for the constant battle between Christ and the Jewish leaders as they reject him and all that he represents.

So, the question becomes, who do you line up with most in this story? Who can you identify with the most?

If you line up with John, what are you doing to exalt Christ and put him in the spotlight?

If you line up with the Jews, which Spiritual Condition are you struggling with the most? What can you do to escape Spiritual Ignorance, Pride, and/or Confusion? How can you help others who are struggling with these?

 

Christ's Incarnation: Wrap Up

OK, let's wrap this puppy up!

We've talked about Christ's incarnation and what is means, we've talked about Christ's glory. Let's talk about the purpose of Christ's incarnation. There are three parts to this. Christ's incarnation is meant to reveal the nature of God, the grace of God, and the truth of God.

God's Nature (John 1:18)

We've already talked about this, but until the incarnation of Christ, men had never seen God in the flesh. They had seen many aspects of God, such as the theophanies of the Old Testament, the handiwork of God in creation (Romans 1:20), and they had read about Him in the Old Testament. But now, God wants us to know Him personally! We're able to have a relationship with Him now that we had never been able to have before!!!! In this verse (18), John says that Jesus has made Him known. The verb used here means "revealed", "interpreted", or "made known." This gives us a clue as to why John calls Christ "the Word." Think about it: through words, we make our feelings known. In the same way God makes his feelings about us known to us through His Word (check out Hebrews 1:1-2).


God's Grace (John 1:14, 16-17)

In the Old Testament, man experienced God's Law and Justice. However, God was gracious still. What are some ways that we know of that God was gracious to man in the Old Testament? So, how does the incarnation reveal Christ's grace? Well, God didn't have to send Jesus to begin with. We most certainly did not deserve it. In fact, man did not even want God's love and grace! Yet, despite our rejection of Him, God still sent His son. And this is how the incarnation reveals Christ's grace.

God's Truth (John 1:14)

What's another way to think of God's truth? Maybe this will help. God loves us, but His truthfulness will not let Him overlook our sin. Sin has to be punished. So, Christ came to be punished for us. Christ's agony on the cross reveals not only the grace and truth of God, but also these three things:

1. The awful consequences of sin

2. God's hatred of sin

3. The consequences that we must pay if we refuse His substitute

So, wrapping up John 1 (and I promise we will move quicker through the other chapters), we see both the importance of Christ's preexistence to prove Christ's deity, but also the need for Christ's preexistence to help us see and personally experience God. So, why do you think John packed this much into John 1?

The Incarnation: Christ's Doxa

Take a look at John 1:14 again to refresh your memory.

We wrapped up last time with talking about the parallels between Christ and the tabernacle. The last one talked about how the tabernacle was the center of Israel's camp and how Christ should be the center of our lives. Continuing that thought process, if Christ is the center of our lives, we should see His glory, just like Israel saw the Lord's glory resting on the tabernacle. The Greek word used here for glory is the word "doxa." This word means literally "to seem." This is referring to the lofty reputation that a person has in another person's eyes. So, in this case, a man's glory is his reputation.

OK, so if glory here means reputation, then how can we "behold Christ's reputation"? Isn't that something internal? What does this mean????

Well, glory in this context means more than a person's reputation. It means that when we behold Christ, we are basically viewing God's reputation...in other words those attributes that God alone possesses and can reveal. So, in the midst of discussing Christ's incarnation, John still takes the time to make another reference to Christ's deity. Almost like he is saying, "Christ is a man, but wait, don't forget he's God too!!!"

Let's take a second and look at these attributes and how Christ is the only one as fully man to live up to these attributes. If you recall from Christianity 101, sin is our failing to measure up to Christ's perfection. In other words, God is holy and anything that we do that is unholy, we are sinning.

God is omnipresent (or everywhere at once) and whenever we try to hide from Him, we are sinning. God is omnipotent (or all powerful) and whenever we fail to trust Him, we sin. God is merciful and whenever we are unforgiving or seek revenge on others, we sin. God is patient and whenever we are impatient, we sin. God is sovereign and whenever we try to run our own lives, we sin.

WHEW!!!! Talk about conviction! We see how we fail to measure up to God in this idea of God's glory being His reputation and we see how desperately we need a Savior. Which is why (I think just from looking at this test with fresh eyes) John takes the time to reference not only Christ's deity, but the fact that He was fully man so that we would know that we are not walking this human life alone. We have an advocate whose reputation (His doxa) is flawless and can represent us to His Father. What wonderful peace we can find in this!!!!

To wrap up this week, look at Ephesians 1: 6 and 12. Look at what "we are saved to the praise of." Kind of changes the perspective in light of Christ's doxa, doesn't it.

Questions to ponder:
1. Which of the above attributes of God convicts you the most? Why?
2. What does this idea of Christ's glory/reputation mean to you?

                                                     

                                      

The Incarnation of Christ, Part 1

OK, to save this blog from getting very long, I am going to divide it into three parts. This first part is going to focus on comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of the appearances of God in the Old Testament and the Incarnate Christ in the New Testament.

So last week we focused on the preexistence of Christ and what it means to the Christian faith and Christ's deity. Now let's talk about his incarnation. John doesn't actually reference the historical circumstances of Christ's birth. In fact, the only reference he makes is in John 1:14, where John says "and the Word was made flesh." Literally translated, this means Christ literally became flesh. So, why does John take the time to reference this? What's the big deal really???

Well, we talked a bit about this last week, and from my understanding of scripture (and of course, what was already studied for me), this is significant because this is the first time that God (who is Spirit) became flesh, or became human, and walked among us. This is why Christ is called "Immanuel" or "God with us."

It's important to recognize the fact that Christ took on flesh and became fully man because we do have other occurrences of God appearing to man throughout the Bible. Before Christ was born, God appeared to man in visual forms, but not in a human, fleshly body. These are called "theophanies." We know of at least seven occasions that God did this. However, at each of these instances, He did not appear in a fleshly body.
Here is the key to all of this and why it is important to make these distinctions. The incarnation means that God did not "dwell" in a human body. Rather, it means that He became man, what He was not before. But, it's important to remember that He did not cease to be all that He was before.

All right, now that we've established the fact that Christ was God walking among us, let's talk about John's choice of words. In verse 14, he says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." The word that John uses for "dwelt" here literally means "Christ tabernacled, or pitched his tent" on this earth. In other words, John wants to give the image of a temporary living quarter, or that Christ only lived here for a temporary man (33 years).

This translation reminds us of the tabernacle in the dessert and we can draw some parallels between the tabernacle of the Old Testament and Christ "tabernacling" (yes, I think I just made up a word, but you get the picture) in the New Testament.

For example, the tabernacle was a temporary thing, as was Christ. Now hold on, before that is taken the wrong way, what I mean is that Christ was only on this earth for approximately 33 years. Interestingly enough, the tabernacle was only used for about 35 years in the desert.

Moving on, we know that the tabernacle was God's dwelling place (check out Exodus 25:21-22). And of course, we remember the definition of "Immanuel", or "God With Us," meaning that Christ dwelt among us.

The tabernacle was where God met man. In the Old Testament, God told Moses how to build the tabernacle and said He would meet man there (again, Exodus 25:21-22). Today, Christ is the meeting place between God and man (John 14:6)

When God told Moses how to build the temple, He directed that it be placed in the middle of the Israelite camp. In the same way Christ should be in the middle of our lives. Going along with this thought, it says in the Old Testament that God's glory rested on the Tabernacle. In the same way, when Christ was walking among us, we beheld his glory.

Now, hold that thought on glory for next week. We're going to focus on Christ's glory and what it means for us and dig into some of the original Greek and meaning of the texts. For now, here are some questions for you:

1. Why do you think that John focused on Christ's incarnation if he is trying to prove Christ is God?

2. What are some of the theophanies of God that we see in the Old Testament?

3. What does Christ's "tabernacling" mean to you and how can we keep our focus on him in light of this idea?