Study of John's Gospel

 Study of the Gospel of John

 

By

Tony Smith

A Bond Servant of the Lord

 

Preface

In writing this study I have prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to lead my thoughts and writings. I have endeavored to follow only God’s Word and not man’s (including my) opinions. I have worked to have the Bible be my only rule book and guide and, if my thoughts and writings do not match up to the rest of the Bible, I have removed them.

As we study the Bible, we must always look at how what we study applies to our world and culture. Culturally and philosophically, little has changed from the days of the early church until today. If we are honest, we must say little has changed from the earliest times until now. Mankind has much more technology but our thinking, lusts, desires, temptations, greed, etc. are the same. What can we learn from God’s Word and how can we effectively apply it in today’s world?

This study is not intended for sale. A Bibliography may not have been provided and not all quotes have been noted or referenced. I did try to reference but at times was wrapped up in the study and forgot to reference. Hopefully, these are few. My apologies to any that are missing.

Each of us are responsible for our interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. The Holy Spirit, the Bible, and You, are the priority in interpretating what you read. We must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Thoughts, comments, disagreements, and clarifications to this study are more than welcome.

 Tony Smith

 

 

Introduction

It is thought John was younger than the other disciples when he became a disciple of Jesus. Some think he was in his mid to late teens. While this cannot be proven it is not unlikely. Many boys started working (especially with their fathers) when they were young. It was often an economic necessity. John and James were cousins to Jesus as their mother Salome was the sister of Jesus’ mother Mary (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40). 

John was known as the beloved. At the last Passover supper before Jesus’ crucifixion, it was John who had his head on Jesus’ breast. (John 13:23-26) Jesus told John who was going to betray, He did not necessarily tell the rest of the disciples.

John 19:26-27 tells us that on the cross Jesus tells His mother to behold her son, John. He then tells John to behold his mother. John then takes Mary into his household, family. Jesus was the oldest son of Mary and was responsible for her and the family. As He was dying, He transferred that responsibly and privilege to the apostle John.

In John 18:15-16 we are told “¹⁵Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, ¹⁶but Peter was standing at the door outside. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.” That other disciple was John.

John’s Gospel was written in Hebrew, not Greek. This makes a difference when translating the Gospel into English or another language. Another important thing to keep in mind is that John considers Judea, not Galilee, to be Jesus’ home. While Jesus was brought up in Galilee he was born in Bethlehem of Judea and lived there for about the first two years of his life.  (Which tells us why Herod killed all boys in the area who were 2 years old and under.)  In the culture of that time and place where a person was born makes that their home. Therefore, Judea was considered Jesus' home, a fact many, even at that time, missed. (They did not do their required research into His birth.)

John establishes his narrative in the foundational verses of the Torah – “In the beginning God ...” (Genesis 1:1) and “God said” Therefore, the notion that the Gospel of John is a Christian document, set in opposition to Judaism, makes no sense in the light of John’s own priorities.” (The Jewish Gospel of John). For John everything begins with and is based on the Torah. John was Jewish, he was brought up as and lived as a Jew. Being Jewish was important to John and thus, from the scriptures, he could see and understand that Jesus was/Alexa jaune on is the Messiah. John lived, walked, ate, listened to, and conversed with Jesus. He saw the works of Jesus and saw Jesus fulfill the prophesies written of Him. John KNEW without doubt Jesus is the Messiah,

The purpose of John’s Gospel is to show unequivocally that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, as prophesied in the Torah and prophets, come to save mankind. John is interested in presenting facts, events, and people. Jaune is detailed as to geography, he is not as interested in presenting strict chronologies.  That John did not concern himself with chronologies has caused a problem for many scholars who want the timelines of the four gospels to align. Given that the gospels were written by four quite different men with four different ways of approaching the same end point, which will not happen. An example of this is John and Luke. Both had the end goal to show beyond any doubt that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior. As noted, John is interested in presenting facts, events, and people. Luke is a journalist and provides chronologies. Both conclude Jesus is the Messiah.

John was probably the last gospel written. The first three gospels center on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. John centers his gospel on what Jesus said and did in Jerusalem. Each of the gospels emphasizes a different origin of Jesus. John shows Jesus came from heaven, demonstrating that Jesus is God. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the three synoptic gospels. Synoptic means “see-together” and the first three gospels present Jesus’ life in pretty much the same format. The first three gospels focused more on what Jesus taught and did; John focuses more on who Jesus is.

The Scriptures have a flow that we can miss due to the division of chapters and verses. We do well to remember that chapters and verses are artificial, put in well after (13^th century for chapters and 16^th century for verses) the original writings. Reading the Bible without chapters and verses can give a bit of a different feel to the writings.

 

Definitions:

Passover - The Feast of Passover is celebrated to commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel, as commanded by God in Exodus 13.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/holydays/passover_1.shtml

Passover is when Christ was crucified to save us (liberate us) from sin. As Christians we should be celebrating Passover, not easter which is a pagan holiday (Ashtoreth).

 

Sabbath – The seventh day, a day to rest and to worship God. It is a Holy Day. In the Julian calendar it starts at sundown on Friday and ends sundown Saturday (Genesis 1:31b; Genesis 2:1-2) We think of day and night, but God said night and day. One reason would be moving from dark, chaos, to light, holiness in God’s creation.       

 

Torah - “Though traditionally the Hebrew word torah has been Translated into English as “law” because of its translation in the Septuagint (the Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible) as nomos (law), it is better understood and translated as “teaching” or “instruction.”’  (https://www.ancient.eu/Torah/ ) God's revealed teaching or guidance for humankind.  (www.britannica.com)

 

Gospel of John

(New American Standard Bible Version)

Gospel of John  

Chapter 1

vs. 1-5

John the Apostle starts his writing by introducing Jesus (Messiah Yeshua), who He is, where He came from, His relationship to God and His relationship to us and the world. John is unequivocal about the fact that Jesus is the Word of God, that is, Jesus is God.   

Jesus is with God in the beginning. John does not tell us what “beginning” means. Is it the beginning of the earth or from a beginning we cannot start to comprehend?  Jesus, as the Word of God, created all we know and all beyond our knowing.  Genesis tells us God spoke, and whatever He spoke was created. That is, the Word of God, Yeshua, created. John also says in Jesus is life and that life is the light and hope of all mankind. Without Messiah Yeshua there is no hope, no faith, no wisdom, no true knowledge. The darkness that can surround mankind, Satan, is overcome by Jesus. Light always drives away darkness. The darkness that is Satan cannot understand nor overcome the light that is Messiah Yeshua. In his light and life is the entire hope for mankind

 

vs. 6-13

John now introduces John the Baptizer. John the Apostle has addressed neither the lineage nor the early years of Jesus’ life. He starts with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This is not to say John did not know these things, but rather he felt it was more important to relate what happened in the ministry of Jesus and how He fulfilled prophesy. [John was considered the theologian of the early church.] 

John introduces John the Baptizer by stating, again unequivocally, that John the Baptizer was sent by God. He was not sent by men, nor did he send himself, he was sent by God, in God’s time, and for God’s purpose. That purpose was to fulfill prophesy (Isaiah 40:3) be a witness to testify about Jesus, the light of God. The purpose of his witness and testimony was to identify the Messiah so all mankind might believe in Jesus as the savior. God did not surprise the world with Yeshua but made it clear through the Torah and prophecy he was coming. God had him clearly identified by John the baptizer before Jesus’ ministry began. John the Baptizer was not, did not claim to be, that light. He was simply a witness to that light, the Light of the world, the Son of God, had arrived and would soon be seen.

John now seems to change his perspective to after-the-fact. John returns to Jesus being the Light of and from God.  Jesus is the true light. Jesus is true. Jesus came into His creation, the world, but His creation did not recognize Him. The world had become so blinded they did not recognize their creator, the one who gives them life and sustains them. This is a great sadness. [Nothing has changed for most of the world.] Jesus came to His chosen people, the Israelites, and they were so blinded they also did not recognize Him, perhaps an even greater sadness. Here are the people God took from nothing, made them into a nation and protected them throughout the years, yet they did not recognize the Son of God. Before we throw the Jews into the dustbin of history as God’s people, we must remember all peoples have done the same. All peoples have refused to recognize Christ as Messiah. All peoples, certainly, have refused to live their lives in a way that is consistent with believing Jesus is Messiah.

Despite all this, Jesus gave the right to become children of God to all who did believe on His name, those who believe Jesus is the Son of God and accept Him as Savior. These are children not born through the physical, natural, process but born by God through belief and faith in Jesus the Christ. This message of being a child of God only through Christ is repeated throughout the Gospel of John. (See John 3:1-16)

 

vs. 14-18

The Word of God, a very part of God, became flesh and blood and lived among us, His creation. John did not say Jesus was made from flesh but rather became flesh. There was no force that could make, form, the Word into flesh but rather the Word became flesh through the Word’s own power. As through YHWH the Word created the world, so the Word became flesh.

John, the writer of the Gospel, testifies that he and others saw the glory of Jesus [see Luke 9:28-35; Mark 9:2-7; Matthew 17:1-5]. John also points to John the Baptizer’s testimony concerning Jesus and His glory and that Jesus came from God. The Law of Moses required testimony to come from the mouth of two or three witnesses (Deut. 9:15; Numbers 35:30). Here we have John the Baptizer, John the Apostle, Peter the Apostle and James the Apostle, not counting the prophets and many other disciples. Most important we have God as a witness when He sent the dove as the Holy Spirit to rest on Jesus. This is many more than the two or three witnesses required.

John the Baptizer’s testimony about Jesus goes back to the word he received about Jesus from the Father. It should be noted that John’s testimony makes it quite clear that God the Father told him who Jesus is. Anyone denying Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah was also denying John’s testimony about Jesus and denying God spoke to John and us. As we will see later this is something the Jewish leadership was not willing to do for fear of the people. They did not fear John the Baptizer or God, just the people.

John’s next comments are critical. Out of the fullness of Christ we have received grace that replaces and continues the grace already given. This could be confusing or misunderstood so John clarifies. The interpretation in most bibles read, as does this one, the law. Perhaps a better reading is the Torah, which is the instructions were given through Moses. 

Often people set the law against grace as if the opposite of law is grace and the opposite of grace is law. This is not the case. The opposite of law is lawlessness, and the opposite of grace is disgrace. God is not the author of either lawlessness or disgrace therefore, both the law and grace, being from God, are good and are equal.

The law, the first grace, was given by Moses. It was given by God through Moses to instruct the people how to live. Jesus came bringing grace and truth. Jesus came bringing forgiveness of sins. He also came bringing the truth about God, the world, ourselves, creation, Satan, etc. All true grace, truth and wisdom are in Christ and an integral part of Christ.

John closes this section by stating with no equivocation, that Jesus is the Son of God. He is in fact of the very substance of God and has absolutely the closest relationship possible with God the Father. Jesus has made God known and because Jesus is the Son of God, is God and is in God, only Jesus can make God known. This allows no argument about who Jesus is or His authority. Much as men may try to disagree, Jesus was, is, and will be, the Son of God. Jesus is I AM!

 

vs. 18-28

Around the time of Christ there were about sixty men who claimed to be the Messiah, Josephus makes this clear in his writing. Because there were others who claimed to be the Messiah. These people came with the idea of freeing Israel from Roman rule. They were not the Son of God and came to save people from Rome, not from sin. In all cases they were, obviously, not successful. Because of this the Jewish leaders sent people to question John the baptizer and Jesus.

John the Apostle returns to the Baptizer’s testimony of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. John the Baptizer maintained his testimony about Jesus to those sent from the Jewish leaders and priests. All four gospels state that representatives came to John (and later Jesus) questioning them. I often wonder what pressures were brought on John for him to deny his testimony about Jesus. I would think he was badgered, threatened, and pressured to go back on his testimony. John refused to deny what God told him and his testimony about Jesus. He refused to deny that God told him Jesus is the Messiah.

John’s response to his questioners needs examination. John gave specific answers to the questions put to Him. He adamantly said he was not the Messiah. They then asked John if he was Elijah, and he clearly stated he was not. Finally, they asked if he was the Prophet and again, he stated he was not. The prophet they were referring to was probably Jeremiah.

Two questions stand out here: Are you Elijah and, are you the Prophet? The leaders supposed that it would be the actual, physical, Elijah that would return from heaven (Malachi 4:5). In this sense John denied that he was Elijah; but he did not deny that he was the Elias or Elijah which the prophesies intended (Matt 3:3), for he immediately proceeds to state (John 1:23) that he was sent, as it was prophesied that Elijah would be, to prepare the way of the Lord. So, while he corrected their false notions about Elijah, he also clearly stated his true character so that they might understand that he was really the one predicted to come as Elijah just as prophesied. (Luke 1:12-17)

The Pharisees continued their questioning and, by their questions, showed their lack of understanding of Scripture and prophesies about the Messiah. John has just told them he came as “the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” This is a direct quote from Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3) concerning what would happen immediately before the coming of the Messiah. The Pharisees then question John’s actions and motives. If he is not the Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet why is he baptizing? John’s answer agrees with his quote from Isaiah, he tells them he only baptizes with water, but one is there, who they do not recognize, that will do much more than baptize with water.

John says he is not worthy to untie the sandals of the one for whom he is preparing the way. Sandals were untied or loosened by the lowest slaves in a household. John is saying he is not worthy to be the lowest slave to the Messiah. Because the leaders have head knowledge but not understanding or wisdom of the scriptures, they cannot recognize their salvation. They were focused on the physical and temporal, not the spiritual and eternal.

An important point to note is John did not feel he needed the approval of the Jewish leadership. His authority came from God and his witnesses from the scriptures.

 

vs. 29-34

John the baptizer continues his testimony about Jesus (Yeshua). We are not told who was with John at this time, but it stands to reason the Pharisees and perhaps Sadducees were there as well as representatives of the Jewish political leadership. John sees Jesus and immediately refers to his comments from the day before, leading us to think many of the same people, perhaps also the questioners, were in attendance again. John is clear that the man he was speaking about the previous day, the man who sandals he was not worthy to untie, is Jesus.

John refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. He is saying Jesus is the perfect Passover Lamb that was killed for the saving of the people in Egypt and during each Passover. The Passover Lamb was a perfect lamb from the flock, one without blemish. At the Passover, the lamb was killed, and its blood put on the door posts and above the door. The people had to walk through the blood on the door and go inside to be saved from death. John’s comments tell the listeners Jesus is that Passover lamb for the world. They would not have missed his point but chose not to understand.

John also makes it clear his job was to prepare the way for the Messiah. John did his job, now his importance must grow less while that of Jesus grows greater. This is also a message to John’s followers that Jesus now has the primary message. John’s statement “A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’” makes it clear Jesus existed before John, in fact, before the world. John was to prepare the way for the Messiah just as people prepare the way for a visit from an earthly dignitary.

After saying this John again testifies about Jesus and the fact God sent Jesus. John’s testimony is that he saw the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descend and remain on Jesus. The fact the dove remained on Jesus indicates this was not an accident or a coincidence, it was a direct sign from God that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Chosen One. John the baptizer was seen by the people as a prophet. They recognized God’s call on his life and listened to him. John said the One who sent him to baptize with water also told him the one he saw the Holy Spirit come down and remain on, will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Until the sign from God, John the Baptist was not aware that his cousin Jesus was the promised Messiah.

There is more to the dove than just a bird landing on Jesus. It is generally accepted the dove was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The dove is also a symbol of peace and safety. Noah released a dove from the ark, and it came back with a freshly picked olive leaf. This let Noah know the water had receded from the earth and there was peace, safety, and a future. This is what we have in Christ.

 

vs. 35-42

Jesus begins to gather His disciples. The first two disciples were originally disciples of John the Baptist. Jesus would not have been unknown to them. Having been disciples of John, they would have been familiar with John’s teachings concerning the coming of the Messiah. Jesus would have been seen talking with John, possibly had been teaching in the area and certainly had the testimony and witness of John that He is the Messiah.

These two disciples, and perhaps others, were with John when he pointed out Jesus and said “Look, the Lamb of God.” This was a very a very well understood descriptive title of the Messiah. During the Exodus Passover, a lamb without blemish was killed and its blood put on the sides and top of the door frame. The Israelites passed through the blood to go inside the house where they ate the lamb that had been sacrificed. The lamb was totally innocent and was killed solely for the salvation of the Israelites from the Death Angel. (Note that the people ate the lamb, they made the lamb part of themselves, the same thing Jesus said. Most people missed the reference and its importance.) John was saying Jesus is this same lamb. In Jesus’ case, He was sent from God to be that innocent and without blemish lamb, to be the sacrifice for the people, their salvation from Satan. The two men immediately followed Jesus.

As they followed Jesus He turned and asked them what they wanted. They replied by asking Him where He was staying. Jesus said for them to come and see. This was a request by the men to join Him and a subsequent invitation from Jesus to join Him. It would have been about 4pm when the men went with Jesus and stayed with Him the rest of the day.

One of the men, Andrew, left, found his brother Simon, and told Simon they had found the Messiah. Simon went with Andrew to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and immediately changed his name to Cephas, Peter, meaning the rock. The description of the calling of these first three disciples is very brief. We are not told what the two men talked about with Jesus during that first meeting. We are not told much about Andrew’s conversation with Peter. I would guess there was a great deal of excitement among the men. This would also be the beginning of an intensive learning experience.

There are a few interesting things to note here. Andrew told Peter they had found the Messiah. This is the first instance of a person recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the son of God. The men Jesus called were already receptive to the Word of God. Their hearts were turned and tuned to God.

Jesus immediately saw the heart of Simon. Jesus saw he would be rock solid in his faith and work for the Lord. Jesus saw beyond the exterior and looked at the hearts of all three men. They genuinely wanted to follow God, do God’s will, and they had teachable spirits. They were fit for the work of the Lord. We see the same later with Paul, Barnabas and hopefully, each of us.

 

Vs. 43-46

After calling the three men Jesus leaves for Galilee. Along the way, Jesus sees Philip and calls Him to be a disciple. Here Philip refers to Moses, the Law, and the prophets. This establishes the credentials of Jesus from the Hebraic Scriptures, what is to us the Old Testament. This comment of Philip’s can be linked to John saying “Look, the Lamb of God.” Philip then found Nathanael and told him about Jesus.

Nathanael’s immediate response is to ask if anything good can come from Nazareth. Evidently Nazareth did not have the best reputation. Philip’s reply is simple, “Come and see.” Phillip’s replied demands action from Nathaniel, either he will go with Phillip to meet and be with Christ or he will not. There is no middle ground. The same is true for us. Action is demanded, either we meet and be with Jesus or we will not. There is no gray area.

Accepting and following Jesus always demands action. Following Christ is not passive, it is always active.

 

vs. 47-51

Jesus sees Nathanael and states he is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit, some translations say guile. There was nothing false about Nathanael. When you see Nathanael what you see is truly what you get.

Nathanael had never seen or met Jesus before and therefore asked how Jesus knew Him. How did Jesus know he was without deceit or guile? How did Jesus know his personality or what was in his heart? Jesus answered in a way that showed His power and abilities. He stated He saw Nathanael when he was under the fig tree before Philip called to him. Jesus knew everything about Nathanael. This knowledge could only come from God and Nathanael immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus tells Nathanael and the others they will see much greater things than what they had seen. Jesus tells them they will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus (Messiah Yeshua) was referring to Himself. He is the Son of Man. (This would take their minds to Jacob’s ladder where Jacob saw a ladder to Heaven and angels ascending and descending on it. He also heard the Lord promise the land he was in, to Jacob and his descendants [Genesis 28:10-17]. A repeat of the promise God made to Abraham.)

 

John 2

vs. 1-5

Here we have the first public miracle of Jesus. Jesus, His mother, and His disciples are at a wedding.  At the wedding, a problem happened, they ran out of wine.  This is a serious embarrassment to the wedding party. Mary immediately looks to Jesus for help. She knows He can solve the problem. When Mary tells Jesus, they have no wine He immediately responds in what seems to be a harsh manner. This bears some explanation.

“The phrase, "What have I to do with thee?" was a common conversational phrase. When it was uttered angrily and sharply it did indicate complete disagreement and reproach, but when it was spoken gently it indicated not so much reproach but misunderstanding. It means: "Don't worry; you don't quite understand what is going on; leave things to me, and I will settle them in my own way." Jesus was simply telling Mary to leave things to him, that he would have his own way of dealing with the situation.   The word woman (gunai) is also misleading. It sounds to us very rough and abrupt. But it is the same word as Jesus used on the Cross to address Mary as he left her to the care of John (John_19:26). In Homer it is the title by which Odysseus addresses Penelope, his well-loved wife. It is the title by which Augustus, the Roman Emperor, addressed Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian queen. So far from being a rough and discourteous way of address, it was a title of respect. We have no way of speaking in English which exactly renders it; but it is better to translate it Lady which gives at least the courtesy in it.” Daily Study Bible https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/john.html

Jesus’ mother evidently had some authority at the wedding since she instructed the servants to do as Jesus said.

 

vs. 6-12

This passage has more than one message for us. First is the apparent message that Mary knew Jesus could and would take care of the problem. This is also the start of Jesus’ ministry and the first of His miracles. It is important to note that this miracle occurred in a home at a wedding feast and not in a large public gathering. Jesus cares about the little things in our lives that are important to us, not just the big things.

A second message lies in the number of jars of water and the amount of wine resulting. There were six jars filled to the brim with water. The fact the jars were filled to the brim is not just a minor detail. The fact they were filled to the brim allows no possibility of any other wine being introduced. All the wine was from Jesus, not man or any old, leftover, wine. Being filled to the brim may indicate God’s Word, Jesus, can fill us up completely. The fact there were six jars is also a message. Seven was considered the number of perfection and six was considered imperfection. Christ took what was imperfect in the Jewish laws and replaced them with the perfection of His grace and truth. What God does is not imperfect, what man adds often is. Based on the size of the jars there would have been about 120 to 180 gallons of wine, far more than enough for everyone who was there or might come. The grace of Jesus is always more than sufficient for all who come to Him.

Finally, the fact the new wine was so much better than the old wine points out that the new covenant of grace with Christ is much better than the covenant of the law from Moses. People were/are not able to keep the law given to Moses and constantly violated it. God knew this and provided Jesus to pay the price for us of not obeying the law. The covenant with Abraham was one based on faith and was not superseded but rather brought into perfection by Christ.

The final comment here is that Jesus’ disciples believed in Him. Jesus, His mother, brothers, and disciples then went to Capernaum and stayed there for a time. We are told Jesus’ disciples believed in Him, but John does not say Jesus’ brothers believed in Him. I am guessing there was quite a bit of discussion about what happened at the wedding.

 

vs. 13-17

Here we have what appears to be a disagreement between John’s gospel and the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The disagreement is a matter of chronology and an assumption this happened only once. When did Jesus whip the people out of the Temple? John places the event at the beginning of his gospel and the others place toward the end of theirs. This is not so much a disagreement about the facts as it is a difference in purpose and focus for each gospel. As mentioned in the introduction John was not as interested in in the chronology of events as he was the events themselves and their meaning.

It is also possible, perhaps probable, Jesus did this more than once. In this case the juxtaposition of Jesus whipping the moneychangers out of the Temple with turning the water into wine reinforces His purpose to bring grace and truth to people and eliminate the dross of man’s laws and traditions. With the wine, Jesus shows He is bringing a new covenant. With the moneychangers Jesus shows He will not allow God’s Word, worship, and Temple to be profaned. This event would be at the beginning of His ministry.

 

 

“Zeal for your house will consume me” refers to Psalm 69:9. Psalm 69:7-12 is a prophesy of the Messiah and a small part of what will occur in His life. The act of Jesus driving out the moneychangers, especially His motive for doing so, fulfilled the prophesy. The moneychangers were going well beyond just changing everyday money into money that could be used in the temple, they were charging high fees for doing the transaction. In addition, those people selling doves for sacrifice were also charging exceedingly high prices for the doves. A percentage of the monies earned was kicked back to the temple authorities and eventually to the high priest. Neither of these two, nor other business activities, should have taken place in any part of the temple.

 

Aside from the business happening there, the high prices charged meant the “sellers” were robbing the people. It was a very profitable but also very profane practice. Christ had a serious problem with these practices. His greatest concern was and is for Godliness, Holiness, and Purity within the Temple anywhere, including the home, where God is worshipped.  It was His passion and commitment to purify Israel’s religion, return it to God’s original purpose, which caused Him to take this action. The moneychangers and sacrifice sellers had made God’s place of worship and holiness into a den of thieves.  This could not be allowed to continue.

 

An especially important message is believers MUST protest and bring to light those who profane, diminish, or degrade the worship of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 1:6-10; 0/R12639583-evelation2-3)

 

vs. 18-22

The Jewish leaders were not at all happy about Jesus’ actions. There are at least three reasons for their negative reaction: 1) they were losing profits; 2) it disrupted their orderly worship service; 3) Jesus was showing He, not the Jewish leaders, had true power and He was jealous of worshipping God in Spirit and Truth.

 

We will see that quite often the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to justify His action to them. Note that the leaders said, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” The emphasis here should be on the “us.” Their thinking was that they oversaw Israel’s religious life and anyone claiming to be the Messiah needed their approval.  Jesus rejected this notion. His authority came from God, not man.

 

The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to show them a sign, proof, evidence, that He had the authority to cleanse the Temple. The Jews always wanted a sign as verification of a prophets calling from God and as authority for their words and actions. Jesus’ authority as the Messiah was verified by YHWH, John, the law, and prophets, as well as by His birth and actions. He was fulfilling what the law and prophets wrote about Him. The Jewish leaders chose not to see these signs. In answer Jesus tells them that when they “destroy this temple” He will “raise it up.” Jesus was talking about His body, but they thought He was referring to the physical Temple. We see Jesus saying this again in John 10:17-18.  Here and later in John 10 the point is clear that Jesus is in control, not Satan, and not the Jewish leaders. Jesus chose to lay down His life and Jesus also chose, and had the power, to take it up again. To be clear Satan did not take the life of Jesus, Satan did not have that power or authority, Jesus gave it up and took it back.

 

vs. 23-25

Now we see something amazing, the people saw the signs Jesus performed and believed but the leaders asked for a sign because they were blind to the reality of Christ. The people had eyes to see while the leaders did not. Despite the people believing on Him Jesus did not trust Himself to their belief. He knew not all truly believed or had the proper motives for following Him. Having formed man from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7), Jesus knew what was in man, how man thinks, and how unreliable man can be.

 

John 3

vs. 1-4

Now Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night to speak with Him. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a scholar, a ruler, and a leader of the Jews. It is probable that Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus did not want others to see him with Jesus. The leaders were already rejecting negatively to Jesus and His ministry and were suspicious of anyone in any position who were seriously listening to Him.

It is interesting that John places this incident immediately after his comment about Jesus knowing what is in the heart of everyone. When Nicodemus comes to Jesus, he states that Jesus comes from God since no one could do what Jesus has done unless God is with him. Jesus does not reply to Nicodemus’ comment directly but rather answers what is in Nicodemus’ heart. Jesus answers his unspoken question. He tells Nicodemus, and us, what a person must do to be a part of the Kingdom of God.  

When Jesus says a person must be born again Nicodemus is confused. How can a person be born a second time? He asks if a grown person can enter back into their mother to be born a second time. Baptism by immersion had been practiced for centuries and Nicodemus understood the idea of baptism and that it was a death-burial-resurrection experience. The pool with the water where the baptism happened was called a mikveh. The person being baptized was immersed in their “new” life and were done with their old. “The disconnect Nicodemus experienced was not with the imagery of being ‘born again’ in the waters of the mikveh but with how Jesus spiritually applied that principle to entry into the kingdom of God.” (Life From the Dead, pg. 161, John D. Garr Ph.D.) 

It made no sense to him. Nicodemus was thinking from a purely physical, material perspective. Nicodemus did not realize just as immersion in the mikveh is a statement to the world that the person has had a change in their life so water immersion when a person becomes a believer in Christ makes a statement to the world, an outward demonstration that of their inward transformation from a life of sin to a life of following and faithfulness to Christ.

 

vs. 5-8

Jesus now explains what being born again means. A person must first be born physically, that is a water birth, before they can be born again, spiritually. With a physical birth comes water, amniotic fluid. Jesus is telling Nicodemus a person does not enter back into their mother for a second physical birth. The second birth is a spiritual birth, not a physical (water) birth. Although we cannot see this spiritual birth, as we can see physical birth, we can see its effects in a person’s life. (Proverbs 8:10; Proverbs 11:30; Luke 6:34; John 12:24; Romans 6:21-22) After the spiritual birth a person grows and learns, increasing in spiritual wisdom and stature. Like a physical birth, being born again is a start, not an end.

The last statement here is particularly important. It is not a matter of what we can see, it is a matter of what we cannot see, a matter of faith. When a child is born, we see the physical birth and from a physical perspective there is no doubting. When the spiritual birth happens, it is not physical so we do not SEE a physical change, but we can see a change in how the person acts, their priorities, motives, perspective, actions, etc. Non-believers can blind themselves to the changes, but they are evident none-the-less.

 

vs. 9-15

Nicodemus is still confused. Jesus asks how Nicodemus can be a teacher of Israel, God’s people, and not know these things that were taught throughout the Torah and Tanach? Some of the references would be Deut. 10:16; Deut. 30:6; 1 Samuel 10:9; Psalms 51:9-10; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 11:19-20; Ezekiel 36:26. As a scholar, teacher and leader Nicodemus should have known these Scriptures and therefore understood what Jesus was telling him. 

Jesus had made clear that He was speaking of a fleshly birth and after that a spiritual birth. Yet Nicodemus still did not understand. Christ now says “we” speak of what we know. Who is the “we” Christ mentions here? Jesus had just given Nicodemus a reproof for being a teacher but not knowing the scriptures. Jesus had referred him back to the Torah and Tanach, the law and the prophets that testified of Him. The “we” could refer to them and/or God the Father and the Holy Spirit which also testified of Him. Despite knowing the words of the Torah and Tanach the leaders did not understand the earthly, simple things. How could they begin to understand the things of heaven, the deep things of God?

Jesus continues by pointing out that no one has ascended to heaven except the One who descended from heaven. From a purely human perspective this is interesting since Christ had not yet ascended to Heaven. From the perspective of Christ His ascension was already accomplished. Christ could see it this way since His ascension was/is God’s Will and God’s Will shall always be accomplished.

Now Jesus gets a bit more specific about how people can be saved, have that new birth. Jesus uses the event of the plague of snakes in Exodus. The people once again rebelled against God and God sent snakes among them to bite them and kill them. To stop the plague God instructed Moses to fashion a brass snake, fix it to a pole and raise it so everyone could see it. Anyone bitten could look on the snake, believe in what God has Moses do, and be healed, they would not die. Christ is showing that He would be raised up as was the brass snake, those who looked upon and believed in Him and His death and resurrection would be saved from spiritual, eternal death.

 

vs. 16-18

This is a passage is a continuation of what was just said. This gives the reason Christ will be lifted up, crucified. This is a passage of scripture that people often quote but, unfortunately, usually only the first part is quoted. God shows His love for us by sending His Son so we can inherit eternal life. Through Christ we inherit eternal life; we do nothing and can do nothing to earn eternal life. Just as a child inherits something from their father through no works or acts of the child, so we inherit eternal life solely through Christ the Son of God.

A second important fact is that God did not send Christ into the world that we may be condemned but rather that we might be saved through His work by His life and on the cross. (Isaiah 61:1-2a; Luke 4:18-19) God sent Christ to preach the acceptable time of the Lord, the time when God accepts us because of Christ. (Isaiah 61:2, Luke 4:19)

Now we come to the part of the passage that people tend to omit; “whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Because of His love for us God provided Jesus the Messiah as a way of escape from the condemnation of sin. Jesus is the only way to escape the condemnation of sin. Those who do not believe in Jesus as our Savior from sin are already condemned because they refuse to accept the salvation God provided.  

As noted above Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2a but not Isaiah 2b; “and the day of vengeance of our God.” Many scriptures tell us of the day of God’s vengeance. Certainly, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Matthew, and Revelation do. God does not want to see anyone suffer His vengeance; thus, He sent Christ. By rejecting Christ, we are rejecting God and telling God we want to be condemned. It is our choice. God gives us what we choose.

 

vs. 19-21

John now takes us back to the beginning of his gospel. Jesus is the Light. This is a theme John often repeats in his gospel. Christ is the Light. What happens in the dark very often cannot be seen or discovered, at least while the darkness lasts. Light always drives out darkness so those who love that darkness is hiding their works hate the light. Those who do the works of Satan hate the light Christ shines on those works. Conversely, those who carry out God’s work have no fear of the Light of Christ. The light Christ shines clearly reveal their works are carried out in God’s Will and according to God’s plan. Even in total darkness the light of a single candle can be seen a long way away. Just as the light of a candle can be seen from far off, so the light of Christ in a believer can be see a long way in the darkness of sin and unbelief.

 

vs. 22-24

Now we have a geographic and chronological setting for what is about to happen. The geographic reference is the Judean country probably close to Aenon. The time frame is before John was imprisoned. Most likely it was not long before John was imprisoned. We must note that Jesus did not do the baptizing but rather His disciples did the baptizing (John 4:2) The geographic setting is Aenon, close to Salim. Aenon is on the west bank of the Jordan and had a great amount of water close by.

 

  https://bibleatlas.org/aenon.htm

 

vs. 25-30

John the Baptist’s disciples had a discussion with a Jew about purification. We are not given any details about the discussion but, since they went to John about it, the discussion must have been a bit heated. Given their comments to John the Baptist we can also guess the discussion involved Jesus and His work. There appears to be a bit of jealousy among John’s disciples about Jesus’ growing popularity with the people. Many more are now going to Jesus than are going to John the Baptist.

(The purification ritual represented people’s confession of sin and their recognition of the need for the cleansing power of God’s forgiveness. The person going through the ritual would confess their sins and be totally immersed showing they were totally and completely cleansed.)

When John the Baptist’s disciples come to him complaining about everyone going to Jesus instead of him, John’s immediate response is to remind them that all things come from God. This is especially true when it comes to working for God and doing God’s will. John the Baptist also reminds them that they were witnesses that he was not the Christ but was sent before Him. He uses a familiar example to clarify. The person who marries the bride is the bridegroom, no one else. The friends of the bridegroom can be happy for him. They wait for his arrival and rejoice, are thrilled, to hear the bridegroom’s voice. They know he has come for his bride. John the Baptist is like the friends of the bridegroom, he rejoices to hear the bridegroom’s voice. He knows the marriage will soon be complete. There is no reason to be upset but rather all should be rejoicing, the bridegroom is here.

 

vs. 31-36

John the Baptist now goes further in describing the position and work of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus comes from God and as creator is above all of creation. John the Baptist is of the earth, belongs to the earth and speaks of what he knows, earthly things. This takes us back to John’s gospel and his repeated theme that Jesus is the light, and all life has its meaning in Him. We also can read a reference here to Genesis 2:7 “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

We can see the huge difference between the Messiah and His creation, us. Jesus tells us what He has received and seen from God the Father, yet no one receives (hears, understands, and does) what He says and teaches. The person who does receive His testimony, that He comes to save people from their sin, sets his seal, verifies by his life, that God is true, what God says will happen and His love is more than proved through Christ. The Messiah who God sent speaks the words of God. The Father has given everything to the Son. The Son, Messiah, controls all.

Whoever believes in the Son, recognizes, accepts, and believes in Him as Savior, has eternal life. That person shall live forever with the Messiah. Conversely, the person who does not believe shall not see eternal life with the Messiah. Because of sin the wrath of God is on everyone, only through the death and resurrection of Christ can that wrath be removed. Those who choose not obey Christ and believe He is Savior choose to remain under God’s wrath.

(A word about seals. In ancient times kings and others had seals made of stone or metal. To verify, they wrote or did something the king would melt wax and press their seal into the wax. The wax would dry with the image of the seal noticeably clear indicating the thing had the authority of the person doing the sealing and could not be changed.)

 

JOHN 4

vs. 1-6

We start this section with the Lord knowing the Pharisees heard He was baptizing more disciples than was John. This was bound to make the Pharisees irritated. There is an important note here, Jesus did not baptize anyone, His disciples did the baptizing. Why didn’t Jesus baptize? We can find the answer in 1 Corinthians 3:5-6. In Corinth people were setting up cliques based on who baptized them. Some felt they were better because Apollos baptized them, and others felt the same because Paul baptized them. Can you imagine what people would say and think if Jesus had baptized them? There would have been a group that held themselves higher than all others because they were baptized by the Son of God. We must also recognize the person who does the baptizing is not important, the confession of believing Christ is the Savior is what is important.

In this section we see both the humanness and Divinity of Christ. Jesus leaves Judea and travels to Galilee. This is possibly to avoid a confrontation at the time with the Pharisees. We often see Jesus choosing the times He enters discussions or disputes with the Jewish leaders. He is quite aware of the importance of timing, especially when teaching.

To get to Galilee Jesus travels through Samaria. The direct route between Galilee and Jerusalem was through Samaria and was a three-day journey. The indirect route, going around Samaria, was a six-day journey. John tells us Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.” The Samaritans were from the northern Hebrew tribes and non-Jews who lived in the area. Although they did not accept David as their king and separated from Judah and Benjamin, they were Jewish and part of God’s chosen people. The message of salvation Jesus brought was also for them.

We are not told why He “had to pass through Samaria.” but there has been a lot of conjecture about it. The answer is twofold and can be seen in John 4:1-3 and John 5:19. In John 4:1-3 Jesus knows the Pharisees learned His disciples were baptizing more people than did John and his disciples. This would make the Pharisees genuinely concerned. In John 5:19 Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” Jesus did what the Father instructed. Jesus knew it was time that He must take His message to the Samaritans.

There has also been conjecture that Jesus wanted to save time and get to Galilee quickly. John 4;43 states after two days in Samaria Jesus left and continued His journey to Galilee. This means He would have arrived at Galilee at the same time as He would have if He took the long way around Samaria. The conjecture that Jesus wanted to save time is not consistent with the facts of what happened.

Once again John gives us a geographic and time reference. This time he also provides a historical reference. The geographic reference is the town Sychar (possibly Shechem). The historical reference is the field Jacob gave his son Joseph and Jacob’s well. According to Joshua 24:32 this is also where Joseph’s bones were buried. By defining the area where this encounter took place as Jacob’s well and where Joseph’s bones were buried Christ is providing two events and people from the Hebraic scriptures as witnesses to the truth of what He is telling the woman. While this might not resonate with us in this time, to the Jews and Samaritans it would be especially important.

 

Jesus was weary from the travel, so He sat down at the well to rest. It was about noon (the sixth hour of the day) and not only was Jesus tired, but He was also thirsty. We see the human side of Jesus here, He was tired, thirsty, and probably hot. All the things we would be after a long walk in the heat.

 

vs. 7-15

We are not told why the woman came to the well in the heat of the day. Usually, water was drawn in the cooler hours. The woman may have been ostracized by the other women in the village, she may have had a problem and could not come earlier, she may have wanted to avoid other people in the village, we are not told why came at noon nor does it matter to us. What we need to know, the important information, is in the story.

A Samaritan woman comes to the well and Jesus asks her for a drink. This is very unusual for several reasons: 1) Jesus and the Samaritan woman were from two different and adversarial people, each of whom considered the other to have deviated from the ancient faith of Israel. (2) Jewish men did not normally directly talk with women, especially when the man and woman were alone (John mentions that Jesus’ disciples had gone to the city to buy food), 3) the woman was a Samaritan and there was a great deal of antipathy and tension between Jews and Samaritans and 4) Jesus asked her for a drink, another no-no for Jewish men.

The woman was apparently somewhat taken aback and asked Jesus why He, a Jew, would ask her, a woman, and a Samaritan for a drink, since the Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with each His request was very, very unusual. Jesus’ answer is somewhat indirect but goes to the heart of her need and His reason for coming to the world and specifically for going to Samaria.

Jesus tells her if she knew the gift God has given and who was talking with her, she would ask for and He would give living water. The gift God has given is salvation and eternal life and that comes from and through the Messiah. Jesus is telling her He is the Messiah. The woman did not quite get what He was saying and questioned Him about the living water. It seems she was thinking of physical water while Jesus was referring to spiritual water. She asks Jesus where the water was and how He would get this water. He did not have a bucket, and the well was quite deep. She now asks the important question: “¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself…” This goes to the tension between the Jews and Samaritans. The Jews said the place to worship was Jerusalem. The Samaritans said the Jews had it all wrong and Mt. Gerizim, not Jerusalem, was the true place of worship. The woman’s question about being greater than Jacob goes directly to this disagreement. The woman is asking who is correct, the Jews or the Samaritans.

Jesus now makes clear what He is saying. Jacobs well has physical, natural water which only takes care of thirst for a short time. Anyone who drinks from Jacob’s well will soon be thirsty again and must return to drink. This is true of any of life’s physical wells, power, wealth, pride, possessions, lust, etc. Regardless of how deeply we drink of that well, we will be thirsty again. Only the living water Jesus gives is eternal, the person who drinks it will never be thirsty again. Jesus now makes an interesting comment “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This makes clear that the living water Jesus gives is spiritual, eternal, and springs from inside the person. We see this same thinking in the story about Nicodemus.

 

vs. 16-26

This short section carries some important lessons for the woman and us. The first lesson is Jesus truly KNOWS us, completely. There is nothing that is hidden from Him. We also see Jesus did not condemn the woman. He treated her with compassion and love. We do not know why the woman had five husbands. Perhaps they died, perhaps they divorced her or perhaps she left them. We also are not given any particulars about the man she was living with now. Perhaps he was a relative or perhaps she was cohabiting with the man. We are not told the particulars, but they do not matter to the point made and lesson to be learned.

The woman’s next statement goes to the heart of the disagreement between the Jews and the Samaritans. She first states she can see Jesus is a prophet and continues to state her ancestors worshipped in the mountain where they were at that time, but the Jews say Jerusalem is the only place to truly worship YHWH. Jesus makes it plain that the geographic “place” is not nearly as important as worshipping YHWH in spirit and in truth. Worshipping God wherever you are from the heart. Why and how are we worshipping God? If we are simply going through the motions without the worship being truly from the heart and led by the Holy Spirit we might as well save our time and breath, it is not worship in Spirit and Truth.

One embedded comment is particularly important.  ^“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” The Samaritans set up a golden calf to worship instead of worshipping YHWH at Jerusalem.  The Samaritans did not all realize that they were truly worshipping Satan. The Jews KNEW they worshipped YHWH. The phrase “for salvation is from the Jews” says a great deal which the woman would have understood, perhaps much more than we do.

Jesus was referring to YHWH choosing Abraham and his family to be His messengers to the world, proclaiming Him as the only true God. The law and prophets all testify to the Messiah, Jesus. These all were Hebrews, and no other nation or people had the Word or were commissioned to disseminate it. We, as Gentiles tend to forget or ignore this and act as if the Jews are passé’ and replaced by Gentile believers. Nowhere\\does YHWH say this is the case and it is pejorative for us the think it is.

When Jesus said true worship is to worship God in spirit and truth the woman replies that she knows the Messiah is coming.nm9 and He will tell people the Word of God. The woman had a good understanding of God’s Word and promises. She was ready for Jesus to reveal Himself as the Messiah to her.                      

 

vs. 27-30

When the disciples returned, we are once again thrown into the culture of the time. The comment “they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or “Why do You speak with her?”” tells us a great deal about the culture and expected norms. Men did not usually speak directly with women who were alone, and Jewish men especially did not talk with Samaritan women. What Jesus did here was highly unusual and, for the time and culture not religiously, politically, or culturally correct. Although Jesus’ actions were not at all what the disciples expected they did not question Him about them. Perhaps they were a bit afraid to ask or perhaps, hopefully, they were learning to trust Him and wait for the explanation.

When the disciples came the woman left Jesus and the disciples and went and told others in the town about Him. She was in such a hurry she left her water pot. She was so anxious to share with others the great news about the Messiah she abandoned the water pot that was essential to her physical life and well-being. Her message to the townspeople was so urgent, persuasive powerful that they immediately went out to meet Jesus.

 

vs. 31-38

The disciples brought food to Jesus. Since they went for the food and, as far as they knew Jesus had not eaten for quite a while, they urged Him to eat. His response surprised them. Jesus told them He had food they did not know about. This confused them and they started ask each other if someone had brought Him food. Not knowing what had just transpired with the woman and Jesus, and in the process of learning about the Messiah, they were thinking in the physical, not in the spiritual. `

Jesus now explains that the food He had is spiritual, it is to do the will of the Father, to accomplish the work He was sent to do. His interaction with the woman was part of that work. Jesus now stresses that “doing now” is important. A tenant of the Jewish is to LEARN, DO, TEACH. Jesus is telling us that we cannot put off doing His work. We cannot say there is time later to do the work. We must “do” Now. There are people waiting to hear about Jesus so they can accept His salvation. Every minute we procrastinate means another person is lost and goes to hell. Nothing we think we need to do or must do is more important than telling people about Christ.

Christ also made clear we all have different jobs, but all jobs are important, and it is always God who brings our work to fruition. “One sows, and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” We are a team with members in the past, present, and future. We work together and God gives the increase. All team members are important as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 12:15.                                                                                                                                                                                

                       

vs. 39-42

Something was different in the woman, and it made a great impression on the people in the town. She went from being an (apparent) outcast to everyone listening to her. She was the reason they listened to Jesus. After they heard Him, they believed in Him as the Messiah. The lesson here is that there is no one who cannot have their life changed through Jesus. They are so totally changed that the difference is impossible not to see and impossible not to tell others about Him.

⁴³After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also were there.

While Jesus grew up in Galilee His “home,” birthplace, was Bethlehem in Judea. The comment “For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.” This could well be why He did not return to Judea but went to Galilee. Samaria and Galilee seemed to be more willing to listen to and believe in Jesus than were the Judeans.

 

John  

Chapter 5

vs. 1-18

Christ performed many miracles on the Sabbath. This did not make the Jewish leaders happy. They had made all kinds of rules about the Sabbath, what they felt could and could not be done. They had so many rules it made the Sabbath onerous. It seems they took God’s Day of rest and made it a day of work, the work of making sure none of their (not YHWH’s) rules were broken.

“This devotion to the rabbis’ interpretation of the Sabbath law still goes on today. An April 1992 news item states: Tenants let three apartments in an Orthodox neighborhood in Israel burn to the ground while they asked a rabbi whether a telephone call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law. Observant Jews are forbidden to use the phone on the Sabbath, because doing so would break an electrical current, which is considered a form of work. In the half-hour it took the rabbi to decide “yes,” the fire spread to two neighboring apartments.” David Guzik Commentary, e-Sword.com. This makes me wonder what rules we make that we expect others to follow if they are “good Bible believing Christians?”

Given the leaders probably were not there when the paralyzed man was healed, given their mindset, their question was reasonable. Why are you carrying your mattress on the Sabbath? To the leaders the man was working, which was not allowed by their rules defining “work.” The man answers by telling them the person who healed him told him to pick up his pallet and walk. What transpires next tells us a lot about the leadership. They asked who told him to pick up his pallet and walk. They did not ask about the miracle healing. They did not ask how long he had been sick. They did not rejoice that the man was made whole. They were only concerned with who told the man to break their Sabbath rules.

The man did not know who it was who healed him so he could not answer at that time. Later Jesus met the man again, this time in the Temple. Jesus told the man “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” This raises some questions. Had the man done anything to cause his illness? If he did, when? If not, what did Jesus mean? This is certainly a strong warning to the man from God. We must note that whatever the man might have done Jesus knew and forgave him. This is similar to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:11b) where Jesus told her to go and sin no more. In both cases past sins were forgiven but a new life of not sinning was to start. A lesson for all those seeking forgiveness. God forgives but a new life (born again) is to start.

The man returns to the leaders to tell them it was Jesus who healed him. There are many possible reasons he did this. Perhaps he thought they would rejoice with him for the healing. Perhaps he thought if he did not tell them he would be thrown out of the synagogue.  Given the fact he stood up for Jesus and was thrown out of the temple as a result leads me to think his motives were good. Whatever the reason what is important here is the leadership’s reaction to Jesus. They were not interested in the miracle that had taken place. They were not interested in YHWH working in their midst. They were not interested in promoting God’s work and Word. They were only interested that THEIR Sabbath rules had been broken. They were only interested in persecuting the person breaking their rules in order to force Him to stop. The response to them really upset them. “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”  With this response Jesus served notice that the Father worked for man’s benefit every day and so did He. In effect He was telling them YHWH is His Father He was equal with God.

The Sabbath was not truly the reason for persecuting Jesus. It was His miracles and prophetic words, not only in distant Galilee, but especially the miracle in the nearby pool of Bethesda in Judea. This miracle took place right next to the Jerusalem Temple and thereby threatened the Jewish leaders to the core.

 

vs. 19-30

We will look at verses 19-30, they should first be primarily read as a unit. The reason is that the verses are a literary unit. The structure points the reader to the key concept within the passage. That is: Eternal life is founded on a person’s response to Jesus and His words. The individual must believe Jesus IS the Son of God, the one the Father sent to bring salvation and victory over sin and death.

The structure of the passage shows Jesus is dependent on the Father and acts in accordance with the Father. Second, both the Father and Son give life to the dead, the spiritually and physically dead. Third, the Father has given full power to the Son to rule and judge in His place. This is first stated in that order and then restated in reverse order adding emphasis to the point being made.

 

vs 31

    Once again, we have Jesus complying with the Torah. Deuteronomy 19:15 states “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” Jesus then proceeds to provide the witnesses.

 

vs. 33-47

     Jesus now provides three witnesses to Him being the Son of God. First was John the Baptizer. John witnessed Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah. John came fulfilling the prophecy written about Him. The fact the leaders did not accept John’s message does not invalidate the message or messenger. Second is the work He did throughout His ministry. Turning the water into wine, healing people, and raising the dead, Jesus’ works witnessed who He is. The third witness is YHWH. God witnessed to Jesus being His Son through prophesy, through His speaking at Jesus’ baptism, through visual and auditory to the three disciples on the mountain, and through His works and the Law and Prophets.       Jesus now makes clear the scriptures testify of Him, that includes Moses who they claimed they revered. They may revere Moses, but they ignored his prophesies.

 

John  

Chapter 6

vs. 1-11

We need to remember that chapter and verse divisions came well after the original documents were written. The original documents were intended to be read to the congregations/synagogues. If we keep this in mind, we can see reading chapters five and six without chapters and verses makes the story more cohesive. The conversation that started at Bethesda with the man being healed continues to the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus now goes to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Tiberius) and a large crowd of about five thousand men follow Him. Taking into consideration that in ancient times only men were counted, the total number was probably much higher. Given the addition of women and children, the total could well have been over 10,000.  Since, according to archeological data, Nazareth had a population of no more than two hundred people, we can see that a minimum five thousand people was an exceptionally large number. The fact there were so many people following Jesus indicates He was at the least a regional influence. That the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem was worried about Jesus’ message and influence, this indicated He was a national influence.

There is a lesson in the numbers here. The lad had five barley loaves and two fish. In Ephesians we see there are five gifts of the ministry and any one of them can slay sin. We see the same in 1 Samuel 17:40 where David chose five smooth stones and used one of them the kill Goliath. The two fish represent two peoples, Hebrew, and Gentile. The people were fed with bread representing the bread of life who is Christ.

The number of people fed were 5,000 men plus women and children. As the manna in Exodus fed the people and saved them from death so Christ id the bread of life and saves people from spiritual death. The bread of life is Christ and comes from through the five gifts of the ministry gives life to ALL people, Jew, and Gentile. It is not specific to one or the other. (A Gentile is one belonging to any nation or people group other than the Jewish people group. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms  Therefore Biblically there are two peoples on the Earth, Hebrews, and everyone else. Those born-again through Jesus are considered Hebrews [Jews].)  

Jesus’ teaching was the Torah. Not a new Torah to replace the old, but the same Torah to continue what the Torah had already set forth. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Jewish leadership recognized He did not bring a “new” Torah message but rather a Torah message that was restoring what YHWH said to begin with through Moses and the prophets.

The setting is interesting. Jesus goes up on a mountain to teach with His disciples. Jesus, seeing all the people coming asked Philip where they would get enough bread to feed everyone. There are two things to notice here; 1) the crowds were following because of the miracles and 2) Jesus knew what He planned to do before He asked Philip the question. 

Jesus did not ask where they were to get bread to feed everyone to make the point that nothing is impossible to God. Philip’s answer showed he was thinking physically, not spiritually. He was seeing and understanding with physical eyes, not spiritual eyes. Andrew came presenting a boy with a bit of food, but what was that among so many people? Andrew was closer to faith, but he was also seeing physically.

Jesus had the people sit down, blessed the food, and distributed it to the people. “Jesus blessed God for the food. He did not bless the food because it did not need to be blessed. It was already good. Jews never bless things. They bless God for the things he has given and provided, including food. On another note, Jews bless God for the food after they have eaten, because the Torah says, “When you have eaten and are full, then bless the Lord . . . “’ (John D. Garr Ph.D. Th.D.)

The people not only had a bit of food each but ate their fill. After the people finished eating Christ instructed that the leftovers be saved so nothing would be wasted. They filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that fed the people.

 

Vs. 12-13

There are several lessons in this passage. One lesson is the five barley loaves. Bread is to feed the people and keep them from starving. God’s Word feeds His people and saves them from spiritual death. The number five is important. In 1 Samuel 17:40-51 we read the story of David killing Goliath. 

Goliath was a huge warrior who was challenging Israel to combat. David was led to fight Goliath. To prepare he put his faith in God and chose five smooth stones from a brook and, with these, his sling and, most important, his faith killed Goliath. Most theologians agree Goliath represents sin trying to destroy God’s people. What is very often missed is the five stones. We find a reason for them in Ephesians 4:8-12. 

In Ephesians, we see Christ gave gifts to men, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints and ministry. Each of these gifts of the ministry are for perfecting of the saints, bring the saints to a more perfect knowledge of Christ and unity. Each is for slaying sin, just as any of the five stones David collected could slay Goliath.

Now we look at the twelve baskets filled with the fragments of bread Jesus blessed. There were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve heads of the tribes, and Jesus had twelve apostles. The twelve heads of the twelve tribes were to take care of the twelve tribes, make sure they had food, were protected, moved when and where YHWH directed, etc. The twelve apostles are to do the same for believers. They are to dispense the word of God and help the people, with the five gifted ministries, to become perfected in the Lord.

 

vs. 14

When the people saw the sign, they immediately recognized Jesus as something special. They saw Him as the Prophet who was to come into the world. It is unclear if their term “the Prophet” was meaning the Messiah, Jeremiah, or someone else, but they saw someone who was truly filled and led by YHWH. Deut 18:15 is a prophesy from Moses “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.” The people saw Jesus as the fulfillment of this prophesy. This seems to have been missed by the Jewish leadership.

 

vs. 15

The people, recognizing Jesus came from YHWH, wanted to make Him king of Israel. They recognized Jesus as coming from God but misunderstood His purpose for coming. The leadership did not recognize who Jesus was and, far from making Him king wanted to murder Him. They also did not understand Jesus’ purpose for coming. Neither group understood the prophesies written about Him.

Jesus, perceiving the people wanted to make Him king left and went back to the mountain. Jesus did not do this through humility, or fear, or some other emotion, but because He knew it was not yet time for Him to be declared king. That will take place at His return. Returning to the mountain gave Him a chance to talk with His Father and be renewed in His spirit.

 

vs. 15-21

Jesus teaches, feeds the people, and then retires into mountain. When He goes to the mountain alone His disciples went down to the Sea of Galilee, boarded a boat and started sailing to Capernaum. We are not told why they started their trip without Jesus, but I would guess they were instructed to do so by Jesus. 

We now have an interesting scene. It became dark and Jesus had not yet joined them. This seems to indicate they expected or at least anticipated Jesus joining them, perhaps in another boat. A strong storm came, strong enough to swamp their boat. As they are being tossed about in the storm, they saw Jesus walking to them, on the sea, in the storm. This truly frightened them. This is something they had never seen before, or even imagined. 

Jesus immediately calmed their fears by identifying Himself. The disciples were willing to allow Jesus into the boat. (They are reluctant to allow Him in the boat until He identified Himself?) When Jesus entered the boat and, as soon as they did, they were at their destination, their safe landing.

This scene makes clear Jesus is the sole Lord of everything including the weather, time, and space. When we think about what happened here. The disciples were in the boat without Jesus, tossed about on the storm and very frightened. They see Jesus and think it is an apparition. As soon as Jesus identifies Himself, they allow Him in the boat, and they are immediately at their safe destination. The same happens spiritually. We are in the boat of our life being tossed about by the storm of living and frightened about what will happen. Our fright is partly due to our being unsure where we will land. We see Jesus walking toward us. Is he real, an apparition, a trick of the senses? Once Jesus identifies Himself and we let Him into our boat (our lives) the storm disappears, and we are in our safe port. We are sure of our destination and sure that with Jesus we will land there.

 

vs. 22-25

     The next day the people had a surprise, no Jesus. They knew He had not gone in the boat with the disciples and there were no other boats in which He could have gone. As they looked for Jesus and talked about what happened other boats came from Tiberius and the people boarded them to look for Jesus. They sailed to the other side of the sea and found Jesus there when they landed. Their immediate question to Jesus was ‘how did you get here?’. What did we miss?

 

vs. 26

     The people crossed the sea and arrived where Jesus was with His disciples.  They asked Jesus when (and how) He got there. Jesus did not answer their question but did address why they were looking for Him. They were wanting to find Him because of the miracle of the loaves and fishes not because of His words that pointed to, YHWH. There is a huge difference between seeking Jesus because of the miracle of being fed and because of the signs He gave showing the way to be saved from hell, and serve, and worship, YHWH. This is something we need to keep in mind in our lives and when communicating with others. The emphasis should always be on salvation MUCH MORE than miracles.

 

vs. 27-34

     Christ continues talking about the people’s motive for following Him. As He has in the past, Jesus emphasizes what is truly important. The crowd was emphasizing physical food but neglecting spiritual food. Physical food is temporary, it only fills us for a short time. What is needed is the food that endures eternally, God’s Word. Christ supplied them with the former, but they ignored the latter which He was trying to give them.

     The people asked what they needed to do to do God’s work. Jesus replied with a clear, direct, and seemingly simple answer: Believe in Him who God has sent. Jesus was referring to Himself and some people recognized this. The people immediately asked what sign Jesus would show to prove who He was. After all these signs and miracles, they refer to Moses and the Hebrews in the wilderness being given manna, the bread from heaven. Jesus corrects them and makes clear the manna came from YHWH, not Moses and bread that comes from YHWH, Him, is not temporary but gives eternal life.

 

vs. 35-40

     The people ask Jesus to always give them the food that gives eternal life. They had seen the signs and miracles and perhaps expected Jesus to give them actual physical bread. Jesus immediately takes them and us from the physical to the spiritual, from physical food to spiritual food. Jesus makes clear that He is the bread that gives life. The person who comes to Jesus will never hunger and the person who believes in Him will never thirst. 

     The people may well have been trying to understand what Jesus was saying, He explains. First, He tells them they have seen Him but do not believe in Him. They have heard His words and seen His signs and miracles yet do not believe. There are those who will believe, and Christ will keep them as His own. Christ is clear He comes from the Father to do the Father’s will. The will of the Father is that everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life and be raised up at the last day to spend eternity with God. 

     None of this should have been a surprise to the Jews, their prophets and the Torah have been saying this same thing for thousands of years. What the people were told to expect, Jesus said was now here, in front of them, in Him. They, as usual, expected a physical salvation but their scriptures noted it would be a spiritual salvation.

     A note: in verse 35 Christ states “I am the bread of life.” This is the first of seven occurrences in John where Jesus says “I AM.” Each occurrence emphasizes an important aspect of Christ’s ministry. This first makes clear true life is only found in Christ. Without Christ there cannot be true life. Just as the manna gave life to the Jews in the wilderness so Christ gives life to everyone who believes. Notice the Jewish leaders objected to Jesus saying He is the bread that comes down from heaven (vs 38), the did not object to His saying “I will raise him up on the last day.” There” is not much difference between the two statements. If one is true, so is the other. Jesus being the bread of life, sustaining life by coming from heaven, is the same Jesus who is the source of life, giving life to the dead.” (The Jewish Gospel of John, p. 136)

 

vs. 41-45

     Now comes the fallout from what Jesus said. Those listening to Him, the Jews, started grumbling, complaining, about Jesus because of His words. They were asking who He thought He was, they knew His (earthly) father and mother. How can He say He came from heaven, from YHWH? Again, they looked at the physical, temporal, and not the spiritual. They looked outside. They did not look at the spiritual. They ignored the proof of who Jesus is and only looked at what they chose to see. Jesus had both the Word and actions that proved who He is.

     Jesus answers their grumblings and complaints by telling them no one can come to Him unless the Father (YHWH) draws that person to Him. This lets those who refuse to believe know that they are not drawn by the Father; they are not following the Father’s will. The Jews thought that they were all chosen by God by virtue of their physical birth. Jesus makes it clear that God must draw them before they can come to God. Everyone who responds to the Father will respond to the Son. 

     Jesus repeats His earlier comment “I will raise him up on the last day.” (vs. 44) He now quotes the prophets "And they shall all be taught of God” (Isaiah 54:13) Jesus then makes the point that those who have been taught by God and learned (and perhaps learned [understood and put into practice] is the important word here) would come to Him. The clear message, especially to the leaders is they did not hear God or LEARN from what God spoke (through the law and prophets). (Jer. 31:31-33) It is useful to remember the Jewish way of thinking is Learn, Do, Teach. The leaders would not Learn therefore they could not proceed and Do or Teach.

 

vs. 46-54

     Now Jesus switches subjects just a bit and explains more about Him being the bread of life and how that relates to the manna Moses distributed in the wilderness. He starts by reminding them that no one has seen the Father, including Moses, except the One who is from God. Jesus spoke in a figure of speech here. The metaphor of eating and drinking was common in Jesus’ day and pointed to a taking within one’s innermost being. What we eat and drink becomes a part of us, it becomes a part of our body. Jesus is clear that those who believe in Him have eternal life because He is the bread of life from the Father.

     Jesus now makes a comparison between Him as the bread of life and the manna in the wilderness. The comparison is simple and clear: those who ate the manna died, those who believe in Him will never die. Now He says something that takes most of the listeners aback, Jesus says the bread He gives is His flesh. Remember He just said those who eat the bread He gives will have eternal life and now says the bread He is speaking of is His flesh.

     The listeners would immediately think He was telling them to be cannibals, to literally eat His flesh. Jesus was saying no such thing. He is saying, in a different way, they must totally believe in Him. They, and we must take His word and life into us, we must have Him, and His word become a part of us, who we are. Just as the food we eat becomes a part of us so Christ must become even more a part of us, who we are, what me are made of.

 

vs. 52-58

     The Jews tried to understand what Jesus was saying. Did He really want to give them His flesh to eat? Again, they are looking at the flesh only and not the spiritual. They did not understand what the law and prophets said. Their eyes were closed, and their hearing stopped, by their choice. They read the law and the prophets; they knew the words but did not understand or learn from them. They had head knowledge but little to no understanding or wisdom.  

     Christ continues to try to instruct them. He tells them they who eat His flesh and drink His blood live in Christ and Christ lives in that person. YHWH sent Christ, and Christ lives because of the Father. Just as Christ lives because of the Father so those who believe in Christ as the Savior will live eternally because of Him. Christ repeats that the bread the Father sent, Jesus, is much better than the manna. Those who ate the manna died. Those who take Christ into them will never die.

     A note here: the Torah makes clear that the life of a living thing is in the blood. Therefore, the Torah forbids eating any blood. (Lev. 17:10-12) A person can have many parts of their body go wrong and still live but if they lose all their blood, they die. A second thing to remember is the Jewish Middle Eastern society was a very physical one. The human body was fully associated with the person to whom the body belonged. When Jesus said they must eat His flesh and drink His blood they should have understood He was saying to totally believe in Him, His entire self, as the Son of God. This bears out in His crucifixion and resurrection. His complete self was resurrected, not just His body or soul or spirit.

 

vs. 58-65

     Now come the results of seeing only by the flesh. (Remember, at this point Jesus had many disciples, not just the twelve.) This is a watershed moment. It will separate those who truly have faith and believe Jesus is the Son of God, and those who do not. Those who do not are like seeds that fall on a stony place. (Matthew 13:3-6)

      Many of the disciples just did not understand what Jesus was saying. They were thinking He was talking about eating His physical flesh and drinking His physical blood. They were not seeing with spiritual eyes or hearing with spiritual ears. They did not understand about the manna and the bread from heaven.  Perhaps many of His disciples understood exactly what Jesus was saying and His meaning but had an exceedingly difficult time accepting His words.

     Jesus now hints at what is going to happen by asking a question: “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?” What will you think? What will you do? Will you believe then? Will you still stumble and find excuses to not believe? (We can see this actually happened at Christ’s resurrection. The Jewish leadership found, and still find, excuses not to believe.) 

     The Holy Spirit gives eternal life, and the flesh means little. The words of Jesus are both spirit and life. They are important. “Jesus’ statement about His body and blood is true and no other picture could have made it clearer. His flesh and His blood, meaning Jesus Himself – the whole Jesus, is the only thing that can sustain a human being to life everlasting. (Jn. 1:1, 14)” (The Jewish Gospel of John, p. 144)

     Verses 64 and 65 make clear that Jesus discerned the spirit of each of His followers and knew who would remain and who would betray Him. (We see the same in those who have the gift of the discerning of spirits in 1 Corinthians 12:10)

 

vs. 66-71

     Now many of the disciples quit following Jesus. Whether or not they understood what He said they were just not willing to accept Him totally. After many of the disciples walked out on Jesus, He asked the twelve if they were also going to leave. Peter answered for all of them, no, to whom could they go? No one else could be the Holy One sent by God. The twelve all agreed and said they believed. Jesus picked the twelve and knew what was in their hearts, including the one who would betray Him. Jesus even said that one of them was a devil. Jesus knew from the start who would allow Satan in their heart and betray Him. It is interesting that, at this point, no more seems to be said about the one having the devil. We are not told the disciples questioned Jesus about it.

 

John  

Chapter 7

v1

Jesus was now in Galilee. He went there because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him, but it was not yet time. This passage takes us back to John 1:11b “¹¹He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” This again lets us know Jesus was in control not the Jews.

 

vs.2-9

The Feast of Booths is the same as the Feast of Tabernacles. This festival was instituted by Moses (Leviticus 23:34) to commemorate the years that the Israelites wandered in the desert after their Exodus departure from Egypt.  Therefore, Jews celebrate the festival by living outdoors in booths or tents through the festival period in accordance with Leviticus 23:42-43.

It was time to journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was a joyful, weeklong celebration, when families camped out in “booths” to remember God’s faithfulness to Israel during the wilderness wanderings. We are told His brothers asked Him to go to Jerusalem to the feast. Some scholars manipulate the word brother to mean something different than natural born brothers. Jesus had half brothers and sisters. They were the natural children of Joseph and Mary. Jesus and His siblings had the same mother but not the same father. YHWH is the Father of Jesus and Joseph was the father of His brothers and sisters.

It is worth noting the reason the brothers invited Jesus to go to the Feast. They wanted Jesus to perform miracles where everyone could see them. This would bring attention to Jesus and perhaps his brothers. The brothers were interested in man’s timing, not God’s. Jesus cared about God’s timing and doing God’s will. Jesus said He would not go to attract attention (as His brothers wanted) but that did not preclude Him from going up privately.

 

vs. 10-13

Jesus does go to the feast but goes privately so as to not attract attention. At the feast, many people were wondering where He was. The people were split between those who considered Jesus a good man and others an evil man. In either case people were afraid to say anything publicly because the leadership had already decided those who said anything about Jesus, especially in support, would be put out from the synagogue (assembly).  This was not an excommunication as we know it but rather an ostracism from the assembly.

Being put out of the synagogue was much more than simply no longer belonging to a local church. The synagogue was/is the center of Jewish life and community. Being put out of the synagogue was to be excluded from family, friends, local happenings, the feasts, etc. Once put out of the synagogue a person could not join another synagogue. Much like the Greeks in Athens the Jewish leadership used putting a person out of the synagogue as a preemptive way to neutralize those who did not agree with them.

 

vs. 14-18

In the middle of the feast Jesus goes to the Temple and starts to teach God’s Word, the Torah. Those listening were amazed at His knowledge and wisdom since He had not had formal schooling. When growing up He was taught at home, but He was not educated in the law, prophets, and writings beyond that. They could not understand how He knew everything He knew and could teach it so well.

Jesus does not point to His credentials, but to His doctrine. It is as if He says, I do not have a seminary degree but judge Me by My doctrine. If the Jewish leaders listened carefully to the doctrine of Jesus, they would know that it was all rooted in the Torah and that it was from God. In the next passage Jesus provides an example to make clear what He was telling them.

 

vs. 14-24

Jesus refers to the law that Moses gave them. The law came from God to guide His people until the Messiah, Jesus, came to fulfill that part of the prophesies written of His first coming. Although the leaders claimed to follow the law none of them did completely and when they did, they were not consistent. What they required of the people often they did not do themselves.

Jesus immediately follows this with asking why they (the leadership) wanted to kill Him. The people said He had a demon, in our words was crazy. The crowd did not know the leaders wanted to kill Him. Jesus does not address the crowd with His response but rather the leaders that were present. Jesus noted He did one deed and they all marvel. It would seem that one deed was healing the man at the pool. I say this because Jesus immediately talks about circumcision and how a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath, and it does not break the law. Jesus also makes it clear that, despite what they think, circumcision did not come from Moses but from the fathers (specifically from God through Abraham).

Now we see the inconsistencies in how they applied the law. It is acceptable to circumcise on the Sabbath, remove a part of the body, but not to make a person whole. The Pharisees said it was acceptable to remove an animal from a ditch, pit, etc. to save the animal but not to heal a person. Their priorities and way of seeing was all wrong. They were looking only at the physical and nothing else. (Nothing has changed over the centuries.)

 

vs. 25-31

Now the Jews start to speak openly about Jesus. The change may well have happened because Jesus taught in the Temple and the Jewish leaders did nothing to stop or even Hinder Him. They start to wonder if the leadership know Jesus is the Messiah. Now they make an error that comes from not knowing the Scripture. They think that when the Messiah comes no one will know where He comes from. Looking back at the prophecy we can readily see this is not the case. (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2)

At the birth of Jesus Herod asked the scholars where the child was to be born. (Matthew 2:4-8). The scholars had no [problem telling Herod where the Christ was to be born so His birthplace was not hidden knowledge. The people were following tradition not the Torah, prophesies, or writings.

Jesus tells the people, perhaps quite loudly that yes, they do know where He is from, and they know Him. Jesus says He did not come by His own volition but the One (YHWH) who sent Him is true and they do not know the One who sent Him. Jesus knew who sent Him because He came from God and God sent Him. The Jews did not miss His point. Jesus was saying He came from God (was one with God) and God sent Him. Again, the Jewish leaders want to take hold of Him but, since it was not yet the proper time, they could not. Once again, we see Jesus, not the authorities, is in control.

Now many of the people were believing in Jesus as the Messiah. They saw His works, heard His teaching, and saw the leaders could do nothing to stop him. They started to connect the dots and realize He was doing the works of the Messiah.

 

vs. 32-36

The Pharisees heard the crowds and became determined to stop Jesus. They had the authority to send officers to arrest Jesus and stop His preaching. It did not work out well for them. They did not realize, or chose not to realize, Jesus came from a much higher authority than did they. They came from the Jewish leadership; Jesus came from YHWH.

Jesus now lets the crowd and officers know that He will not be with them much longer. Jesus tells them where He is going, they cannot come. This confused the listeners. Where was He going that they could not come? Again, they were looking physically not spiritually. The wondered if He would be going to the Jews in dispersion. Perhaps He would be going to the Hellenist Jews only. They missed the point. Jesus often told them He came from God (YHWH), now He would be going back to God. 

The comment they will seek Him but will not find Him has at least two meanings. One is they will not be able to find Him physically. He will be crucified, murdered, and they cannot find Him since He has been killed, is resurrected and is back with the Father. This is another layer to this thought. They can seek His body in the tomb, but it will not be there since He resurrected from the dead. They will also seek Him spiritually but without believing He is the Son of God and believe in His death and resurrection as the salvation from our sins He cannot be found.

 

vs. 32-39

A bit of background on the Feast of Tabernacles. “the meaning of the festival beyond the traditional emphasis of the desert experience (being protected while living in temporary dwellings - tents) ………. For six consecutive days, the water procession took place once each morning. On the seventh day, it was repeated seven times to show the emphasis and concentration on prayer and worship.” (The Jewish Gospel of John, p174) The Torah did not prescribe the pouring of water, it was an innovation of the Pharisees based (loosely) on Isaiah 12:2-3. (As a note the Sadducees opposed the pouring of water since it was not in the Torah.)

Jesus used this feast and the pouring of water to show He fulfills Isaiah and Jeremiah 2:13. Jesus is saying He is the living water. From Him comes salvation. When Jesus died and the spear was pushed into His side both blood and water came out. Blood because of His sacrifice of His blood we are saved and healed. Water, because through the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus, we have the power to live for and work for Him eternally. This would not have been missed by the listeners.

 

vs. 40-44  

Now we have a division about who Jesus is, a division still going on today. Some thought He was the prophet (Jeremiah?) others that He is the Messiah. Some looked at where He had his home, Galilee, and said He could not be the Christ. Others said the Christ had to come from Bethlehem (City of bread) so Jesus could not be the Christ. Once again, they were looking physically only and they did not investigate where Jesus was born or His history, just what was happening in the present. This is still happening. 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He came from Judea, not Galilee. The people and especially the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes did not practice due diligence when looking at who Jesus Is, Was and Will Be. His birthplace (Was), What He said and His works (Is) and His prophesies and His going back to the Father (Will Be).

 

vs. 45-53

This section has two separate but related parts. In the first part the officers return to the chief priests and Pharisees but without Jesus. The leaders want to know why Jesus is not with them. Their answer tells us a lot about Jesus, they said “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The officers were used to arresting people that claimed to be the Messiah or that disagreed with the leadership. They had heard just about everything from incredibly talented speakers. Jesus was different.

The response of the chief priests and Pharisees shows how egocentric and self-important they were. They said “You have not also been led astray, have you? ⁴⁸No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? ⁴⁹But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.”  This chides the officers for not bringing in Jesus but very clearly lets them know the chief priests and Pharisees considered themselves much better than the crowd. They call the crowd accursed but clearly do not think they are part of the crowd or the accursed.

Nicodemus (John 3) reminds them that the law “does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” This is the law that both the Sadducees and Pharisees claim to follow completely. Their answer shows they are willing to ignore the law when the law does not suit their purposes. They are also quick to attack Nicodemus for even bringing up the law. The message is clear: if anyone, regardless of their position, thought something positive about Jesus, they could not voice it without being attacked.  This has become very personal to the leadership. It is between them and Jesus, they ignore the law, YHWH and what is morally and ethically right.

 

John

Chapter 8

vs. 01-07

We need to remember these things had a flow and consistency that can be missed when we look at the writing in chapters and verses. Chapters and verses are artificial and can hide the flow and connectivity of the writing. Before we look at the woman taken in adultery, we need to look at what is written leading up to this section.

In chapter five we read where Jesus has the witness of God the Father, the witness of His (Jesus) works and the witness of the scriptures (Torah and Tanach) of who He (Jesus) is, the Messiah.

In chapter 6 we see Jesus feeds the 5,000, walks on water, showing He is in charge of all the elements as well as here for all people. Jesus tells the people He is the bread of life and the way to the Father is through Him and that people must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. He lets them know they must believe in Him and live for Him completely. This is also where Peter and the other disciples recognize Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ.

In Chapter 7 Jesus goes to the Feast of Tabernacles and taught the people. Jesus makes it plain He is the living water. Although Jesus did not have formal schooling (sitting at the feet of a sage or rabbi) His knowledge and understanding of the Torah was much greater than that of the Jewish leaders and it amazed everyone. Many people believed Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah but many others did not believe. At this time, the Jewish leaders try to arrest Jesus but, since it was not yet God’s timing, it did not happen. The leaders make it clear they considered themselves above the people and they were very egocentric.

Now we come to the woman taken in adultery. The Jewish leaders were trying to set Jesus up for failure. This is evident by the fact they did not bring in the man who was also participating in adultery, only the woman. This is a continuation of previous events. Again, Jesus is showing He is the Messiah, He is in control. He can forgive and, try as they might, the leaders are not going to trip Him up.

When they brough the woman to Jesus wanting Him to decide to either stone (kill) her for adultery (Leviticus 20:10) or forgive her Jesus did not directly answer them, He wrote in the ground. We have no idea what He wrote but there has been a lot of speculation and guessing about it. What He wrote is immaterial to us and probably none of our business. What is evident and important is that what He wrote had a great impact on the people who brought her to Jesus.

The Jews did not give up but persisted in badgering Jesus to make a judgement about the woman. Finally, Jesus stands up and makes His decision. He puts the decision back on them. “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  In Jewish law the chief accuser of a person is to be the first to throw a stone at the person. We see this later with Paul being the first to throw a stone at Stephen. The people who brought the woman must either forget the whole thing or say they are without any sin. They must obey each and every law completely and without fail every time. No one was willing to do that. No one was willing to lie to that extent.

 

vs. 08-11

After saying the person who has no sin should cast the first stone Jesus again writes in the dirt. As He is writing the accusers all leave one by one. The point is made that they leave, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest. Perhaps the older were a bit wiser and saw they were in a no-win position. Perhaps the older recognized their sinful condition more quickly. We cannot know for sure, but everyone walked off leaving Jesus alone with the woman.

Jesus gets up and asks the woman where are the people that accused her? Where are those that condemned her? They were gone, so the answer was, there were no accusers. Jesus states He also will not condemn her but adds something very important. Jesus tells her “From now on sin no more.” Jesus did not ignore or condone the woman’s sin; He forgave her sin. It is important to know that Jesus expected her life to change. The message is for her and everyone. Through Christ you are forgiven now your life must change, sin no more.

A thought occurred to me when thinking about this event. The actions of the Jewish leaders showed a lack of respect for Jesus as well as the woman, and a high regard for themselves. They thought bringing the woman to Jesus would result in His doing something they could seize on to discredit Him. They obviously did not consider Jesus to be up to their level of intelligence. Given they failed to bring the man involved gave a hint this circumstance was purely to trap Jesus. It also shows a disrespect for women and an unloving attitude.

 

vs. 12-20

This next section happens after the event of the woman taken in adultery. The Pharisees were not mentioned in the story about the woman so how did they suddenly show up? The woman taken in adultery was intended to trap Jesus. That being the case I think we can safely assume there were others present to witness Jesus being trapped and could let others know He disobeyed the law or the rules of the Romans. Either way He would lose credibility with the people. Things did not work out as the Pharisees expected.

After the accusers left and Jesus tells the woman to sin no more Jesus again tells the Pharisees who He is. He is the light of the world. He reveals things as they truly are. Those who believe in and follow Christ will walk in light and see things as they truly are. They will see real reality, not the shadows of reality or partial reality non-believers see.

The Pharisees accuse Him of testifying about Himself and therefore was not to be believed. Jesus makes the point that He testifies of Himself and He is qualified to do so since He knows He came from the Father and is going back to the father. Those making the accusation have no idea where He comes from or where He is going. The accusers are judging Him and others by fleshly, worldly, criteria but Jesus is not judging.

Jesus tells them that even if He does judge His judgement is valid since His judgment comes from both Him and the Father. This means there are at least two witnesses, Jesus, and the Father.  What is not stated is that the Law and Prophets also testify to Him providing more than the required two witnesses.

The Scribes and Pharisees want to know where is Jesus’ Father. They were, again, seeing only physical and, since Jesus said His Father is a witness, they want to see the Father. Perhaps their thought is to question His father. Once again Jesus lets them know they are blind to the reality of who He and the Father are. If they were not blind, they would know that seeing Jesus means they are seeing the father. He said all these things in public, but He was not arrested since the time for His sacrifice had not come.

 

vs. 21-30

Jesus is continuing His teaching. He has just told the listeners “I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” (John 8:14) Now He clarifies His meaning giving two truths, truth about Himself and truth about man.

The truth Jesus gives about Himself is He came from the Father to fulfill a mission and once that mission is accomplished, He will return to the Father. His mission is the salvation of mankind for all who will accept Him as savior. Just as Adam sinned causing sin to infest all mankind. Jesus came and lived without sin and therefore His sacrifice, His blood, redeems all who accept and believe in Him from the infestation of sin.

The reaction of the listeners indicate they just did not understand what Jesus has been telling them all along. Their understanding was deficient, perhaps through a desire to not understand, an intentional failure to understand the Scriptures, or an honest lack of knowledge/understanding of the Scriptures.

Many did understand when He said “When you lift up the Son of Man” that He was speaking of His death and that they would have Him crucified. When Jesus was crucified and resurrected then they would know He was sent by the Father and did just what the Father instructed.

Despite the attempts to silence Him many people who heard what He said and saw what He did believed in Him as the Messiah, the savior. As it happens many times the best efforts to silence God fail and have the opposite effect.

 

vs. 31-36

Now Jesus spoke to those who believed in Him. His words are words of instruction and warning. It would also appear those who believed are also stiving to understand. We must remember Jesus is reforming Judaism and taking it back to what YHWH established, not necessarily what the leaders and rabbis wanted or had been teaching. 

Jesus’ first instruction is they must continue in His word, His teachings. If they do so they will be true disciples of Christ and will be free because they will know the truth. The fact He said they would be free caused confusion among them. From their point of view, they were children of Abraham and had never been enslaved. Once again, they were seeing physically while Jesus was speaking spiritually. They were not enslaved physically but were enslaved spiritually, enslaved to sin and the world. They did not recognize this fact even though Jesus was quite clear “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” (vs. 34) The only true freedom from sin and spiritual death is through Christ.

 

vs. 37-42

Christ continues and addresses their contention that they are Abraham’s children. Jesus agrees that they are the physical descendants of Abraham but that does not make them Abraham’s children. We see the same thinking in Matthew 21:28-31 with the story of the two sons. One son said he would work in the fields but did not. The other son said he would not work in the fields but did. The son who said he would not work but did, was the son who truly did what his father wanted. Just because a person is a descendant does not mean they are doing the father’s will. Just because the Jews were descendants of Abraham does not mean they did the Father’s will. 

The Jews were trying to kill Him, something Abraham would not have done. Jesus makes another delineation between Himself and the Jewish priests, Scribes, leaders, and Pharisees. Jesus does what His Father, YHWH, does which is different from what their father does. Jesus told the people that if they were the (true) children of Abraham they would do the deeds of Abraham. This raises the question; What were the deeds of Abraham? Abraham had faith and acted on that faith even before he saw results of the faith. He believed God’s word and acted on it. (Genesis 12:1-4; Like 13:28; Hebrews 11:8-10) The people claimed to love God but hated His Son Jesus. If they genuinely loved God and believed the Scriptures, they would love Jesus the Messiah.

 

vs. 43-47

Jesus asks them a question and then answers His own question. Why do they not understand Him? It is because they follow Satan, not God. Like the son who said he would work but did not, they say they follow God the Father but do not do His works. Jesus has said they wanted to kill Him, now He tells them their desire to kill Him comes from their father Satan, who was a murderer from the beginning and is devoid of any truth. The Jewish leaders claimed they were not trying to kill Him but were lying and knew they were lying. This lying also comes from Satan. Truth comes only from and through Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus now puts them to the test. He asks who can convict Him of sin? Who was witness to any sin He committed? There is no one. They have tried, they have laid traps to catch Him in sin, but no one can witness that He sinned. Since they cannot convict Jesus of sin, He must be telling the truth. If He lied at all they could have convicted Him of sin, but He did not lie or commit any other sin. Since He does not lie and only speaks the truth why do they not believe what He says? The answer is “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” Jesus points out their actions show they are not of God but are acting like their master, Satan.  (Matthew 6:24; John 8:34)

It is appropriate to point out that nothing has changed. Those who are of God hear and do His word. Those who are not of God deny His Word and do the acts of their master, Satan. People’s words and actions condemn them long before they are in front of the judgement seat of God.

 

vs. 48-59

Now the Jews accuse Jesus again. They accused Him of being a Samaritan. To the Jews this was calling Jesus a follower of idols. (Jeroboam changed the worship of the Israelites in 1 Kings 12:25-33. No longer did the inhabitants of the north travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice and worship [Deuteronomy 12:5-14]. Instead, Jeroboam set up idols in Dan and Bethel.) They also accused Him of being possessed by a demon. They said these despite all the miracles and Torah oriented teaching He had done.

“Jesus’ desire to honor God and His personal humility disprove any charge of demonic possession. Since those who have Satan as their spiritual parent will have some of the characteristics of Satan, they will have an evident pride and self-seeking - things that are absent in Jesus.” (e-sword, David Guzik Commentary) Jesus repeats what He has often said, salvation, eternal life is through Him. The Jews accuse Him of having a demon because He said those who keep His Word, believe in Him as the Messiah, will never see death. They said all the prophets died so how can He say those who keep His word will never die. They thought Jesus was saying He was greater than Abraham or the prophets.  They were right but misunderstood. Jesus was speaking of spiritual life, eternal life.

Jesus is greater, but it comes from the Father, not Himself. The Jews say the Father is their God (YHWH), but they do not know Him. (Their words and actions prove they do not know Him.) Jesus knows the Father and, if He said He did not, then He would be a liar like them. Jesus knows the Father and keeps (does) His word. Now Jesus refers to Abraham and states Abraham was glad to see Christ’s day and did see it. God is not God of the dead but of the living. We need to remember that those opposing Jesus included Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection. This is one of the many times Jesus made the point that Abraham, the prophets, and others live. 

Jesus makes who He is clear which infuriates the opposition at that time and throughout history. The Jews mock Jesus saying He is not yet 50 years old; He has seen Abraham who, in their mind, died millennia before Jesus was born. Jesus responds “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.” Jesus saying this tells them in no uncertain terms is the Son of God, He is part of God. It also takes them back to Moses when Moses asked God what he should tell the Hebrews is God’s name. God said I AM that I AM. (Exodus 3:13-14) By giving the answer He gave Jesus is saying He is God. Because He said He was/is God they wanted to stone Him but could not see Him to do so. People today either refuse to believe Jesus is God, belittle Him and His claims, or dismiss/ignore Him, but many believe in Him as savior.

 

John  

Chapter 9

vs. 1-5

“The sense of the flow of the text is that Jesus was not shaken or disturbed by the almost deadly confrontation with the religious leaders that just happened. We find Him calm and self-possessed, acting with a profound disregard of His enemies and their hatred.” (Boice) Jesus was often reviled but never ruffled. “One of the things worthy to be noticed in our Lord’s character is his wonderful quiet of spirit, especially his marvelous calmness in the presence of those who misjudged, and insulted, and slandered him.” (Spurgeon)” (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/john-9/ )  Jesus was not ruffled. He was in control of all situations. While the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him, they could not until the proper time, which was determined by the Father.

Jesus had just left the Jews who wanted to stone Him for what they thought was heresy. Jesus said “I Am” which made Him YHWH or at least equal with YHWH. YHWH stopped them from stoning Him and He passed through the crowd and, on the way, passed by a man begging who was born blind. The man begging probably was letting people know he was blind from birth and needed their help. This could be how the disciples knew he was blind from birth and asked their question of Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”

At that time many people thought illness or disabilities were the results of God punishing people for their sin. They also believed the sins of the parents could be the cause of a child’s illness or disability. Jesus’ response was clear that neither the man nor his parents sinned but rather God chose this man to show His works. Jesus tells us “we must do the works of Him who sent me” which raises the question of who is the “we” He is referring to here. There are a few answers: He may be referring to Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit; or Himself and His disciples; or both. Again, Christ says He is the light of the world as long as He is in the world but also makes clear that night is coming when work cannot happen. The night Jesus speaks of is spiritual night, a time of chaos, a time when He is not in the world.

 

vs. 6-12

Jesus now spits on the ground, makes clay, anoints the man’s eyes with the clay, then told him to “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent), which he did. In Genesis 2:7 God formed (not created from nothing) man from the dust of the ground.  The people of that day had an elevated view of saliva’s healing properties and Jesus did use His spit for healing more than once. (https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-spit.html) Jesus used his spit and the dust of the earth to make eyes for the man. This is the same thing He did when He formed Adam. There is a consistency of actions that did and does escape many people.

The man went to the pool Sent, washed his eyes as instructed, and came back seeing, He had faith, acted on that faith, and was healed. He also came back to where Christ healed him. An interesting note is the English meaning of Siloam, “sent.” The man was sent to the pool and when he went to the pool, he received his healing. Very, very often we are told to do something and when we do it then we receive the blessing. Faith first, then blessings. If blessing comes first, then faith is not needed (James 2:14-26)

When he returned, the people who saw him were not quite sure what to make of him. Shortly before they saw him begging and knew he was blind. Now they see him with their sight. Some who saw him said it was the beggar who was blind while others could not believe he could now see and said it only looked like the man. The man healed told them he was the same man, some believed while others did not, despite the facts and what they saw. This is much the same as what happened and happens with Jesus. He told people who He was, and His works verified who He was, but people refused to believe either His works or words.

People asked him how he received his sight. The formerly blind man told them what Jesus did, that he was told to wash in the pool and when he did, he received his sight. The next obvious question was, where is Jesus? The man did not know.

 

vs. 13-17

The people brought the formerly blind man to the Pharisees. We are not told why but it may be because the healing happened on the Sabbath. Several things happening here that would irritate the Pharisees. First, Jesus “worked” making clay and then worked healing the man. Second, the man walked to the pool which was considered work. Third, he washed his eyes which the Pharisees considered work, and finally, he walked back to where Jesus healed him. We must remember these were Not God’s rules but were instituted by the Pharisees. Neither Jesus nor the blind man violated the laws of God, they just violated the rules of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees asked the man how he received his sight, and he told them what happened. Some of the Pharisees immediately condemned Jesus as not coming from God because He did not obey their Sabbath rules while others said He had to be from God since a sinner could not do what Jesus did. There was a stark division between the two groups. To try and resolve the conflict within the group they asked the man what he thought since his were the eyes that were opened. His immediate reply was that Jesus was a prophet. The man did not yet have a full understanding of who Jesus was/is but knew He was special. (Psalm 146:8)

 

vs. 18-23

The Jews questioning the man just could not believe he was born blind but now could see. To verify that he was born blind they called in his parents. The parents affirmed that this was their son but how he gained his sight they do not know. They tell the Pharisees their son is old enough to answer for himself. The parents were afraid of the reaction from the Jews since the Jews had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah that person would be removed from the synagogue.

Some information concerning the importance of the synagogue is in order here. “Synagogue, in Judaism, is a community house of worship that serves as a place not only for liturgical services but also for assembly and study. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/synagogue) We often look at church as ancillary to our daily lives, a place we go once a week or perhaps more often. To the Jews, the synagogue WAS their daily life. They went to the synagogue (assembly) to pray bet ha-tefilla (“house of prayer”), bet ha-kneset (“house of assembly”), and bet ha-midrash (“house of study”). To be put out of the synagogue effectively meant the person was no longer part of the life of Israel. The ground of their existence was pulled out from under them. This is what the man’s parents were afraid would happen to them. Being excommunicated from the synagogue could be similar to being excommunicated from the community.

 

vs. 24-26

The Pharisees tried to pressure the man to recant or at least diminish Jesus’ part in his healing. Their motives can be seen by their statement “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” By adding that they know Jesus is a sinner they are saying God condones sins and listens to and works miracles through those who sin. This is false and diametrically opposed to who God is and His character.

The man states he does not know if Jesus is a sinner or not. What he does know is he could not see and now, after Jesus healed him, he can see. The man is much more honest than the Pharisees. He does not attempt to judge Jesus he just knows and just relates the facts: he could not see and now he can.

 

vs. 27-34

His response did not satisfy the Pharisees and again they asked how Jesus opened his eyes. This is not an honest inquiry but rather they were looking for a way to refute what he said, show he lied, and cast doubt on the healing and Jesus. The man responded by reminding them he had already related what happened. Why do they want to hear it again? Perhaps they want to become disciples of Jesus. By this question, the man cut through their posturing and attempted misdirection. This upset the Pharisees. They immediately claimed the man was a disciple of Jesus, but they were disciples of Moses, not Jesus. They said they knew God spoke to Moses but have no idea where Jesus was from. Where Jesus is from means where He was born and, more importantly, why He does what he does, what is His motivation, what is His purpose, where does He get His authority?

The formerly blind man again cuts through their smoke and mirrors and tells them it is amazing that they, Pharisees, and leaders, do not know where Jesus is from even though Jesus opened his eyes. He points out what the Pharisees should know, God does not hear sinners but does listen to those who fear God and do His will. He also pointed out the obvious fact that never had anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. The fact Jesus did this for him shows Jesus was from God, despite what the Pharisees may choose to believe. The Pharisees now verbally attack the man and in doing so let him know they consider themselves of a higher status, smarter and wiser than him. They then threw him out of the synagogue.

 

vs. 35-41

Jesus heard what happened and looked for him. When Jesus found him, He asked a tremendously important question: Do you believe in the Son of Man? Jesus is asking if the man believes what God said through the law and prophets. The fact Jesus looked for the man shows His caring and love for the individual. The man’s answer shows he recognizes the signs of the time and the working of God. He responds: Who is He Lord, that I may believe in Him? The man addresses Jesus as Lord and asks his question knowing Jesus can answer. This is in direct opposition to how the man interacted with the Pharisees. In that event, the man, in effect, taught the Pharisees, those who were supposed to be leaders and teachers.

Jesus tells him: “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” Jesus opened the man’s physical eyes and, as we can see next, also opened his spiritual eyes. The man immediately shows his faith by believing in Jesus and worshipping Him. Again, we see the unity of faith and then doing. This interaction made an impression on those Pharisees who were there and witnessed these events. Jesus’ next words made them think and perhaps do a bit of self-reflection.  “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” The formerly blind man was blind and now saw. Many Pharisees had eyes but refused to see what was directly in front of them, they were effectively blind physically, and spiritually.

Upon seeing what happened and then hearing Jesus’ words the Pharisees asked if they were also blind. If they were blind, they would have no sin. Even worse because they said they could see they were deceiving themselves and their sin remains. This takes us back to the formerly blind man answering the Pharisees. In James 4:17 James says the same thing. The Pharisees knew the right thing to do and refused to do it, they followed the leading of their master, Satan.

 

John  

Chapter 10

vs. 1-6

Referring to the sheep and sheep fold is something that would be familiar to the listeners. In towns, sheep from multiple flocks were kept for the night in a common sheepfold. This sheepfold was overseen by one doorkeeper who regulated which shepherds brought and took which sheep. A second kind of sheepfold was one used in the field. A field sheep pen was an enclosure for sheep with only one entrance. In a field sheepfold, the shepherd physically laid his body across the entrance. This was to keep the sheep in and to keep out the wolves. The shepherd was in fact the door. (e-Sword, David Guzik)

This lesson about the sheep and sheepfold is a direct reference to what happened with the man born blind and the Pharisees. The Pharisees did not like what the man said and excommunicated him from the synagogue. They showed themselves to be false shepherds who had their own interests in mind and not those of the sheep. The blind man did not listen to the Pharisees but did listen to Jesus. He recognized the voice of the true shepherd, Jesus, and followed him.

Jesus’s words and examples should have been clear to them, but they did not understand what He was saying. Their ears were closed to the voice of the true shepherd but listened only for the voice of their shepherd, Satan.

 

vs. 7-10

Jesus repeats what He said, but in even stronger words. Using “truly, truly” is a way to strongly emphasize to the listener that what is about to be said is extremely important. Jesus repeats He is the door to the sheep fold. He places Himself at the entrance of the sheep fold. He is prepared to give, and in fact does give, His life to protect the sheep. All those had already come claiming to be the Messiah were liars, thieves, and robbers. They were intent on stealing the sheep. Those who were Jesus’ sheep did not listen to or follow them.

Again, Jesus states He is the door. He maintains access to salvation and eternal life. He keeps the thieves and robbers out of the sheep fold and protects the sheep. Jesus leads His sheep to green pastures and living water. Anyone else comes only to lead the sheep away to destruction.

 

vs. 11-18

Christ continues His metaphor of shepherds. Jesus is the good shepherd, the shepherd who genuinely cares about the sheep. He is not only willing to lay down His life for the sheep; He did lay down His life. Those who came before and after claiming to be the Messiah were not in fact the Messiah and did not genuinely care for the sheep. In our day those who pastor as a profession and do not have a calling from the Lord are also hired hands, they care for themselves more than they care for the sheep. The Lord knows which sheep (people) are His. Those who believe know His voice. They know His voice through their knowledge of Scripture and through the Holy Spirit working in their lives.

Now we come to a comment that has had theologians arguing about its meaning for years. “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Some theologians say He is speaking of the ten Israel tribes that were not part of Judah. Some think He is speaking of the Jews in diaspora. Some think He is speaking of the of the native Americans in North and South America. Some think He is speaking of the Gentiles. My personal thought is He was speaking of all those who would come to believe in Him throughout time, culture, and geography until He returns. All Hebrews and Gentiles, who believe in Jesus as the Messiah will be one in unity and Christ will be their shepherd.

Next is an important, foundational statement.  Christ decides when He will lay down His life, no one on earth has the power or authority to make that decision. Christ also decides when He will raise His life up. Again, no one on earth has the power or authority to make that decision. While in the physical world it appears His life was taken from Him, in reality He decided when it would happen. Everything in Jesus’ life was in accordance with prophesy, including His death and resurrection.

 

 vs. 19-21

Once again there is division among the Jews concerning what Jesus has said. Some take the stance that He is demon possessed and insane. This is similar to what people say today. If a person truly preaches Christ, and especially if they preach with the power of the Holy Spirit, people say they are insane, took leave of reality. Seldom will people say they are demon-possessed since belief in demons is neither culturally of politically correct in our time.

Another group listens to what Jesus says and His works and recognize these are not the words or actions of a person who is demon-possessed or insane. His words prove He is not insane, and a demon cannot open these eyes of a person born blind.

 

vs. 22-30

The Feast of the Dedication was also called the Feast of Hanukkah, celebrated annually by the Jews for eight days to commemorate the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated by the Syrians under Antiochus Epiphanes (also known as Antiochus the madman). It is interesting that Jesus is in the temple when this event occurred. While He was walking the Jews (probably the leadership. Pharisees and Sadducees) asked Jesus very directly if He is the Messiah. Jesus’ answer is that He has already told them and, if they do not believe Him then believe the work He does in the Father’s name. This happens after He restores the blind man’s sight, and some say He is insane. His words and work prove who Jesus is but as has happened since, some believe, and many do not believe.

Jesus is clear that those who do not believe are not His sheep. They follow their father, Satan. Those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah follow Him, know His voice and He knows them. Those who love Jesus follow Him and Jesus gives them eternal life, they will not perish. We now come to a very misunderstood passage: “no one will snatch them out of My hand.” This passage is used to state once a person is saved; they cannot be unsaved. That is, once saved a person is always saved. The problem is the passage states nothing can pluck, or take, a believer out of Jesus’ hand, He does not say they cannot walk out of their own free will. 2 Timothy 4:10 tells us Demas did exactly that. Hebrews 6:4 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,” tells us that not only was it possible to leave Christ, but some did. See also Matthew 24:12; Luke 8:13; John 6:66; Hebrews 3:12; 1 Timothy 5:15; 2 Peter 3:17 and 1 John 4:19.

Christ again says He and the Father are one. This is without equivocation stating who Christ is and answers their questions.

 

vs. 31-39

Once again, the Jews want to stone Jesus for saying He and the Father are one. To their thinking this was blasphemy. Jesus had said they should believe because of His good works from the Father. Now He asks which of these good works they want to stone Him. The people reply they are not stoning Him for any good works but because He said He is the Son of God. Jesus’ reply that is that they should believe His works even if they do not believe what He says. Believe the facts of what He does. Remember this comes after Jesus created sight for a man born blind and had many other works. Faith and works go together (as we see in James 2:14-18).

Jesus ends by saying “that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Again, the Jews wanted to stone Jesus but, since Jesus was in charge not the Jews, they were not able to do so.

 

vs. 31-42

Jesus went to where John had been baptizing. Once again, we see a division among the Jews concerning who Jesus is. This time the people were looking at what Jesus said and His works and recognized He is the Son of God. They referred to John the baptizer and realized everything John said about Jesus was true and the believed Jesus is the Son of God as He said.

 

John  

Chapter 11

vs. 1-10

Jesus has healed the man blind from birth, tells the Jewish Pharisees and leaders He is the Son of God, told them to believe His works and words and then went to where John had been baptizing. While there, messengers from Martha and Mary told Him Lazarus whom He loved was sick and they wanted Him to come. Jesus said that the sickness was not to death and the sickness was to show God’s glory.

     After being told about Lazarus Jesus waited two more days before He told His disciples was going to Judea. The disciples were confused, those in Judea had just tried to kill Him and now He was going back? Jesus’ reply is an important lesson for all of us, not just the disciples. “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” Christ is the light. While we walk in Him, we will not stumble but if we do not walk in Him, we will stumble. Notice Jesus says the light is not in that person. That means Jesus is not in that person and they will not see or recognize the temptations and sin that cause stumbling.

 

vs. 17-29

“There is a tradition in Judaism that, after death, the soul does not immediately depart the deceased, but hovers over the body for a period of three days, during which time resurrection is possible. Jesus arrived in Bethany near Jerusalem on the fourth day. This could explain why, after hearing the news that Lazarus was extremely ill, “he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (Jn. 11:6) Jesus knew how long it would take to travel to Bethany and He would arrive, not only after Lazarus’ death, but when, according to popular Jewish belief, resurrection was no longer possible – on the fourth day.” (The Jewish Gospel of John: Discovering Jesus, King of All Israel p180 Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg)

     That Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead four days does not mean He believed the tradition. But rather would give the Judeans no opportunity to say Lazarus’ soul was still there and he was brought back to life by anything other than the power of God.

Martha went to meet Jesus. Her first words came from both her grief and her belief in Jesus. “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus assures her Lazarus will rise again and Martha immediately thinks of the resurrection on the last day. Her thinking did not include immediate resurrection. Jesus said He is the resurrection and the life.

     Resurrection was not something Jesus would do with his Father’s help. Resurrection and Life are who Jesus is. When we look at the story of Lazarus, we can see parallels between the raising of Lazarus and the healing of the man who was blind from birth. In the case of the healing of the blind man, light was given; and in the case of Lazarus, life was given. (John 1:4) (The Jewish Gospel of John: Discovering Jesus, King of All Israel p179 Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg)

Martha confirms her belief in Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior. Once she did this, she left to find Mary and tell her that Jesus was calling her.

 

vs. 30-37

      When Mary met Jesus, He had not yet arrived at the village but was still where Martha met Him. Thinking she was going to the grave of Lazarus, the mourners at their house followed Mary. Those who followed Mary were witness to all that subsequently happened.

      Most Jews of the first century in the land of Israel buried people twice. When someone died, the body was first wrapped in a cloth and placed in a cave for a prolonged period. After the body decayed and only bones remained, they were collected and placed in a special box called an ossuary. Biblical Archeology has had several articles on ossuaries. At this point Lazarus was in the first stage of burial.

      When Mary came to Jesus she fell at His feet in supplication and worship. Her comment “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Shows her faith in Jesus. She knew He would have been able to heal him and keep him from death. Seeing Mary and those with her weeping Jesus was moved in His spirit and He was troubled. It was more than just His close friend dying. Death was not what God wanted for man. Man was made to love and serve God, when sin entered the world so did death, physical and spiritual death. Jesus was very troubled and grieved over His friend’s death but also in the fact death entered the world at all. There was no need for death if man had not decided to follow Satan.

      Jesus asked where they had laid Lazarus. They were about to show Him when Jesus wept. The people with Mary commented on how much Jesus loved Lazarus. This is true, but He also wept for His creation and mankind. He wept for what sin had done to His creation. He wept because people were hard-hearted and would not listen to the Word of God. He wept because of what sin had done to people’s lives. While some commented on how much Jesus loved Lazarus others asked if Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind could not He save Lazarus from dying? Amidst the grieving, they seemed to be looking for a way to find fault with Jesus.

 

vs. 38-44

     Jesus was very moved by the death of Lazarus and the results of sin in the world, death. Jesus came to the cave where Lazarus had been laid and saw a stone was lying across the entrance to seal the cave. Jesus told those at the tomb to remove the stone. The immediate reaction was one that would be normal from a purely human, temporal perspective, he has been dead four days and there will be a stench from decay. Jesus operated in complete reality, temporal and spiritual. He tells them to believe and see the Glory of God. See what God will do.

     They removed the stone as he told them. Jesus prayed to the Father thanking God for hearing Him. Jesus said this for the sake of those with Him. Jesus knew the father always heard Him but wanted to make sure those with Him knew YHWH was who sent Him into the world. Once Jesus did this, He called for Lazarus to come out of the tomb. Lazarus came out of the tomb in his grave wrappings. One phrase shows the authenticity of the account “…, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.” The face was covered with a cloth separate from those that covered the body. We see the same thing with Jesus after He was crucified and resurrected. (John 20:6-7)

     Lazarus in Hebrew is Eliezer, which means God will help. (John 1:4) When we look at the story of Lazarus, we can see parallels between the raising of Lazarus and the healing of the man who was blind from birth. In the case of the healing of the blind man, light was given; and in the case of Lazarus, life was given." (John 1:4) (The Jewish Gospel of John: Discovering Jesus, King of All Israel p179 Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg)

 

vs. 45-46

     Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. There is no question Lazarus was truly dead. Many people who saw this believed in Jesus as the Messiah. His power and control through the Father in Him are evident. This was the good news. The bad news (from our perspective) was some others went and told the Pharisees what Jesus had done.

 

vs. 47-53

     When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, they and the chief priests called a council to discuss what they would do about Jesus. They felt they just could not allow Jesus to continue doing God’s work. Their reasoning was straightforward: “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” The Chief Priests and Pharisees were concerned only with themselves and their positions and wealth. That Jesus was doing God’s work complete with signs and miracles was of no concern to them, they wanted the power and accolades that went with the position. Jesus addressed this thinking in Matthew 20:26-28

     Caiaphas, the high priest commented and prophesied that it is expedient that one man dies for the entire nation. While Caiaphas was specific to one nation, Israel, Christ died for all nations and peoples. Also, Caiaphas was truly only concerned about himself. The Chief priests and Pharisees started to look for a way to kill Jesus. Again, their thoughts were only for themselves and not for Israel.

 

vs. 53-54

     Jesus now no longer walked among the Jews but went to Ephraim, close to the wilderness. Ephraim is thought to have been about thirteen miles north of Jerusalem and was considered a wilderness area.

 

vs. 55-57

     It was almost time for Passover and many people were going to Jerusalem to prepare for it. Remember that Jesus was not a Christian, but a Torah-observant Israelite. Jesus was thoroughly Jewish, the Torah - all the Torah - was utterly important to Him, therefore, He would go to the Passover celebration. Passover was particularly important to Jesus. It celebrated when He saved the Israelites from the death angel and led them to the promised land. He was about to do the same spiritually for all peoples.

     The Pharisees and chief priests, wanting to kill Jesus, gave orders to everyone that if they knew where Jesus was, they were to report it so they might kidnap and kill Him.

 

John  

Chapter 12

vs. 1-7

Before the Passover Jesus came back to the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. They made supper for Him and Martha served it. Mary had a pound (about twelve ounces in Roman measurement) and anointed the feet of Jesus with it and wiped off the excess with her hair.

There are a few things that must be mentioned here. This Mary is often thought of as the same Mary in chapter 7 who was a prostitute. They (probably) were not the same person. Nard is an oil-producing plant, the horizontal subterranean plant stems of which were crushed to produce an extravagant, aromatic oil. In Judaism and in many other cultures in the ancient world, hair was associated with a woman’s glory, self-worth, and self-respect. (1 Cor. 11:15) Not only did Mary anoint Jesus’ feet with an extremely expensive ointment she also used her hair to wipe the excess oil that did not get absorbed into Jesus’ skin. She placed her self-worth at His feet; she gave Him her riches and her glory. It was an act of worship and devotion.

Another thing to keep in mind was the local area of Bethany was extremely poor. Those who had the means provided help to those who were poor. This gives a bit of a different view of Judas’ comment and apparent concern for the local poor. I say this because, as John points out, what Judas truly cared about was himself. Since he kept the money, if the cost of the perfume had been given to him to give to the poor, he would have been able to steal some or all of it.

The response of Jesus is interesting. “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. ⁸For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” This is not an excuse for Christ-followers to be unconcerned for the poor. Rather it is an answer to Judas’ statement about using the money for the poor in the Bethany area. It is also set against the worship actions of Mary. Mary recognized the truly important, Judas did not.

 

vs. 8-11

Now we come to a passage that amazes me due to the self-serving, evil, depravity of heart, thinking, and life and of the chief priests and Pharisees. Many people came not to see or hear Jesus but to see Lazarus who Jesus had raised from the dead. Lazarus was walking, talking, proof that Jesus was who He said He was, the Messiah, the Son of God. Because Lazarus was proof of Jesus as Messiah, the chief priests and Pharisees were planning to kill him also. This shows the state of their hearts. Instead of worshipping God, they choose to try and eliminate the proof and ignore the facts. It did not work. Because of Lazarus many people listened to and believed in Jesus as the Christ.

This passage could be speaking about any point in time and on earth since Jesus was born. We still see people denying Christ and trying to stop any person or organization from testifying about what Christ has done and about Him as savior.

 

vs. 12-19

Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for the Passover. He was well known by this time and the crowd gathered in Jerusalem went to meet Him. As they went to meet Him, they cut palm branches and laid them in His path, and many laid their outer garments on the ground in front of Him. This fulfilled Lev. 23:40 and Neh. 8:15. God commanded that during the Feast of Tabernacles the Israelites were to cut palm branches and make temporary booths in which to dwell. (This makes sense since Jesus is the perfect Tabernacle and was born during the Feast of Tabernacles.)

The crowd shouted Hosanna meaning “save now,” and on this day the crowd received Jesus as a triumphant Messiah. There is a strong possibility at least some of the crowd were looking to Jesus as a political and/or military savior, one who would drive out the Romans. They did not necessarily see Him as a spiritual savior. At this point, Jesus’ disciples found a young donkey and sat on it to ride into Jerusalem. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilled Zechariah 9:9 and showed He came in peace. In that time a ruler who came in peace rode on an ass. The ruler who came on a horse came as a conqueror. The fact Jesus came riding on an ass should have, and given subsequent events probably did, let the people know He did not come as a political or military leader to defeat the Romans.

At the time, the disciples did not understand what was happening and its place in prophecy. They did understand after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Those who were there when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead continued to tell everyone they saw what happened and how God moved through Jesus. This did not sit well with the Jewish leadership and the Pharisees. They just wanted Jesus and now Lazarus to go away and if they had to murder them to make that happen, so be it.

 

vs. 20-26

The Greeks coming to the feast would have been Gentiles who had converted to Judaism. Their request was not an accident. These were Greeks who had a heart toward God, were thinking people who made a decision they wanted to see Jesus. Here, just before His crucifixion and resurrection, we see the Gentiles coming to Christ. Now we have both Jews and Gentiles coming to Christ, the whole world.

Jesus’ response to the Greeks wanting to see Him can appear to be a disconnect. Jesus now states it is time for Him to die. He also gives the reason He must die, and He uses a seed to make the point. A seed, unless it dies, cannot produce fruit. Jesus must die and then resurrect in order to produce the fruit, saving mankind from their sins, He came to produce. Note: To fully experience fruit a person must eat it, make it part of themselves. To fully experience Christ, we must partake of Him, make Him part of ourselves. Christ said this in Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-24; John 6:53-56. Jesus now makes a comment that can cause people to say Huh!  ^”He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” Cultures throughout the eons have taught that we should live our lives and do our best not to lose our lives. Christ says the opposite. What is important is why we should do the opposite. What is the state of our heart? Do we truly follow Christ? Do we love Christ first, even above our lives? To “hate” our lives mean we make our wants and desires second to Christ. We operate through the love of Christ and put others before our wants and desires. Our physical lives are only for a short time. We need to recognize that the eternal is more important and act that way.

 

vs. 27-36

We read these words, but do we really consider and at least partly understand their meaning? Jesus lived His life in obedience to YHWH (the Father) and, unlike Adam, He never sinned. He never let Satan lead Him into any sin. Jesus chose to follow the Father only. He came to be a sacrifice, the sacrificial Passover lamb for us. Now He is getting close in time to when He will be sacrificed. As a human, He is very, very troubled when contemplating what will soon happen. We see His obedience and commitment to the father even while He is extremely troubled and stressed. He chooses to follow God’s Will and knows what is about to happen is exactly why He is here. He then says something very characteristic,” Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus is not looking for self-glory but rather the Father’s glory.

God answered Jesus and when he did some people said it thundered, and some said an angel spoke to Him. Jesus is very clear that the Father spoke to Him, but it was for the benefit of the people. This is very similar to the Father speaking to Jesus at His baptism. Jesus goes on to say judgment has come upon the world and the ruler of the world will be cast out. The ruler of this world Jesus referred to is Satan. Jesus the Messiah continues “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” The verb used for lifted up (the ancient Greek word hypsothenai) has a deliberate double meaning. It means both a literal elevation (as in being raised up on a cross) and exaltation (being raised in rank or honor). Here being “lifted up” refers to being hung on a tree, a most ignominious and cursed death. It can also refer to Him being “lifted up”, exalted after His death, burial, and resurrection. Deut. 21:22-23 states “And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land is not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” In the case of Christ, He was hung on a tree (the cross) not for His sins but for ours. We have sin worthy of death; Christ had no sin.

The people were confused. They heard that Christ would live forever and now Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up, that is, hung on a tree. They asked Him who is the Son of Man? Jesus responds by saying that the light will be with them for just a little while longer. The people, at least some of them, would remember Jesus said He is the light of the world. This answers their question, Jesus is the Son of Man and He will be lifted up both on the cross and to the right hand of the Father.

 

vs. 36-43

Immediately after Jesus said these things He hid from the people. We are not told why. Perhaps it was because the chief priests, Pharisees, and Jewish leaders still wanted to kill Him, and it was not yet time. Perhaps it was because the people wanted to make Him king. We must remember Jesus was in charge, not Satan or Satan’s followers. John makes an important comment that is as true for our time as it was when Jesus was on earth “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” Isaiah’s prophecy was and is on target. Despite the evidence, people would just not believe. (Isaiah 32:3 NASB) The people had prepared themselves to be blinded and hardened. God gave them what their lives showed they wanted.  Despite many people choosing not to see or hear many people, including leaders and rulers believed in Jesus as the Messiah but were afraid to say anything because the Pharisees were excommunicating anyone from the synagogues who said they believed in Christ. John’s comment ’⁴³for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” Goes to the source of the issue.

 

vs. 44-50

Jesus is the representative of God in so close and perfect a manner that “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me." To believe in Christ is to believe in God because all that Jesus is and does proceeds from God and leads to God. The whole purpose of Christ’s manifestation was to reveal God. Jesus’ purpose was to guide thought to Him whom He revealed. Jesus was sustained by the Father, and all He said and did come from the Father. Whoever believed in Him believed in the Father.

 

John

Chapter 13

vs. 1-4

Jesus knew this would be His last Passover with His friends/disciples on earth. Within 24 hours of this meal, Jesus would be crucified. Jesus knew He would be departing to the Father but before that He would be beaten almost to death, reviled, spit on, crucified and take on the sins of the world from the beginning of time until He returns. He would take the wrath of the Father for the sins of people He took on. He would suffer these as both fully human and fully divine. An unbelievably difficult and appallingly horrific time.

Jesus “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” There have been several interpretations of this passage all trying to understand what Jesus meant. I tend to take it just as He said. Jesus knew He was departing and loved those who believed in Him. He loves them to the end, not only the end of His life on earth but also to the end of all time and eternity. These people He loved must stay in the world to testify and witness of Him while He goes back to the father.

Finally, we are told that Satan had already put into Judas Iscariot’s to betray Jesus. This would not have been a spur of the moment decision on the part of Judas, but one made over time. Like a fisherman enticing fish with bait Satan would have been enticing Judas for a long time.

 

vs. 3-11

Jesus knew what was going to happen and, because God had given everything to Him, knew He was in total control. Before we look the next action of Jesus, we need to look back on some of the dynamics among the disciples. The mother of James and John asked Jesus to have one sit at His right hand and the other to sit on His left when He comes into His kingdom. They also discussed which of them would be the greatest. Jesus had corrected their thinking previously and now makes His point visually.

Jesus, gets up from the supper (probably before the meal actually started), laid aside what He was wearing, girded Himself with a towel and started to wash the disciple’s feet. This is Amazing. Jesus, the Son of God, our Lord, washes the feet of the disciples. Washing the feet of others was work done by the lowest slave, here the Son of God is doing it. When He came to Peter’s feet Peter said Christ would not wash his feet. Peter misunderstood what Christ was doing. This is far more than just getting the road dust, sweat and dirt off a person’s feet, it is a philosophy for a successful life. Be willing to serve. Be willing to give yourself for others. Operate by love, not pride and self- aggrandizement. As Christ washed the feet of the disciples so we must be willing to do the same in spirit and actuality.

One last very important note. Christ washed the feet of Judas Iscariot who was planning to betray Him. Jesus said, “Not all of you are clean.” Jesus knew who was going to betray Him but washed that person’s feet along with the others. The other disciples would have remembered this after Jesus’ betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection. It is a powerful lesson for everyone. Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:28 both document Jesus saying to pray for those, love those, help those that despitefully uses you. Christ washing Judas Iscariot’s feet is a crystal-clear example.

This section also provides a clear view of the difference in the basis of God’s actions and those of Satan. God’s actions are motivated by love and caring. We see this from the beginning, and it is consistent throughout all of God’s actions.  Satan’s actions are motivated by pride, hate, vengeance, and what is in it for him. We see these are Satan’s consistent actions from the very beginning.

 

vs. 12-20

After Jesus finished washing their feet he got dressed and reclined at the table. He then asks the disciples if they knew what He had done to them. This was not just asking if they observed, but did they understand. Did they truly understand what He, the Son of God, the Messiah, their maker, creator of everything, just did? He SERVED them. He put them before Himself. He did not allow pride to rule. He truly loved the disciple and ACTED on that love. He taught them and us we are to prefer others before ourselves and this is especially true with other true Christians.

Jesus emphasizes His lesson by pointing out a slave is not greater than their master. We are not greater than our maker, Christ. If He was willing to do the job of the lowest slave, then we must also be willing to do so. Jesus says we will be blessed “IF WE DO THESE THINGS.” (Romans 2:13) This is very important belief, and faith always results in appropriate action. James tells us the same in his letter (James 1:22; 2:20b). Jesus now switches the subject from being His disciple and a servant, to one of them betraying Him. One of them, Judas Iscariot, is only feigning being a servant and belief in Christ.

Jesus now tells all of them, including Judas Iscariot, that one of those who shares bread with Him will betray him. I am amazed that Jesus shared bread and all He had with Judas knowing Judas would betray Him. Jesus is telling them this will happen so when it does happen the disciples will remember He told them, and their faith and assurance will increase. Now Jesus assures them whoever accept them, and their words, accepts Jesus and the Father.

(A note: Christ is the Bright Morning Star, Revelation 22:16-17. Lucifer was the Morning Star, Isaiah 14:12.   Job 38:7 and Isaiah 14:12-17 tells us of a time the Morning Stars sang together.  A time when Jesus and Lucifer were in accord before Lucifer sinned and became Satan. Lucifer means light bringer, shining one. Satan means adversary.)

 

vs. 21-30

Jesus is more specific about His betrayal. Sometimes language is not able to transmit how deeply a person feels something, this is the case here. John said Jesus became troubled in spirit and said “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” Jesus KNEW He would be betrayed. He also knew what would come of that betrayal. He knew the physical torture and pain He would go through. He also knew the spiritual pain He would suffer as He took on all the sins of the world from Adam and Eve until He returns. He also knew those sins would separate Him from the Father for a time. Perhaps something we may not think about, but He also knew the eternal fate of Judas Iscariot for betraying Him and that would weigh on Him. All of these would be piled up on Him spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. It is very hard to convey that in any language.

When Jesus said this the disciples started wondering to which of them Jesus was referring. The disciple reclining on Jesus’ bosom was John. Peter asked John to ask Jesus who it was.  Jesus answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” Jesus then took the morsel, dipped it, and gave it to Judas Iscariot. After Judas Iscariot took the morsel Satan entered him, and when Jesus told him to do what he must, Judas Iscariot left. No one at the table except Jesus knew what Judas Iscariot was to do.

Now Jesus had just told John who would betray Him but no one at the table knew why Judas Iscariot left. Perhaps John had not had the chance to tell Peter. Perhaps John did not really understand. Perhaps their minds were clouded so they would not try to stop Judas from doing what was needed for Christ to fulfill His mission.

On a side note, when Judas Iscariot left to betray Christ, it was night. In Job 24:13-16; Psalm 74:20; Isaiah 29:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and many other scriptures show evil deeds are done in the dark and not in the light. Judas’, the Pharisees, and priests’ actions are very consistent with evil being done in the dark.

 

vs. 31-38

Once Judas Iscariot left, Jesus states now is the Son of Man glorified. He is saying with Judas leaving His journey to His death and resurrection has started. Through His death and resurrection God is glorified. This goes against human logic, through the death and resurrection of His Son God and His Son are glorified. I find Jesus calling His disciples “little children” interesting and genuinely nice. It sends a message of fatherly love and recognizing the disciples are children and are learning. He assures them He will be with them for a little longer but then they will look for, but not be able to find Him. At this time, they cannot go to where He is going.

Now comes a critical commandment “that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” Because of the love we have for each other everyone will know we are disciples of Christ. This is an area where Christians have fallen far short. Many times, Christians instead of showing the love of Christ and forgiving those who have sinned, we bayonet the spiritually wounded. Forgiving does not mean condoning, but it does mean truly forgiving through love. If Christ forgives us, how can we not forgive others?

After Christ says this Peter asks where He is going that they could not come. I would think Peter would ask about loving each other but instead he asks about where Christ is going. Jesus does not answer directly but does say they will follow later. Peter does not understand and says he will lay down his life for Jesus. Jesus knows man and what man will do. He tells Peter that he will deny Him three times that night. Peter did. Before we get upset with Peter, we must realize we all do the same and, like Peter, without realizing it until after-the-fact.

 

John  

Chapter 14

vs. 1-6

The disciples are very distressed because of Jesus’ words. Christ, who knows He will soon be crucified, comforts them. His action tells us a lot about God and His love for us. Despite what is going on around us, despite all external circumstances and how they appear or even affect us, God loves us, cares for us, protects us and comforts us. Christ says to believe in God and believe in Him. Have faith. Our world has many true Christians with different doctrines but with the same belief in Christ, His death and resurrection, as the Savior. There is room for all of them in the Kingdom of God. Not only is there room for all true believers but Jesus is there and shows us the way. In fact, we already know following Christ is the way.

Thomas asks the question many of us would ask: “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Thomas still did not understand Jesus was going back to the Father. Given that he did not understand Jesus is God and was going back to the Father he did not understand Jesus is the way. Jesus makes it very clear He is the way, the truth and the life and the only way to the Father is through Him.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life no one comes to the Father but through Me” This is quite a statement to make. Unless Jesus is who He says He is this is the statement of a megalomaniac or an insane person. There is no other way to the Father except through Christ, through believing Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world. In fact, non-believers point to this statement to disparage and diminish Christ. Unless Jesus is who says He is, the Son of God, a very part of the Trinity the statement is a lie. The proof Jesus is who He says he is has already been shown, His life, His words, His works, His miracles, His testimony from Scripture and God’s Words to Him, John the Baptist, and His Disciples. The proof is overwhelming but, in the end, it is a matter of faith in YHWH. If there was any other way to the Father, any other way of salvation, Christ would not have needed to come, live, be crucified, dead, buried and resurrected. After His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection there were about five hundred people who, at different times, saw Jesus alive. Given the times and circumstances this could not have been, and was not, a mass delusion or hallucination. Jesus is the Messiah, the way, the truth and the life.

 

vs. 7-15

The Gospel repeatedly drives the same point home, to see Jesus is to see God; to accept Him is to accept God; and to serve Him, is to serve God. Jesus, and Jesus alone is the center of God’s presence and is the center of our life. Jesus drives this home by saying ^“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father….” Philip now asks Jesus to show them the Father and it will be enough. Jesus’ reply sounds like a mild rebuke: “…. He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?.” In some ways the disciples still did not get it. Jesus has been clear more than once that the person who sees Him sees the Father. Jesus does what the Father instructs, Jesus says what the Father says. Now, before we think less of Philip for asking this, people in our day do the same. While they may not say the words, they act like they do not believe Jesus is God. As said earlier, Jesus has many, many works and proofs He is the Son of God.

Jesus now says something that has been a problem for many people.  ”Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.” “greater works than these he will do” means what? Can we do greater works than Christ? Should we do greater works than Christ?  The words of Christ say we can and will. Why do we not? Could it be because we lack faith? Could it be because we have been taught, we cannot do greater things than Christ did? When, during the Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine replaced the Judaic system of Church with a Greco-Roman hierarchy the church Christ instituted was replaced with a system that was part of the pagan worship hierarchy. This is not surprising since Constantine was a pagan and remained a pagan throughout his life. He was baptized on his deathbed, but no one is sure if he became a true believer in Christ. How can a pagan be expected to truly believe and promulgate the words of Jesus the Messiah?

(One of the problems that came out of Nicaea and other councils was changing Christian feast days [i.e. Passover to Easter] which made with the Jewish feasts our Lord lived by to coincide with pagan feasts. Constantine hated the Jews and did not want anything that was even a little bit Jewish associated with Christianity. Remember, Constantine was a pagan, and we have allowed his direction to determine our beliefs since his time. This is beyond heretical.)

We are instructed to ask what we ask in Jesus’ name. It is NOT a formula to get what we want from God. It is NOT a type of ritual to get God to hear us. To ask something in the name of Jesus is to ask because of who He is, what He says, and what He does. Jesus is the focal point. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.          If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” If we ask with Jesus as the focal point, we will not ask inappropriately. If we ask with Jesus as the focal point, we will ask in love. If we ask with Jesus as the focal point, we will ask preferring others before ourselves. If we ask with Jesus as the focal point, we will ask that which further the Kingdom of Heaven. If we ask with Jesus as the focal point, we will ask for that which will bring people to Christ for salvation. If we love Christ we will keep His commandments. We do not keep His commandments to get His love but because we love Him and Christ loves us.

 

vs. 16-17

        Verse 16 is a verse that shows the Trinity. Jesus asks the Father who sends the Holy Spirit. The Greek word “parakletos” is translated here as Helper and means “a person summoned to one’s aid.” It may refer to an advisor, a legal defender, a mediator, or an intercessor. This helper will be with them forever, not just for a short period of time, but throughout eternity, without end. This helper is the Spirit of Truth and is a personality, not an ‘it’ but a person. Truth is not just in the Holy Spirit but is the truth. Just as Jesus the Son and God the Father are the truth the Holy Spirit of God, being part of the Trinity is also the truth.

 

        The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is holy and true. The world rejected Christ, one of the Trinity so it follows the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit also part of the Trinity, one God. The world cannot even see the Holy Spirit or recognize or perceive the working of Him. The disciples know the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is with them in the person of Jesus and, after Jesus leaves, will be in them. The Holy Spirit will live in them and in all true believers.

 

vs. 18-24

        Christ will not leave the disciples, or us, alone without anyone to love and care for us. He repeats that in a short while the world will not see Him, He will be gone. Even though the world will not see Him the disciples will because, like the Holy Spirit, Jesus will abide in them. Because Jesus lives, they will live. They will do Jesus’ work and commandments. They will show Jesus lives in them through their love. Very importantly is Jesus telling them He is in the Father and He is in them, and they are in Him. The first two parts of that comment tell us again that Jesus and the Father are one. If Jesus and the Father are one and Jesus is in us, then the Father and Holy Spirit are also in us. The person who loves Jesus keeps His commandments because they love Him.

 

Judas (not Iscariot) did not understand and questions Jesus. What is going to happen and how will it happen that Jesus will reveal Himself to the disciples but not to the world? Jesus repeats what He had said, the person who loves Him will do His commandments, and Jesus and the Father will live in that person. Jesus also repeats what He has often said, His words are the Father’s words. The words we keep reading here are love, commandments, and abide. If we love Christ, we will keep His commandments and He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit will live in us.

 

vs. 25-31 

Jesus reminds them that He has said all these things while He was with them physically, but after He is gone the Holy Spirit will be with them, teach them all they need to know, physically and will cause them to remember what Jesus said while with them. It does us well to realize He does the same for us. We read His words and can forget what we read. The Holy Spirit will teach us and bring what we read and hear to our remembrance at the proper time. (Matthew 10:17-20; Luke 21:12-15)

Christ gives His blessing to the disciples, and to us. The word used would have been shalom. We think of shalom as hello or goodbye, it is far more than that. Shalom carries the meaning of prosperity, health of soul, serenity, and all good things coming to the person. Remember Christ said the Holy Spirit would be with them (and us) forever. Because Christ is in us, the Holy Spirit is in us and God loves us we do not need to be afraid or troubled. There is nothing man can do that will separate us from God. There are no external circumstances that can separate us from God. Only what happens in us can grieve the Holy Spirit and separate us from God. (Matthew 12:31; Ephesians 4:30; James 1:14-15)

 

Christ gives His almost final lesson to the disciples. After He tells them not to be troubled or afraid, now He tells them why they should not be troubled or afraid. 1) They see the Father in Him. He is God come to man. 2) He gives them His peace. 3) He assures them of His continuing love. (1 John 4:18) 4) The Holy Spirit will abide in them. 5) He has told them in advance what will happen. 5) He is going back to the Father. 6) Satan has no hold on Him and He has defeated Satan. Christ did what Adam did not. (1 Corinthians 15:45) Finally, 7) Christ does exactly what the Father commands.

Christ also said He goes back to the Father and the Father is greater than Him. This is a bit confusing since Jesus is part of the Trinity and, like the Holy Spirit is part of God. One thought is Jesus was speaking about His mortal being, before His death and resurrection. This seems to make sense.

 

John  

Chapter 15                                                                                                                                                                                                       

vs. 1-8

The use of a vine was not new to Jesus’ listeners. We see a vine used in Genesis 49:22, Isaiah 5:1-16, Ezekiel 15:6-8, and Zachariah. Jesus is the main vine and the branches stem from Him and get their nourishment from Him.  The word translated vinedresser is better translated husbandman. The Father is the owner of the vineyard as well as the vinedresser. The Father lifts up or removes the branches that are not fruitful. He lifts up to bring them into more light and help their growth. If they still do not produce fruit, He removes and destroys them. God prunes the branches to remove anything that would hinder or stop their growth. God brings to light the things in our lives that hinder or stop our growth in Christ.

The branches get nourishment from the main vine. Without the vine the branches would die. We have our spiritual and physical nourishment from Christ. Without Him as the vine, we would die of physical and spiritual starvation. When we abide in Christ, we will be fruitful because we are nourished by Him. If we separate from the Vine, Christ, we cannot bear any fruit.

Continuing the analogy of the vine Christ tells us any branch does not abide in Him dries up and is thrown away into the fire and is burned. The opposite is to abide in Christ and be nourished and grow. If we abide in Christ, then what we wish will be done for us. What is important is: if we abide in Christ, we will not ask amiss, we will not ask in accordance with the desires and lusts of the world.

 

vs. 9-17

Now we come to an amazing and exciting word from Christ. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰If you keep My commandments you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” As much as the Father loves Christ, so Christ loves us. The only thing Christ says we must do is to keep His commandments as He kept the Father’s commandments. Remember Christ said the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love others.

Christ is specific about His commandment, to love one another as Christ loved them. Christ loves them and us to the point He was willing to die for all of us. (1 John 2:2) We must have the same kind of love for each other. If we do what Christ commands, love one another. We are His friends. Christ tells us, and helps us understand, God’s Word. Christ chooses us and appoints us, sends us, to bear fruit. To show Christ to others by our actions, lives, words, philosophy, and everything we are at all times, that is, to show Christ in us and us in Christ. Because Christ is in us God will give us what we ask. Christ repeats His primary commandment, love one another.

We see this save emphasis on love throughout the Gospel of John and his three letters. John is simply repeating the emphasis of Christ. (Matthew 5:43-46; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 6:35) The command to love cannot be overemphasized. Love is action not just words. During the Holocaust many in Germany said they loved God, went to church on Sunday and loved their peers. They did this while murdering Jews, Gypsy’s, the handicapped and many other groups. Although their words said love their actions were the opposite.

Finally, Jesus the disciples and all believers are to love each other. Remember this when we think of Ireland where Protestants and Romans Catholics kill each other. Think of this when we see churches dividing over (sometimes minor) points of their belief system. Think of this when we see one group in a church not talking with another group because of some difference. Where is the love for one another? Where is the witness of the love of Christ for each other? Christ died and resurrected for everyone, including those who hated and abused Him, how can we do less?

 

vs. 18-21

Jesus prepares believers for what will happen because they believe and follow Him. (1 John 2:6) They should expect the world to hate them. The world hated Jesus so why would it not hate His disciples? The reason the world will hate them is because they are not of this world, they do not follow Satan as does the world. This is a rather important point. The word world does not necessarily refer to the created physical world but the people in the world and the spirit of the world that is in opposition to God. The believer’s allegiance is to the Son of God, and they act in accordance with that belief. Living for Christ and striving to live like Christ puts the believer in opposition to the world and reminds the world their actions, philosophy, where they put their faith and living is wrong and will bear the appropriate reward. Believers, by their lives, make it clear they serve YHWH while the world does not. (Psalms 35:1-8; 69:1-4)

 

vs. 21-27

Christ tells believers they are not alone. He will send the Helper to come and be with them. The Helper is the Holy Spirit. I like the term Helper for the Holy Spirit since that is exactly what the Holy Spirit does, He helps us. The Holy Spirit comes from God, is always truthful, helps us follow Christ, teaches us about Christ and helps us testify about Christ in our lives and words.

 

John  

Chapter 16

vs. 1-4

Christ has been telling the twelve and us what will happen in order that they and we will be prepared, not taken by surprise, and fall into sin. Making the believers outcasts from the synagogue (assembly) is not the same as excommunication. It will get to the point people will be so blinded to the truth they think they are doing God a service by killing God’s people and messengers. (We see the same in our day.) Christ did not tell the disciples this because He was with them and protecting them.

 

When Christ says they will be made outcasts it is more ostracism, excluding the believer from the synagogue and the life of the synagogue. While this may seem a lesser punishment, given the culture of the time it was not. While excommunication is being banned from a denomination a person can always go to another. In Bible time that was not possible. The practical result is other synagogue members will not talk with, fellowship, etc. with the person, nor can they join another synagogue.

 

It is important that we recognize the difference between being a member of a synagogue in Jesus’ day and being a member of a church or (to a certain extent) synagogue in our time. The synagogue was the center of Jewish life. It was a place of worship, teaching, prayer and social gathering. Being cast out of the synagogue resulted in losing communication and closeness with friends and families. It could also result in a loss of business. People were not nearly as mobile as they are today and moving to another area and starting over was just not possible.

 

vs. 5-15

Jesus is coming to the time of His crucifixion. He knows what will happen and when it will happen. He has been preparing the disciples, especially the twelve, for what is coming. The disciples are very sad they will lose their Lord and friend. Their grief was such that they did not even ask Him where He was going. They could only think of the loss when He left. Christ opens a new perspective to them, His being crucified and leaving them was to their advantage. While He was with them, they communicated with Him when He was with them while He was physically in their presence. Once He has resurrected Jesus will send the helper, the Holy Spirit, who will be with them always and everywhere. The Holy Spirit and Christ are not limited by geography, physical presence, time or space. He will always be there to help the believers. Jesus cannot send the Holy Spirit until He has been crucified and resurrected.

 

When the Holy Spirit comes, He has a job, to convict the world “concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” The Holy Spirit does that through the believers. Christ has much more to say but the disciples were not, at that time, able to hear them. There was a time when Corrie ten Boom was on a train with her father. She overheard a comment about “sex sin” and asked her father what it was. Her father replied “Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now, you must trust me to carry it for you.” We can see the same thing here. As we grow in the Lord, we are able to bear more knowledge and wisdom. The Holy Spirit knows when we are able to bear more and teaches us, until then we must trust our Father for what we are not yet able to bear. The Holy Spirit testifies to Christ and only repeats what He hears the father say.

 

vs. 16-22

Jesus now makes a statement that some of the disciples did not understand A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me.” They were very confused and tried to understand what He was saying. It is important to note Jesus did not correct or admonish them for questioning. Jesus knew their question and answered it. Jesus states they will have grief He is gone but the world will rejoice. They will rejoice because the one who brought their sins into the light has gone. The disciples will grief but then they will see Him again and their grief will turn to joy. This is possibly talking about the disciples seeing Him after the resurrection when he walked in Jerusalem, and it might also be talking about when they died, they would be with Him permanently. In either case they will see and truly understand Jesus is the Messiah. Their spiritual eyes will be fully opened.

 

vs. 23-28

 The disciples will not need to question Christ about anything. Their spiritual eyes, ears and understanding will be opened. Jesus now tells them they can ask the Father for anything in the name of Christ and the Father will grant it. This comment is very Jewish in nature. We ask the Father, no one else. Jesus takes this a step further and says “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” Sometimes (perhaps many times) we think of Jesus going to the Father and asking on our behalf. Jesus said this is not the case. The Father hears us and answers us because we believe in Christ as the salvation from our sins. The Father hears each and every one of us. That does not mean we are not to pray in Jesus’ name but must realize the father hears us because we are His.

 

Jesus’ final comments affirm He came from the Father and is returning to the father.

 

vs. 29-33

 The disciples tell Jesus they now understand He knows all things and that He came from God. Jesus asks them what seems to be a rhetorical question, do they finally believe. They may say they believe but the time is now upon them that they will scatter, each to their own home, and apparently leave Jesus alone to face the crucifixion. Although Jesus may seem to be alone, He is not because the Father is always with Him. He is never alone. There is perfect love and communication between God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son.

 

Jesus tells them what will happen, while in the world there will be tribulation, things will look bad, but do not let that discourage or keep a believer from working for the Lord, Jesus has overcome the world. During World War II, when the Nazi’s were killing Jews in the Gas chambers, the Nazi’s could hear the Jews reciting the SHEMA (Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, is One Deuteronomy 6:4) and praying. The Jews knew God was really in charge.

 

 

John  

Chapter 17

vs. 1-5

Jesus prayed first for Himself, then for the disciples and then for those who would believe in Him in the future.

Jesus prayed and asked the Father to glorify Him so He can Glorify the Father. Now Jesus makes the statement that God has given Him authority over all flesh. This shows the fulfilment of Daniel 7:13-14. (¹³“I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. ¹⁴“And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.) Notice Jesus did not ask the Father to give Him the authority, He already had it. Jesus just asked God to glorify Him with the glory He had previously with the Father from before the world was created. This takes us back to the beginning of John’s Gospel. Jesus is with God; Jesus is God from before the world began. Bing part of the Trinity Jesus is light, the light and love that sustains the world.

 

vs. 6-10

 The use of the word “manifested” here is important and interesting. To manifest is to make clear or obvious to the eye or mind; to display or show (a quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance; to demonstrate. Jesus did these throughout His life, especially during His ministry and with His disciples. We need to remember this prayer is for all of His disciples, past, present and future. We can clearly see by His acts and words Jesus is the Son of God, part of the Trinity, without beginning or end.

God gave the disciples to Jesus. The Father separated them from the world and gave them to Jesus and these disciples kept God’s Word in their minds and lives. Their minds and understanding have been opened and they now know Jesus came from and is YHWH and everything Jesus has done and is doing comes from the Father. This includes His words. Jesus spoke with them and taught them God’s Words. They actually, accurately and beyond doubt know and understand Jesus comes from God.

Jesus is now specific to His disciples. Again, He was speaking about all of His disciples throughout time. Jesus is asking, praying to the Father on the behalf of the disciples, not on behalf of the world. That is not saying That Jesus does not care about those in the world but knows the world system and those who follow the world system will be against the disciples and do all possible to stop the disciples from spreading the good news (gospel) of Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus makes His relationship to the Father very clear. It is the closest possible relationship, closer that anything man has or can imagine. It is so close that while they are two, they are also one. What Jesus has is God’s, something many people say, but also what the Father has is Jesus’, something no human can say.

 

vs. 11-12

Jesus knows He is leaving the world. Jesus says this as if it already happened and, it has, it is an accomplished fact. How can the statement “I am no longer in the world” be made when Jesus is physically standing there among them making the statement? Despite appearances it is an accomplished fact, Jesus is in charge, He is the decision maker. Although the crucifixion has not yet happened at a point in time and space it is God’s Will that the crucifixion happens, so it is already accomplished. This can be difficult to grasp intellectually since humans are bound by time and space, but God is not therefore Jesus is not.

Jesus asks the Father to keep them in His name which is the name the Father gave to Jesus. This is another very clear statement that The Father and Jesus are one. Now Jesus makes a startling request of the Father, He asks “that they may be one even as We are.” Jesus is requesting that the disciples, those who believe and accept His salvation, can be one with Him and the Father, that they might share in this closest of relationships. That He might live in us, and we might live in Him. He is NOT saying that we will be God or completely consumed in/by God. He is talking about a relationship and communication beyond anything we can conceive of in our lives.

While Jesus was with the disciples, He guarded them so the authorities and the world could not harm them. The only one lost to the world was Judas who betrayed Him. Judas is not named but his character and actions are, he is the son of perdition. Perdition at that time meant utter destruction. Judas being called the son of perdition is stating he is the son of utter destruction and eternal hell, the son of Satan.

 

vs. 13-19

 “My joy made full in themselves.” The pure joy of a relationship with Jesus and the Father. The pure joy that comes with true faith. The joy that we can have regardless of external or even internal circumstances. Hebrews 12:2 expands this a bit more and tells us Christ had His eyes and thoughts firmly fixed on the future joy and could endure the cross for that joy. (Galatians 5:22) So we can and must be believers. His joy. The joy of knowing, serving and living with the Messiah transcends any hate or harassment from the world.

 

Christ has given His disciples, including us, His Word. Because we live for and witness to Christ the world (world system and ungodliness) will truly hate believers. It is important to understand Christ does not want us to be removed from the world, as in monasteries or convents, but to live in the world and witness to His glory, holiness and love. Locking ourselves away from the world does not allow us the privilege to speak of Christ to the world.  Christ asks the Father to keep us from the evil one while we are in the world. Regardless of what might be done to us, to keep our faith in Him.  Paul emphasizes Christ’s word in Romans 8:35-39.

 

Finally, Jesus asks that those who believe in and accept Him as savior would be sanctified, made holy. We are made holy by the truth, by God’s Word of Truth in us. Jesus equates the Father sending Him to the world with Jesus send believers into the world. As Jesus was sent because He had a work to do for the Father, so we are sent to do Jesus’ work. Now we have an interesting comment, Jesus sanctifies Himself, He does not ask the Father to sanctify Him, Jesus as a part of God has the power to make Himself holy. He does this for the believer’s sake so they can be made holy in the truth.

 

vs. 20-21

Christ is praying for each one of us. Think about this, the Son of God, a part of the Trinity, God, prayed for each of us believers. Christ knew there would be people who came to believe in Him as the Messiah through the words of the apostles and disciples. They would believe through faith. Christ also knew they would have troubles in the world because of their belief. Jesus prayed that, just as with the original disciples, those who believed after He went back to the Father would also be one with Him and the Father. This is almost beyond human comprehension, that those who believe through hearing the Word and faith, would have the same reward and personal relationship with the Father and Christ as did those who walked and lived with Him.

 

vs. 22-26

Christ repeats what He has already said. Perhaps this was to emphasize its importance, to help us to remember it or both. Again, He asks that the disciples be one just as He and the Father are one. That they might have an extraordinarily close relationship with each other through Christ. Christ asks that they may be perfected in unity. This takes us back to Genesis 17:1 and Matthew 5:48. There is a purpose here, so their unity and love for Christ and each other may be a testimony of Christ as well as the Father’s love for Christ. “You loved Me before the foundation of the world” reminds us of Micah 5:2 and John 1:1.

 

John  

Chapter 18

vs. 1-11

Jesus now went to the Garden of Gethsemane, a place He often went with His disciples or to be alone and pray. Since Jesus often went there with the disciples Judas knew of the garden and knew Jesus would be there. Judas was in the company of a Roman cohort as well as officers from the Chief Priest and Pharisees.

A Roman cohort usually numbered about six hundred men. It is very doubtful the full cohort came with Judas, perhaps a maniple came (about 200 men). In addition, we are told the Temple Guards came with the Roman soldiers. This is not the first time the Temple guards were sent to arrest Jesus. The first time they were sent they were so impressed they did not arrest Him. Now the Temple Guards came with Roman Soldiers to ensure Jesus is arrested this time. (John 7:45-53) The actions of the Romans and Jewish leadership resulted in a large number of armed men arriving to take Jesus. They came at night in order to hide what they were doing from the people. The seizing and crucifixion were done by the Jewish leaders and the Romans, not the Jewish people as a whole.  (Mark 14:1-2; John 11:47-50; 12:19) In fact, many of the Jews in Jerusalem did not know what the Chief Priest, Pharisees and leaders were doing. The leadership hid what they were doing because Jesus had a large following and the leaders were in fear of them.

A note is in order here. As Barrie Wilson observes, “The charge was political; the trial was political; and the crucifixion was political. The fear itself was political, that Jesus would lead an insurrection against Roman Power.” (Barrie Wilson, How Jesus became Christian (New York: McMillan Publishing, 2008) p. 193)) John 11:49-50 makes clear this concern was shared by the Jewish leaders. They were afraid they would lose their positions as leaders in Israel. The Romans crucified Jesus; the Jews did not have the authority. Pilate could have stopped the crucifixion at any time, he had the power. Pilate knew the Jewish leadership wanted Jesus killed out of jealousy. Pilate was also concerned about his position. He was concerned if the Jewish leaders complained to Rome, he was fostering rebellion he would be removed, or worse. (Mark 15:10-15) It seems everyone interested in murdering Jesus was self-serving and very self-centered.

We now see Jesus is totally in charge of what is happening. Jesus knew what was happening and was going to happen. Jesus approaches them and asks who they want. The fact they said Jesus proves they did not recognize him and needed Judas to identify Him. The soldiers and Temple Guards drew back and fell to the ground. While they would not have voluntarily fell to worship Jesus it seems they may have fell involuntarily fallen in front of the God of the Universe.  Jesus again tells them He is the one they are looking for and to release the disciples with Him. Finally, Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, a priest’s servant. Jesus heals the ear. Even this healing did not make an impression on the soldiers and guards. All of this fulfilled prophecy. Jesus knew this is why He came, to be the Passover sacrifice for the world.

 By mentioning that Jesus was bound John was showing a connection with Abraham’s offering of Isaac. (Gen. 22:1-19) Both Isaac and Jesus, were willing to accept their own death. Isaac was (figuratively) be raised from the dead. (Hebrews 11:19) We must remember Isaac was old enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice showing he was old enough to understand what was happening. Like Jesus he was willing to be sacrificed. Both Abraham and Isaac had faith in YHWH.

 We now see the true hierarchy of the Jewish leadership. Although Caiaphas was the high priest, Annas was making the decisions with Caiaphas automatically approving his decisions. The Scripture makes it very clear their mindsets were self-serving, and their priority was their positions, not God’s Word of the people. When Jesus peaks of the ruler of the world He is speaking of Satan, and it appears Satan was leading and motivating the actions of Annas and Caiaphas.

vs. 12-18

Peter and another disciple, thought to be John followed Jesus. Because he was known to the high priest John was able to enter the court, but Peter was not. There is the thought that John came from the Levitical priesthood and therefore was known to the high priest. (Eusebius quotes Polycrates of Ephesus (c. 130-196) indicating this was the case) John spoke to those determining who could enter and gained entry for Peter.

Once Peter gained entry he was recognized as having been with Jesus when He was arrested. The servant girl identified Peter as a disciple of Jesus which Peter immediately denied. After this denial Peter warmed himself by the fire with the priest’s slaves and temple officers.

vs. 19-24

The high priest now questions Jesus about His disciples and teachings. The High Priest questioned Jesus about His disciples/followers first and about His teachings second. The real concern was not Jesus and His teaching, but Jesus and His following. (Jewish Gospel of John) Once more this allows us to see the motivation of the high priests and Jewish leadership was political much more than religious. They were blind to spiritual insights and were focused only on politics and their agendas. While their focus was earthly, worldly God used their blindness to accomplish His will, the salvation of His creation.

Jesus answers about His teaching, ignoring the question about His disciples. Jesus’ priority is the Word of God. His ignoring the question about the disciples is a clear message that Jesus is in charge and the spiritual is important not their politics or positions. Jesus also tells them to question those who herd Him. This response invokes the law that said there must be two or three witnesses.

After His response one of the officers hit Jesus and asked if that is how He answers the high priest. Jesus points out that if He had answered wrongly, insolently, then testify to that wrong. Show proof that He had answered wrongly. If that cannot be done, then why was He hit. Again, this takes us back to the law and proves what they were doing was not in accordance with the law they claimed to care about and follow.

We see a very similar event in Acts 23:2-5 when the high priest commanded that Paul be hit in the mouth. Paul takes him to task for requiring he be struck which was against the law. Those with the high priest asked if he reviled the high priest. There is one huge difference between the two events. In the first Jesus asks why He was struck and offers no apology for what He said to the high priest or others. When Paul asked the same question, once he found out it was the high priest, he apologized because the law one should not speak against the rulers of the people. The difference is Jesus did not apologize but Paul did. Why? It has to do with relative positions and the law. In both cases the law was violated by hitting Jesus and Paul. Paul was Jewish, acted in obedience to the law and should have respected (not necessarily agree with) the rulers of the people. In Jesus’ case, He us the ruler of all and the high priest should respect Him.

vs. 25-27

While Peter is warming himself at the fire he is once again recognized as a disciple of Jesus but denies it. Then a relative of Malchus, whose ear he had cut off, recognizes him but for the third time Peter denies knowing Jesus. Immediately after the third denial the cock crows.

vs. 28-32

 Now we see a great irony, the leaders who were will and wanting to kill an innocent man, certainly against the Law, were not willing or wanting to defile themselves by stepping into an impure place before the Passover. We can see Jesus addressing this thinking in Mark 7:13 and Paul in Titus 1:15-16. The leaders were more than willing to set aside the Law for their own purposes but insisted on keeping the law where it suited them and was visible to others.

Pilate went out to meet the Jews since they would not come into him. It is very possible Pilate knew about Jesus and the leaders’ problems with His message. His initial response is to tell them to take care of their own problems. First the Jewish leaders said it was against Roman law for them to put anyone to death. They made it appear Jesus was planning an insurrection against Rome. Pilate now had to listen to them. As far as the Jews could not being able to put anyone to death, that was true but only for crucifixion. There was no problem later when they stoned Stephen.

vs. 33-37

Pilate goes from the Jewish leaders and summons Jesus to answer their charges. Pilate asks Jesus the most important question concerning the charge of insurrection. “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jewish does a very culturally Jewish thing, He answers the question by asking a question of His own; “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Where did Pilate’s question come from, what caused it? The question Jesus asks does two things, it makes it clear Pilate must make a decision, and it also makes both the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities responsible for what is about to happen.

Pilate’s answer “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” tells us he is not a Jew he is the Roman authority. The Jewish leaders delivered Jesus to him and Pilate wants to know what Jesus had done to have the leaders so hating Him. Jesus is very clear that He is a King but not of this world, not of the Roman realm, not of Satan’s realm. Pilate now clarifies that Jesus is a King and Jesus agrees. Jesus makes His purpose for being born into the world quite clear, “I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Jesus has now made the dichotomy facing the Jewish leaders and people clear. Either they follow the truth, or they do not. Jesus testifies to the truth of YHWH. People either listen and worship God as God requires or they do not. People either see the purpose of the law, to bring people to God or they do not. People either accept God’s plan of salvation or they do not.

vs. 38-40

 Pilate now asks a question the world often asks. “What is truth?” This question is simply a way to avoid what people know is right. This question has been asked since sin first entered the world. The unspoken problem with this thinking is who determines what the truth is in any given circumstance? “The morality of an action depends on the situation” (Joseph Fletcher, 1963) Joseph Fletcher (an American professor in the 1960’s) claims truth and therefore ethics are situational and depend on people, circumstance and expediency. The result is a moving foundation of truth that becomes whatever a person wants it to be at that moment. The totally dismisses God as being truth and replaces it with man’s whim.

Both the Jewish leaders and Pilate were operating from this philosophy. Truth was what they wanted it to be. At that point in time the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus killed to protect their positions and status. Pilate agreed to have Jesus killed for the same reasons. They both refused to recognize God’s truth and therefore set themselves outside of God’s people (believers) and plan of salvation.

Pilate gave the Jewish leaders the opportunity to have Jesus released but they refused. Instead, they asked that a robber and murderer be released. There is irony here. Pilate asked if the Jewish leaders wanted their king released. They answered no and asked for a murderer to be released. The murderers asked that a murderer like them be released, and a totally innocent man be killed.

A note is in order here. The Praetorium was not a large space. The space can hold about one hundred people. In this space would have been the Roman Guards, the Temple guards, The Chief priests and his minions, some Jews and Jesus. Given all the other people in attendance there would not have been room for very many Jews aside from the Jewish leaders and minions. This could very well have been by design. When condemning Jesus, the Jewish leaders did as much as possible away from public scrutiny. Many Scriptures indicate many, many of the Jewish believed in and followed Jesus. The leaders were afraid of them and did not want them to know what they were doing. (Mark 11:18; Luke 22:2; John 12:12-13; Acts 5:26) It would have been very easy for the Jewish leaders to gather people into the Praetorium who were not from Israel but were in the diaspora and only knew what the leaders told them. It would also have been easy for them to load the Praetorium with those who had a vested interest in killing Jesus. Often, we hear and are told the Jews generally wanted Barabbas released and Jesus killed. Given the Scriptures referenced it may well have been a small group of Jews hand-picked by priests that wanted Barabbas. Either way, God’s will was done. It is very important to remember God was in charge. Not man.

 

John  

Chapter 19

vs. 1-7

As we read this the words cannot begin to convey the savagery and violence Jesus endured.  Jesus was beaten without mercy. Most people would not live through the beatings, whippings, beatings with rods, etc. Very sharp thorn vines were twisted together and forced down on His head causing deep, painful wounds.  It was thought those to be crucified were subjected to flagellation. “Because of its brutality flagellation was feared: it produced deep wounds and could even lead to death. Unlike Jewish law, which had a maximum of forty lashes, Roman law did not provide for limits. Flavius Josephus offers accounts of flagellations carried out in Palestine where the strokes were delivered with such strength that they exposed the victim’s innards. He also confirms that scourging was a prelude to crucifixion.” (https://www.bing.com/search?q=scourging+jesus&qs=LS&pq=scourging+&sk=EP1&sc=8-10&cvid=3DBDD6E67D29461888CC8B4328F3F9B&FORM=QBLH&sp=2&ghc=1)

After Jesus was beaten and was a bloody, disheveled mess Pilate brought Him out to the Jewish leaders and is very clear he finds no fault in Jesus. The leaders yell even more for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate tried to be done with the whole thing and told them to crucify Jesus. Now the leaders provide their real excuse for wanting Jesus crucified. Jesus said He was/is the Son of God. That makes Him God. The leaders could not accept this at all.

vs. 8-15

When the Jewish leaders said Jesus should die because He said He is the son of God he was even more frightened. Given the pagan world’s belief in multiple gods and their superstitious nature Pilate would take their words very seriously. What if this Jesus is the Son of God? The Romans and all the world knew how God had blessed the Israelites. The leader’s words were not to be taken lightly.

Pilate, trying to clear things up in his mind asked Jesus where He was from. This question goes beyond where was He born or in what town did, He live but what is His origin? Did He come from God? Jesus did not answer. Pilate then states what he sees as the reality of the situation. He has the power, the authority, to release Jesus or to crucify Him. Jesus answers by giving Pilate a dose of reality, He lets Pilate know he has no authority or power apart from that which God gave him. The message here is clear, Pilate does not have the authority, God does. Pilate is not in charge; God is in charge. Pilate does not control the situation, God controls it.

Pilate wants to and tries to release Jesus but runs into a roadblock, the Jewish leaders. As Pilate tries to release Jesus the Jewish leadership yells “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.” (vs.12) Now Pilate has a choice to make: does He release the innocent Jesus or bow to the wishes of the Jewish leadership? If he releases Jesus, he runs the risk of losing his position and perhaps life if the leaders protest to Rome. If he orders crucifixion, he is killing a man he knows is innocent and perhaps the Son of God. The choice for him, like for us, is clear; should he please man or God. Should he release Christ or crucify Him? Pilate chose poorly, he decided to hand Christ over to be crucified. He put himself and the world ahead of what he knew was the right thing to do. His actions were self-serving.

vs. 17-22

Nothing about Jesus’ death was coincidental.

After beating Jesus almost to death, the Romans forced Jesus to carry His cross to the place of execution. In other gospels we are told a bystander, Simon, carried the cross at least partway for Jesus. This was due to Jesus being too weak from the beatings, blood loss, and pain to carry the cross. Jesus was not the only person crucified that day. Two men, one on each side of Him were also crucified. It is thought they were not nailed to the cross but were tied on. The end result was the same, death.

In other gospels, we are told one of the men ridiculed Jesus, even while they were on their crosses. The other man recognized Jesus as the Lord and accepted the salvation Jesus brought. Even at His crucifixion, we can see an important point. One person accepted Christ and would be with Christ in paradise, but the other person did not accept Christ and would not be with Christ for eternity. It is the same choice we have. It also emphasizes as long as we are physically alive it is NEVER too late to accept the salvation of Jesus.

When Jesus was crucified Pilate put a sign on the cross “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The Jewish leaders were not happy about this and asked Pilate to change it to read He said He was King of the Jews. Pilate refused. He wrote what he wrote. There could be a number of reasons for his refusal. Perhaps he was tired of the Jewish leaders bothering him about the matter. Perhaps he believed Jesus is the Son of God. Perhaps he wanted to get a sort of revenge on the Jewish leaders. We cannot know for certain, but it was a clear message to everyone that the King of the Jews had been crucified by the Romans and Jewish leaders.

vs. 23-30

While Jesus was on the cross the soldiers divided His clothes and cast lots to determine who would get the tunic. (This was prophesied in Psalm 22:18) The dividing of the clothes of a crucified person was not unusual. The soldiers were allowed to take the clothing of a condemned person and keep or sell them as they wish, a sort of bonus for the executioners. We are also told that at the cross were Jesus’ mother, aunt, and Mary Magdalene, John the apostle was also there. One of Jesus’ last acts was to transfer the eldest son’s responsibility for His family to John. He told both His mother and John that John was now her son and was therefore responsible for her.

It is important to know that everything was accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture. Neither the Jews nor Romans were in charge, but YHWH was in charge and Jesus knew when the Scriptures for His death were complete and He said “It is finished” then gave up His spirit, He died. Again, neither the Romans nor the Jews decided when it was finished. Jesus, the Son of God, knowing the Scriptures and God’s plan decided the time of His death, not the Jews nor the Romans.

vs. 31-37

 Now we have come to an area that is a problem for many academics and theologians. What is the actual timeline for the death and resurrection of Jesus? There are a few clues provided in this passage. 1) It was the day of preparation. 2) the next day was a Sabbath, but a High Sabbath, not the normal seventh day Sabbath. A short timeline follows: Nisan – 14 Luke 23.44 shows that Jesus died around the ninth hour or approximately 3PM. He would have been buried before sunset because of the approaching Sabbath, for that Sabbath day was a high day (John 19.31). Nisan – 15 Is the first Holy Day, high-day, or annual Sabbath of the 7-day festival of Unleavened Bread. It begins at sunset on the 14th.

John 19.31 mentions that the day following Jesus' crucifixion was a high day as opposed to the weekly seventh-day Sabbath. TWO Sabbaths – first an annual Holy Day and then the regular weekly Sabbath – are mentioned in the Gospel accounts. Compare Mark 16.1 with Luke 23.

A person crucified could take a few days to die. The Jews did not want the bodies. dead or alive, on the crosses during the high Sabbath. (Deut. 21:22-23) The Jewish leaders asked the legs of the men on the crosses to be broken. Breaking their legs would mean they could not put weight on their legs which would result in their suffocation. Since Jesus was already dead the soldiers did not break His legs but thrust a spear into His side. (Zechariah 12:10) Not breaking His legs fulfilled Exodus 12:46.

 

vs. 38-42

After Jesus was pronounced dead Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night, asked Pilate for His body. They wanted to give Jesus a Jewish burial. Nicodemus brought spices to put in the wrapping with which they wrapped Jesus’ body. They put Jesus in a new tomb, where no one had been placed previously. Many think it was planned as Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Jesus was placed in the tomb before the day of preparation, before about 6:00 pm.

 

John  

Chapter 20

vs. 1-10

     Mark 16:1 tells us, "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary (the mother of James and Salome), bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint Him." Luke's account also describes how the women "prepared the spices and ointments" and then they "rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment." (Luke 23.56)

     According to these two accounts, they bought the spices and prepared them after the Sabbath and yet before the Sabbath, and then after the Sabbath, they came to the tomb. There had to be two Sabbaths involved here with a day of preparation between them. Jesus' promise was fulfilled exactly as he said it would. He said that, like the prophet Jonah, He would be entombed three days and three nights, and then He would be raised up from the dead the third day after His crucifixion and death (Matthew 12.39-40; 17.23; 20.19).

     Jesus' resurrection had already taken place when Mary Magdalene arrived at dawn Sunday morning. (John 20.1-2) In Matthew's account he states that "In the end of [or after] the Sabbath(s), as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" they came to see the sepulcher (Mt. 28.1) The original Greek word used here for Sabbath is actually plural and should be translated "Sabbaths."

John gives us a somewhat truncated story of the events. When Mary Magdalene and the other women arrived at the tomb, they saw the stone was rolled away and assumed the body of Jesus had been stolen. It did not cross Mary’s, or the other women’s, minds that He had risen from the dead and was physically alive. Since they thought Jesus’ body had been stolen, they ran to tell Peter and John. These two gentlemen ran to the tomb. John got there first but stopped at the entrance. Peter got there second and went into the tomb.

      The two men saw the linen body wrapping laid out in the tomb in a very specific way. The disciples saw the “linen clothes lying” –- uncut, undisturbed, lying just as they had been on His body, yet they were empty –- it convinced them that the body had been miraculously, supernaturally removed. Had some human hand stolen the body, he would have been forced to slit open the bindings in order to remove the body. HAD JESUS REVIVED AND EXITED THE TOMB, OR HIS BODY STOLEN, THE WRAPPING COULD NOT HAVE BEEN LEFT UNDISTURBED.

     The Greek words translated, “wrapped together” in John 20:7, actually mean, “twisted together” or “rolled up” –- it speaks of a fixed position – much like a cocoon. The linen cloths were “wrapped” or “rolled together,” however the body was missing. The “linen clothes” had not been unfolded, loosed or disturbed in any way! They just lay there! An empty shell of the linen clothes that had been wrapped around and around the body of Jesus. (lancewallnau.com/miracle-grave-clothes-jesus/)

vs. 11-18

 while Mary was crying because she thought the body of Jesus had been stolen, she looked into the tomb and saw two angels. Where did they come from? They were not there previously, and no one had entered the tomb. The angels asked why she was crying; her answer makes it clear she did not understand Jesus would rise from the dead. The grave could not hold Him. Jesus called her name, and Mary immediately recognizes His voice and replies “teacher!” Imagine the wonder and joy of Mary when she realizes Jesus is alive. He is not in the grave. His body was not stolen. He is alive in the flesh. He knows her and is talking with her. He knows her name. He knows her. Mary now knows with certainty Jesus is the Messiah. He is salvation for Israel and the world. Hope is alive.

Mary holds on to Jesus and He must tell her not to cling to Him, do not detain Him from ascending to the Father. Jesus has a normal physical body. He was not just a ghost or spirit. He could be held, could eat, could speak, etc. Mary went to the disciples to tell them Jesus was alive and talked with her and she told them what Jesus said.

It is important we realize Jesus appeared first to a woman. At that time courts of law would not accept a woman’s testimony. That Jesus appeared to a woman first shows He cares about all people, genders, racial groups, ethnicities, equally. Also, if the story had been made up it would have had Jesus appearing first to a man in order to be correct for the culture.

vs. 19-23

It is evening, the disciples are gathered together. They are all in one room with the door locked in fear of the Jewish leadership. While they are gathered Jesus appeared among them very unexpectedly. He did not come through the door, He just appeared. To say this was a shock to the disciples is an understatement. Think about this. Jesus appears in the room where the disciples are gathered and are scared. Their leader, Jesus, had been killed by the Romans, they saw Him die and placed in the tomb. They are expecting and waiting for the Roman and Jewish authorities to arrest them. Jesus’ first words are “Peace be with you.” Peace, peace? They are shaking in their sandals waiting to be arrested and killed and Jesus, who they saw dead and buried, suddenly appears and tells them peace be with them. Until Jesus appeared peace was the last thing on their minds.

Jesus’ message of Peace was not just an absence of violence. Not just an absence of worry. Not just an absence of fear. It was far more than that. It was a message of the peace that comes from and is in God. The peace that comes from knowing we are totally loved. The peace that comes from our best friend and protector being with us always. The peace that comes from knowing what is truly important. The peace that comes from knowing they serve God and His Son. The peace that comes from the certainty that physical death is not final. The peace that comes from seeing the evidence, the proof in front of them, when Jesus shows them the injuries in his hands and side.

Jesus now gives them a mission. As He was sent by the Father, He is sending them. He then breathes on them and gives them the Holy Spirit. Their mission comes with authority. They have the authority to forgive sins or not to forgive sins. This comes through being attuned to and led by God’s Holy Spirit.

vs. 24-29

The apostle Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus appeared to them in the room. The others told him they had seen Jesus, but Thomas did not believe them. He wanted proof. He wanted to put his finger in the marks of the nails in Jesus’ hands and put his hands in the wound in his side. Unless he could do so he would not believe. Thomas is typical of many people, unless they physically see they will not believe. What is unfortunate is the evidence of God is all around, but people refuse to see and acknowledge it. (Romans 1:20) Instead of seeing, acknowledging, and worshipping God, people would rather see, acknowledge, and worship the creation or parts of the creation.

Jesus told Thomas to put his finger in the nail holes and hand into the spear hole in His side and to believe, Thomas recognized Jesus as His Lord and God. Jesus mentioned Thomas believed because he saw physical proof. Jesus makes a point of saying those who do not have physical proof yet still believe are blessed. Jesus is saying those who have faith are blessed. Those who have faith, the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

vs. 30-31

John was clear what was written in his gospel were not the only actions Jesus performed after He was raised from the dead. Christ performed many, many signs but these were written so we, the readers of the Gospel may believe in Jesus the Messiah and have eternal life in Him.

 

John  

Chapter 21

Vs 1-8

 After all that happened Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James and John with two other disciples went fishing. They went back to their livelihood. They fished throughout the night but did not catch anything. When dawn came, they saw a man on the beach. It was Jesus but they did not recognize Him. Jesus told them they had not caught any fish, and they agreed. Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat and they would catch fish. They had been fishing all night and had not caught anything so they might as well cast their net again. When they followed His instructions, they caught a large quantity of fish. Enough fish that they had a hard time bringing in the catch.

When this happened, John told Peter it was the Lord, Jesus. Peter immediately put on more clothes since he was stripped for work and hurled himself into the water to go to Jesus. The rest of the men came in the boat dragging the large catch behind them.

vs. 9-14

 When they got to shore Jesus already had a fire going and cooked their meal. Even after Jesus, the Son of God, had arisen from the dead, He continued to be a servant. The disciples all knew He was Jesus. Jesus serves the disciples. We should understand by His actions how important it is to be a servant. We can never think because we move up in society, standing, position at work or are Christians that we should not serve. Service is fundamental to being a Christian. When we love someone, we DO for them, we serve.

vs. 15-17

We have come to an event that is sometimes misunderstood. Jesus was asking Peter if Peter loved Him more than he did fishing, Peter’s livelihood. Jesus was NOT asking Peter if he loved Him more than the other disciples. Jesus never compares the love of one disciple to the love of another. Jesus asked Peter the question three times, the same number of times Peter denied Christ. I do not think this was an accident. Jesus was making sure Peter knew in his own mind that he would follow Christ. Each time Peter answered, “Lord You know that I love You.” Jesus gave him a job, a mission for life, “Feed my sheep.” Take care of those who follow me. Feed them, feed them spiritual food, the Word of God. Shepard them, tend them, take care of their needs. Protect them.

vs. 18-19

Jesus now tells Peter how he will die and then tells Peter to follow Him. Physical death is not nearly as important as following Jesus.

vs. 20-25

         We now come to Peter being Peter, and like most of us, he asks what will happen to John. Jesus does not really answer, His comments are really telling Peter it is not his business. If Jesus wants John to remain alive until He returns it is not Peter’s business or concern. Again, Jesus tells Peter to follow Him. This is a lesson we all must learn. We are to do what Christ called us to do. We are not to worry about what Christ calls someone else to do. It is enough that we do our job to the best of our ability. We are not to judge or worry about another person’s work in Christ. ALL work in Christ is important. All callings in Christ are important. (1 Corinthians 12:14-26)

²⁵And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

Daily Study Bible

God & Israel, John D. Garr Ph.D. Th.D.

Christian Fruit – Jewish Root, John D. Garr Ph.D. Th.D.

Our Lost Legacy, John D. Garr Ph.D. Th.D.

God’s Lamp Man’s Light, John D. Garr Ph.D. Th.D. 

http://www.hebraiccommunity.org/

http://www.awarenessministry.org

http://thechurchofgodntj.org

Torrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer). The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

The Jewish Gospel of John: Discovering Jesus, King of All Israel 

Copyright © 2015 by Eliyahu Lizorkin-Eyzenberg jewishnewtestament.com 

New American Standard Bible