JOHN




The Greek name "Kata Ioannen" translates to "According to John"



John is a contraction of the Hebrew name Jehohanan and means "Jehovah has been Gracious"



John was the son of Zebedee (The Gift of Jehovah) and Salome (Peaceable; feminine form of Solomon), as was his brother James.


John, James, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were partners in a fishing business.



Peter, James and John were considered the "inner circle" of the disciples that traveled with Jesus during His ministry. Mark tells us that Jesus called James and John "Sons of Thunder".



MARK 3:17


17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder";



John presents the deity of Jesus as the Son of God. He emphasizes that those who have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God will have eternal life and those who die in their unbelief are under the condemnation of God.



John's main focus was on Jesus being the personal visible representation of God, so that when He spoke, it was as if God was speaking directly to Man. John was also the only one of the disciples who was with Jesus at His crucifixion.



JOHN 1 - Word became flesh; John the Baptist testifies of Jesus; Jesus calls first disciples


JOHN 2 - Jesus changes water into wine; drives moneychangers out of the Temple


JOHN 3 - Nicodemus visits Jesus by night; Jesus is greater than John the Baptist


JOHN 4 - Jesus astounds Samaritan woman; Samaritans believe; Jesus heals nobleman's son


JOHN 5 - Jesus heals paralytic by Bethesda Pool; comparison of Father and Son


JOHN 6 - Jesus miraculously feeds 5,000; Jesus walks on water; Jesus is the Bread of Life


JOHN 7 - Divisions among the people concerning Jesus; Pharisees ridicule Jesus


JOHN 8 - Woman taken in adultery; Jesus is the true light; the truth will set you free


JOHN 9 - Healing of man born blind; healed man cast out of synagogue for believing in Jesus


JOHN 10 - The Good Shepherd; believer's assurance of eternal life; Jesus escapes stoning


JOHN 11 - Lazarus dies, is resurrected four days later; High Priest proposes to kill Jesus


JOHN 12 - Mary anoints Jesus; triumphant entry into Jerusalem; final sermon to the people


JOHN 13 - Washing of disciples' feet; Judas' betrayal, Peter's denials foretold


JOHN 14 - Jesus to prepare a place for us; the promise of the Holy Spirit given


JOHN 15 - Jesus is the true vine; servant is not above the Master; expect persecutions


JOHN 16 - Work of the Holy Spirit; Jesus will be killed, resurrected, then return to Heaven


JOHN 17 - Jesus intercessory prayer to the Father concerning believers


JOHN 18 - Jesus' tried before High Priest and Pilate, sentenced to death; Peter denies Jesus


JOHN 19 - Jesus is crucified, dies after six hours; is buried in a rich man's tomb


JOHN 20 - Jesus is resurrected, appears to Mary Magdalene and disciples; Thomas' unbelief


JOHN 21 - Jesus appears to disciples a third time in Galilee; Jesus questions Peter's resolve





JOHN 1:1-3


1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.


2 He was in the beginning with God.


3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.



John states here that Jesus is the living, spoken Word of God (Greek: Logos). By this, John is stating that when Jesus speaks, it is equal to the Father speaking directly to us. John also states that Jesus was with the Father from the beginning, and was even then equal with God.


And John states that Jesus created all things through His Father's power, meaning that He is God as spoken of in Genesis;


GENESIS 1:1


1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.



PSALMS 102:25-27


25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.


26 They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed.


27 But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.


 

JOHN 1:4-5


4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.


5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.


Jesus is the light of life for all who believe and accept Him. It is He who gives eternal life to those who believe in Him, and those who believe and follow Him will never dwell in spiritual darkness, nor will they be cast into everlasting darkness at their judgment.


Jesus came to give every person the choice and chance to come to God without sin. However, this is a free will choice; He will never force anyone to serve Him or believe in Him. And this choice must be made before death, for after death you will have made your final choice.

 


JOHN 1:6-8


6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.


7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.


8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.


Both Isaiah and Malachi prophesied that someone would be sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. This person would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, but would not be a resurrected Elijah as some believe.


John the Baptist served the Lord with all his heart and had no fear to stand before the kings of the Earth and speak the words of God, even if it meant his death. He began to bring the hearts of the Jews back to the Lord, just as Elijah did in his time. John's purpose was preparing the people for the Messiah, fulfilling two prophecies;


ISAIAH 40:3


3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.



MALACHI 3:1


1 "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.


John is careful to state that John the Baptist was not the prophesied Messiah, but was sent to bear witness of He which was to come, the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.



JOHN 1:9-14


9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.


10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.


11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.


12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:


13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of Man, but of God.


14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.


Jesus humbled Himself and appeared in the form of a man, just as human as any one of us. This is where many of the Jewish people have a problem in believing in Him as the Messiah, for they look to the prophecies of His being a supreme, powerful ruler who will re-gather all of the Jewish people to Israel and who will destroy all of their enemies and therefore await His first coming.


But as was also prophesied of Him He came as a servant the first time, to be the atonement for sin to His Father, after which He will return in power and glory at the time set by the Father in fulfillment of those prophecies.


Jesus walked the Earth as a man, with all the limitations of a human being. He suffered hunger, thirst, weakness, weariness, temptation. God loved us so much that He was willing to confine Himself to these limitations and undergo all the pain and suffering required to pay the price for every sin of every human that existed or who will ever exist. He paid this price even for those who will never accept this precious gift He has given us.


This is another stumbling point for many people. They ask whether the sins of the Nazis during WW II will be forgiven, and yes, if those who perpetrated those sins were to repent and ask forgiveness, they would be forgiven. But this does not mean that they would escape punishment for what they did, for God will sometimes punish us on Earth to show His displeasure for our sins so that we don't have to face His fearsome wrath at our judgment.



JOHN 1:15-16


15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"


16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.


John the Baptist was emphatically saying that he was not the promised Messiah, but the Messiah would soon appear. John also states that the coming Messiah would be greater than he, because He is eternal, without a beginning.



JOHN 1:17-18


17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.


18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.


The Law had no provision for salvation and could not remove sin, but it put the Jews who followed it under obedience until the One would come who could remove sin, Jesus Christ.


Moses in Exodus asked to be allowed to see God;


EXODUS 33:18-20


18 And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."


19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."


20 But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."


Why can't we see God's face while here on Earth? Primarily because our physical form could not bear seeing the full glory of God. Also our sin nature would cause us to immediately try to form a picture, statue, or some other such imperfect image of God which would become an idol.


God commanded in Exodus that we not make any likeness of Him or anything else that we would worship, and yet we always see pictures and statues of Jesus in churches and people's houses, in direct disobedience to His commandment of;


EXODUS 20:4-6


4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image of any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;


5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,


6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.



JOHN 1:19-23


19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"


20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."


21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."


22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"


23 He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD,"'as the prophet Isaiah said."


This shows the confusion and misunderstanding of the priests and Pharisees concerning the coming of the Messiah.


Moses had prophesied that another like him would arise from the people who would be greater than he, Moses, meaning the Messiah.


DEUTERONOMY 18:15-19


15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,


16 "according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'


17 "And the LORD said to me: 'What they have spoken is good.


18 'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.


19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.


It had also been prophesied that the forerunner of the Messiah would come in the spirit and power of Elijah, who would precede the Messiah;


MALACHI 3:1


1 "Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.



MALACHI 4:5-6


5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.


6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the Earth with a curse."


At first it would seem that God would send Elijah back to Earth to fulfill these prophecies, but Luke explains how John fulfilled this, when an angel prophesied concerning John's birth to his father Zacharias;


LUKE 1:11-17


11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.


12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.


13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.


14 "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.


15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.


16 "And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.


17 "He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."


So the Jewish people were confused as to whom to expect, as they were expecting the Messiah, the Forerunner and the Prophet spoken of by Moses, not understanding that the "Prophet" and the Messiah were one and the same.



JOHN 1:24-28


24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.


25 And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"


26 John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.


27 "It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."


28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.


Baptism wasn't something new to the Jewish people. In ancient times (and still practiced by some today) they used pools of water called "mikvahs" in which people would confess their sins before a priest, then they would immerse themselves in the mikvah as a symbol of their being cleansed of sin or impurity.


The word "baptism" comes from the Greek word "baptizmos", meaning "to immerse", indicating full immersion in water to symbolize the removal of sin. John, even though not a priest, was considered a holy man, and therefore people came to him to be baptized.


John's baptism was also symbolic of the cleansing of sin, although it would be the shed blood of Jesus Christ which would cleanse the sins of all who believe in Him.


John also let everyone know that the Messiah was walking among them, though they didn't know who He was yet.



JOHN 1:29-34


29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!


30 "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'


31 "I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water."


32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.


33 "I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'


34 "And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."


This shows the true purpose of John's baptizing, namely to show who the Messiah was. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down like a dove (not as a dove or in the form of a dove) and rested upon Him. When John saw this, he knew who to proclaim as the Messiah to all of Israel.



JOHN 1:35-39


35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.


36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"


37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.


38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"


39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).


John, the author of this book is believed to be one of the people spoken of here, the other one being Andrew, Simon Peter's younger brother. These were the only two of the twelve disciples that Jesus called who actively sought Him.


Note: the 10th hour corresponds to 4:00 P.M.



JOHN 1:40-42


40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.


41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).


42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).


It is interesting that John, Andrew and Peter came to Jesus and not the other way around, as the other 9 disciples chosen by Jesus, to be His closest companions during His ministry.


Simon - (Hebrew) - "hearing"


Peter - (Greek: Petros) - "a stone"


John - (Hebrew: Johanan; Greek: Ioannes) "Jehovah is gracious"


Andrew - "Manly"


Jonah (Hebrew) - "Dove"



JOHN 1:43-51


43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."


44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.


45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."


46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."


47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"


48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."


49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"


50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."


51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."


One can imagine Nathanael lying under the shade of a fig tree, and when Philip comes up and claims that he has found the Messiah, one can imagine the "yeah, right!" type of smile coming to his face, followed by the sarcastic remark "Can any good thing come from Nazareth"?


Bethsaida was a bustling city compared to backwoods Nazareth, which is probably what prompted Nathanael's remark. Jesus in turn slyly turns the tables on Nathanael by remarking sardonically that one would certainly find no deceit in him! Nathanael was in turn astounded because he knew Jesus couldn't have heard his remark, yet He knew what had been said.


The reference to angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man referred to the dream of Jacob, the patriarch of the 12 tribes when he dreamed that he saw angels of God ascending and descending from a ladder which reached to Heaven;


GENESIS 28:10-15


10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.


11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.


12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the Earth, and its top reached to Heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.


13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.


14 "Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.


15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."


Nathanael knew immediately what Jesus was referring to when He made this statement.


Philip - (Greek: Philippos) "Lover of horses"


Nathanael - (Greek) "God has given"

 



JOHN 2:1-12


1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.


2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.


3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."


4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."


5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."


6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.


7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.


8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.


9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.


10 And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"


11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.


12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.


Some point to this and say that Jesus couldn't refuse Mary's subtle comment about the wine. Note that Jesus did not defer to her, calling her "woman", instead of "mother". Any mother whose son called her "woman" would be highly insulted, but Mary understood that in Jesus eyes, she was just that, a sinful woman who was no better than anyone else.


The stone water pots were used to wash the hands and feet of guests of the wedding. The servants would dip a bowl or dipper into the pot and would honor the guests by washing the dust and dirt from their hands and feet as they entered from the dusty roadway.


It is much more likely that Jesus had compassion on the bridegroom and allowed this miracle to save him the embarrassment of not having enough wine for the guests that he had invited. Notice also that God never does anything second rate, the wine Jesus provided was better than the best wine provided by the bridegroom.


One can only imagine the stunned disbelief and fear of the servants who had drawn the wine from the water pots, knowing that it had been water that they had originally filled the pots with!



JOHN 2:13-22


13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.


14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.


15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.


16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"


17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."


18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"


19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."


20 Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"


21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.


22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.


The sacrificial system had become corrupted by the priests over the years. People were required by the Law of Moses to bring perfect animals to the Temple for sacrifice. The priests would find a "blemish" on most animals brought to them and reject the animal as an acceptable sacrifice. Then they would offer to sell one of their "pre-approved" animals for an acceptable sacrifice to be purchased for tidy profit for the priests.


In ancient times, animals were kept outside of the Temple itself until it was time to bring them in for sacrifice. Merchants approved by the priests were later allowed to bring their animals inside the Temple itself, making the Temple more like a zoo than a house of worship.


Just like today, money in ancient times had faces of rulers and pagan gods embossed on them which were considered by the Jews to be graven images (idols). In order to ensure that no graven images were brought into the Temple, the money paid to the Temple as a Temple tax required money changers to exchange the common currency for the Temple coins, which were blank silver coins, acceptable to bring into the Temple. But instead of exchanging equal values, the priests made a profit by charging more for their coins than the value required to pay the Temple taxes.



JOHN 2:23-25


23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.


24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,


25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.


Jesus knew what would eventually happen to Him at the hands of the people He had come to save. He knew that their belief would be momentary, and that these same people who believed now would later howl for Him to be crucified.



JOHN 3:1-13


1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.


2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."


3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."


4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"


5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.


6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.


7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'


8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."


9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"


10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?


11 "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.


12 "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?


13 "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.


Nicodemus came to Jesus by night because even though he was open to learning from Jesus, he was also afraid of the powerful and corrupt Pharisees. The Pharisees had decreed that if anyone professed to believe in Jesus, he was to be cast out of the synagogues, making the person a social outcast.


Nicodemus, being a member of the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Council and Supreme Court) was fearful about meeting with Jesus publicly, therefore came to Him at night.


Nicodemus was thinking in physical terms when Jesus spoke of being born again, but Jesus was speaking of spiritual matters. When we come to Jesus, commit our lives to Him and choose to serve Him, He will cleanse us of all past sin and make us clean and whole before the Father.


We become as newborn babies who have complete faith and trust in their parent, just like we are to have in Jesus and the Father. And just as newborn babies are sinless here on Earth, we are sinless before God in Jesus Christ. As our faith grows so our spirit will grow and mature in Him.


Note carefully that Jesus said that no one had yet entered Heaven, except He, Himself. Up to His death and resurrection, all of the Jews who had died in obedience to the Law were still sinners, as the animal sacrifices required by the Law could only cover sins, they could not cleanse the sinner.


Thus they were still sinners, and were not worthy to enter Heaven, as shown by the story in Luke, concerning the rich man and Lazarus;


LUKE 16:19-31


19 "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.


20 "But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,


21 "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.


22 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.


23 "And being in torments in Hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.


24 "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'


25 "But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.


26 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'


27 "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,


28 'for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'


29 "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'


30 "And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'


31 "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"


Until Jesus came and died for their sins, the Jews who died in obedience to the Law were sent to a place of rest, in the same location as Hell, but separated by a huge abyss, where they rested with Abraham.


Once Jesus died and was resurrected, they were now worthy through Him to enter into Heaven, as they were now cleansed of their sins through His blood, and were clothed with His purity and righteousness.



JOHN 3:14-15


14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,


15 "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.


The serpent that Jesus was speaking of came from the Old Testament book of Numbers;


NUMBERS 21:5-9


5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread."


6 So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.


7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people.


8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."


9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.



God was tired of the Israelites' constant complaining. He had brought them out of Egypt and had fed them with manna every day, yet it wasn't good enough for them. So, in His wrath, He sent serpents among them to punish them as an object lesson.


The serpent was the symbol of sin and just as looking to the upraised snake and believing God's promise would save the dying Israelites, looking to and believing upon Jesus will save us from the consequences of our sin.


This doesn't mean looking at or worshiping a crucifix is the way to salvation! The crucifix is an idol, an image of sin, for Jesus became sin for us when He hung on the cross! As Paul said;


2 CORINTHIANS 5:21


21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.



GALATIANS 3:13-14


13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),


14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.


The crucifix is an image of sin and a curse, for as Paul said, Jesus became sin and a curse for us when He hung on the cross. All of the sins of the world were heaped on Him to the point of where the Father had to turn His back on His own Son because He had become sin itself.


(For more information about the crucifix and idolatry, please see the study in this site concerning the subject.)



JOHN 3:16-17


16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.


17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.


Such beautiful words of hope..... God sent Jesus here knowing that, being totally sinless, He would be the only perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, a perfect life to be given for a sinful world. He did this knowing that not all men would accept this precious gift, but willing to do this for all those who would accept this priceless gift from the Father. Jesus loved His creation so much that He was willing to endure all these things so that all men would have the opportunity to escape eternal damnation and spend eternity with Him in Heaven.



JOHN 3:18-22


18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.


19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.


20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.


21 "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."


22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.


The line has been drawn: either you choose to serve Jesus or reject Him. There is no neutral ground. If you don't actively choose Jesus then you have chosen to reject Him. But know this, at anytime while you are still living you can choose Jesus as your Savior. After you die, however, your final choice will have been made.


As Jesus said to the apostle John after His resurrection;


REVELATIONS 3:14-16


14 "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:


15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.


16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.


Being "lukewarm" is neither actively following Jesus, nor actively rejecting Him. You cannot "sit on the fence" in this matter.

 


JOHN 3:23-30


23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.


24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.


25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.


26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"


27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.


28 "You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.'


29 "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.


30 "He must increase, but I must decrease.


John is letting them know that he is not jealous of the attention Jesus is getting from others. John again tells them that his job is to prepare the people to meet the Lord. John has done his job and now that the Messiah is here, John’s job is almost finished. He rejoices that the long awaited Messiah has come to his people.



JOHN 3:31-36


31 "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the Earth is Earthly and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.


32 "And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.


33 "He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.


34 "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.


35 "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.


36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."


John is reminding the people that God decides who will speak His words and do His bidding. Jesus always followed the will of His Father. Jesus received the Holy Spirit in full measure, however we being imperfect receive the Holy Spirit by measure as we are capable of handling it in our lives.


Count the cost of following Jesus very, very carefully, before making your choice. Those who accept Jesus then later change their minds and reject Him will face terrible consequences for their decision. As the author of Hebrews explains;


HEBREWS 10:26-31


26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,


27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.


28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.


29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?


30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people."


31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.



Also;


2 PETER 2:20-22


20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.


21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.


22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”


This doesn't mean that you can never return to the Lord, but you must be very sure of your choices or there may be dire consequences to pay. This also means that now that you have received the knowledge of the truth, you are responsible for that knowledge. Will you choose to follow Jesus, or will you reject Him in word and deed?


Choose carefully..........




JOHN 4:1-3


1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John


2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),


3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.


Jesus' disciples did the baptizing of the people instead of Jesus Himself. I believe this was to prevent people from using this to think they were better or more loved by God than those not baptized personally by the Lord; as this would plant the sin of pride among the people.



JOHN 4:4-15


4 But He needed to go through Samaria.


5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.


6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.


7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."


8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.


9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.


10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."


11 The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?


12 "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"


13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,


14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."


15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."


The sixth hour is 12:00 noon. Remember, being in human form Jesus had the same frailties as we do, and after walking all morning He was tired and thirsty.


When the Assyrians under king Sargon II conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (the 10 tribes who split from Judah and Benjamin after King Solomon died), they left a minimum number of Jews to care for the land and imported more people from other parts of their vast empire to help populate and cultivate this land for the enrichment of the Assyrian Empire. (This would also keep the Jews left behind from trying to rally and revolt against Assyria. See 2 Kings 17:24-21 for the history of the Samaritans.)


Over time the Jews left behind intermarried with the people the Assyrians had imported to the land, instead of moving to Judah where they could have followed the Law and married only other Jews. Because of this intermarriage with pagans the Jews wouldn't let these people come into the Temple of God to worship, so the Samaritans built their own temple to worship on Mount Gerizim in Galilee. From this time there had been animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans. This is why she was surprised that Jesus, who was a Jew, was even willing to speak to her as she was a Samaritan.


Living water is what today would be called running water. The woman was thinking in terms of physical water, but Jesus was referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit which satisfies our hunger and thirst for God while we are here on Earth.



JOHN 4:16-27


16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."


17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,'


18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."


19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.


20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."


21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.


22 "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.


23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.


24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."


25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When He comes, He will tell us all things."


26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."


27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"


The Samaritan woman spoke of the Mount Gerizim temple when she stated that her fathers worshiped on "this mountain". Yet she was aware of the prophecies of the coming Messiah and apparently believed in them. And Jesus, not only claimed to be the promised Messiah, but proved it to her by telling her about her life without knowing her. One can only imagine her open-mouthed astonishment and fear at hearing this!


Jesus was also referring to the time after His death and resurrection when everyone may worship in any place. Jesus doesn't require you to be in a church building to worship, praise or talk to Him. He is everywhere at all times we can talk to Him anytime and anywhere.


The disciples might have privately questioned Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman, they were not about to question Him openly. Remember they had seen Him openly talk with tax collectors, prostitutes, and thieves, etc. I'm sure they figured He had a reason and if they couldn't figure it out, they would ask Him later in private.



JOHN 4:28-38


28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,


29 "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"


30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.


31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."


32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."


33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"


34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.


35 "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!


36 "And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.


37 "For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'


38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."


It is easy to imagine the poor Samaritan woman hurrying away in fear and excitement and calling to her neighbors that she may have found the promised Messiah.


The disciples in turn were still thinking of physical matters when they urged Him to eat. Jesus speaking of fields ripe for harvest was referring to the harvest of precious souls waiting to be gathered. We both sow and reap in that we plant the Word in the hearts of men, and sometimes we have the joy of reaping the harvest. But usually, we sow and someone else reaps the harvest and we reap the harvest that others have sown.


Jesus is saying that just as those who sow and those who reap enjoy the benefits of the harvest, so we do also. Do not be discouraged if you sow and don't reap what you have sown. You will reap what others have sown, and both the sower and the reaper will rejoice together in Heaven.



JOHN 4:39-42


39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."


40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.


41 And many more believed because of His own word.


42 Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."


This shows a sad irony, in the fact that the Samaritans, considered by the Jews to be the dregs of society, believed in Jesus, yet His own people whom He came to save rejected Him. Even today, it is easier for the Gentiles to believe in Him than it is for His own people to believe in Him.



JOHN 4:43-44


43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.


44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.


45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.


Mark gives us more details as to why the people from His home town rejected Him.


MARK 6:1-6


1 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.


2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!


3 "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him.


4 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."


5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.


6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.


Jesus had at least 6 siblings; 4 brothers and at least 2 sisters. His siblings didn't believe in Jesus as their Savior until later. In the New Testament or New Covenant, two of Jesus' brothers wrote books; Judas wrote the book of Jude and James wrote the book of James as well as becoming the undisputed leader (not Peter) of the Apostles and the early Church in Jerusalem as confirmed in the Book of Acts.


We need to remember that many of the poorer professions such as carpenters were illiterate, common people. Yet here is Jesus who never had a formal education but who can read, prophesy, perform miracles and confound the greatest teachers and scholars of His day. They are saying, "We know Him and His family, that they are poor and uneducated. How did He get all of this?" They were offended at His fame as they were envious of what He had.


Jesus healed and performed miracles according to the faith people had in Him. In His own home town there was no faith. Family and friends can be the most difficult ones to witness to, because they are judging your knowledge and faith in God by their knowledge of you in the past, not understanding that in the eyes of God, your sinful past no longer exists.



JOHN 4:46-54


46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.


47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.


48 Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."


49 The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"


50 Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.


51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"


52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."


53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.


54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.


Jesus was disheartened that the people seemed to only want the miracles and didn't understand the greater value of the Word of God. While seeing a miracle would be profound, listening to the words spoken by the Son of God would touch their hearts forever and had the potential to change their daily lives. Literally words to live by.




JOHN 5:1-13


1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.


2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.


3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.


4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.


5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.


6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"


7 The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."


8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."


9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.


10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed."


11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk."'


12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?"


13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.


For a long time, it was thought that this was only a legend as there was no evidence that such a pool existed. But recently archeologists have found the pool of Bethesda and it does indeed have five porches. The water table has dropped so that the pool no longer is filled with water.


This story also shows the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in that they considered a man carrying his bed home after years of waiting near the pool for healing, was considered as "work" and was therefore forbidden on the Sabbath.


I suspect the Pharisees knew that Jesus had been the one to heal him, but they wanted the man to positively identify that it had been Jesus who had performed this miracle.



JOHN 5:14-18


14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you."


15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.


16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.


17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."


18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.


This shows the growing desperation of the religious leaders to find something to accuse Him of that they might have reason to bring Him to trial and be rid of Him.


Note also, that Jesus said the man's infirmity had been the result of some sin he had committed. We would do well to remember this.



JOHN 5:19-27


19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.


20 "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.


21 "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.


22 "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,


23 "that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.


24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.


25 "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.


26 "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,


27 "and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.


Jesus acknowledges that He cannot do anything without the Father having done something first, showing that the Father is greater than He. And as the Father has given all things into the hand of the Son, those that reject the Son reject the Father who sent Him. If we honor the Son, we honor the Father who sent Him. Reject either one, and you reject both.


Unfortunately there will be many Jews who will be stunned to learn this when they stand before Jesus at their judgment and will find that while they honored and worshiped the Father, they rejected His Son and in doing so, will have rejected the very One they claimed to serve and worship.


In verse 25, Jesus is referring to the spiritually dead who hear His voice and choose to believe in Him. Their spirits will then live for eternity with Him. The reason why He said this is explained below.



JOHN 5:28-30


28 "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice


29 "and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.


30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.


Here Jesus is differentiating between the believing dead that He spoke of above, and the unrighteous dead. Remember, there will be two resurrections, a resurrection of the righteous at His return to Earth and later a resurrection of the condemned. At the resurrection of the unrighteous, all who have died in their sins will hear His voice and will rise to face their Judgment before His throne.



JOHN 5:31-47


31 "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.


32 "There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.


33 "You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.


34 "Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.


35 "He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.


36 "But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.


37 "And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.


38 "But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.


39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.


40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.


41 "I do not receive honor from men.


42 "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.


43 "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.


44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?


45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust.


46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.


47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"


In Jewish law, a minimum of two witnesses were needed to confirm any event or testimony. Jesus had John's witness concerning Him, but He said the greater witnesses were the Father who gave Him the power to perform miracles, and the works He performed through His Father's power, witnesses that could not be accused of bias, or be refuted.


He also accused them of not believing because they didn't have God in their hearts, but were pursuing their own wills in God's name, honoring each other but not doing works that would give them honor from God.


He then infuriated them by saying that the writings of Moses condemned them, for Moses wrote about Jesus and they refused to believe Moses' words. This was a strong statement showing their hypocrisy and spiritual blindness, for they were supposed to be experts in the Mosaic law, yet they could not recognize Jesus as being the prophesied and promised Messiah.




JOHN 6:1-13


1 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.


2 Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased.


3 And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples.


4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.


5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"


6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.


7 Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little."


8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,


9 "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?"


10 Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.


11 And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.


12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost."


13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.


One denarius (a small silver coin containing 1/10 ounce of silver) was a days wage at that time.


Jesus was reminding the disciples to show compassion for others, even though they were tired from their travels. Part of serving Jesus is having compassion for others whether you are tired or very busy. They had just finished teaching and performing miracles, yet didn't think to ask for God to provide food for all of these people seeking more words from the Lord. The disciples were still learning that with God nothing is too difficult or impossible.


Jesus had great compassion for these people and took care of both their spiritual and physical needs. He didn't want to send them away without eating, as some might faint from hunger along the way, and the size of the crowd would quickly have cleaned out the surrounding villages of food with some still not having food because there would be none left. It is estimated that here were at least 20,000-30,000 people including women and children, that were fed that day.


It also proves what Jesus tells us in....


MARK 10:27


27 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."


Remember, God fed over 1,000,000 people for 40 years in the desert when Israel came out of Egypt. If He can do that, feeding 20,000 - 30,000 people would be a small thing to Him.



JOHN 6:14-15

 

14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."


15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.


Jesus didn't come to Earth to be crowned King, but to serve mankind and teach everyone all the Father wanted taught. And when He returns, it will be in power and glory as the King of Kings, not the king of a small nation.



JOHN 6:16-21


16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,


17 got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.


18 Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.


19 So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.


20 But He said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."


21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.


The disciples probably didn't think about it being Jesus walking toward them. It was dark, the wind was blowing, and there was probably enough moonlight for them to see and steer by and it is easy to understand their terror at seeing a human figure walking across the water toward them, especially not having Jesus with them to protect them.


Matthew tells more details.....


MATTHEW 14:24-33


24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.


25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.


26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear.


27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."


28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."


29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.


30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"


31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"


32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.


33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."


Peter had the courage to walk on the water to meet Jesus as He came to the boat in the storm. He believed that if Jesus said it was ok then he could do anything. It was only when he took his eyes off of Jesus and realized the dangers around him that he began to sink. Turning back to Jesus saved his life. This is an important message for all of us to keep our eyes on Jesus.


There is a part of Scripture here that many overlook in verse 21 above. Note carefully that when Jesus stepped into the boat, immediately they were at the other side of the lake! Jesus warped space and time bringing the disciples safely to their destination in the blink of an eye!



JOHN 6:22-27


22 On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except that one which His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone


23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks


24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.


25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?"


26 Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.


27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."


The people came seeking Jesus in the hope of getting another free lunch. Jesus said it was more important to seek God's Word, than to seek for food, for if you seek to do God's will, will He not provide for your physical needs? As He Himself said;


MATTHEW 6:25-34


25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?


26 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?


27 "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?


28 "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;


29 "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.


30 "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?


31 "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'


32 "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.


33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.


34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.



JOHN 6:28-36


28 Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"


29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."


30 Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?


31 "Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"


32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.


33 "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."


34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always."


35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.


36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.


The entire purpose of the Law was to point to the spiritual fulfillment of it's tenets which was to come through Jesus Christ. But the spiritual blindness of the people continually had them thinking of physical things. We condemn them because we know better, but if we had been living in their times, would we have been any different?



We should instead be thanking God continually that we have been given the wisdom and knowledge that was denied to them, and seek to dispel the same spiritual blindness that still afflicts the Jewish people today.


Jesus is the Bread of Life, in that He spoke the words of God to us. Remember, physical bread perishes, but the Word of God does not. The body will eventually perish, but the spirit will live forever in either Heaven or the Lake of Fire.


People today are so hungry spiritually that they vainly seek to fill that hunger with drugs, alcohol, extreme activities such as sports, constant partying, sex, etc. They are trying to feed a spiritual hunger with physical things, and they will never be successful.


The words of Jesus through the Holy Spirit will fill this spiritual hunger, and if the spirit is filled and is at peace, will not the physical body be content with normal everyday things?


The people He spoke to still had hardened hearts and closed eyes despite the miracles He had performed before them. They wanted to see more signs and wonders before they would believe, yet even if He had, they would still have doubted, fulfilling Isaiah's terrible prophecy;


ISAIAH 6:9-10


9 And He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'


10 "Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and return and be healed."



JOHN 6:37-40


37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.


38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.


39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.


40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."


More people need to hear the words Jesus spoke in verse 37. Many are called by the Father, but only those who heed the call and come to Jesus will be saved. And no matter how sinful we have been, if we come to Him He will not turn us away. All whom the Father has given to Jesus will not perish, but will be raised by Him at His return and will live and reign with Him forever.



JOHN 6:41-42


41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."


42 And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"


This was a great stumbling block to the Jews, in that the people knew His physical family and didn't understand how He could be the Bread from Heaven as He spoke. If they had known the origins and events of His birth they might have understood, but again, they were thinking from hardened hearts and blinded eyes.



JOHN 6:43-51


43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.


44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.


45 "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.


46 "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.


47 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.


48 "I am the bread of life.


49 "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.


50 "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.


51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."


Here Jesus draws the line between spiritual bread and physical bread. Manna was given from God in Heaven to provide for the physical needs of Israel, freely given by God. They had done nothing to earn it, but like salvation it was a gift. The Israelites ate this bread and died, as the manna was to fulfill their physical needs. The bread Jesus gave them was to feed their souls with the Word of God.


As we know now, Jesus wasn't offering His literal flesh to eat, He was talking spiritually. This again was a major problem to the people of His time, for they believed that He was offering His literal body for them to eat, but He was speaking of the spiritual component of Passover, with Himself being the perfect Lamb offered to God in sacrifice for sin.


When we participate in communion, it is a spiritual symbol of the eating of Jesus flesh and the drinking of His blood, not the literal eating of flesh and drinking of blood, for drinking of blood is forbidden by God.


Just as the Passover lamb was eaten by the people and a glass of wine was drunk, even so in communion we break and eat bread, representative of the broken body of Jesus on the cross, and we drink wine (or grape juice) symbolic of His blood shed for the sins of Man.


But just as then, so it is now that both the Passover feast and the Communion that we celebrate are spiritual events represented by physical symbols.


The wine is a symbol of the blood Jesus shed for payment of our sins and the bread is a symbol of His body that He sacrificed for our sins to be paid in full, once and for all time.



JOHN 6:52-59


52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"


53 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.


54 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.


55 "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.


56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.


57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.


58 "This is the bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever."


59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.


This must have been received with horror from the people who heard Him, for to them it would appear that He spoke of cannibalism. Again it shows graphically their blindness to spiritual things, not understanding that the Law, while physical, pointed to spiritual fulfillment in Jesus.


Raising people up at the last day is speaking of Jesus' second coming in power and glory when He will raise up His people, dead and alive into our perfect heavenly bodies.



As Paul joyfully pronounced;


I THESSALONIANS 4:16-17


16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.


17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.



Now, let's get something straight before we go any further.


There are those who teach that the Communion bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus, a doctrine labeled as "transubstantiation". This is completely false and contrary to the teachings of God!


God states emphatically that drinking blood is a grave sin.


GENESIS 9:3-4


3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.


4 "But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.



LEVITICUS 3:17


17 'This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.'"



LEVITICUS 17:10-12


10 'And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.


11 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.'


12 "Therefore I said to the children of Israel, 'No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.'


Also;


ACTS 21:25

      

25 But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

        

Jesus made one sacrifice for sins, never to be repeated. For by one sacrifice He took away all sin forever, therefore there is no reason for repeated sacrifices as required in the Old Testament, and in continued disobedience by the Catholic Church and others today, who offer Him up to the Father at every Mass as the "divine victim" in a "bloodless sacrifice".


If, as the Catholic Church and others teach today, any man could actually command Jesus to enter into the bread and had the power to turn the wine into the blood of Jesus; that would mean that they were greater in power than Jesus Himself. Jesus commands us, not the other away around.


And it would also mean that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough, as the Catholics and others claim that Jesus must be sacrificed over and over again.


Scripture tells us the opposite is true.


ROMANS 6:10


10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.



HEBREWS 10:10-13


10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.


12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,


13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.


Knowing this we must be careful, as we will be held responsible for this knowledge. If anyone continues practicing this abomination the following Scripture will apply.


HEBREWS 10:26-31


26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,


27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.


28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.


29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?


30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people."


31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.



JOHN 6:60-71


60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"


61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?


62 "What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?


63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.


64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.


65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."


66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.


67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"


68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.


69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."


70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"


71 He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.


Those who were following Jesus for the wrong reasons, except for Judas Iscariot, realized they would not get what they were seeking from Jesus and left. Remember, the Father sees the hearts of men, and knows who seek Him out of love and desire to learn from Him. These are the ones He seeks to worship and learn from Him.

 



JOHN 7:1-5


1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.


2 Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.


3 His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.


4 "For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."


5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.


The Feast of Tabernacles (also called: Feast of Ingathering, Feast of Booths or Sukkot) was a requirement of the Lord set down in Exodus. This took place on the 15th day of Tishri (mid-September to mid-October) and begins the 7 day feast when the last of the harvests were brought in from the fields.


EXODUS 23:14-17


14 "Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:


15 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);


16 "and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.


17 "Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.


This feast has 4 main functions:


1) To give thanks for the years' harvest.


2) To offer prayers for rain during the coming year.


3) To mark the end of the High Holy Holidays.


4) To remind the Israelites of the role of the living in tents during the Exodus from Egypt until their coming into the Promised Land.


Today the Jewish celebration consists of putting up temporary shelters (booths) and the booths are decorated with real fruits and vegetables from the last of the harvests.


Jesus' physical brothers mocked Him because they didn't believe in His being the Son of God, even though they had no doubt heard the stories of His birth. Later this changed to the point where Jesus' brother James became the undisputed head of the Church of Jerusalem and wrote the Book of James in the New Testament. In the Book of Acts, even the apostles went to James for advice and to have him give his judgment concerning doctrinal disputes that arose in the early Church.


But the mockery of His brothers had been prophesied long before;


PSALMS 69:6-9


6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.


7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.


8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children;


9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.


It appears that all of His brethren later came to believe in Him, for the book of Acts says after His resurrection and ascension back into Heaven;


ACTS 1:12-14


12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey.


13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James.


14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.



JOHN 7:6-13


6 Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.


7 "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.


8 "You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."


9 When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.


10 But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.


11 Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"


12 And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."


13 However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.


Jesus is telling them that the time for Him to attend the feast had not yet arrived. Jesus knew that He still had many things to accomplish for His Father before His death. Note that Jesus kept the Feast as required by the Law. The people had mixed feelings regarding Jesus, some believed but they feared the Jews who were in power over them. Jesus was hated for exposing the evil deeds of men, for no one likes being publicly rebuked for deeds done in secret.



JOHN 7:14-18


14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.


15 And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"


16 Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.


17 "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.


18 "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.


Jesus, being the son of a carpenter, would never have been taught to read and write; only the priests, Pharisees, scribes and very rich people were allowed to learn these things. Yet here was what was supposed to be the ignorant son of a carpenter, teaching God's words, apparently quoting from the Law, confounding both the common people and the religious leaders.


Back then, only those who had attended religious schools were considered to be able to teach, much like the public requiring a teaching degree today if one were to teach in the public education system, or a minister having college degree and a license from the state to be able to preach.



JOHN 7:19-24


19 "Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"


20 The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?"


21 Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.


22 "Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.


23 "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?


24 "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."


Jesus is pointing out the differences between the letter of the law and the spirit (intent) of the law. Also the fact that sometimes there are provisions within a law that can cause a law to be set aside, such as healing a man or keeping the law of circumcision which requires the circumcision to be performed on the eighth day after birth, even if that day falls on the Sabbath.


For example, firemen when performing a rescue vandalize a building when they break windows and doors in order to rescue people, yet they are blameless in the eyes of the law.


The Levitical priests broke the Sabbath every week when they performed the required sacrifices for the Lord, which would be considered "work". Yet Jesus said in Matthew;


MATTHEW 12:3-8


3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:


4 "how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?


5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?


6 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.


7 "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.


8 "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."


There are exceptions for many rules. The Lord sees your heart and knows the true intent of it. The Pharisees condemned healing and saving lives on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that God was Lord over the Sabbath and He understands when a need arises to eat or heal or save a life, even on the Sabbath.



JOHN 7:25-30


25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?


26 "But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?


27 "However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."


28 Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.


29 "But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."


30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.


Many people were confused, trying to look to their religious leadership to know what to believe. Jesus was telling them the truth and trying to get them to think for themselves and remember the Scriptures they had heard all of their lives.


He was not trying to bring glory to Himself, but to the Father. He spoke the truth when He said that they didn't know the Father, because of the barrier of sin that had been between the Father and the people since the fall of Adam. But Jesus knew the Father as no other man has ever known Him. Jesus wasn't concerned about the Pharisees taking Him because He knew that wouldn't happen until He had completed His mission for the Father.



JOHN 7:31-36


31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"


32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.


33 Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.


34 "You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."


35 Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?


36 "What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"


The Jews were thinking physically again. Jesus would go back to be with the Father after He was finished with everything the Father wanted Him to accomplish here on earth.


When Jesus told the Pharisees that they could not go where He was going, He was condemning them to Hell. He knew that the hearts of those who came after Him were hardened and would never change.



JOHN 7:37-42


37 On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.


38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."


39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.


40 Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."


41 Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?


42 "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"


Jesus was referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit which satisfies our hunger and thirst for God while we are here on Earth.


The people were referring to the prophecy spoken by Micah, which stated;


MICAH 5:2


2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."



JOHN 7:43-53


43 So there was a division among the people because of Him.


44 Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.


45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"


46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"


47 Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?


48 "Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?


49 "But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."


50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them,


51 "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"


52 They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."


53 And everyone went to his own house.


Even the Temple guards were impressed with Jesus' teachings. Nicodemus tried to get the others to judge His teachings fairly, but they didn't want to hear the truth. This shows that they were willing to ignore the Scriptures that didn't help them in their pursuit of their own power and glory.


This also shows their incredible arrogance in that they considered the common people to be accursed, because they didn't know the Law. This condemned the Pharisees in two ways, first, because if they had done a better job of teaching the Law, the people would not be ignorant of it's teachings. Secondly, if the people truly knew the Law, they would quickly condemn the Pharisees for their wickedness and hypocrisy.


They committed a huge error when they said that no prophet had arisen out of Galilee. The prophet Jonah was from Galilee, from a small town called Gath Hepher, located about 10 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee in the region known as Galilee.


2 KINGS 14:25


25 He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.




JOHN 8:1-11


1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.


2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.


3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,


4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.


5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"


6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.


7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."


8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.


9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.


10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?"


11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."


The Law of Moses required that both the adulterer and the adulteress be put to death, but notice that they only brought the woman and not the man, again showing their wickedness. As they said, she was caught "in the act" so they certainly could have brought the man also. This may also have been a setup to try to trap Jesus, and the woman was a victim of the setup.


I strongly suspect that when Jesus wrote on the ground, He was writing,


LEVITICUS 20:10


10 'The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.


We don't really know what Jesus wrote in the dirt, but there are many possibilities....He may have written out the law that required both parties to be put to death, or maybe He wrote the name of the man she was with, or perhaps Jesus wrote some of the sins committed by the accusers of this woman before telling them that the accuser that was without sin should throw the first stone. What ever He wrote obviously had these men backing down quickly!


When left with the woman, as the only One without sin, He forgave her as only He had the authority to do. No matter what your sins are you can always go to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and He will forgive you as long as you are sincere and humble of heart. Never feel too ashamed of your sins to go before the Lord to ask for forgiveness.



The only exception is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which is calling the Holy Spirit a demon. This is the only unforgivable sin, but even it has extenuating circumstances. If you do this sin before knowing it is a sin, you won't be held responsible for the sin if you repent and Jesus will forgive you, but once you have this knowledge, if you do it again then you will be held responsible for this sin.


(For further information on this subject, please see the study in this site concerning blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.)


 

JOHN 8:12-20


12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but has the light of life."


13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true."


14 Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.


15 "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.


16 "And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.


17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.


18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."


19 Then they said to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also."


20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.


Note that Jesus stated to the Pharisees that it is "your law" that concerns testimonies, showing that He is above the Law set down for the people, because He is God and He gave the Law to Moses.


If you follow the will of Jesus you will be following the will of the Father, as they are One. Jesus has the Father's support in the truth of His statement that He is the Messiah.



JOHN 8:21-30


21 Then Jesus said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come."


22 So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?"


23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.


24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."


25 Then they said to Him, "Who are You?" And Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.


26 "I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."


27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.


28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.


29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."


30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.


Jesus is the one and only Son of God, sent here from Heaven by the Father for the salvation of Mankind. God's Man and Man's God.


Jesus was telling the them that if they died in unbelief, they would not have eternal life with Him, but would suffer eternal damnation for their unwillingness to believe that He, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the long awaited Messiah.


They would continue to seek Him through the dictates of the Law, but would continue to be blind to what the Law said about Him.



JOHN 8:31-36


31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.


32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."


33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"


34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.


35 "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.


36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.


Again, the people who heard Him were thinking of physical bondage.


Jesus paid the required price of the sins committed by everyone from Adam to the last person who will ever live on this Earth, by being a willing sacrifice for all the sins of mankind. All we have to do to receive this gift of redemption is to believe in Him, repent, ask for forgiveness and follow His commandments.



JOHN 8:37-42


37 "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.


38 "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."


39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.


40 "But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.


41 "You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, God."


42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.


He was telling them that their words and deeds showed that they didn't follow in the faith of Abraham, which God counted as righteousness. They claimed to follow and honor the Father, yet again their words and deeds told a different story.


Jesus tells us that both words and deeds must follow the will of the Lord.


MATTHEW 7:17-23


17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.


18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.


19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.


20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.


21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.


22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'


23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'


Don't make claims to follow Jesus if you are only doing your will in His name!



JOHN 8:43-47


43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.


44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.


45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.


46 "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?


47 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."


Jesus tells the truth concerning Satan, and the fact that these people are following Satan's will, not that of God the Father. The Pharisees didn't want to believe Jesus because it would mean giving up the spotlight they had placed on themselves for their own glorification and Jesus would expose their corruption causing them to lose glory received from the people, and power over the people and riches from their corrupt schemes against the people who looked up to them.


The Catholic Church claims to worship Jesus; but really they worship a Jesus of their own making, teaching doctrines and practices that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the true Jesus Christ. The priests, bishops, cardinals, and on up receive glory for themselves from the people who follow them, along with power and great riches, just like the Pharisees.


Remember what Jesus said about those who try to have both the world and Heaven;


REVELATION 3:15-16


15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.


16 "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.



JOHN 8:48-51


48 Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"


49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.


50 "And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.


51 "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death."


Jesus' reference to "never seeing death" was that while our physical bodies will die, our spirits will live forever with Him in heaven as long as we keep His Word.



JOHN 8:52-59


52 Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, 'If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.'


53 "Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?"


54 Jesus answered, "If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.


55 "Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.


56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."


57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"


58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."


59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.


Jesus told them again who He was when He said I AM. The Jews knew that I AM

(Hebrew: YHWH) is the true name of God which He gave to Moses, but they refused to believe that He was equal with His Father.


EXODUS 3:14


14 And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"


The open-ended term "I AM" indicates an all-encompassing Presence, one with no beginning or end, just One who is, and always will be.


Notice that Jesus blinded the Pharisees to His presence and merely walked through the crowd to leave. He did this because His time to be taken had not yet come.



JOHN 9:1-5


1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.


2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"


3 Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.


4 "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.


5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."


The disciples were still thinking of the Law of Moses, in which the sins of the parents would be repaid through successive generations. As God stated;


EXODUS 20:4-6


4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;


5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,


6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.


This may seem like a frightful curse, and God meant for it to be as a warning to parents to steer away from sin, otherwise they could have cursed children after them. It was important for fathers to have children to carry their family name down through successive generations, and God's warning was meant to have fathers think hard before sinning, lest his family line perish.


However Israel didn't understand God's intentions concerning this, causing Him to clarify His meaning later, when He said the following;


EZEKIEL 18:1-18


1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,


2 "What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?


3 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.


4 "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.


5 But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right;


6 If he has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife, nor approached a woman during her impurity;


7 If he has not oppressed anyone, but has restored to the debtor his pledge; has robbed no one by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing;


8 If he has not exacted usury nor taken any increase, but has withdrawn his hand from iniquity and executed true judgment between man and man;


9 If he has walked in My statutes and kept My judgments faithfully, he is just; he shall surely live." says the Lord GOD.


10 "If he begets a son who is a robber or a shedder of blood, who does any of these things


11 And does none of those duties, but has eaten on the mountains or defiled his neighbor's wife;


12 If he has oppressed the poor and needy, robbed by violence, not restored the pledge, lifted his eyes to the idols, or committed abomination;


13 If he has exacted usury or taken increase shall he then live? He shall not live. If he has done any of these abominations, he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.


14 "If, however, he begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise;


15 Who has not eaten on the mountains, nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor defiled his neighbor's wife;


16 Has not oppressed anyone, nor withheld a pledge, nor robbed by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with clothing;


17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor and not received usury or increase, but has executed My judgments and walked in My statutes he shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live.


18 "As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.


This showed Israel that if a father sinned but his children did not, the father would die for his sin but the children would not. But if the children followed in their father's footsteps, God would destroy them as well.


And if a father did what was right, but had a child who was evil, the father would not suffer for the child.


(Note: "usury" was interest on a loan. The Jews were allowed to charge Gentiles interest on loans, but not their brethren.)


LEVITICUS 25:35-37


35 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.


36 'Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you.


37 'You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.


Not all physical defects are caused by sin, sometimes God has other reasons for allowing them. Whether caused by sin or other reasons, never forget that God can heal anything that He chooses to heal.



JOHN 9:6-12


6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.


7 And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.


8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is not this he who sat and begged?"


9 Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he."


10 Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"


11 He answered and said, "A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight."


12 Then they said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."



This shows what faith and obedience in Jesus can do. It was not the clay or washing of his eyes that healed his eyes, but his obedience and faith in Jesus that allowed him to be healed.


The Jews were astonished at this phenomenon, because they knew that this man had been blind since birth and had sat and begged for charity for years. Yet here he was walking about and seeing perfectly. Some thought it may have been a man with a similar appearance, but the man testified that it was indeed he who had been blind.



JOHN 9:13-17


13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.


14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.


15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."


16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.


17 They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."


The Pharisees were trying use this man to get evidence to charge Jesus with violation of the Law so they could bring Him to trial. They were getting desperate to get rid of Jesus, for He was performing miracles and the multitudes were listening to Him and believing in Him.


Jesus also had an annoying habit of pointing out their wickedness before the people, exposing their pompous self-righteous attitudes and revealing the corruption within them.


Apparently some of the Pharisees were troubled by the fact that Jesus performed such signs and miracles. There has long been an accusation against Jesus to the effect that He learned spells and incantations from Egyptian sorcerers and smuggled these spells and incantations out of Egypt by having them written on bits of papyrus which He inserted under His skin.


First of all, this is ridiculous as had He done so, He would have had some serious, life-threatening (if not deadly) infections from such actions. Secondly, had He been performing sorcery He would never have been allowed into the Temple.



JOHN 9:18-23


18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.


19 And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"


20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;


21 "but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself."


22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.


23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."


Instead of rejoicing that this man had received his sight, the Pharisees again tried to find some form of deception so that they could discredit Jesus. A classic case of spiritual blindness by these pompous "men of God".


The Pharisees were using their political authority to bully the people, a serious abuse of power. Remember that the people who were put out of the synagogue were shunned by the other people in the community.


This still happens today to Jews who realize that Jesus is the Messiah and choose to follow Him. Some parents have been known to have "funerals" for the son or daughter who has chosen to follow Jesus.


There have been reports of friends and families being split apart by the issue, and the "Messianic Jew" or "Hebrew Christian" as they are labeled have had long time friends spit in their faces when encountered because they are considered "heretics" and "apostates" (fallen from the faith").


This is in fulfillment of Jesus' warning concerning such when He said;


MATTHEW 10:34-37


34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.


35 "For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law';


36 "and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'


The battle lines are being drawn, with those who love and believe in Him on one side, and those who reject and hate Him on the other. Remember, following Jesus isn't easy, but the rewards will be well worth it.



JOHN 9:24-34


24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner."


25 He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."


26 Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"


27 He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?"


28 Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.


29 "We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from."


30 The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!


31 "Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.


32 "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.


33 "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."


34 They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.


The Pharisees knew that Jesus was a sinner? Then why hadn't they arrested Him and brought Him to trial?


Their continued interrogation of the man is a well-known and used tactic used by police and prosecutors in courts. Keep asking the same questions or phrasing the same questions differently and see if the accused becomes rattled and makes a mistake that they can latch onto.


I have to admire the courage of this man, for he threw the Pharisees’ own accusations back in their faces, in amusement lecturing them on what they should have already known, and making a public mockery of them. The Pharisees in turn were not only humiliated publicly, but were enraged that this simple man dared to have the unmitigated gall to teach them! Note that they said he had been entirely born in sins, by implication making themselves to be sinless.


And to make an example of him, they cast him out of the synagogue, making him a public outcast.



JOHN 9:35-41


35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"


36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"


37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."


38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.


39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."


40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?"


41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.


This shows the true state of the heart of the man that Jesus had healed. He was grateful to God for his healing and was willing to believe in the Messiah and worship Him as the Son of God, if he only knew who he was. Remember, Jesus had disappeared by the time the man came back from the Pool of Siloam and had no idea who it was who had healed him.


The man then publicly worshiped Jesus, and Jesus accepted the worship, placing Him equal with God.


The blindness that the Pharisees were speaking of was spiritual blindness. They knew very well what Jesus meant and were asking if they were spiritually blind also. Jesus in turn pointedly implied that they had seen His works and had seen His fulfillment of prophecy as foretold by the Law of Moses and the prophets and they still didn't believe.


Therefore they had both seen and heard and had consciously rejected Him. As such, there was no forgiving of their sin for they refused to repent.

 



JOHN 10:1-10


1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.


2 "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.


3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.


4 "And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.


5 "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."


6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.


7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.


8 "All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.


9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.


10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.


Jesus was using a simple analogy to describe Himself as the promised Messiah. Shepherds would often allow their sheep to graze in the same pastures as others and the sheep would intermix. But when it became time to go, the shepherds would call their sheep and each flock would follow their own shepherd, for they recognized his voice.


Any man who claimed to be the Messiah before Jesus was a false messiah, and while a few people might be deceived, the majority didn't listen for the proclaimer did not have God's Spirit with him. Jesus, the true Messiah came in the Spirit of His Father and with the words of God Himself, and the sheep (people) listened to Him, and still respond to His words today.


There are many who claim to have the way to salvation, but all of those other roads lead to destruction for eternity. Remember Jesus' words in ......


MATTHEW 7:13-20


13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.


14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.


15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.


16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?


17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.


18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.


19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.


20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.



JOHN 10:11-16


11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.


12 "But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.


13 "The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.


14 "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.


15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.


16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.


If you hire someone to care for your sheep, while they will take care of them, if a dangerous situation arises they may leave the sheep to save themselves, as they have nothing to lose. True shepherds will defend the sheep because they are his livelihood.


The other sheep that Jesus is referring to are the Gentiles, who have received His word after His death and resurrection. The promise of the salvation came first to the Jews as prophesied, and then to the Gentiles.


At our judgment both Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus will all be judged by the same criteria; did we serve Jesus and follow His commandments to the best of our ability? Being a Jew or a Gentile will make no difference before Him, for we are all sinners.

 

As for salvation coming to the Gentiles, God bitterly prophesied through Isaiah;


ISAIAH 65:1


1 "I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am,' to a nation that was not called by My name.


Yet He says of Israel in the same prophecy;


ISAIAH 65:2


2 I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts;


The Jews had become so spiritually numbed in performing the works of the Law that they had forgotten what the Law was supposed to represent. Therefore when Jesus came in fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, the people of His time could not make the connection between the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law.


The Gentiles had no such "numbness", so they were able to more readily accept the Gospel though faith. As the apostle Paul stated after teaching the Jews;


ACTS 28:24-28


24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.


25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,


26 "saying, 'Go to this people and say: "Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive;


27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."'


28 "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!"


It is ironic (and terribly sad) that the Gentiles more readily accept and believe in Jesus than the very people He had come to save. The Jews had the Law and the prophets to foretell of His coming, yet they rejected Him and still do to this day.


The Gentiles on the other hand, didn't have the Law and prophets to forewarn them, yet they more readily believe in Jesus, accepting Him by faith alone.


And here is the crux of the issue. The Law doesn't require faith, it requires works. In other words, "do this, and you will live". The Law also doesn't have any provision for salvation, as the Law identified what was sin in God's eyes, and the Law required that a person follow all of it's dictates (all 613 of them) all of the days of their lives, without fail.


As Moses said;


DEUTERONOMY 27:26


26 'Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.' and all the people shall say, 'Amen!'


No one could keep all of the commandments of the Law all of their lives except God alone. And the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament could never take away sin, it could only cover the sin, the blood of a sinless animal atoning for the sins of the sinner. 


As David said in Psalms;


PSALMS 32:1


1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.


However the sacrifice put the Jews under obedience until the true sacrifice would come who had power to remove the sins forever, Jesus Christ. That is why with His atoning death, there was no need for animal sacrifices any more, as the blood of the perfect Lamb had been shed to atone for the sins of all mankind.


This does not mean that all sins have been forgiven! Only those today who believe in Jesus, have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, and have repented of their sins will be forgiven. Those who have not done this, will not.



JOHN 10:17-18


17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.


18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."



No man killed Jesus on the cross. He chose to die, willingly, knowing that this was the only way to save mankind from the destruction of sin.



John 10:19-23


19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.


20 And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?"


21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"


22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.


23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.


The people were divided as to what the source of Jesus' power was. The winter feast of Dedication spoken of here, is the feast of Hanukkah.


After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., his great empire had been ripped into four pieces by his generals. One of the generals by the name of Seleucus captured the area known as Syria while another with the name of Ptolemy conquered Egypt. Down through history their descendants fought back and forth, and Judah changed hands between them several times.


Finally, there arose a Seleucid king named Antiochus IV "Epiphanes" (Greek: "god made manifest"), who believed himself to be a son of the Greek god Zeus.


In approximately 168 B.C. after being bluntly told by Roman authorities to stop invading Egypt or face the might of the Roman Republic, he stormed into Judah and desecrated the Temple by slaughtering pigs on the altar and dedicating the Temple to Zeus. He then looted the Temple and slaughtered many of the Jews who opposed him, starting the resistance movement which became called “The Maccabean Wars".


A priest named Judas Maccabaeus fled into the hills and started a revolt that eventually drove the Greeks out of Judah, after which the Temple was cleansed and rededicated to God.


Hanukkah is an eight day celebration in commemoration of the military war victory that restored the Temple to the Jewish people after its desecration.


Popular legend has it that when the Temple was rededicated back to the Lord, there was only enough oil for the lamps for one day, but the Lord honored their efforts and allowed the oil to burn for the full eight days required for the dedication.


However this has not been proven, and the Books of the Maccabees have been generally rejected by many scholars and the modern Church (with the exception of the Catholic Church) as "pseudopigrapha" (Greek: pseudopiigraphos - false writings)



JOHN 10:24-30


24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."


25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.


26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.


27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.


28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.


29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.


30 "I and My Father are one."


Jesus will never turn away from anyone who turns to Him. However we can turn away from Him if we choose, but it must be our free will choice as no other thing can force us to leave Jesus.



JOHN 10:31-42


31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.


32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"


33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."


34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?


35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),


36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?


37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;


38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."


39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.


40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.


41 Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."


42 And many believed in Him there.


This again shows the hypocrisy of the people questioning Jesus. They asked Him to tell them if He was the Messiah or not, and when He did, they threatened to stone Him. This sort of blindness still afflicts the Jewish people of today for they feel that a man claiming to be God is blasphemy.


Is this impossible for God to do? Can He not choose to appear in the form of a man? Remember, God appeared in the form of a man to Abraham just before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah;


GENESIS 18:1-5


1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.


2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,


3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.


4 "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.


5 "And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." They said, "Do as you have said." 



GENESIS 18:16-33


16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.


17 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,


18 "since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?


19 "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."


20 And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,


21 "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."


22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.


23 And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?


24 "Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?


25 "Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"


26 So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."


27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:


28 "Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?" So He said, "If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it."


29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will not do it for the sake of forty."


30 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."


31 And he said, "Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty."


32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten."


33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.


Here we see Abraham bargaining directly with the Lord for the lives of the people of the cursed cities, and it says that God appeared as a man to him. The Jewish people believe in this with all of their heart, yet reject the idea that God can appear as a man when He wishes to.


Thus like the Pharisees, their blindness remains.





JOHN 11:1-4


1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.


2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.


3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."


4 When Jesus heard that, He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it."


Jesus understood that just as the blind man had been made to see, this was going to be another miracle to show the power and glory of God and further proof to the people that He truly was the Son of God.


Remember, Luke spoke of this Mary when he recorded;



LUKE 7:36-50

 

36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat.


37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,


38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.


39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."


40 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."


41 "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.


42 "And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"


43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."


44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.


45 "You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.


46 "You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.


47 "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."


48 Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."


49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"


50 Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."


Some believe that this woman was a prostitute, but there is no evidence or foundation for this belief.



JOHN 11:5-16


5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.


6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.


7 Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."


8 The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?"


9 Jesus answered, "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.


10 "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."


11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up."


12 Then His disciples said, "Lord, if he sleeps he will get well."


13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.


14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.


15 "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him."


16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."


Jesus was waiting to go help Lazarus because God's timing is always perfect, even though we don't always understand it. And by ensuring that Lazarus had been dead for several days, no one could say that Lazarus had fainted and then revived when Jesus visited him.


The disciples were afraid for Jesus because more than once the people in Judea had tried to stone Him. But as Jesus pointed out to them, He knows what He is doing and those who come against Him will fail until the time for Jesus to be sacrificed is at hand.


Thomas showed great faith in Jesus in His willingness to die with Him.




JOHN 11:17-19


17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.


18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.


19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.


The custom was to mourn with friends, family and neighbors seven days for the dead. The relatives of the deceased sit on the floor during the entire seven days in mourning.



JOHN 11:20-32


20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.


21 Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.


22 "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."


23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."


24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."


25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.


26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"


27 She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."


28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you."


29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him.


30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him.


31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."


32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."



Both sisters knew that Jesus could have healed their brother, but God had something far more spectacular in mind.


Martha had great faith in Jesus and after speaking to Jesus felt better and wanted the same for her sister who was also hurting and grieving. She had misunderstood Jesus' words about Lazarus rising again, believing that He had spoken of the resurrection of the righteous at His return.


Note that both sadly said that if Jesus had come immediately when He had been notified of Lazarus' sickness, He could have healed their brother and he would not have died.



JOHN 11:33-38


33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.


34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."


35 Jesus wept.


36 Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!"


37 And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?"


38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.


Jesus wept for the emotional pain these people were in, not for Lazarus. He was showing great compassion for these people. The groaning in His spirit I believe was His sadness and frustration at their lack of faith, because He had already told them that Lazarus would live again.


In ancient times, the dead were placed in a cave which had a huge circular stone placed over the mouth of the cave. The dead person was allowed to decay, after which their bones were placed in a carved box called an ossuary. It was not unusual to have an entire family's bones placed in one box.



JOHN 11:39-45


39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."


40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"


41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.


42 "And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."


43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"


44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."


45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.


Martha must have been shocked and horrified by Jesus' command to remove the stone from the mouth of the cave. Because of the warm climate in Judah decay usually set in rapidly, and the people of that time and area didn't have embalming techniques as we do today.


Jesus specifically called Lazarus by name, for some feel that if He had just shouted "Come forth!" ALL of the dead would have risen and come forth. But in this, Jesus showed that He was God for only God has the power of life and death at His command.


Lazarus’ face was wrapped in a cloth, because it was customary to bind a cloth under the lower jaw to keep the jaw closed after death.


One can only imagine the shock and fear of the people upon seeing this dead man rise and come out of the cave!



JOHN 11:46-54


46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did.


47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.


48 "If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."


49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,


50 "nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."


51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,


52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.


53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.


54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.


Notice that the Pharisees first concern was "our place" and then "our nation". They weren't so much concerned about His teachings, as they were afraid that the Romans would come in and take away their political position and authority.


The corruption of the High Priesthood was evident in that Joseph ben Caiaphas, the High Priest, not only consented to the fact of Jesus being put to death, but he actually began plotting how to make it happen.



JOHN 11:55-57


55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.


56 Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, "What do you think that He will not come to the feast?"


57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might seize Him.


Many thought that with the Pharisees plotting to seize Him, that Jesus wouldn't come to Jerusalem for the Passover. But Jesus would never break the law which required Him to attend the Passover. He knew that until it was time for Him to be taken, the Pharisees could plot all they wanted but nothing would happen until God decided the time was right.


 



JOHN 12:1-11


1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.


2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.


3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.


4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said,


5 "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"


6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.


7 But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.


8 "For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."


9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.


10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,


11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.


Spikenard is a rare and very expensive oil that needed to be imported from India or Himalayan China where it grows. It was worth about three hundred denarii which was about ten months wages (one denarius was about one days’ wage), not counting the fact both Matthew and Mark record that it was contained in an alabaster (a very expensive translucent form of white calcite) box.


The disciples were thinking of how the money could be better used, but Jesus knew the real reason for this being done to Him. This woman was honoring Jesus greatly, by anointing Him with fragrant oil as was done with kings at their coronation, and at their burial. In this case, she was also anointing Him for His upcoming burial.


Apparently word of Lazarus' resurrection had spread far and wide, for many came to see him.



JOHN 12:12-19


12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,


13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!"


14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:


15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."


16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.


17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.


18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.


19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!"


These people had seen the incredible miracles and heard the mighty words He had spoken and understood that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. This also fulfilled many prophecies spoken hundreds of years before this event. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke give other details of this event.


MATTHEW 21:7-11


7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.


8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.


9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"


10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"


11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." 



MARK 11:7-11


7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.


8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.


9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'


10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"


11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.



LUKE 19:35-40


35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.


36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.


37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,


38 saying: "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!' Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"


39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."


40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."



JOHN 12:20-24


20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.


21 Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."


22 Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.


23 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.


24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.


Jesus was speaking of His sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Without the perfect sacrifice, all mankind would be in Hell forever and God would be alone with His angels and other creatures created by Him, except there would be not one man allowed to enter heaven for eternity.


Remember that we are the only creation of God that was literally hand-made. He breathed life into us, making Adam a living soul. Everything else He created by speaking them into existence.


GENESIS 2:7


7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.



JOHN 12:25-26


25 "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.


26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.


Perhaps this is where many religions get the idea that this life must be as miserable as possible in order to get into heaven with the Catholic nuns and priests beating themselves and each other (flagellation) in order to "suffer enough" in this life, etc.


Jesus was telling us that serving Him must be the top priority for our lives. We must remember that we are to be in this world, but not part of this world.



JOHN 12:27-33


27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour.


28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."


29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him.”


30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.


31 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.


32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."


33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.


God the Father spoke to help the people believe in Jesus. Jesus' reference to the ruler of this world being cast out was speaking about Satan who became the ruler of the world when Adam sinned and handed the entire world and everyone in it over to Satan, lock, stock, and barrel. When Jesus was crucified, "lifted up from the earth", He paid for all sins and thereby gained all power and rule over all Creation forever.



JOHN 12:34-36


34 The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"


35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.


36 "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.


They were expecting a Messiah that would come and physically live forever here on Earth, not understanding that Jesus must allow Himself to be the perfect sinless sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, once and for all time. Then He would be lifted up to sit at the right hand of the Father; no longer constrained by a physical body, but in the form of a spirit like His Father.



JOHN 12:37-43


37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him,


38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"


39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:


40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."


41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.


42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue;


43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.


Those of us who choose to follow Jesus, must always be ready and willing to confess our belief. Jesus told us that if we deny Him, He will deny us before His Father and that we must always be willing at any cost to follow Him, placing Him as a priority above all else including family, religious leaders, etc.


MATTHEW 10:32-33


32 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.


33 "But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.


It is hard to believe in Someone you cannot see, and that is where faith faces its trials. We can't see atoms, yet we believe they exist. There are many things that we can't understand, and that is where we need to have faith that they are so.


There have been many religious books written by many religions, yet none of them have the power of God's Word to reach into the hearts of men, nor do they have the evidence of archaeology, history and fulfilled prophecy to back them up.


The Bible has all of these things, and it would do the reader much good to do some research and verify these things for themselves. Nothing bolsters faith more than hard evidence! Like the jewels of wisdom in God's Word, He has provided evidence proving the accuracy of the Bible but like searching for treasure it requires some digging to find the facts.


There is nothing wrong with seeking proof of these things, it does not detract from faith at all. But we need to be sure that we are following the right beliefs, because after death your final choice is locked in. And proof was even provided by Jesus during His time here on Earth, to show that He was who He claimed to be, so that the people could see the proof and believe.


God will not object if you seek proof of His existence and the accuracy of His Word. But do so with an inquiring heart, not a cynical one, and you will find what you seek.



JOHN 12:44-50


44 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.


45 "And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.


46 "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.


47 "And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.


48 "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.


49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.


50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."


Everyone will hear the words of the Lord at sometime in their lives. Whether it is a messenger of the Lord, His written Word, or the voice of the Lord Himself. And on the day of Judgement those words will be used to convict as guilty those who rejected Jesus as the Son of God.


Also once again we see that Jesus is giving all glory and honor to the Father and humbling Himself before the Father to do the Fathers will above His own.




JOHN 13:1-4


1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.


2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,


3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,


4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.


Jesus had a few last lessons to teach these men before His time on Earth was finished.



JOHN 13:5-17


5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.


6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?"


7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."


8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."


9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!"


10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."


11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, "You are not all clean."


12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?


13 "You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.


14 "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.


15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.


16 "Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.


17 "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.


Peter didn't want Jesus to wash his feet because He was the Lord and washing someone's feet is a very humbling task, usually reserved for servants not the Master. As He had done many times before, Jesus was showing them by example, reminding them to never be so prideful and arrogant that they forget their place as servants of God. We are to care for one another both physically and spiritually.


Note that Jesus washed Judas' feet as well, even though He knew that Judas would soon betray Him to the Pharisees. And note also that Jesus wasn't referring to physical cleanliness, but spiritual cleanliness. A man can be clean outside, but be corrupt in his heart.



JOHN 13:18-20


18 "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.'


19 "Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.


20 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."


Jesus was telling them of the betrayal to come from within the disciples themselves, although they didn't understand this yet. The scripture Jesus referenced here is;


Psalms 41:9


9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.


When we receive the messengers that the Lord sends we are receiving not only him, but Jesus who sent him and the Father; by the same token if you reject the messenger of the Lord you are also rejecting Jesus and His Father.


Thus we should treat all fellow Christians, be they great or small with honor, as we would if Jesus Himself were with them.



JOHN 13:21-30


21 When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me."


22 Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke.


23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.


24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.


25 Then, leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said to Him, "Lord, who is it?"


26 Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.


27 Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly."


28 But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him.


29 For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, "Buy those things we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor.


30 Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.


Leonardo Da Vinci painted his famous "Last Supper" showing a typical rectangular table with Jesus in the middle and the disciples clustered about Him. Actually this isn't the way people dined during Jesus' time.


Tables back then were "U" shaped and guests reclined in Roman fashion on their left side on the outside of the table and ate with their right hands. The opening in the center of the "U" shaped table was to allow servants to place food before the guests or to take away empty plates as needed.


Jesus, as the master of the feast would have been at one end of the table, with the other guests reclining to His right in order of importance or as they chose. Therefore Jesus would have been at the left end of the table, John would have been reclining to his right, and so on. Peter, perhaps to show his humility, appears to have been at the other end of the table in the position of least honor which would have put him directly across from Jesus, and was able therefore to motion to John to ask Jesus who the traitor was.


It is interesting that Jesus gave Judas a piece of bread dipped in wine, as this would have put Judas at the head of the table, directly to Jesus' left, in the position of highest honor. That is the only way that Jesus could have dipped the bread in the bowl of wine at the table, and have given it to him.


Another fallacy in the Last Supper painting is that it appears that Jesus celebrated the Passover only with the twelve disciples, while Mark indicates that there more than the twelve with Him. It has been long thought by scholars that the Passover feast was held at John Mark's house.


Mark records;


MARK 14:17-21


17 In the evening He came with the twelve.


18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."


19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?" And another said, "Is it I?"


20 He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.


21 "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."


Therefore it is plain that many disciples followed Jesus and ate with Him, but only the twelve are usually mentioned.


Judas received Communion but because his heart wasn't right before God, Satan had opportunity to enter him. This also shows that Satan was present during the Passover feast and was waiting for his opportunity. Jesus had protected Judas up to that point, but when the time came Jesus withdrew that protection and Satan was allowed to have Judas.


The disciples were probably still stunned by Jesus' announcement, and therefore didn't understand the reason for Judas leaving. And if you think about it, Jesus wasn't talking to Judas at all, He was talking to Satan.


It is hard to imagine the severity of Judas' punishment when Jesus said it would have been better for him if he had not been born!



JOHN 13:31-35


31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.


32 "If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.


33 "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.


34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.


35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."


We are to help and care for one another; not fight and argue to be the most important, richest or prideful; those are traits of Satan's children as that is the foundation of Satan's kingdom. God's kingdom is founded on love, mercy and compassion.



JOHN 13:36-38


36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."


37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake."


38 Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.


Jesus was referring to the fact that He would be going to Heaven to be with the Father again, but not before He paid for all the sins of mankind and spent three days in Hell. Until the price was fully paid, nobody except God could enter heaven. Those who died before this was accomplished were in a place called paradise, but couldn't enter Heaven until Jesus' perfect sacrifice was finished.


Peter said that he was willing to lay down his life for the Lord, but the Lord knew differently. This is a lesson for all followers of Jesus Christ. We tend to make decisions based on our sight and previous knowledge. Remember that it is easy to say such things, but far harder to back them up with action when faced with keeping our promise or backing down.


The Lord speaks from knowledge of future events, and God is the only one who knows the entire future. He also knows our hearts, our thoughts, and our intentions. So if He says something will happen, you can depend on it; even though you may not be able to understand how it will happen.




JOHN 14:1-3


1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.


2 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.


3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.


Jesus was referring to His sacrifice as payment for our sins and those who will accept this gift will be allowed to enter Heaven to be with Jesus and the Father forever. Jesus was preparing the way for all to have the opportunity to enter Heaven, in which they will be given a place to live for eternity.



JOHN 14:4-11


4 "And where I go you know, and the way you know."


5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"


6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.


7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."


8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."


9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?


10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.


11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.


The disciples were still thinking in physical terms. The way that Jesus was speaking was not a physical direction, but the means for entering Heaven. It is through Jesus Christ alone that we have access to Heaven and the Father.


Many religions around the world claim to have other ways to get to Heaven, but none of these will accomplish those claims as Jesus is the only way to salvation and Heaven. Following Jesus is not an easy task, but He and the Father are with you every step of your journey and they will be waiting for you when that journey is finished.


Jesus was telling Philip to not look with physical eyes, but to believe in the spirit concerning the Father. No man can see the Father while in the flesh and live. As God told Moses;


EXODUS 33:18-23


18 And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."


19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."


20 But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."


21 And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.


22 "So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.


23 "Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."


Not even Jesus saw the Father while He was in the flesh, but He spent much time in prayer to His Father;



LUKE 6:12


12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.



JOHN 14:12-15


12 "Most assuredly, 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 My Father.


13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.


14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.


15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.


Jesus will give us whatever we ask for and need to accomplish His will, but like any good parent He will not give us what will not be good for us. As He said in Matthew;


MATTHEW 7:7-11


7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.


8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.


9 "Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?


10 "Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?


11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!


On the other hand, too many times we ask for our wants, not for our needs. As Jesus physical brother James warned;


JAMES 4:3


3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.


Note that Jesus said that the things He has done, we will be empowered to do also if it falls in accordance with His will. We cannot just go and resurrect the dead, this must be done in accordance with His will. If it is His will that a person be resurrected, we will have power to do so, and only then will we have this power.



We need to remember that many people died during Jesus' time on Earth, but only a select few were resurrected. The same with healing, etc. God chooses whom to heal and raise, and will empower those whom He has chosen to do so for His glory and for His purpose.



JOHN 14:16-20


16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever


17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.


18 "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.


19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.


20 "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.


The Spirit of Truth is the Holy Spirit which helps us to keep Jesus as the King of our heart. If we serve Jesus, He has to be the ruler of our heart, just as Satan rules the hearts of his subjects.


Jesus is always with us, but the Holy Spirit helps us to be able to truly worship Jesus in spirit and in truth more effectively. Jesus also promised to be with us always.


MATTHEW 28:19-20


19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,


20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.



JOHN 14:21-26


21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."


22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"


23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.


24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.


25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.


26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.


Following Jesus requires action, not just knowledge. Loving Him is not enough, we are to keep His commandments also, so that we do not sin.


Note carefully that He told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would bring back to their remembrance all that He had said. This is the source of the Gospels that we have, which have preserved Jesus' commandments and words for us.


You are either for or against Jesus; there is no neutral ground. You can't have God and the world, it must be one or the other.


MATTHEW 12:30


30 "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.


Each person will be judged on what they did or didn't do for the Lord.



JOHN 14:27-31


27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.


28 "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.


29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.


30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.


31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.


God's peace of heart knows no bounds. I once had an ex-Satanist tell me after he had accepted Jesus, "I didn't know... could never have known, that there could be such peace."


Paul, in his letter to the Christians in the Greek city of Philippi said;


PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7


6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;


7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.




JOHN 15:1-3


1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.


2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.


3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.


Those who don't continuously grow in the Lord are in danger of losing their salvation because they are servants who refuse to do the will of their Master and Lord. As such, these people will become fruitless and are in danger of being taken away.


The Lord will teach and discipline us as needed to take away the "dead wood" in our lives, but all discipline from the Lord is done with a loving hand. Remember, that He knows our hearts and what is needed to correct our way and get us back on the correct path to walk and talk with Him.



JOHN 15:4-6


4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.


5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.


6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.


We are to be servants to the Lord, that means we are to actively seek to serve Him. God gives us jobs to do for Him and He expects us to go above and beyond the letter of the assignment and follow the spirit of the assignment given by the Lord. In other words, don't do just the minimum you think you can get by with, but put your whole heart into everything you do for Him.


Remember what He said in Matthew;


MATTHEW 25:14-30


14 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.


15 "And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.


16 "Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.


17 "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.


18 "But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money.


19 "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.


20 "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'


21 "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'


22 "He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.'


23 "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'


24 "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.


25 'And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'


26 "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.


27 'So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.


28 'Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.


29 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.


30 'And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'


The talents are gifts we receive from the Lord, the increase or lack of increase is based on our faith, witnessing, and sharing Jesus with others, and using the gifts God has given each of us to the best of our abilities. God gives each of us gifts according to our abilities, and if we use them wisely and for His glory, then He will give us more gifts as we can handle them.



JOHN 15:7-11


7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.


8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.


9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.


10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.


11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.


Jesus once again tells us that only through Him can we do works that are pleasing to God, and that only by abiding in Him can we bear fruit for His glory and have His joy within us.



JOHN 15:12-15


12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.


13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.


14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.


15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.


The apostle Paul defines love according to the standards of the Lord;


I CORINTHIANS 13:4-7


4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;


5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;


6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;


7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


True love for one another will cause us to serve each other as we would serve the Lord, and will not allow us to elevate ourselves above our fellow believers, but will cause us, if needed, to give our lives for others as Jesus did for us.



JOHN 15:16-20


16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.


17 "These things I command you, that you love one another.


18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.


19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.


20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.


When the world persecutes you because of your serving Jesus remember that it is really Jesus that they are coming against, not you. You are only a visible target for their persecution. This also shows that Christians will go through trials and tribulations, but Paul tells us that we must continue on with our race to the finish whatever the cost.


As Paul told his friend Timothy just before his death;


II TIMOTHY 4:5-8


5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.


6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.


7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.


8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.



JOHN 15:21-27


21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.


22 "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.


23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also.


24 "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.


25 "But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'


26 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.


27 "And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.


The Law of Moses was written to define what was considered to be sin God's eyes. Israel rejected the Law because it led to the conviction of sin and the responsibility to avoid sin. Jesus by telling the truth to the people made them responsible for their knowledge of the truth, and made them responsible for their rejection of Him and His words.




JOHN 16:1-3


1 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.


2 "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.


3 "And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.


There are those who serve the Lord who will stumble and lose their faith when trials and tribulations come.


There have been many people in history and even today who kill Christians and Jews thinking they do a service for God. From the Roman Empire, to their successor the Roman Catholic Church; the Crusades and the Inquisition; the Nazi regime of WWII to the Muslims today are a few examples. They have done and are doing these things because they don't know God the Father or Jesus Christ.



JOHN 16:4-11


4 "But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.


5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'


6 "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.


7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.


8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:


9 "of sin, because they do not believe in Me;


10 "of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;


11 "of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.


If you think about it, this may be the only good thing that came from Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden. He and Eve now knew the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.


GENESIS 3:1-5


1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"


2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;


3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"


4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.


5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."


As is his usual method, Satan put in just enough truth in his words to make his lies believable. He did tell the truth when he said that their eyes would be opened and that like God, they would understand good and evil. However he didn't tell them that they would be responsible for that knowledge.


As a result of that single sin God has put within every person the instinctive knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil, which was passed down to us from Adam. Thus every one who has done evil is without excuse, because they know the difference between right and wrong.


Some people do the evil that they do out of ignorance, because they have suppressed the instinct that tells them that they are doing wrong. Others have had their consciences so calloused and hardened by sin that they no longer care that what they are doing is wrong.



But in any case, they have no excuse for the evil that they do. And when they stand before Jesus Christ at their judgment, they will not be able to claim "temporary insanity", “mental incapacity", "extenuating circumstances" or ignorance as an excuse for their evil. It will be shown to them that they understood what they were doing and that they chose to perform evil anyway.


Satan was the ruler of this world from the time of Adam's sin until Jesus completely paid for all of the sins of all mankind. Then Jesus took back His place as the rightful ruler of the world. Some wonder that if Jesus is ruling the world, why are things still as bad as they are?


Even though Jesus paid for the sins of men, sin is still in the world, and God will not violate the free will of men to do evil. Everyone must be given the right to choose whom they will serve and there are those not born yet who must still be given an opportunity to make that decision.



JOHN 16:12-15


12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.


13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.


14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.


15 "All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.


The Father has given all authority to the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit will use the authority of Jesus to declare the truth of God to all. Note that He will not speak of Himself, but will speak only what He hears from Jesus.



JOHN 16:16-22


16 "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."


17 Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"


18 They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is saying."


19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'?


20 "Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.


21 "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.


22 "Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.


Jesus was talking of His coming death in which the world would rejoice at having rid itself of Jesus. The disciples were still thinking of physical terms, wondering if Jesus was going to leave them and travel elsewhere for a while. He was indeed about to do this, but not in the way they expected.


The disciples would grieve at losing their Master, and would be disillusioned and frightened. The world however (figuratively speaking) would rejoice at His death, especially people like the Pharisees.


But after Jesus' sacrifice had been accomplished He would be resurrected and live again, this time forever, and again He would see them and they would see Him.. The disciples would be overjoyed while the world would have the stunned knowledge that all of their efforts had done nothing but accomplish God's plan for salvation and that their best efforts had been for nothing.



JOHN 16:23-24


23 "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.


24 "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.


Until Jesus' resurrection after the sacrifice for our sins was completed, every prayer had to be directed through priests who had to make sacrifices in order to speak with God the Father. But after Jesus' resurrection we can now speak to God the Father through His Son who cleansed all of our sins allowing us direct access to the Father.


I need to draw a hard line here, and there will be some who will not like what I am about to write. But Jesus wasted no words in speaking the truth, and I cannot do so either.


Catholics please note that with Jesus' resurrection there is no longer a need for a priesthood, as there is no longer a need for a human intercessor between God and Man. That is why the Temple was destroyed and hasn't been rebuilt. Our hearts are God's Temple and He dwells within those who believe in Him and who follow His commandments.


Jesus Christ intercedes for us before the Father, and there is no need to go to a sinful priest or Mary for intercession to God. We can now confess our sins directly to God through Jesus Christ, and receive His forgiveness without cost. In other words, we don't need to do "penance" as Jesus has paid the cost for our sins with His own life.


To continue confessing to a priest and receiving forgiveness from him is to place him in the role of Jesus Christ, making him equal with God. This is not only blasphemy, it totally ignores and invalidates the sacrifice of Jesus and the purpose for which He gave His life. No man can forgive your sins in God's place, He has never given Man that authority.


These are terrible sins before God, and He will not accept ignorance as an excuse, because all of this has been clearly laid out in the Scriptures. And just as Adam and Eve were responsible for the knowledge of good and evil that they attained, you who read this are now responsible for the truth written here.


And if you choose to continue confessing to a priest and seeking forgiveness of God through him after reading this, these words will be a witness against you at your judgment. It will be shown that you were shown the truth and you chose to reject it.



JOHN 16:25-33


25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.


26 "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you;


27 "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.


28 "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."


29 His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!


30 "Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God."


31 Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?


32 "Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.


33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."



Jesus now told them exactly what was about to happen, concerning Him. And knowing what was to come, He prophesied that they would be scattered so that they would not be caught up in coming events concerning Him. He had to face what was coming alone.


By this He was also protecting the disciples, for the Pharisees would have thought nothing of killing Jesus' disciples along with Him, and putting an end to matter once and for all. But the Father had other plans for them, namely that they would be witnesses to the world, of Jesus after His resurrection and would proclaim the message of salvation through Him throughout history.





JOHN 17:1-7


1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,


2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.


3 "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.


4 "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.


5 "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.


6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.


7 "Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.


A psychologist once said that the way to see into a man's heart was to look at his prayers. This prayer of Jesus has to be one of the most beautiful and reverent ever uttered, and gives us a deep look into the personality of Jesus Himself.


Jesus starts first by honoring His Father, asking for glory that He in turn may glorify the One who gave Him glory. His love and closeness to His Father is shown in these phrases and one can't help but sense the deep reverence He feels toward His Father.


Note carefully that He asks for the glory that He had with the Father before the world existed. This means that Jesus Christ, like the Father, is eternal and like the Father had no beginning. He has always existed and Scripture has stated that He created all things.


It is He who created all things, and it is He who has spoken to Man on Mount Sinai and through the prophets down through history. He is God in every sense, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the Father's permission to return to Earth.


Jesus Christ, God's Man and Man's God.


Jesus is also careful to thank the Father for giving Him the men who would become His apostles, men who had been chosen beforehand by the Father Himself for the work they were to do.



JOHN 17:8-13


8 "For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.


9 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.


10 "And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.


11 "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.


12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.


13 "But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.



I can't believe the arrogance of the Popes of the Catholic Church who style themselves as "Holy Father". Jesus only used this term once, and that was in deepest prayer and reverence to His Father, and yet sinful men have adopted that title for themselves, thus placing the Popes as equal with God the Father.


Remember Paul's warning of what constitutes an antichrist;


II THESSALONIANS 2:3-5


3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,


4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.


5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?


As Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear!



 JOHN 17:14-21


14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.


15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.


16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.


17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.


18 "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.


19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.


20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;


21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.


Jesus, acknowledging the supremacy of His Father asks that the Father keep the disciples in His name, and that He protect them from Satan. Eventually they would be persecuted and killed, but that wouldn't happen until Christianity had taken deep root in the hearts of men and would spread throughout the world.


Jesus also prays not only for them, but for all of us who would follow Him throughout history through their testimony, and asks for the same protection for us as for the apostles.



JOHN 17:22-26


22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:


23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.


24 "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.


25 "O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.


26 "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."


Jesus has given us the same glory that He has received from His Father, a glory which we will receive after our Judgment. This is so hard to comprehend, how He is willing to make us like Him and give us glory and eternal life, as weak and sinful as we are.


Note that He also asks that we be allowed to join Him in Heaven, to share His kingdom. This is what enrages Satan no end, the fact that we, as sinful and as weak as we are, are beloved of God, and that we have been given power over Satan.


He knows that he is doomed to destruction and that he can't escape his coming eternal punishment. So he will do all that he can to destroy Man and take as many with him to the Lake of Fire as he can. And looking at the history of the world, he has been far too successful in his efforts.


Remember, Satan's judgment and punishment have been set. Only after death is our Judgment and eternal destination set. The cost of discipleship is high, and we instantly become enemies to a merciless enemy when we accept Jesus as our Savior. The cost will be high, but the rewards will be far greater than the pain we suffer here.




JOHN 18:1-9


1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.


2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.


3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.


4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?"


5 They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.


6 Now when He said to them, "I am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.


7 Then He asked them again, "Whom are you seeking?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."


8 Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,"


9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none."


Notice they didn't go to arrest Jesus quietly, they were out for blood so they brought a mob. That way if a riot started, they could take Jesus while the crowd was distracted. When the Roman Guard arrived and started breaking heads in their usual fashion, the ones who took Jesus could slip away. Here the high priests broke the first of many laws, by arresting Jesus at night.



Some have wondered why the men sent to arrest Jesus fell backwards when He said, "I am He." I think for a brief moment they saw the true majesty of Jesus and it frightened and awed them. But Satan immediately took control again and had the crowd doing his bidding.



JOHN 18:10-11


10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.


11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"


According to Luke, Jesus healed the injury. Even though they were out to take Him by violence, Jesus still showed kindness by healing the injury.


LUKE 22:50-51


50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.


51 But Jesus answered and said, "Permit even this." And He touched his ear and healed him.



JOHN 18:12-16


12 Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.


13 And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.


14 Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.


15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.


16 But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in.


The "other disciple" spoken of here was John. It is interesting that John was known to the High Priest Joseph ben Caiaphas, yet Peter was not. Is has been thought that John sold fish to the High Priest's family, but if that had been the case, as Peter was his partner in the fishing business, Peter would have been known also.


It was also customary in ancient times for a person to be assigned to answer the door and enquire the business of visitors. They would then report to the people inside who would determine whether to allow the visitor to enter or not.


It is fascinating to note that Jesus was taken to Annas first. Annas had been the High Priest before Caiaphas, but he had been removed by the Roman authorities because of corruption. But Annas was a wily character, and he had managed to keep the High Priesthood within his family, through several sons and finally through Caiaphas, his son-in-law.


But many of the Jews still believed that Annas should be the true High Priest, which is why Luke said in his Gospel;


LUKE 3:1-2


1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,


2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.


Annas' political clout was so great that Caiaphas couldn't do anything without Annas' permission, and the soldiers sent to take Jesus went to Annas' house to have Him questioned first, in violation of their laws.


The fact that they had arrested Jesus at night, were putting Him on trial for His life without the full Sanhedrin being present were also violations of Jewish law. And these are only a few of the laws that were broken to railroad Him to the cross.



JOHN 18:17-18


17 Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not."


18 Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.


This is the first of the three times that Peter would deny Jesus, as prophesied.



JOHN 18:19-24


19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine.


20 Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.


21 "Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said."


22 And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?"


23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?"


24 Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.


Note that Annas was called the High Priest by the servant.


Jesus pointed out that in accordance with Jewish law, there were supposed to be witnesses for His defense present when He was being questioned.


The fact that Jesus was slapped was another violation of Jewish law, for no person on trial was to be abused or harmed until sentence had been rendered. This indicates that sentence had already been agreed on by those who were to trying Him.



JOHN 18:25-27


25 Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not!"


26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?"


27 Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.


According to Luke, Jesus looked over at Peter just as he denied Him for the third time.


LUKE 22:61


61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."


The guilt and humiliation Peter felt must have been overwhelming! But Peter learned a great lesson from this experience and it helped Peter to become a stronger man of God. When we fail God, the best thing we can do is to ask for forgiveness, learn from our mistakes, and become stronger because of them.



JOHN 18:28-32


28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.


29 Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"


30 They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."


31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,"


32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.


Pilate had undoubtedly heard of Jesus, and knew of His teachings for he had spies everywhere who reported to him. He also knew the real reason why the priests and Pharisees had delivered Jesus up for trial.


There had long been friction between Pilate and the religious leaders, and I suspect that he was deeply irritated that they should bring what he considered a trivial matter before him. So he decided to tweak and humiliate them, forcing them to tell him why they had brought this matter to his attention.


They took Him to Pilate because the Romans had taken away the right of the Jews to put anyone to death for a crime. The Roman procurator (governor) was the only one who could issue a death sentence.


Luke tells that the chief priests, scribes and elders of the Sanhedrin brought the only charge they knew would gain Pilate's attention, namely that Jesus had proclaimed Himself as King of the Jews, which was treason against Rome. Any other charge would have been dismissed by Pilate and he would have told the Jews to take care of the matter themselves.


LUKE 23:1-2


1 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate.


2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King."



JOHN 18:33-38


33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"


34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"


35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"


36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."


37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."


38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.


Pilate went through the formality of questioning Jesus, and by his response it seems that he thought that Jesus was a harmless lunatic who would soon be forgotten, and one who was definitely not a threat to Caesar or Roman rule.


But as it had been prophesied that He would be crucified, a Roman punishment for a capital crime, He had to be accused of treason against the Roman Empire and against Tiberius Caesar in order to force Pilate to hear the case.


Jesus told the truth, but didn't bother to refute the priests and elders which confused and surprised Pilate.


This also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said;


ISAIAH 53:7-8


7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.


8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken.


Pilate was in a difficult position, balancing between Rome and the people he governed. Dismissing the case like he wanted to, would have put him deeper at odds with the religious leaders, making his governance even more precarious.



JOHN 18:39-40


39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"


40 Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.


Pilate wanted to use his accustomed release of one prisoner over the holiday to free Jesus as a way to defuse this situation. He realized that he would have a riot if he dismissed the case against Jesus, then he would have to answer to Rome.


The fact that the religious authorities asked for the release of Barabbas is an indication of how much they hated Jesus, for Barabbas was a Zealot. The Zealots were hated and feared by the Romans who called them "Sicarii" (Latin: dagger men).


These zealots were "super patriots" who would slip up behind Roman soldiers in crowds, and would stab the soldiers or slit their throats and then vanish in the crowd. Basically they were assassins and murderers.




JOHN 19:1-3


1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.


2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe.


3 Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.


Most people today don't understand what "scourging" actually entailed in Roman times. A scourge is a whip with leather strips coming out of the handle, and each strip had a dumbbell shaped piece of lead attached to the end of the thong.


The victim was stripped, then tied to a post (usually in a bent-over position) with their arms taut so the skin was tight and exposed. The scourge was long enough that when swung at the victim the leather strips would wrap around the body with great speed and force so that the lead dumbbells would impact hard enough to cause bruising and bleeding on the inside of the chest cavity and deep bruising and tearing of muscle tissue elsewhere. The victim was whipped from neck to ankles and many victims died while being scourged, or died later from the trauma.


Even hardened Roman veteran soldiers would turn white with fear at the thought of themselves being scourged.


What follows below is a compilation of all four Gospels concerning what happened to Him.


Jewish law set beatings at a maximum of 39 lashes with a regular whip. The Romans had no such limit, and the Shroud of Turin, reportedly Jesus' burial shroud (scientific evidence is proving this more and more to be true) shows that the victim buried in the shroud was whipped over 120 times.


The result would be deep bruising, bleeding, internal hemorrhaging, shock, dehydration, vomiting, uncontrolled tremors and great weakness. And remember, Jesus was as human as any of us.


After the scourging His cloak had been put on Him to move Him from the place of the scourging to the Praetorium. By this time the blood from the wounds would have begun to congeal and when they stripped the cloak off, that would have ripped open all of the wounds.


The thorns used were Judean thorns that are thick and about 6 inches long. They pounded this "crown of thorns" into His skull by beating on it with a reed (stick). They spit on Him and continued to mock Him by bowing before Him.


The scalp has many sensitive nerve endings and the thorns would have torn many of these nerves, causing "lancinating pains", stabs of pain that would feel as if hot pokers were being jabbed into the scalp and face. People suffering from these lancinating pains have been known to commit suicide because they couldn't stand the pain any longer. The damaged nerves would have also caused uncontrollable twitching of the scalp and facial muscles, increasing the agony.


Scarlet and purple cloth was only worn by high officials and royalty because it was expensive to produce, therefore by putting such a robe on Jesus they were mocking Him as a king as they proceeded to punch his lights out.



JOHN 19:4-16


4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him."


5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"


6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."


7 The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."


8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,


9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.


10 Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?"


11 Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."


12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."


13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.


14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!"


15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!"


16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.


Pilate was caught in a three-way vise here. Being a very superstitious man, he was frightened by the fact that Jesus had proclaimed Himself as the Son of God (or in Pilate's understanding, the son of a god). Added to that, the crowd was questioning his loyalty to Caesar for Jesus had proclaimed Himself as King, making Him a traitor to Rome. And if he refused, he’d have a major riot on his hands


Pilate now had no choice but to execute Jesus.


He gave the death sentence and ordered Jesus to be crucified, showing his caving in to the people in the matter. Actually this behavior is at odds with Pilate's known nature. He was a cruel, easily irritated man and usually had no qualms about sending soldiers into crowds to quell a potential riot by force. And by giving in to the crowd's demands to have Jesus crucified was to place his fear of the crowds before the authority and power of his superiors the governor of Syria, and Tiberius Caesar himself.


Once again, the blood from the wounds would have begun to congeal and when they stripped off the robe that would have ripped open all of the wounds.


Luke tells that Jesus couldn't carry His cross all the way to Calvary without help.


LUKE 23:26


26 Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.


Jesus, while He was indeed God, had also agreed to be confined to the limitations of the human body during His time on Earth.


After being punched in the face, scourged, repeatedly having the wounds ripped open, six inch thorns pounded into His head, the trauma to His body, severe dehydration, the emotional battering of knowing that He was innocent and these people that He had claimed as His own children were doing this to Him with such obvious zeal, His physical limitations were finally reached.


He just couldn't handle the weight of the cross beam of His cross which was usually tied across the shoulders of the condemned as they were driven by whips to the place of execution.


Concerning the trauma He suffered before His execution, a modern forensic pathologist once said, "The miracle isn't that Jesus died on the cross; the miracle is that He made it there at all."


Cyrene is the area around modern day Tripoli and located in upper Libya, Northern Africa. When the Romans "compelled" you to work for them, actually it was a choice of do it now or die now.


More laws were broken here as Jesus was supposed to have a placard around His neck showing the crimes He was accused of, and several people were to go before Him requesting that any witnesses in His defense step forward if they had evidence of His innocence. None of this happened.



JOHN 19:17-18


17 And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha,


18 where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.


Everyone around Jesus was mocking Him, but one of the thieves knew that his punishment was what he deserved, but Jesus was innocent. Because of his sinful life all he asked of Jesus was for Him to remember him and that would be enough for the thief. Because of his faith in Jesus, he would be saved. Luke tells us more about the thieves crucified on either side of Him.


LUKE 23:39-43


39 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."


40 But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?


41 "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong."


42 Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."


43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."



JOHN 19:19-22


19 Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.


20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.


21 Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'"


22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."


I won't go into the medical aspects of crucifixion here, but suffice it to say that it is the most cruel and painful way ever devised for a person to be executed, as it causes excruciating agony to the victim and causes death to come very slowly. Some victims lasted for days on a cross before finally dying.


Pilate wrote the sign in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin; the most popular languages of the region at that time. The priests may have used their influence with the crowd and forced Pilate to do their bidding, but he used this sign to show the priests that their power had reached its limits with him.



JOHN 19:23-24


23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.


24 They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be," that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: "They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots." Therefore the soldiers did these things.


This prophecy is in Psalms;


PSALM 22:16-18


16 For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;


17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.


18 They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.



JOHN 19:25-27


25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.


26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"


27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.


Even with all the physical and spiritual agony that Jesus was in, He still found the compassion to make sure that Mary would be cared for. Remember, after Jesus' death and resurrection His siblings came to believe that He was the Son of God, but we don't know when this happened and this way Mary who believed would be cared for by another believer.



JOHN 19:28-30


28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"


29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth.


30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.


The prophecy concerning the sour wine is found in;


PSALMS 69:21


21 They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.


Wines back in ancient times used only the natural sugars in the grapes for sweetening, and many times were what we would call vinegar. Some wines were sweetened with honey and were called "mead". Wines today have added sugar to sweeten them, but sugar cane was unknown to the inhabitants of the Middle East.


In ancient times also, oak gall (a form of poison) was mixed with wine and given to crucifixion victims to ease their pain somewhat. Thus in Jesus case, wine mixed with gall was given to Him as prophesied, but it was too late to ease the terrible agony He was suffering.


Jesus didn't die until He chose to die, literally willing Himself to die. Matthew tells us.....


MATTHEW 27:45-50


45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.


46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"


47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!"


48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.


49 The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."


50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.



The sixth hour was is 12:00 p.m. (noon) and the ninth hour is 3:00 p.m. Passover is only held at a full moon and a solar eclipse can only happen at a new moon.


Jesus was spiritually alone with a complete separation between Father and Son. This was the only time this had or will ever happen; but the Father had to turn His back on His own Son when His Son needed Him the most, because the Father could not look at the sin heaped upon Jesus. As the prophet Habakkuk noted;


HABAKKUK 1:13a


13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.


The spiritual aspect of all the sins of mankind (past, present and future) were put upon Jesus and this spiritual event was so great that it had an actual effect on the physical world, darkening the sun for three hours starting at noon, as was prophesied by the prophet Amos;


AMOS 8:9


9 "And it shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord GOD, "That I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight;



JOHN 19:31-37


31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.


32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.


33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.


34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.


35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.


36 For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."


37 And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced."

 


These are the prophecies spoken by David and Zechariah.


PSALMS 34:19-20


19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.


20 He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.



ZECHARIAH 12:10


10 "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.


Also, with Jesus as the true Passover Lamb, His bones could not be broken because God had commanded Moses and through him all of Israel concerning the Passover lamb;


EXODUS 12:46


46 "In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.


The breaking of the legs of the crucified victims was to hasten death. The breaking of the bones would cause an embolism (bubble) of fat and marrow to travel to the heart which would stop the heart and bring death quickly.


The blood and water that came out of Jesus’ side was a definite indication that He was dead, in that the blood had separated into it's components of red blood cells and clear plasma. This was also the fulfillment of the symbolic cleansing of baptism by water and the spiritual cleansing of our sins by His blood.



JOHN 19:38-42


38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus.


39 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.


40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.


41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.


42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.


Pilate apparently knew Joseph of Arimithea and probably gave the body to him just to be sure the priests and Pharisees didn't get their hands on it. Joseph then greatly honored Jesus by placing Him in his own tomb cut into a limestone hill (in ancient times, rich people carved their own tombs out of solid rock), a tomb which had never been used.


For swift burials that needed to be performed because of a Sabbath or other holy day, the victim was tightly wound in a long linen sheet which had spices placed in it to ward off decay until the body could be properly buried.


A number of tombs that had been carved into the limestone hills of Israel have been uncovered by accident by construction workers, and one of the most surprising finds recently was the ossuary (bone box) containing the bones of Joseph ben Caiphas, the High Priest who prosecuted Jesus.


Jesus' burial in Joseph's tomb fulfilled the prophecy spoken by Isaiah;


ISAIAH 53:9


9 And they made His grave with the wicked but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.




JOHN 20:1-10


1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.


2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."


3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.


4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.


5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.


6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,


7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.


8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.


9 For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.


10 Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.


Mary Magdalene had come to start performing the final burial preparations for Jesus' body, but found the tomb empty. Naturally, she thought that someone had stolen the body and had carried it away.


The stone covering the tomb entrance was usually a thick, heavy circular slab that was rolled into a deep-cut slot carved into the rock before the entrance used to keep animals and robbers out, and usually required several men to roll it into place. Rolling it back was even more difficult as the stone had to be rolled up out of its slot and onto level ground again.


The corpse usually remained in the tomb until decomposition was complete, then the bones were removed and were usually interred in an "ossuary", a stone box that contained the bones of family members.


The reason for rolling the stone back was to show that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, not to let Him out. After His resurrection He was no longer restricted by such trivial things as space, time, and matter.


The "other disciple" with Peter was John.



JOHN 20:11-18


11 But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.


12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.


13 Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."


14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.


15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away."


16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher).


17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'"


18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.


The last time they had seen Jesus was to wrap his mutilated, crucified body and place it in a cave for burial. And here He is standing before them, not only alive, but completely whole! The joy of seeing Him again must have been incredible! Who could not worship Him?


Poor Mary, the shock and realization of seeing Him must have been incredible! And apparently she clung onto Him for joy, causing Him to admonish her to let go. Would any of us have done any different?


And note carefully that Jesus referred to the disciples as His "brethren".



JOHN 20:19-23


19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you."


20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.


21 So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."


22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.


23 "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."


Jesus met with his disciples and helped them over come their doubts and fears. Here He is standing before them, and the shock and joy of seeing Him alive again must have been incredible! Again this was a reminder to them to have faith and with God all things are possible.


Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to help us when He could no longer be here, physically. He was about to ascend to the Father and was fulfilling His promise.


Jesus also reminded the disciples to forgive others and that if they don't forgive, their sins won't be forgiven either. He was not giving them (or us) the power to forgive or retain the sins of all men!


Remember His words when He told them;


MARK 11:25-26


25 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.


26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."


Only God has the authority to forgive sins of others, no man has the power to forgive the sins of others. However if someone sins against you, you can forgive them for their transgressions against you, but you cannot forgive the sins committed against the Lord or against others. The person must still go before the Lord to ask forgiveness of the Lord for their transgressions against Him. Every sin we commit is an act of disobedience and rebellion against the Lord.


This is why the priests of the Catholic Church cannot absolve (release) anyone of their sins as they claim, as this goes against Scripture and puts men in the position and power of God alone. They have no authority anywhere in Scripture to forgive sins in the place of God, as God has never given men this authority.



JOHN 20:24-31


24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.


25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."


26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!"


27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."


28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"


29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."


30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;


31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.


Most people call him Doubting Thomas, but I think he should be called "Honest Thomas". Thomas didn't take the other disciples’ word for what they had seen, he wanted to see the proof personally, to satisfy himself of the truth of these things. Jesus then showed Himself to Thomas and proved Himself to him.


If someone sees something, there is no faith involved because they have seen it with their own eyes. The disciples had seen the resurrected Jesus and had believed based on that seeing. Jesus commended even more those of us who believe without having seen, for that is true faith.

 



JOHN 21:1-14


1 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself:


2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.


3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.


4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.


5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No."


6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.


7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.


8 But the other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish.


9 Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.


10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have just caught."


11 Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.


12 Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord.


13 Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.


14 This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.


200 cubits is about 100 yards, or 300 feet (100 meters).


Peter was so anxious to see Jesus that he left the boat and the net overflowing with large fish and dove in the water to swim to shore.


Even though they had fished all night and caught nothing, notice that they didn't argue with Jesus, but immediately cast the nets where He had told them and for their faith they received a huge bounty.



JOHN 21:15-19


15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs."


16 He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep."


17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.


18 "Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish."


19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me."


The disciples had returned to their homes and jobs after Jesus had left them to see others.


Jesus was telling Peter that he was no longer to be a fisherman, but he was to care for and encourage those who follow Jesus. And He told Peter that there would be a heavy price for the work that Peter would do for the Lord.


Notice that just as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him three times. Note that in each case, He called him "Simon", instead of Peter.



JOHN 21:20-25


20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?"


21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"


22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."


23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?"


24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.


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


Jesus was telling Peter that he needs to keep his eyes on Jesus, and not to worry about what the Lord calls another to do for Him.


If you are busy watching everyone else and what the Lord asks of them, you will become jealous, prideful and arrogant. These are not the traits of followers of the Lord.


These things cause you to take your eyes off of Jesus and put the focus on yourself.


These things will also cause great strife in the kingdom of God and will bring the wrath of God upon you for your rebellion and disobedience.




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