The entire account in John has been drawing toward this point of crisis. This is the time at which all of God’s purposes will be accomplished. The disciples and Jesus are in the Garden. Judas the betrayer shows the enemies of Christ the place they often went in the evening. This brings us to the account of Jesus’ betrayal into the hands of his enemies, his trial, and his crucifixion.
Jesus is the Willing Sacrifice.
John 18:1-8 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.”
According to the Latin Vulgate an armed cohort came to arrest Jesus. The more familiar term cohort is a Roman military term for the Greek military term used in this text speira. This is between 256 to 480 men, plus officers. They came with overwhelming force in order to prevent any opposition. When Jesus uttered the words I AM those who came to take him backed away and fell down to the ground. Think how this must have impacted these soldiers. They had the numbers, but Jesus had the power! The authority and power of Jesus was such that they could not stand before him.
We have mentioned all through this study the implications of the emphatic phrase I AM. We have shown that it was used in the Greek Old Testament to identify God. The Judean party understood that it was a statement indicating Deity and sought to stone Jesus on more than one occasion. By the eleventh chapter of John they had determined to destroy Jesus because of his use of this Divine self-identification and because of the powerful proof of this claim when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Here, a military detachment with orders to take him fell back to the ground because of Jesus’ use of the divine words of identification—I AM. They could not take him by force. He went with them willingly because this is what was necessary for him to finish his work of redemption.
Jesus himself indicates that he willingly accepts the coming suffering and death when he refuses to allow Peter to resist the soldiers. John 18:6, 11 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground . . . So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” The cup Jesus is given to drink is his coming suffering and death, by which he bears the penalty of our sins upon himself.
Jesus had said earlier in John that he would give his life of his own accord. John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” Jesus also said in these verses that he would take his life up again. The resurrection is the proof of the validity and efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice.
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews talks of this willing sacrifice by which Jesus has perfected for all time those who are saved. Hebrews 10:5-7, 14 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” . . . For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Jesus willingly gave himself for you and me. He took on our sins, our death, and our punishment, that we might have forgiveness, life, and salvation. Everything that God requires is accomplished in Jesus’ sinless life and his willing, atoning sacrifice.
Jesus is the King.
The power, authority, and royal dignity of Christ caused the soldiers to fall back. However, in submitting to their desire to take him, Jesus cloaks himself in humility and willingly suffers a criminal’s death. Paul writes, Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. His Royal Glory is hidden in the Passion. Even so he has a crown and a throne. What is Jesus crown? What is Jesus throne?
Jesus says to Pilate that he is King. John 18:36-37 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
The soldiers mock his royal person and beat him. What King ever put up with such abuse so humbly? They place upon him a royal garment that then becomes stained with his blood and a crown of thorns pressed into his head. His head is not anointed with oil but with his own blood. John 19:2-3 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.
So Jesus is handed over to sinners who nail hands that had blessed and healed many people to a crossbeam. He is hoisted up between heaven and earth, naked for all to see. His placard declared his name and his title. His retinue is two condemned criminals. What a throne God has chosen for himself!
John 19:16-19 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
How do I know that what Jesus endured has any value at all? First, Jesus himself said that the job was finished. John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Second, as we shall see in the following verses, Jesus rose from the dead. Third, fifty days after the resurrection, Jesus confirmed that he had ascended to God and that the sacrifice was accepted. The promise was that when he went to the Father he would send the Holy Spirit upon his believers. This indeed happened as promised. John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” Peter proclaimed the same in Acts 2:32-36 “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing . . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Jesus is Lord and God!
We have just noted that Peter says that Jesus is Lord and Christ. The term Lord, Kurios, is equivalent to the Hebrew term used in the Old Testament for Yahweh, Adonay. Christ is the Anointed One. In order to leave no doubt about what he has been writing concerning Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior, John records the testimony of one who doubted and did not truly believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. What does a skeptic say about Jesus? Remember they had seen Jesus taken and crucified. At first most of the disciples thought that those who had first seen him raised from the dead were hysterical and were not reliable witnesses. Then Jesus appeared to everyone except for Thomas who was absent. When Thomas came back to the group, he still could not believe it. Then, eight days after the resurrection and his appearance to the other disciples, Jesus appeared to Thomas and the disciples again. He pointedly offered the very proof that Thomas himself had previously demanded to see for himself before he would believe.
Thomas' declaration about Jesus, John 20:26-29 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Notice that at this time the disciples were all hiding because they were afraid. A fourth reason to believe that the resurrection really happened is the change from cowards to fearless witnesses that takes place in the disciples’ lives. All of the Apostles would die willingly as martyrs with the exception of John who was tortured and exiled but lived to an old age. Thomas himself went east to India and died there as a martyr.
We have come to the end of this brief study. Many other things could be said. John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Ultimately, faith comes from God as a gift. It is his Spirit who creates it in a person who hears the Gospel. If you believe what the Word says, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Savior for you, then you have life in his name. I pray that this is true of each person who might happen to read these lessons. Amen.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Who is this Jesus? [Part 6]
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
We are still in the Upper Room with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had told them that one of them would betray him and that he himself would be going away. This troubled them greatly. So, after Judas Iscariot left them to betray Christ, Jesus begins to speak comforting words of assurance to them. Though he was leaving them soon, he promises them a forever home in the God the Father’s household. They didn’t understand or perhaps could not bring themselves to accept what Jesus was saying. Thomas asks about where Jesus is going and the way to that place.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
The way to the Father is through Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when he said that he was the Door of the Sheepfold. Why is there a need for Jesus to make himself the way to the Father? This is closely connected to the Tabernacle and Temple with their restricted access into the Holiest Place and to the closed access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden that was lost after the fall (Genesis 3:24). God did not want mankind to eat of the Tree of Life and so live forever as lost sinners. God forbid anyone but the High Priest to enter the Holiest. The entire Old Testament shows us the broken relationship and loss of access to God. Then how was he going to make a way for humankind to return to him? How was he going to restore this lost relationship?
Many instances in the Old Testament teach us about this. Immediately after the fall God promised a coming Redeemer who was to be the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). He would crush Satan’s head. Abraham said that God would provide a Sacrificial Lamb (Genesis 22:8). This Lamb is one of the main themes of the Old Testament. The entire Mosaic Covenant centered on the Tabernacle and Temple. Here a holy God would meet with sinful humans. They could only approach him with the atoning blood of the sacrificial animal (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). The animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that Christ would make. The entire Old Testament looked forward to the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). And as God’s True High Priest Jesus has opened the way for us into God’s presence through his own Atoning Blood. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf . . . he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:24, 26
Not only is Jesus the way to the Father, Jesus is the truth about the Father. When Jesus speaks God speaks. When Jesus acts God acts. When you behold Jesus you see God the Father. Words, actions, and a person’s very appearance show us things about the person. Every word and action of Jesus shows us the Father. Philip questioned Jesus. He wanted to see the Father. Jesus replies to Philip with a mild rebuke because Jesus had been showing them the Father all along. John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
What does Jesus show us about the Father? He shows us in three-foot high, bold-print letters that God loves us and has come to bring us forgiveness through his Son. I remind you once again of the great and precious promise of God,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Additionally, Jesus is the life of the Father. What does this mean? God has the power of life and death. Nothing that lives could live apart from God’s sustaining power. Apart from God the universe would cease to exist. The Apostle Paul wrote of Jesus in Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews wrote of Jesus that He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3.
Furthermore, eternal life is only possible if God gives it. All humans die, but then what? Remember that Jesus said earlier in John 5:21, 26 “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will . . . For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Eternal life is Jesus’ gift to give. Do you believe this? Jesus is not making fanciful claims. He is not giving us false hope. He says that he speaks with God the Father’s authority. John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Jesus gives us the promise of eternal life. The reality of the promise rests in what he did for us. The certainty of the promise is proved through an empty tomb. Paul says,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
Jesus is the True Vine.
The next three chapters occur on the way to Gethsemane. Jesus and the disciple rose to leave the Supper. On the way to the garden Jesus speaks concerning their relationship to him and to the Father.
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The idea of a vine speaks of abundance and joy in this culture. A person in abundance sits under his vine and enjoys the fruit. The idea was spoken of in connection to the last days in Micah 4:1-5. The last days are the time of the Messiah including the His Advent and Second Coming. In Micah the idea bespeaks of peace, safety, and eternal joy.
Micah 4:1-5 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
In the Bible the Vine metaphor also speaks of God’s people who were expected to be his joy. God’s people were spoken of as God’s vine and God’s vineyard from which he expected fruitfulness. However, Israel failed to be the fruitful vine God expected.
Isaiah 5:4, 7 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? . . For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
In John’s Gospel Jesus says that He is the True Vine. What God expected of his people Israel has been fulfilled in Christ. An Old Testament scholar has said that Jesus is Israel reduced to One. That is, Jesus is the righteous servant who fulfilled all God’s requirements.
Acts 10:36-43 “As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Jesus fulfilled righteousness for us and so we have righteousness before God in Him. From Jesus flow all the blessings of God on those reckoned righteous through faith in Him. This life and these blessings—the fruit that the branches bear because they are in living connection to the Vine—flow to all those who trust in Jesus’ righteous life, his atoning death, and his resurrection from the dead. Or, as Jesus says in John, these blessing flow to those who abide in him. Abiding in him means to continue to trust in the gift that he gives—forgiveness, life, and salvation. He is the source of life. He is the source of fruitfulness. He is the source of joy. He is the vine from which all the branches draw their life.
[Part 7 will conclude this study.]
We are still in the Upper Room with Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had told them that one of them would betray him and that he himself would be going away. This troubled them greatly. So, after Judas Iscariot left them to betray Christ, Jesus begins to speak comforting words of assurance to them. Though he was leaving them soon, he promises them a forever home in the God the Father’s household. They didn’t understand or perhaps could not bring themselves to accept what Jesus was saying. Thomas asks about where Jesus is going and the way to that place.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
The way to the Father is through Jesus. This is what Jesus meant when he said that he was the Door of the Sheepfold. Why is there a need for Jesus to make himself the way to the Father? This is closely connected to the Tabernacle and Temple with their restricted access into the Holiest Place and to the closed access to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden that was lost after the fall (Genesis 3:24). God did not want mankind to eat of the Tree of Life and so live forever as lost sinners. God forbid anyone but the High Priest to enter the Holiest. The entire Old Testament shows us the broken relationship and loss of access to God. Then how was he going to make a way for humankind to return to him? How was he going to restore this lost relationship?
Many instances in the Old Testament teach us about this. Immediately after the fall God promised a coming Redeemer who was to be the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). He would crush Satan’s head. Abraham said that God would provide a Sacrificial Lamb (Genesis 22:8). This Lamb is one of the main themes of the Old Testament. The entire Mosaic Covenant centered on the Tabernacle and Temple. Here a holy God would meet with sinful humans. They could only approach him with the atoning blood of the sacrificial animal (Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). The animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that Christ would make. The entire Old Testament looked forward to the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). And as God’s True High Priest Jesus has opened the way for us into God’s presence through his own Atoning Blood. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf . . . he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:24, 26
Not only is Jesus the way to the Father, Jesus is the truth about the Father. When Jesus speaks God speaks. When Jesus acts God acts. When you behold Jesus you see God the Father. Words, actions, and a person’s very appearance show us things about the person. Every word and action of Jesus shows us the Father. Philip questioned Jesus. He wanted to see the Father. Jesus replies to Philip with a mild rebuke because Jesus had been showing them the Father all along. John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
What does Jesus show us about the Father? He shows us in three-foot high, bold-print letters that God loves us and has come to bring us forgiveness through his Son. I remind you once again of the great and precious promise of God,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Additionally, Jesus is the life of the Father. What does this mean? God has the power of life and death. Nothing that lives could live apart from God’s sustaining power. Apart from God the universe would cease to exist. The Apostle Paul wrote of Jesus in Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews wrote of Jesus that He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3.
Furthermore, eternal life is only possible if God gives it. All humans die, but then what? Remember that Jesus said earlier in John 5:21, 26 “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will . . . For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Eternal life is Jesus’ gift to give. Do you believe this? Jesus is not making fanciful claims. He is not giving us false hope. He says that he speaks with God the Father’s authority. John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Jesus gives us the promise of eternal life. The reality of the promise rests in what he did for us. The certainty of the promise is proved through an empty tomb. Paul says,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
Jesus is the True Vine.
The next three chapters occur on the way to Gethsemane. Jesus and the disciple rose to leave the Supper. On the way to the garden Jesus speaks concerning their relationship to him and to the Father.
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
The idea of a vine speaks of abundance and joy in this culture. A person in abundance sits under his vine and enjoys the fruit. The idea was spoken of in connection to the last days in Micah 4:1-5. The last days are the time of the Messiah including the His Advent and Second Coming. In Micah the idea bespeaks of peace, safety, and eternal joy.
Micah 4:1-5 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
In the Bible the Vine metaphor also speaks of God’s people who were expected to be his joy. God’s people were spoken of as God’s vine and God’s vineyard from which he expected fruitfulness. However, Israel failed to be the fruitful vine God expected.
Isaiah 5:4, 7 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? . . For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
In John’s Gospel Jesus says that He is the True Vine. What God expected of his people Israel has been fulfilled in Christ. An Old Testament scholar has said that Jesus is Israel reduced to One. That is, Jesus is the righteous servant who fulfilled all God’s requirements.
Acts 10:36-43 “As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Jesus fulfilled righteousness for us and so we have righteousness before God in Him. From Jesus flow all the blessings of God on those reckoned righteous through faith in Him. This life and these blessings—the fruit that the branches bear because they are in living connection to the Vine—flow to all those who trust in Jesus’ righteous life, his atoning death, and his resurrection from the dead. Or, as Jesus says in John, these blessing flow to those who abide in him. Abiding in him means to continue to trust in the gift that he gives—forgiveness, life, and salvation. He is the source of life. He is the source of fruitfulness. He is the source of joy. He is the vine from which all the branches draw their life.
[Part 7 will conclude this study.]
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Who is this Jesus? [Part 5]
Jesus claims to be the Resurrection and the Life.
The Bible teaches that at the last day all the righteous, that is, those who trust God’s promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ, will be raised to everlasting life.
Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Isaiah 25:6-8 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
Job 19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
A friend of Jesus in Bethany named Lazarus was sick. Jesus was summoned by Lazarus’ family to come heal Lazarus before he died of the illness. But Jesus delayed coming. Finally, after the delay, he went back to Bethany in Judea, but Lazarus had died four days before this. It seemed to be too late. Martha, Lazarus’ sister, met Jesus outside the house where the family and friends were sitting Shiva (seven day’s of Jewish mourning ceremonies). Jesus promised that Lazarus would rise again. Martha thought Jesus was speaking of the resurrection at the last day. Jesus was speaking of something much more immediate.
John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Jesus is saying that he is the power of resurrection, that he is everlasting life. In saying this Jesus makes an astonishing claim. Apart from Jesus there is no life. Apart from Jesus there is no hope for resurrection. Who alone could claim such a thing? The only One who did claim such a thing and then proved it is Jesus. Paul wrote, Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord . . .
Martha, Mary, and all the mourners did not yet fully understand who Jesus is. Jesus saw that they were unable to accept the truth he spoke about himself. It troubled him greatly, John 11:33, 38. Even Martha who just confessed her faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, could not accept that Jesus had power to raise a person who had been dead for four days. Jesus prayed aloud for the sake of those witnessing this miracle and commanded Lazarus, who was bound head to toe in grave cloths, to come forth from the grave, John 11:43-44 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of those who heard Jesus words and saw what was done believed in him.
Jesus demonstrated his power over death in raising Lazarus from the dead. It is a preview of the final resurrection. What does this miracle demonstrate for those who believe in Jesus’ promise of eternal life? If Jesus himself is the Resurrection and the Life, is there any resurrection or life apart from him? John 5:25-26 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Others who saw the miracle ran to Jesus’ enemies to report on the events in Bethany. As a result of this the enemies of Christ met in a council and began to conspire to kill him in order to protect their own power and interests. This miracle happened just before the Passover. It is a turning point in the narrative. From this time onward, Jesus moves steadily toward his crucifixion. The crisis has been reached. The enemies are resolute. Jesus’ hour has come. The irony of this is that Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, will suffer death on behalf of the entire human race. However, death ultimately has no power over him. Peter preaches this in Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
In the intervening verses between Lazarus’ being raised and the Last Supper, Jesus speaks about his coming sacrificial death when Mary of Bethany anoints him (John 12:7), when some Greeks sought him in Jerusalem (John 12:24), and before the crowds in Jerusalem (John12:27, 32). His last public statements call on those who heard him to believe. John describes how many did not believe, or if they did believe, nevertheless hid their belief because of fear or a desire to have the approval of others.
After this Jesus withdraws from the public to celebrate the Last Supper, with his twelve disciples.
Jesus is the Suffering Servant.
The first part of John has been called the Book of Signs. The second part of John begins here, called by one scholar the Book of Glory. Notice that the word love occupies a prominent place in the section. The glory revealed here is the love that Christ shows his disciples and the world through his atoning death. The first part of this section is Jesus at the feast with his disciples. Here he shows them and teaches them about love. After the supper they go to the garden where Jesus is betrayed, then taken and tried, executed, buried and finally, raised to appear to his disciples.
The feast begins in an unexpected manner. Jesus, the Lord and Master, shows himself to be a lowly servant. In this culture the servant who washed the feet of guests was the lowest, most humble of all servants in a household. If you consider what kind of filth sandaled feet picked up in the streets, this was not a pleasant job. Jesus shows us that he came to serve us—ultimately by giving his life. He mentions that he was to be betrayed by one who was there with them, namely Judas. He tells the disciples that he knows what is coming, his betrayal and his death.
John 13:18-19 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.
The example of doing the dirtiest and lowest job in the household is an anticipation of the manner in which Jesus would suffer for the sins of the world. What could be more dirty, more lowly, than bearing upon himself the sins of the world? The prophet Isaiah described it in what some call the Suffering Servant passage.
Isaiah 53:3-11 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Why is this part of the John’s Gospel called the Book of Glory? Here Jesus faces betrayal. He faces the Cross. His disciples fear his departure. Just what is glorious about this? The glory is in the immensity of his love. His betrayal, suffering, and death for us is how Jesus is glorified. The self-sacrificial love of Christ is the glory of the Book of Glory. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, gives his life for us because he loved each of us.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this great love in what is known as the Song of Christ (Carmen Christi) , probably an early Hymn of the church.
Phil. 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[Part 6 will continue this study.]
The Bible teaches that at the last day all the righteous, that is, those who trust God’s promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ, will be raised to everlasting life.
Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Isaiah 25:6-8 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
Job 19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
A friend of Jesus in Bethany named Lazarus was sick. Jesus was summoned by Lazarus’ family to come heal Lazarus before he died of the illness. But Jesus delayed coming. Finally, after the delay, he went back to Bethany in Judea, but Lazarus had died four days before this. It seemed to be too late. Martha, Lazarus’ sister, met Jesus outside the house where the family and friends were sitting Shiva (seven day’s of Jewish mourning ceremonies). Jesus promised that Lazarus would rise again. Martha thought Jesus was speaking of the resurrection at the last day. Jesus was speaking of something much more immediate.
John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Jesus is saying that he is the power of resurrection, that he is everlasting life. In saying this Jesus makes an astonishing claim. Apart from Jesus there is no life. Apart from Jesus there is no hope for resurrection. Who alone could claim such a thing? The only One who did claim such a thing and then proved it is Jesus. Paul wrote, Romans 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord . . .
Martha, Mary, and all the mourners did not yet fully understand who Jesus is. Jesus saw that they were unable to accept the truth he spoke about himself. It troubled him greatly, John 11:33, 38. Even Martha who just confessed her faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, could not accept that Jesus had power to raise a person who had been dead for four days. Jesus prayed aloud for the sake of those witnessing this miracle and commanded Lazarus, who was bound head to toe in grave cloths, to come forth from the grave, John 11:43-44 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of those who heard Jesus words and saw what was done believed in him.
Jesus demonstrated his power over death in raising Lazarus from the dead. It is a preview of the final resurrection. What does this miracle demonstrate for those who believe in Jesus’ promise of eternal life? If Jesus himself is the Resurrection and the Life, is there any resurrection or life apart from him? John 5:25-26 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
Others who saw the miracle ran to Jesus’ enemies to report on the events in Bethany. As a result of this the enemies of Christ met in a council and began to conspire to kill him in order to protect their own power and interests. This miracle happened just before the Passover. It is a turning point in the narrative. From this time onward, Jesus moves steadily toward his crucifixion. The crisis has been reached. The enemies are resolute. Jesus’ hour has come. The irony of this is that Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, will suffer death on behalf of the entire human race. However, death ultimately has no power over him. Peter preaches this in Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
In the intervening verses between Lazarus’ being raised and the Last Supper, Jesus speaks about his coming sacrificial death when Mary of Bethany anoints him (John 12:7), when some Greeks sought him in Jerusalem (John 12:24), and before the crowds in Jerusalem (John12:27, 32). His last public statements call on those who heard him to believe. John describes how many did not believe, or if they did believe, nevertheless hid their belief because of fear or a desire to have the approval of others.
After this Jesus withdraws from the public to celebrate the Last Supper, with his twelve disciples.
Jesus is the Suffering Servant.
The first part of John has been called the Book of Signs. The second part of John begins here, called by one scholar the Book of Glory. Notice that the word love occupies a prominent place in the section. The glory revealed here is the love that Christ shows his disciples and the world through his atoning death. The first part of this section is Jesus at the feast with his disciples. Here he shows them and teaches them about love. After the supper they go to the garden where Jesus is betrayed, then taken and tried, executed, buried and finally, raised to appear to his disciples.
The feast begins in an unexpected manner. Jesus, the Lord and Master, shows himself to be a lowly servant. In this culture the servant who washed the feet of guests was the lowest, most humble of all servants in a household. If you consider what kind of filth sandaled feet picked up in the streets, this was not a pleasant job. Jesus shows us that he came to serve us—ultimately by giving his life. He mentions that he was to be betrayed by one who was there with them, namely Judas. He tells the disciples that he knows what is coming, his betrayal and his death.
John 13:18-19 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.
The example of doing the dirtiest and lowest job in the household is an anticipation of the manner in which Jesus would suffer for the sins of the world. What could be more dirty, more lowly, than bearing upon himself the sins of the world? The prophet Isaiah described it in what some call the Suffering Servant passage.
Isaiah 53:3-11 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Why is this part of the John’s Gospel called the Book of Glory? Here Jesus faces betrayal. He faces the Cross. His disciples fear his departure. Just what is glorious about this? The glory is in the immensity of his love. His betrayal, suffering, and death for us is how Jesus is glorified. The self-sacrificial love of Christ is the glory of the Book of Glory. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, gives his life for us because he loved each of us.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this great love in what is known as the Song of Christ (Carmen Christi) , probably an early Hymn of the church.
Phil. 2:5-11 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[Part 6 will continue this study.]
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