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.]
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Who is this Jesus? [Part 4]
Jesus claims to be the God of Abraham.
This section continues the long, heated debate between Jesus and the Judean party. Jesus had said to the people that if they would believe the truth he was teaching that they would have true freedom from sin, John 8:31-32. The outraged Judean party said that they were never in bondage, claimed Abraham as their ancestor, implied that Jesus was born as a bastard, claimed God as their father, and accused Jesus of being demon possessed, John 8:33, 39, 41, 48, 52-53. They were saying that everything about Jesus and everything he said was a lie.
Jesus confronts them about their unbelief and the reason why they did not believe, John 8:42-45 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”
Jesus clearly claims to have come from God the Father. He claims to be speaking the truth that God has sent him to speak. Why do those who do not want to accept his teaching reject the truth he tells them? Remember, Jesus said “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” John 3:19
He denies their accusations and yet, despite their hatred, he offers life to anyone who would believe his teaching. John 8:49, 51 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
What does it mean to keep his word? It is another manner of describing those who trust him, those who believe his promise. The Judean party could not understand nor believe in Jesus. He offers them life and they cannot accept it. Abraham and all the prophets had died. How could Jesus claim to give never-ending life to anyone? This leads us to the crux of the issue. Who is this Jesus? In answer to that question Jesus makes a claim that is astounding.
He then tells them that he existed before Abraham, John 8:56-58, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Remember this is said in the context of Jesus’ other claims. Jesus here claims to have existence before Abraham existed using terms of self-identification commonly used by the God of Abraham in the Old Testament. Note the introduction to John’s Gospel, John 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. The introduction to John clearly makes the claim that Jesus is the eternal Word of God, Creator of all things.
The Judean party heard these words through ears accustomed to hear such language about God alone. Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty . . .” If Jesus is the same God who appeared to Abraham and who created the world, then are his other claims impossible?
The Judeans' reaction indicates that they knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus had already claimed to be from God the Father, claimed to be one with the Father, claimed to be the Messiah, and claimed to give eternal life. The Judean party clearly thought Jesus to be speaking blasphemy. The penalty for this was stoning, John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Compare with John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
If Jesus is who he claims to be, would his assertions be blasphemy? If Jesus is God, what would rejecting his claims amount to?
What kind of life is Jesus offering? Is this life offered to anyone who rejects Jesus’ teaching?
Jesus calls himself the Door of the Sheepfold and the Good Shepherd.
In chapter nine, Jesus heals a man who had been blind from birth. The point of the chapter, coming immediately after Jesus’ claim to be the God of Abraham, is that some people are willfully blind. Those who reject Jesus despite the abundant evidence to the contrary are blind and condemned by their sins.
John 9:39-41 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
Those claiming to be wise, to know the truth, and yet are rejecting the True Word, Jesus, are condemned because they have rejected the only One who can give them Light and Life.
In his interaction with the blind man Jesus claims to be the Messiah (using the Son of Man language from Daniel 7:13-14). The healed man worships Jesus, John 9:38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Ironically, a blind man sees and responds to Jesus. Those who claim to know everything are truly blind
This contrast between those who acknowledge Jesus and those who reject him leads immediately to chapter ten. The dialogue actually continues from chapter nine. In John chapter ten Jesus uses the well-known imagery of a sheepfold and a shepherd. The idea is that the sheep are God’s people. The sheepfold is the place of safety for the sheep. The sheep follow their Shepherd because they know him and recognize his voice.
The imagery of sheep, sheepfold, and shepherd have important connections to David, the Shepherd-King. A descendant of the Shepherd-King would come to shepherd God’s people. This One was known as the Messiah. Ezekiel tells about this time to come: Ezek. 34:15-16 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Ezek. 34:23-24 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
How do the sheep enter the sheepfold? A sheepfold was a walled enclosure with only one door. The only way in and out was through the one door. Jesus teaches them that he is that door. John 10:7, 9 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep . . . I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Entering the sheepfold through Jesus is the way of salvation. Jesus does not teach that there are many doors or many ways of salvation. There is one door, one way of salvation. What does entering by the door mean? It means entering through Jesus and what he has done for us. It is another way of teaching about faith in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the One who gives his life for his sheep. What does Jesus give to anyone who enters through him, anyone who trusts in him? John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus shifts his imagery slightly. He has told them that he is the door, the only way into the sheepfold. Now he tells them how he makes this possible, how he can offer life to all who come into his flock through the door.
John 10:11, 14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . . . I am the good shepherd.”
This imagery picks up the idea that the shepherd will sacrifice his own life in order to save the lives of his sheep. In the context of John, Jesus speaks frequently about his crucifixion using the idea of being lifted up, John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32. The idea of sacrifice is also used, John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Lamb of God is the sacrificial lamb, the sin atonement for the whole world. That sacrifice, that laying down of his life for his sheep, happens on the Cross, John 19:16-18, 30 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 . . . When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The crucifixion is not the end of the story. Jesus clearly speaks of his resurrection in 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.”
What man has ever claimed this power--not only to give his life, but then to take it up again? The resurrection validates this claim. If Jesus truly rose from the dead, then everything he has taught is also true.
Much like the Judean party who rejected Christ even though they had seen the evidence that proved Jesus’ claims, many people today reject Christ because they cannot believe he rose from the dead. They cannot believe that he truly is the Son of God. They are blind even though Christ offers them light and life.
John 10:24-26, 30-33 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock . . . I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus has clearly said that he is both the Messiah and the Son of God. The Judean party wanted to kill him for these claims. The next chapter is the crisis chapter. From this point on Christ’s enemies conspire together with the Jewish authorities to kill him.
[Part 5 will continue this study.]
This section continues the long, heated debate between Jesus and the Judean party. Jesus had said to the people that if they would believe the truth he was teaching that they would have true freedom from sin, John 8:31-32. The outraged Judean party said that they were never in bondage, claimed Abraham as their ancestor, implied that Jesus was born as a bastard, claimed God as their father, and accused Jesus of being demon possessed, John 8:33, 39, 41, 48, 52-53. They were saying that everything about Jesus and everything he said was a lie.
Jesus confronts them about their unbelief and the reason why they did not believe, John 8:42-45 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”
Jesus clearly claims to have come from God the Father. He claims to be speaking the truth that God has sent him to speak. Why do those who do not want to accept his teaching reject the truth he tells them? Remember, Jesus said “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” John 3:19
He denies their accusations and yet, despite their hatred, he offers life to anyone who would believe his teaching. John 8:49, 51 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
What does it mean to keep his word? It is another manner of describing those who trust him, those who believe his promise. The Judean party could not understand nor believe in Jesus. He offers them life and they cannot accept it. Abraham and all the prophets had died. How could Jesus claim to give never-ending life to anyone? This leads us to the crux of the issue. Who is this Jesus? In answer to that question Jesus makes a claim that is astounding.
He then tells them that he existed before Abraham, John 8:56-58, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
Remember this is said in the context of Jesus’ other claims. Jesus here claims to have existence before Abraham existed using terms of self-identification commonly used by the God of Abraham in the Old Testament. Note the introduction to John’s Gospel, John 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. The introduction to John clearly makes the claim that Jesus is the eternal Word of God, Creator of all things.
The Judean party heard these words through ears accustomed to hear such language about God alone. Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty . . .” If Jesus is the same God who appeared to Abraham and who created the world, then are his other claims impossible?
The Judeans' reaction indicates that they knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus had already claimed to be from God the Father, claimed to be one with the Father, claimed to be the Messiah, and claimed to give eternal life. The Judean party clearly thought Jesus to be speaking blasphemy. The penalty for this was stoning, John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. Compare with John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
If Jesus is who he claims to be, would his assertions be blasphemy? If Jesus is God, what would rejecting his claims amount to?
What kind of life is Jesus offering? Is this life offered to anyone who rejects Jesus’ teaching?
Jesus calls himself the Door of the Sheepfold and the Good Shepherd.
In chapter nine, Jesus heals a man who had been blind from birth. The point of the chapter, coming immediately after Jesus’ claim to be the God of Abraham, is that some people are willfully blind. Those who reject Jesus despite the abundant evidence to the contrary are blind and condemned by their sins.
John 9:39-41 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
Those claiming to be wise, to know the truth, and yet are rejecting the True Word, Jesus, are condemned because they have rejected the only One who can give them Light and Life.
In his interaction with the blind man Jesus claims to be the Messiah (using the Son of Man language from Daniel 7:13-14). The healed man worships Jesus, John 9:38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Ironically, a blind man sees and responds to Jesus. Those who claim to know everything are truly blind
This contrast between those who acknowledge Jesus and those who reject him leads immediately to chapter ten. The dialogue actually continues from chapter nine. In John chapter ten Jesus uses the well-known imagery of a sheepfold and a shepherd. The idea is that the sheep are God’s people. The sheepfold is the place of safety for the sheep. The sheep follow their Shepherd because they know him and recognize his voice.
The imagery of sheep, sheepfold, and shepherd have important connections to David, the Shepherd-King. A descendant of the Shepherd-King would come to shepherd God’s people. This One was known as the Messiah. Ezekiel tells about this time to come: Ezek. 34:15-16 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. Ezek. 34:23-24 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.
How do the sheep enter the sheepfold? A sheepfold was a walled enclosure with only one door. The only way in and out was through the one door. Jesus teaches them that he is that door. John 10:7, 9 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep . . . I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Entering the sheepfold through Jesus is the way of salvation. Jesus does not teach that there are many doors or many ways of salvation. There is one door, one way of salvation. What does entering by the door mean? It means entering through Jesus and what he has done for us. It is another way of teaching about faith in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, the One who gives his life for his sheep. What does Jesus give to anyone who enters through him, anyone who trusts in him? John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus shifts his imagery slightly. He has told them that he is the door, the only way into the sheepfold. Now he tells them how he makes this possible, how he can offer life to all who come into his flock through the door.
John 10:11, 14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . . . I am the good shepherd.”
This imagery picks up the idea that the shepherd will sacrifice his own life in order to save the lives of his sheep. In the context of John, Jesus speaks frequently about his crucifixion using the idea of being lifted up, John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32. The idea of sacrifice is also used, John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Lamb of God is the sacrificial lamb, the sin atonement for the whole world. That sacrifice, that laying down of his life for his sheep, happens on the Cross, John 19:16-18, 30 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 . . . When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The crucifixion is not the end of the story. Jesus clearly speaks of his resurrection in 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.”
What man has ever claimed this power--not only to give his life, but then to take it up again? The resurrection validates this claim. If Jesus truly rose from the dead, then everything he has taught is also true.
Much like the Judean party who rejected Christ even though they had seen the evidence that proved Jesus’ claims, many people today reject Christ because they cannot believe he rose from the dead. They cannot believe that he truly is the Son of God. They are blind even though Christ offers them light and life.
John 10:24-26, 30-33 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock . . . I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus has clearly said that he is both the Messiah and the Son of God. The Judean party wanted to kill him for these claims. The next chapter is the crisis chapter. From this point on Christ’s enemies conspire together with the Jewish authorities to kill him.
[Part 5 will continue this study.]
Monday, February 28, 2011
Who is this Jesus? [Part 3]
Jesus says that He is the Light of the World
Opposites are common in the Gospel of John. For instance the opposites of Life & Death or Light & Darkness.
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Life & Death are clearly opposites to each other. A person is either alive or dead. However, a person can be alive in this world and yet dead to God. This is why Jesus taught that a person must be born anew.
John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
A person who is not born anew of God cannot enter God’s Kingdom. A person who is not born anew is a “dead man walking,” that is, already condemned and heading for judgment. John 3:18, 36 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God . . . Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
Light and Darkness are another pair of opposites in John.
John 12:44-46 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
Light & Darkness are another way of describing two states of being. Light refers to one in whom the truth has worked to change them from unbelieving to believing. Darkness refers to someone who does not believe or who rejects the truth.
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Notice that the encounter with the men trying to stone an adulterous woman comes immediately before Jesus’ statement in John 8:12. When Jesus stooped to write in the dirt what do you think he was writing? Why did the men leave one by one? Does God’s truth about us ever cause us to feel guilty?
What did Jesus do to take away the woman’s guilt? John 8:10-11 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Jesus forgave her. He forgives us also if we trust his promise.
Jesus is the Light, he is the revelation of God’s truth, to the world. This is why he is called both the Word of God and the True Light in John 1:1, 4-5, 9 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. The Word expresses, communicates, and reveals God’s truth to us just as Light makes all things visible.
Jesus is God’s revelation to the world. What is the truth that God reveals through Jesus? That God has sent his Son to die for the sins of the world, that the Redeemer has come, that God offers forgiveness, life, and salvation to all mankind through His Son.
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
When a person turns on the light in a room what happens? God comes to us through his Word to turn on the light in our hearts. It is God’s Light. He shines it where he will. But what happens if a person turns off the light? If we reject Jesus’ gift what happens to the light of life?
John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
The statement in John 8:12 leads to Jesus’ further explanation in the following verses.
Jesus claims to be the True Witness sent by God the Father
The Judean party could not accept Jesus’ statement. Consider what Jesus has been claiming. He has claimed to be the Messiah, to be equal with God, to be the Son of God, and to be the source of eternal life. They could not accept these claims. They accuse Jesus of lying. Jesus replies,
John 8:18 “I AM the one bearing witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (my own translation)
Notice that the emphatic “I Am” must have grated on their ears. They knew what he was saying when he used the language of God’s self identification from the Old Testament. Furthermore, in using this language he asserts his authority to speak. Yet not only does he speak but God the Father confirms his words.
How does the Father bear witness concerning Jesus, confirm Jesus’ words? God’s witness concerning Jesus is revealed in the Spirit coming upon him at his Baptism, the Miracles, Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah in the Word of God, the Transfiguration, and later the Resurrection.
The Baptism: John 1:32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” Luke 3:2-221 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The Transfiguration: Luke 9:35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
By this time these people had seen abundant evidence concerning Jesus in the Miracles and in his teaching. What does Jesus say to those who do not believe in him? John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I Am he you will die in your sins.” Jesus tells them that they must believe his claims, including his use of “I Am” in his self-identification.
The Crucifixion and Resurrection are the ultimate witness concerning Jesus. John 8:28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
The theme of the Son of Man being lifted up refers to Jesus' Crucifixion. John 12:28-32 “Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
The Apostle Paul declares that the Resurrection is God’s imprimatur on Jesus finished work of salvation. 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 . . .
Do you believe Jesus’ promise? Then you have life and freedom through his promise, through his word. John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This entire section including the next passage is Jesus’ self-defense concerning his identity and his purpose in coming. Next time the Judean party will really be outraged.
[Part 4 will continue this study.]
Opposites are common in the Gospel of John. For instance the opposites of Life & Death or Light & Darkness.
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Life & Death are clearly opposites to each other. A person is either alive or dead. However, a person can be alive in this world and yet dead to God. This is why Jesus taught that a person must be born anew.
John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
A person who is not born anew of God cannot enter God’s Kingdom. A person who is not born anew is a “dead man walking,” that is, already condemned and heading for judgment. John 3:18, 36 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God . . . Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."
Light and Darkness are another pair of opposites in John.
John 12:44-46 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
Light & Darkness are another way of describing two states of being. Light refers to one in whom the truth has worked to change them from unbelieving to believing. Darkness refers to someone who does not believe or who rejects the truth.
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Notice that the encounter with the men trying to stone an adulterous woman comes immediately before Jesus’ statement in John 8:12. When Jesus stooped to write in the dirt what do you think he was writing? Why did the men leave one by one? Does God’s truth about us ever cause us to feel guilty?
What did Jesus do to take away the woman’s guilt? John 8:10-11 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Jesus forgave her. He forgives us also if we trust his promise.
Jesus is the Light, he is the revelation of God’s truth, to the world. This is why he is called both the Word of God and the True Light in John 1:1, 4-5, 9 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. The Word expresses, communicates, and reveals God’s truth to us just as Light makes all things visible.
Jesus is God’s revelation to the world. What is the truth that God reveals through Jesus? That God has sent his Son to die for the sins of the world, that the Redeemer has come, that God offers forgiveness, life, and salvation to all mankind through His Son.
Romans 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
When a person turns on the light in a room what happens? God comes to us through his Word to turn on the light in our hearts. It is God’s Light. He shines it where he will. But what happens if a person turns off the light? If we reject Jesus’ gift what happens to the light of life?
John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”
The statement in John 8:12 leads to Jesus’ further explanation in the following verses.
Jesus claims to be the True Witness sent by God the Father
The Judean party could not accept Jesus’ statement. Consider what Jesus has been claiming. He has claimed to be the Messiah, to be equal with God, to be the Son of God, and to be the source of eternal life. They could not accept these claims. They accuse Jesus of lying. Jesus replies,
John 8:18 “I AM the one bearing witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (my own translation)
Notice that the emphatic “I Am” must have grated on their ears. They knew what he was saying when he used the language of God’s self identification from the Old Testament. Furthermore, in using this language he asserts his authority to speak. Yet not only does he speak but God the Father confirms his words.
How does the Father bear witness concerning Jesus, confirm Jesus’ words? God’s witness concerning Jesus is revealed in the Spirit coming upon him at his Baptism, the Miracles, Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah in the Word of God, the Transfiguration, and later the Resurrection.
The Baptism: John 1:32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” Luke 3:2-221 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
The Transfiguration: Luke 9:35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
By this time these people had seen abundant evidence concerning Jesus in the Miracles and in his teaching. What does Jesus say to those who do not believe in him? John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I Am he you will die in your sins.” Jesus tells them that they must believe his claims, including his use of “I Am” in his self-identification.
The Crucifixion and Resurrection are the ultimate witness concerning Jesus. John 8:28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.”
The theme of the Son of Man being lifted up refers to Jesus' Crucifixion. John 12:28-32 “Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
The Apostle Paul declares that the Resurrection is God’s imprimatur on Jesus finished work of salvation. 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 . . .
Do you believe Jesus’ promise? Then you have life and freedom through his promise, through his word. John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This entire section including the next passage is Jesus’ self-defense concerning his identity and his purpose in coming. Next time the Judean party will really be outraged.
[Part 4 will continue this study.]
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Who is this Jesus? [Part 2]
Jesus shows Himself to be the Lord over the created world.
In chapter five Jesus shows by a miracle that he is more than just a good man or wise teacher. He healed a man who was a life-long invalid on the Sabbath. When challenged by the Judean party for breaking the Sabbath, Jesus claimed God as his Father, claimed to be doing God’s will, and claimed to be able to give eternal life. The Judean party knew what he was claiming. John comments on the situation: John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
In chapter six Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee and fed more than five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish. This is not a matter of people being satisfied by eating only a small pinch of food. They all had enough to eat (John 6:12). The left-over food filled twelve medium sized baskets.
John 6:14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” They recognized that such a powerful miracle could only be accomplished by the promised Messiah. However, in order to avoid a wrong-headed political movement to make him their king, Jesus left them to go be alone in the mountain. This should begin to tell us what sort of King Jesus is. He is not a political king. As we will see later he is not the King that the people expected.
He deomonstrated his claim to be God’s Son by healing a man and miraculously feeding a very large crowd. This is the setting for what follows. Now he is about to demonstrate that he is the Lord over creation. The disciples had gotten into a boat to cross the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee). At night his disciples were in a boat, rowing across the sea, in a storm, about three or four miles out from the shore. The storms on the lake are notoriously violent. They come up suddenly and grow to treacherous proportions quickly. This was a very dangerous situation. In the middle of this situation, Jesus came to them walking across the water. This breaks all the physical laws of the created world. Imagine if you will the startling effect this must have had on the men. They were justifiably afraid.
John 6:20 But he said to them, “It is I (literally- I Am); do not be afraid.”
What does the fact that Jesus healed a long time invalid, claimed equality with God, miraculously fed a large crowd, and had the ability to set aside the laws of the physical world say what about who he is? His actions show us that he is truly who he claims to be, the Son of God, the Lord of Creation.
Do we need to fear Jesus? It depends upon what he is for you. Is he your judge? Is he your Savior?
Revelation 19:11-16 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Psalm 2:10-12 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life.
Some of the people who were fed miraculously earlier in this chapter found Jesus after he crossed the sea. He begins to teach them about their true need and the gift that he offers. They were following him because of the miracles. He tells them there is something much more important. He uses imagery taken from the miracle of feeding five thousand to explain what he offers to them.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (See also John 6:48, 51.)
What is the basic, most fundamental, human need? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is often used in counseling. (It is not without its critics, however.) Imagine a pyramid beginning on the bottom and moving toward the top the needs that Maslow proposes are: physiological, safety, love-belonging, esteem, self-actualization. Do you notice a glaring omission in this list? Like all of us, the people Jesus talks to in this chapter have their focus on what they can see, taste, or feel. They miss the most important thing.
Jesus uses the language of essential physical needs, hunger and thirst, to speak to their most important need. A basic understanding of Jesus’ focus is that while he does have concern for our physical existence, his real purpose in coming is to meet the greatest need of all.
So, what is the emphasis of Jesus’ promises--material blessings, personal advantages, power and influence? John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem (House of Bread), is the source of this promised eternal life. He offers to give us eternal life by giving himself.
Remember, apart from Jesus we are already condemned, John 3:18-19 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Before God, what do condemned sinners need most of all? What is Jesus offering us?
Jesus tells them that Moses had given them bread from heaven (manna), but God has sent true bread, that is Jesus himself (John 6:32-33). Even though Jesus speaks clearly here--he says that he is the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world (John 6:34-35)—they misunderstand this language. They think that Jesus is saying that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:52). Others are offended because they do not believe Jesus has come from heaven (John 6:42). Of course this implies something very disturbing to them—Jesus truly is God’s Son.
Jesus explains that the eating and drinking is believing in him as to who he is and what he has come to do. A person receives the promised blessing by faith in Christ’s sacrifice.
John 6:35, 47-48, 51 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Here eating and drinking are figurative ways to speak of believing that the sacrifice Jesus made, in giving his body to death on a Cross, is for our sins. Anyone who believes in him will have eternal life. The Bible teaches that we receive this promised, gracious gift of God through faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 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.
Both salvation and the faith that receives the promised salvation are God’s gift. God’s gracious act of offering and giving life comes to us through faith. We are empty handed before God. God gives us the gift, freely, graciously. What does Jesus do to make this gift possible? Jesus' flesh and blood speaks of the sacrifice he made on the Cross. Those who believe the promise he makes receive the benefits of that sacrifice.
Does Jesus ever reject someone who believes in him?
John 6:35, 37, 44 Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst . . . All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Who enables us to come to Jesus, that is, to believe in him? Can we believe in Jesus apart from God’s work in our lives?
[Part 3 will continue this study.]
In chapter five Jesus shows by a miracle that he is more than just a good man or wise teacher. He healed a man who was a life-long invalid on the Sabbath. When challenged by the Judean party for breaking the Sabbath, Jesus claimed God as his Father, claimed to be doing God’s will, and claimed to be able to give eternal life. The Judean party knew what he was claiming. John comments on the situation: John 5:18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
In chapter six Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee and fed more than five thousand people with only five loaves and two fish. This is not a matter of people being satisfied by eating only a small pinch of food. They all had enough to eat (John 6:12). The left-over food filled twelve medium sized baskets.
John 6:14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” They recognized that such a powerful miracle could only be accomplished by the promised Messiah. However, in order to avoid a wrong-headed political movement to make him their king, Jesus left them to go be alone in the mountain. This should begin to tell us what sort of King Jesus is. He is not a political king. As we will see later he is not the King that the people expected.
He deomonstrated his claim to be God’s Son by healing a man and miraculously feeding a very large crowd. This is the setting for what follows. Now he is about to demonstrate that he is the Lord over creation. The disciples had gotten into a boat to cross the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee). At night his disciples were in a boat, rowing across the sea, in a storm, about three or four miles out from the shore. The storms on the lake are notoriously violent. They come up suddenly and grow to treacherous proportions quickly. This was a very dangerous situation. In the middle of this situation, Jesus came to them walking across the water. This breaks all the physical laws of the created world. Imagine if you will the startling effect this must have had on the men. They were justifiably afraid.
John 6:20 But he said to them, “It is I (literally- I Am); do not be afraid.”
What does the fact that Jesus healed a long time invalid, claimed equality with God, miraculously fed a large crowd, and had the ability to set aside the laws of the physical world say what about who he is? His actions show us that he is truly who he claims to be, the Son of God, the Lord of Creation.
Do we need to fear Jesus? It depends upon what he is for you. Is he your judge? Is he your Savior?
Revelation 19:11-16 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Psalm 2:10-12 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Jesus calls himself the Bread of Life.
Some of the people who were fed miraculously earlier in this chapter found Jesus after he crossed the sea. He begins to teach them about their true need and the gift that he offers. They were following him because of the miracles. He tells them there is something much more important. He uses imagery taken from the miracle of feeding five thousand to explain what he offers to them.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (See also John 6:48, 51.)
What is the basic, most fundamental, human need? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is often used in counseling. (It is not without its critics, however.) Imagine a pyramid beginning on the bottom and moving toward the top the needs that Maslow proposes are: physiological, safety, love-belonging, esteem, self-actualization. Do you notice a glaring omission in this list? Like all of us, the people Jesus talks to in this chapter have their focus on what they can see, taste, or feel. They miss the most important thing.
Jesus uses the language of essential physical needs, hunger and thirst, to speak to their most important need. A basic understanding of Jesus’ focus is that while he does have concern for our physical existence, his real purpose in coming is to meet the greatest need of all.
So, what is the emphasis of Jesus’ promises--material blessings, personal advantages, power and influence? John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem (House of Bread), is the source of this promised eternal life. He offers to give us eternal life by giving himself.
Remember, apart from Jesus we are already condemned, John 3:18-19 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Before God, what do condemned sinners need most of all? What is Jesus offering us?
Jesus tells them that Moses had given them bread from heaven (manna), but God has sent true bread, that is Jesus himself (John 6:32-33). Even though Jesus speaks clearly here--he says that he is the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world (John 6:34-35)—they misunderstand this language. They think that Jesus is saying that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:52). Others are offended because they do not believe Jesus has come from heaven (John 6:42). Of course this implies something very disturbing to them—Jesus truly is God’s Son.
Jesus explains that the eating and drinking is believing in him as to who he is and what he has come to do. A person receives the promised blessing by faith in Christ’s sacrifice.
John 6:35, 47-48, 51 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst . . . Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Here eating and drinking are figurative ways to speak of believing that the sacrifice Jesus made, in giving his body to death on a Cross, is for our sins. Anyone who believes in him will have eternal life. The Bible teaches that we receive this promised, gracious gift of God through faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 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.
Both salvation and the faith that receives the promised salvation are God’s gift. God’s gracious act of offering and giving life comes to us through faith. We are empty handed before God. God gives us the gift, freely, graciously. What does Jesus do to make this gift possible? Jesus' flesh and blood speaks of the sacrifice he made on the Cross. Those who believe the promise he makes receive the benefits of that sacrifice.
Does Jesus ever reject someone who believes in him?
John 6:35, 37, 44 Jesus said to them, “I Am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst . . . All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out . . . No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
Who enables us to come to Jesus, that is, to believe in him? Can we believe in Jesus apart from God’s work in our lives?
[Part 3 will continue this study.]
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Who is this Jesus? An Amazing Truth, A Lunatic's Ravings, Or The Biggest Lie?
[Part 1]
Below is an early Christian symbol that summarizes what Christians believe about Jesus. You have probably seen this symbol on bumper stickers or jewelry.
The Greek word for this symbol of a fish is ICHTHUS (Iota-Chi-Theta-Upsilon-Sigma), which is an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" (Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter). This symbol was an early recognition symbol between persecuted believers. It was also an early confession of who those early Christians thought Jesus to be.
Is this who Jesus really is? If so what does it mean? What does it mean that he is a Savior? Three logical options are possible:
1) Jesus is who he and those who knew him personally say he is.
2) Jesus is a deluded mad man who deluded others.
3) Jesus is the world's greatest con man and liar.
The arguments about Jesus have gone on since he first revealed himself to the world. You have probably heard many of the arguments made pro and con. I do not intend to make these arguments again here. What I intend is to present what Jesus said about himself and most particularly certain statements as recorded in the Gospel of John. What Jesus said leaves no room for at the same time rejecting him as Lord and Savior and yet thinking him to be a good teacher, or a good example. You cannot just accept the parts of Jesus with which you are comfortable and reject those parts that confront you with the difficult truths.
We will look at Jesus’ "I Am" statements in John to find out what Jesus said about himself and his work. There are several instances in John that are marked by a particular kind of Greek phrasing. The "I Am" statements are emphatic in Greek. The emphatic pronoun is added to the verb and makes a very strong statement which, as we will see in what follows, connects to certain statements found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint or LXX, commonly in use at the time of Jesus.
I unapologetically accept the Gospels as accurate historical and theological documents. The evidence supporting this assumption is easily available to anyone who will honestly take the time to evaluate it. In any case that is my starting assumption.
Before looking at the "I Am" statements in John, it is clear that John is not the only place one can find these statements in the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). The other instances are found in several places. Matthew 14:27 and Mark 6:50 record the statement also made in John 6:20 to the frightened disciples as Jesus walked on the storm tossed water toward their boat. Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, and Luke 21:8 record Jesus’ warning about false Christ's who would claim to be the true Christ using the emphatic "I Am" language. Mark 14:62 records Jesus' answer when asked by the High Priest if he were the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (God). Jesus answers emphatically, "I Am!" Luke 24:29 records a post resurrection appearance by Jesus to the Disciples.
One last preliminary thing to note is an explanation of Jesus' name. Jesus’ name is the Latinized Greek version of Yehoshua or Yeshua meaning “savior.” This can be found in Matthew 1:21 "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (All verses quoted are the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.)
The question that must be asked is what does the necessity of a Savior imply about us?
Jesus' surname is not "Christ." Christ is a title not a name. It is from the Greek version of the Hebrew term Messiah. Both Hebrew and Greek terms mean “anointed one.” In the Old Testament period prophets, priests and kings were anointed. Prophets were God's spokesmen and proclaimed God's covenant promises and warnings to the people. Priests made sacrifice for sins, prayed for the people, and taught God’s truth. Kings led, ruled, and protected God’s people. The title “Anointed One” evokes these offices in connection with Jesus. Jesus, the Savior, is also Prophet Jesus, High Priest Jesus, and King Jesus.
Why use John's Gospel to answer the question "Who is this Jesus"?
I picked this Gospel because it is unique in the many emphatic self-identification statements made by Jesus. I wanted to let Jesus' statements speak for themselves. However, there is much background to these "I Am" statements. They do not stand naked and alone. John gives them a meaningful historical context.
What is John's purpose in writing? John’s Gospel gives a theological-historical account of Jesus life and ministry. He intends to answer the question we are asking: 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.
In the next chapter John speaks about the veracity of what he wrote and the fact that he selected only some of what Jesus said and did. Being truthful and yet selective is a necessary part of any historical record. John 21:24-25 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John is being truthful and telling us what we need to know in order to receive the gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation.
John's selection of materials intends to evoke well-known accounts in the Old Testament such as Creation, Sinai, and the Passover. For instance see John 1:1-5 in which he clearly intends to evoke Genesis chapter one. In John 1:17-18, he compares Moses the Law-giver and Jesus the Life-giver. In John 1:29 John the Baptist, who John the author of the Gospel quotes, calls Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" This identification evokes the entire history of salvation in the Old Testament especially the Passover Lamb (see also Genesis 22:8). It is John's way of saying that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Jesus' "I Am" statements as recorded in John have their background in Exodus 3:6, 14, 20:2. In these passages God identifies himself. The translators of the LXX used the emphatic pronoun and the verb.
Ex. 3:6 And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Ex. 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.”
Ex. 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
What does this connection imply about Jesus? I believe John intentionally evokes these well-known statements by YHWH in the Old Testament when he selects to record what Jesus said. A reader of the Gospel of John could very properly think that Jesus himself intends to make the claim to be the same One who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah when he used the emphatic statements. There are frequent statements made by God in many places in OT "that you might know that I am the Lord" and in similar phrases that use the emphatic pronoun in the LXX translation. One such emphatic statement from Isaiah is sufficient to illustrate this.
Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Jesus claims to be the Messiah.
In John chapter four Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman. It is important to understand just how much hatred there was between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jews were forbidden to marry them, have any social interaction with them, even to walk through Samaria. Defilement was the result of any contact. The barriers existed on both sides of the conflict between the Jews and Samaritans. The strongest racial epithet was to call a person a “dog and Samaritan.” Jesus broke all the customary practices in going through Samaria and in speaking to the woman. Furthermore, the time of day in which the woman was at the well implies that she was somewhat of a notorious sinner among her own people. Women normally went to the wells in the cooler parts of the day, mornings and evenings. She went in the hot part of the day because others shunned her. Perhaps, her own sense of shame made the whispered comments and looks of others too uncomfortable to endure.
While Jesus was sitting by the well the woman came out to draw water. She was startled that a Jew would be there, speak to her, and ask for a drink of water. Jesus ignored every prejudicial, social restriction. Using her surprise as an opening Jesus told her that he could offer her “living water.”
John 4:10, 13-14 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water . . . . Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Later in the Gospel a further explanation of the “living water” idea is given by John when he explains what Jesus meant.
John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
What is Jesus offering to this woman? He is offering her eternal life. This is the life given freely by God to anyone who comes to Jesus. Jesus’ disregard for social prejudice shows us that the offer of eternal life is for each and every person regardless of who they might be. Why? Because we all need it. We are perishing whether we know it or not.
John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
As they talked Jesus spoke about very personal details concerning the woman’s life. Because of this revelation of private details she thought Jesus to be a prophet (John 4:19). This sets the stage for her hope that Jesus is more than a prophet, but that he is The Prophet who was to come, that is the Messiah (John 4:25).
God told Moses that another greater Prophet like Moses would come and speak God’s words. Deuteronomy 18:18-19 “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Prophet is one of the three offices of the Anointed One, Prophet-Priest-King. In John Jesus shows himself to fulfill these expectations. Here he acts as a prophet. In chapter seven he claims the role of a High Priest. A tradition of pouring out water by the altar during the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorating the water from the rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6), was carried out by the High Priest. Jesus claimed to be the one who gives the true living water (John 7:37-38).
When the woman mentions the Messiah, Jesus emphatically says, "I AM he, who is speaking with you.” John 4:26 (my own translation). At this declaration by Jesus the woman went to her village and told everyone about him. Her excitement and their own desire to see for themselves resulted in Jesus staying with them for two days.
John 4:39-42 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Jesus clearly claimed to be the promised Messiah. These people believed in him after their own personal seeing and hearing. In making the claim to be the Messiah and in promising to give the true living water of everlasting life Jesus claims to be greater than Moses, greater than the priesthood. He claims to be the very One who Moses and the priesthood anticipated would one day come to save the world.
[Part 2 will continue this study.]
Below is an early Christian symbol that summarizes what Christians believe about Jesus. You have probably seen this symbol on bumper stickers or jewelry.
The Greek word for this symbol of a fish is ICHTHUS (Iota-Chi-Theta-Upsilon-Sigma), which is an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" (Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter). This symbol was an early recognition symbol between persecuted believers. It was also an early confession of who those early Christians thought Jesus to be.
Is this who Jesus really is? If so what does it mean? What does it mean that he is a Savior? Three logical options are possible:
1) Jesus is who he and those who knew him personally say he is.
2) Jesus is a deluded mad man who deluded others.
3) Jesus is the world's greatest con man and liar.
The arguments about Jesus have gone on since he first revealed himself to the world. You have probably heard many of the arguments made pro and con. I do not intend to make these arguments again here. What I intend is to present what Jesus said about himself and most particularly certain statements as recorded in the Gospel of John. What Jesus said leaves no room for at the same time rejecting him as Lord and Savior and yet thinking him to be a good teacher, or a good example. You cannot just accept the parts of Jesus with which you are comfortable and reject those parts that confront you with the difficult truths.
We will look at Jesus’ "I Am" statements in John to find out what Jesus said about himself and his work. There are several instances in John that are marked by a particular kind of Greek phrasing. The "I Am" statements are emphatic in Greek. The emphatic pronoun is added to the verb and makes a very strong statement which, as we will see in what follows, connects to certain statements found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint or LXX, commonly in use at the time of Jesus.
I unapologetically accept the Gospels as accurate historical and theological documents. The evidence supporting this assumption is easily available to anyone who will honestly take the time to evaluate it. In any case that is my starting assumption.
Before looking at the "I Am" statements in John, it is clear that John is not the only place one can find these statements in the Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). The other instances are found in several places. Matthew 14:27 and Mark 6:50 record the statement also made in John 6:20 to the frightened disciples as Jesus walked on the storm tossed water toward their boat. Matthew 24:5, Mark 13:6, and Luke 21:8 record Jesus’ warning about false Christ's who would claim to be the true Christ using the emphatic "I Am" language. Mark 14:62 records Jesus' answer when asked by the High Priest if he were the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (God). Jesus answers emphatically, "I Am!" Luke 24:29 records a post resurrection appearance by Jesus to the Disciples.
One last preliminary thing to note is an explanation of Jesus' name. Jesus’ name is the Latinized Greek version of Yehoshua or Yeshua meaning “savior.” This can be found in Matthew 1:21 "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (All verses quoted are the ESV translation unless otherwise noted.)
The question that must be asked is what does the necessity of a Savior imply about us?
Jesus' surname is not "Christ." Christ is a title not a name. It is from the Greek version of the Hebrew term Messiah. Both Hebrew and Greek terms mean “anointed one.” In the Old Testament period prophets, priests and kings were anointed. Prophets were God's spokesmen and proclaimed God's covenant promises and warnings to the people. Priests made sacrifice for sins, prayed for the people, and taught God’s truth. Kings led, ruled, and protected God’s people. The title “Anointed One” evokes these offices in connection with Jesus. Jesus, the Savior, is also Prophet Jesus, High Priest Jesus, and King Jesus.
Why use John's Gospel to answer the question "Who is this Jesus"?
I picked this Gospel because it is unique in the many emphatic self-identification statements made by Jesus. I wanted to let Jesus' statements speak for themselves. However, there is much background to these "I Am" statements. They do not stand naked and alone. John gives them a meaningful historical context.
What is John's purpose in writing? John’s Gospel gives a theological-historical account of Jesus life and ministry. He intends to answer the question we are asking: 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.
In the next chapter John speaks about the veracity of what he wrote and the fact that he selected only some of what Jesus said and did. Being truthful and yet selective is a necessary part of any historical record. John 21:24-25 This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John is being truthful and telling us what we need to know in order to receive the gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation.
John's selection of materials intends to evoke well-known accounts in the Old Testament such as Creation, Sinai, and the Passover. For instance see John 1:1-5 in which he clearly intends to evoke Genesis chapter one. In John 1:17-18, he compares Moses the Law-giver and Jesus the Life-giver. In John 1:29 John the Baptist, who John the author of the Gospel quotes, calls Jesus "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" This identification evokes the entire history of salvation in the Old Testament especially the Passover Lamb (see also Genesis 22:8). It is John's way of saying that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Jesus' "I Am" statements as recorded in John have their background in Exodus 3:6, 14, 20:2. In these passages God identifies himself. The translators of the LXX used the emphatic pronoun and the verb.
Ex. 3:6 And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Ex. 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.”
Ex. 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
What does this connection imply about Jesus? I believe John intentionally evokes these well-known statements by YHWH in the Old Testament when he selects to record what Jesus said. A reader of the Gospel of John could very properly think that Jesus himself intends to make the claim to be the same One who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah when he used the emphatic statements. There are frequent statements made by God in many places in OT "that you might know that I am the Lord" and in similar phrases that use the emphatic pronoun in the LXX translation. One such emphatic statement from Isaiah is sufficient to illustrate this.
Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Jesus claims to be the Messiah.
In John chapter four Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman. It is important to understand just how much hatred there was between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jews were forbidden to marry them, have any social interaction with them, even to walk through Samaria. Defilement was the result of any contact. The barriers existed on both sides of the conflict between the Jews and Samaritans. The strongest racial epithet was to call a person a “dog and Samaritan.” Jesus broke all the customary practices in going through Samaria and in speaking to the woman. Furthermore, the time of day in which the woman was at the well implies that she was somewhat of a notorious sinner among her own people. Women normally went to the wells in the cooler parts of the day, mornings and evenings. She went in the hot part of the day because others shunned her. Perhaps, her own sense of shame made the whispered comments and looks of others too uncomfortable to endure.
While Jesus was sitting by the well the woman came out to draw water. She was startled that a Jew would be there, speak to her, and ask for a drink of water. Jesus ignored every prejudicial, social restriction. Using her surprise as an opening Jesus told her that he could offer her “living water.”
John 4:10, 13-14 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water . . . . Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Later in the Gospel a further explanation of the “living water” idea is given by John when he explains what Jesus meant.
John 7:37-39 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
What is Jesus offering to this woman? He is offering her eternal life. This is the life given freely by God to anyone who comes to Jesus. Jesus’ disregard for social prejudice shows us that the offer of eternal life is for each and every person regardless of who they might be. Why? Because we all need it. We are perishing whether we know it or not.
John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
As they talked Jesus spoke about very personal details concerning the woman’s life. Because of this revelation of private details she thought Jesus to be a prophet (John 4:19). This sets the stage for her hope that Jesus is more than a prophet, but that he is The Prophet who was to come, that is the Messiah (John 4:25).
God told Moses that another greater Prophet like Moses would come and speak God’s words. Deuteronomy 18:18-19 “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Prophet is one of the three offices of the Anointed One, Prophet-Priest-King. In John Jesus shows himself to fulfill these expectations. Here he acts as a prophet. In chapter seven he claims the role of a High Priest. A tradition of pouring out water by the altar during the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorating the water from the rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6), was carried out by the High Priest. Jesus claimed to be the one who gives the true living water (John 7:37-38).
When the woman mentions the Messiah, Jesus emphatically says, "I AM he, who is speaking with you.” John 4:26 (my own translation). At this declaration by Jesus the woman went to her village and told everyone about him. Her excitement and their own desire to see for themselves resulted in Jesus staying with them for two days.
John 4:39-42 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Jesus clearly claimed to be the promised Messiah. These people believed in him after their own personal seeing and hearing. In making the claim to be the Messiah and in promising to give the true living water of everlasting life Jesus claims to be greater than Moses, greater than the priesthood. He claims to be the very One who Moses and the priesthood anticipated would one day come to save the world.
[Part 2 will continue this study.]
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