Category Archives: Bible Study

JOHN’S GOSPEL…KNOWING GOD – 4b

Bible Study, ,

“No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In essence, as we have learned, knowing God is eternal life. What does knowing God mean? 

The Hebrew word for knowing in the context of knowing God is “yada”.  Among many uses in its context, “yada” means knowing as in sexual intimacy. 

“Now Adam had sexual relations (yada) with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

To know God, then, is to be in spiritually intimate union with Him.  Love is the core of this union.  

How can we know the love of God?

I have expanded the answer to this question in a longer meditation to be posted. 

Let me summarise here. Both Paul, in Ephesians 3 and John in 1 John 4, have thrown some light on knowing God  through experiencing God’s love. Paul explains both the role of faith and the work of the Holy Spirit in enabling us to know and experience God’s love which is  revealed in Jesus. 

John shows us how God’s love,  made known to us through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, is the root from which the fruit, our love in response to His love, grows. 

However, the real fruit of knowing God in Christ is about loving one another. We cannot show our love to God in any way because we cannot add anything to who He is, not even by loving Him. Jesus said that the only way we can love Him is by obeying His commandments. 

“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus gave His disciples only one new commandment. 

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬-‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Throughout the New Testament, this commandment to love one another is repeated and fleshed out in detail and included in the greatest commandments of the New Covenant. 

 “And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, John concludes…!

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God….Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬, ‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God made knowing Him simple…Love His children, and He will continue to reveal His love to you.  

Jesus prayed…

“I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me…I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭23‬, ‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

JOHN’S GOSPEL…KNOWING GOD – 4a

Bible Study, ,

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The incarnation is a both a marvel and a mystery. God the Son left heaven for a season, became a man, lived among His people and was crucified for being who He said He was, the Son of God. 

He came for various reasons, all melted into one purpose, to reunite heaven and earth to be God’s dwelling place with His people. 

Why did Jesus come to earth? 

First, He came to reveal the nature of the Father. Over time, and through the sin of God’s people and, consequently, God’s discipline, the children of Israel had lost the sense of God’s love. They had become slaves to a strict disciplinarian rather than sons of a loving Father.  

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Second, Jesus came to reconcile God’s children, estranged through rebellion, to the Father, through His death as an atoning sacrifice for sin. 

“…God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them…”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Third, Jesus came to destroy the enmity between Jew and Gentile, creating a new race…

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ NIV

with a new identity…children of God. 

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Fourth, Jesus came to restore all of creation to God’s original plan. 

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Fifth, Jesus came to unmask and destroy the devil’s work. 

“The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sixth, Jesus came to restore God’s nature in us. 

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?…They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭7‬, ‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Seventh, Jesus came to restore the kingdom of God on earth. 

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭17‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Eighth, Jesus came to give eternal life to all who believe in Him. 

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Everything Jesus came from heaven to do can be summed up in this one great truth…eternal life. 

What is eternal life? In His prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus gave us the essence of eternal life…  

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Knowing” in the Bible is about union, in the deepest and most intimate sense of the word. This union is expressed in the intimacy of a husband and wife united in body to symbolise their union in heart and purpose. 

““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.””

‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭20‬-‭21‬, ‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For this union Jesus prayed and for this union we, God’s children,  must yearn and desire because this life, eternal life, has already begun in us and will be perfected in glory.  

To be continued…

JOHN’S GOSPEL…GRACE AND TRUTH – 3b

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“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus came from heaven equipped with GRACE and TRUTH to deal with humanity’s real problem, our inability to overcome our natural bent towards sin. Since Jesus is God, and grace and truth are who He is, He came to give us what came from His own nature, His grace and truth in abundant measure. 

Let’s look at what grace and truth are and what they do. 

Jesus’ passion is to show us His undeserved favour…His goodness freely given to us without merit. This is GRACE. 

David learned…

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God is gracious. It is His nature to show us His favour even if we don’t deserve it. Instead of punishing us for our sin, God the Father punished Jesus in our place. Now He can lavish His favour freely on us because there are no obstacles in the way. 

“Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let’s think of God’s grace as His attitude of favour towards us no matter who or what we are, or what we do. His grace…His favour…is like the conduit through which everything He does to and for us flows. Whenever we need  help for our weakness, God responds because of His grace. 

The second part of who Jesus is TRUTH. Who He is, who we are, and what He has done for us, is what He came to give us. We desperately need truth because we live in a world that believes that we don’t need God. Our natural bent is to believe that we can be our own god, live for ourselves, and do as we like without consequences…and the mess we are in is the result. 

The god of this world is a deceiver. He deceived Adam into believing that he, Adam, was in charge, could do as he pleased, and set his own standards…and Satan deceives every human on earth to do the same. The world is in a mess because people live and do as they like, loving and serving themselves in place of God. Human suffering is the outcome of this terrible lie. 

Jesus came to show us and to tell us that loving, trusting, and serving God and one another is the truth and the real purpose of life. When we replace deception with truth, we are on the road to experiencing God’s love, joy, and peace even in our suffering. 

Now let’s link the grace and truth Jesus brought with what Paul said about our suffering. 

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Suffering is part of life in this fallen world, from which we cannot escape. How can we deal with suffering, understand the reason for suffering, and learn the way to live so that suffering doesn’t overwhelm us?

First, let’s look at how and why we suffer. Paul distinguished the two parts of us, our “outside me” and our “inside me”. Our “outside me” is our flesh, both our physical bodies and our sinful nature. Our “inside me” is our spirit where the Holy Spirit lives and rules. 

Our “outside me” is corrupted and perishing. Our sinful nature pulls us toward sin through our evil desires. Our sinful nature is at war  with our spirit, always wanting its own way. We suffer through the conflict between flesh and spirit, when we follow our flesh and say and do the things that damage us and others. Guilt, shame, and fear of punishment are the feelings that torment us. 

God gives us strength to overcome the pull of our old nature through His grace. When we acknowledge that we cannot win the battle on our own, and we call on His name, He strengthens us to resist temptation as we trust in Him. 

How does this work?  This is where TRUTH comes into play. Our “inside me”, said Paul, is being renewed by exchanging the lies we believe and live by for the truth  that Jesus is Lord and died for us. For example, if we continue to believe the lie that God punishes us when we sin instead of believing the truth that Jesus died to pay for our sin, that we are no longer under condemnation, and that suffering is discipline, not punishment, we will continue to live in guilt, shame and the fear of punishment. 

However…when we believe the truth that God loves us and disciplines us for our good…

“There is no fear in love. But perfect  love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…we exchange fear for love, and insecurity for confidence in God’s love for us.  

When bad things happen to us, or when we clash with another person, our natural reaction is to react out of our emotions. We worry, we fear, we get angry, we want to retaliate etc., all the reactions of the “outside me”…the selfish me that wants to defend or protect the “me”. 

If we, instead, stop and allow truth to guide us…the truth, for example that God works in all things for our good because He is restoring the image of Jesus in us, we can rejoice in God’s grace in the situation rather than react sinfully out of our sinful nature. 

Th Apostle Paul gives us a clear example of how this works. He 

was severely persecuted for preaching the gospel…by the Gentiles and the Jews. He also suffered many hardships in his life as an apostle of Jesus. 

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Armed with truth, Paul was able to overcome his bad feelings and turn suffering into celebration because GRACE had provided God’s strength to overcome. 

Simple…but not always easy. God has given us a way to escape sinning. We can also change suffering into celebration if we believe the truth and conquer our sinful desires. The answer is…

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When we turn our hearts towards God instead of dying of self-pity, God’s grace kicks in. Thanksgiving is the great antidote to the “bacteria” of PMS, the Poor-Me-Syndrome which leads to the disease of depression.  

So, GRACE, to give us strength for our weakness, and TRUTH to renew our minds, are all we need to overcome who we are in Adam and move us into the realm of who we are in Christ…and Jesus came armed with both. 

To be continued…

JOHN’S GOSPEL…GRACE AMD TRUTH – 3a

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John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬, ‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

John’s next statement is profound, wonderful, and mysterious! Instead of presenting a birth narrative of the Son of God, he made an announcement that links heaven and earth from outside of time into time. God became man, left heaven’s glory for a human existence, and locked Himself, for a season, into all the limitations of humanity and earth. 

John also stated Jesus’ purpose. 

Phase one of God’s dealings with His people was to set up His standard for both a relationship and for fellowship with Him…the Law. His covenant with Israel, given at Sinai and mediated through Moses, had a twofold intention…to set the boundaries around God’s holiness and to show His people the reality of their sinfulness. 

God’s holiness and Israel’s sinfulness were the great barrier between God and Israel and could only be overcome by sacrifice. Hence, sacrifice was the focal point of Israel’s worship. 

God’s moral law, written in the conscience of every newborn baby, was fleshed out in the ceremonial law. What do I mean?

Jesus said that the law of God is summed up in two commandments…love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself. 

“One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭35‬-‭40‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul instructed his Roman readers…

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬ 

The ceremonial law was intended to regulate people’s behaviour towards God and their fellow Israelites. In this way, they would learn to love God and one another. However, the people of Israel discovered that it was impossible for them to obey these two commandments perfectly. They were persistently rebellious against God’s commandments, expressing their rebellion in their defiance of the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” 

Every infringement of God’s law had an animal sacrifice to deal with the guilt of disobedience to the ceremonial law. However, no sacrifice could cover the transgression of God’s moral law which was a matter of the heart. 

“The Holy Spirit was showing by this (the tabernacle and its sacrificial system), that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭9‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, John indicated that Moses and the law of God were only the first part of God’s revelation of Himself and His way of salvation for Israel first and then for the whole human race. There had to be another and better way for man to approach God. 

Jesus came to earth as fully human and He was, therefore, obligated to obey the same law that God gave to Israel. Unlike His  people, He obeyed the law perfectly and then died as the punishment for disobeying the law. In this way He not only fulfilled the law but also did away with the law as the way of satisfying God’s holy standards. 

To be continued…

JOHN’S GOSPEL…LIFE AND LIGHT – 2

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2“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John wove several themes into his gospel about Jesus, the Son of God, themes which help us better to understand the person of Jesus. In the first glimpse we have of the Son of God, John tells us that He is both life and light. 

Life and light are inseparable. Where there is light, that is always life. We can see this in the natural world. Animals, plants, and people need light to flourish and do so in the most unusual of places.  Where there is light, things grow. 

First, let’s examine the meaning of “light” in the Bible. Hebrew people didn’t think and speak in abstract concepts. For example, they would not ask, “What is light?” or “What does light look like?” They would ask, “What does light do?”

Light does many things but, in the context of God’s Word, light exposes and light reveals. 

What does light expose? Light exposes what we cannot see in the dark. In a dark room, we would trip over obstacles but, when we turn on the light, we can see where those obstacles are and avoid being hurt. 

The same is true in the spirit realm. Without the light of truth to show us what and where the obstacles are, we constantly trip over and hurt ourselves by the wrong things we think and do. Even worse, Jesus said…

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Outside of Jesus, people live in “darkness”, doing what they please, following their own wicked natures, and causing chaos and destruction around them and to themselves. Solomon said that even a child left to himself, without the light of truth, discipline, and teaching, will disgrace his mother. 

“A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬ 

Before Jesus came, God’s light was in the world through His Word, but no one had ever obeyed or ever will perfectly obey God’s Word. The entire human race has gone its own way, living in the darkness of unbelief and disobedience. 

Light also reveals…

No other human except Jesus has ever lived the life God intended for His human family. Jesus was the first and only perfect Son. He not only obeyed God’s Word. He IS God’s Word in person. He came to reveal the truth of God’s Word in the world by living in perfect obedience and submission to the Father…as our example…and as His gift to us when we believe in Him and by teaching and example..

God’s own people tried to extinguish the light by putting Jesus to death. They failed because He walked out of His tomb alive! 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s light has been given to us in His Word and in His works…

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭105‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—”…

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…but most clearly in Jesus. 

Jesus invited His people to follow Him so that they could also have real life by living in the light of obedience to God’s Word. 

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Faith in Jesus rescues us from the darkness of Satan’s realm, where we lived by our own rules, and transfers us into the realm where Jesus rules in justice, righteousness and peace. 

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ NIV

Our response to Jesus is to follow Him by living as He did , in obedience to God’s Word and…He enables us to do this by the power of His Spirit in us. 

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭13‬, ‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, Jesus is the “light” of truth by which we “see” clearly and follow towards our destiny…God’s forever family in  God’s eternal realm.

To be continued…