Monthly Archives: June 2021

INTOLERANT BUT TRUE!

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INTOLERANT BUT TRUE!

“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:31-36.

Whose words are these? Jesus’ words? John the Baptist’s words? The Apostle John’s words? My guess is that they are a little aside that John wrote to interpret John the Baptist’s defence of his lesser position as the friend of the bridegroom, not the Messiah. Sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it? Again, my guess is that, during  the author John’s years as an intimate friend of Jesus, first as His disciple during His earthly ministry and then as an apostle to the world, he began to think like Jesus.

Over the years of his walk with the Lord, John saw in Him a man, but much more than a mere man. Jesus had spoken about heavenly things with such knowledge and authority that He must have been there before His sojourn on earth. Unlike other humans who only came into being at their conception, Jesus existed long before His time on earth.

We cannot conceive of anything we have not actually experienced. How can we? No matter how lively an imagination we might have, whatever we conjure up is only fanciful. It has no foundation in fact. Science fiction is only that and only useful for entertainment. Jesus was not into sci-fi; He spoke about reality based on truth. This is the difference between Him and those who have created religious beliefs out of their imagination.

Why is it that people refuse to accept His testimony? The religious leaders clung tenaciously to their ideas and interpretations of the Torah because they believed that they were right. Underneath that was the need to impress the people and to hold onto the power they had over them by setting up and policing the rules they had made around the Torah. Underneath that, however, was something far more sinister and closer to the bone – they were greedy and wicked at heart.

Jesus diagnosed their problem, and the problem of everyone who refuses to believe in Him:

“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.

John uncovered another amazing truth about the man, Jesus. It was His anointing with the Holy Spirit that made Him the man He was. Contrary to what we may think, Jesus set aside His deity when He came into the world, and lived and acted only as a man. He steadfastly chose to live in submission to the Father and not use His divine power to do anything.

At His baptism, He was affirmed by the Father and anointed by the Holy Spirit for His role as Messiah. Satan hounded Him to act independently of God but, to His dying breath, He chose to be a true Son by trusting and obeying the Father, not doing His own thing. The Father, in turn, entrusted to Him the role of atoning sacrifice, and gave Him the highest name and authority in heaven and on earth.

Unfortunately for those who reject Jesus and declare that Christians are intolerant by insisting that He is the only way to the Father, they will discover in the end that they were wrong. The Bible could not have stated it more clearly:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Intolerant according to us, maybe, but nevertheless true.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE BRIDEGROOM’S FRIEND

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THE BRIDEGROOM’S FRIEND

“An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you testified about – look, He is baptising, and everyone is going to Him.’

“To this John replied, ‘A person can receive what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.'” John 3:25-30.

What beautiful imagery and what a gracious response!

John was a hugely popular preacher. He had drawn crowds into the desert to hear his fiery sermons, and the people were not even offended when he said some rather derogatory things about them. “Basket of snakes! Fatherless people!” A polite way of insulting them! He baptised many, initiating them into repentance and an expectation of the Messiah whose arrival he had been sent to announce.

Popularity could have gone to John’s head like it has to many preachers whose charisma has gathered a large following. Slowly but surely, they lose their focus, bask in their fame and begin to gather a following around themselves. They subtly alter the message to suit the ears of their followers and the scene is set for yet another cult.

John’s popularity was a test for him. What was he preaching and teaching while his ministry ran parallel with the ministry of Jesus? Did he still point people to the Messiah and away from himself? He was a rabbi. It was legitimate for him to have a following of disciples. It seems that they were more protective of John than he was of himself.

On this occasion, some of them got into an argument about baptism (ceremonial washing) with a Jew, probably one of the religious leaders because John, the author, put a certain connotation on the word “Jew”. We don’t know what the argument was about, but to settle it, they asked their rabbi, John. We can gather from his reply that it was probably about the increasing popularity of Jesus.

Both Jesus and John were baptising their followers. Which one was right? Should they follow John or should they follow Jesus? Using the imagery of a wedding from the culture of his day, John put their query into perspective. After their betrothal, the bride and bridegroom have preparations to make before the wedding. The bride’s task was to separate herself from all other men and to prepare her bridal gown (Revelation 19:6-8). The bridegroom was to return home to his father’s house to build the bridal chamber in preparation for the consummation of their marriage (John 14:2, 3).

Both the bride and the groom had attendants who waited for the groom to return, and attended them during the wedding ceremony. John saw himself as the attendant or friend of Jesus, the bridegroom, who was there to announce His arrival and to see to His needs during the celebrations. The attention was not to be on him but on the bridegroom. His was only a support role.

John’s ministry was unique. No one else has ever been assigned the role of “groomsman” in the history of the church. Believers in Jesus together form the corporate bride, but we do well to take note of John’s attitude, especially those of us who are in the limelight because of our position as leaders in the church. How easy it is to be carried away by popularity and to forget that we are not the bridegroom!

Throughout John’s short ministry, he had only one passion – to point people to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” ‘I am not the Messiah,’ he insisted when he was questioned about his identity. He did not even see himself as a person but as a “voice” calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord.”

To those who were debating his and Jesus’ popularity, John’s firm response was, ‘He must become greater; I must become less.’  It was fitting that he disappear off the scene, even in an ignominious way, so that all the focus would be on Jesus, the Messiah, whose arrival he had faithfully declared.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

BAPTISING

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BAPTISING

“After this, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them, and baptised. Now John was also baptising at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptised, (This was before John was put in prison).” John 3:22-24.

What was all this baptising about? Who were Jesus and John baptising and why? Were they sprinkling water on people’s heads or were they dunking them under the water?

Baptism, or ritual washing, was an ancient and common practice in Israel. It was carried out in obedience to the Law of Moses for many different reasons. It was also the way of ritual cleansing and initiation into an office e.g., the priesthood, or a movement.

John was a rabbi who had a following of disciples and a “yoke”, an interpretation of the Torah and a lifestyle that he adhered to and placed upon his followers as did Jesus. As he taught about the Messiah, preparing the way for His coming, people wanted to show that they accepted and identified with what John was teaching and the way to do it publicly was through ritual washing.

It would seem that Jesus was initiating His own disciples into Himself and His teaching as well, so that they would become different people while John was baptising people who were willing to change their minds and accept what John was teaching them about the Messiah. The act of washing in running water was symbolic of washing away who they were and giving them a new beginning in a new understanding and way of life according to what their rabbi had taught them. 

Were John and Jesus in competition, each drawing a following and initiating their disciples into their teaching and way of life? For a while they were both teaching and baptising, but John in no way acted like a rival. In fact, John, the author of this gospel, records John the Baptist’s purpose, more than once, of pointing people to Jesus. He did not object when some of his disciples left him to follow Jesus.

“The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God.’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.” John 1:35-37.

When his disciples questioned John about Jesus’ popularity, he responded that he was only the friend of the bridegroom, not the bridegroom. His job was to attend to bridegroom and announce His arrival. He concluded, “He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30.

God had a drastic and unusual way of solving this problem. John did not disappear back into the wilderness. He was forcefully removed by Herod who had him thrown in prison at the instigation of his unscrupulous wife, Herodias. Why did God allow that to happen?

I cannot presume to understand all God’s ways, but it seems to me that John’s work was done. It was his task to prepare the way for Messiah, to announce His arrival and to point out who He was to those who heard him. Did he fulfil his calling? Yes, he did. There was no reason for him to continue because he would actually be in Jesus’ way.

His removal seems cruel but we have to ask, “Would it have been better for him to languish in a dungeon for years, never seeing the light of day and living in a hope that was never fulfilled?” It was through God’s mercy that he was taken out suddenly and drastically, leaving Jesus to fulfil His mission without a rival. The people no longer needed John’s message or John’s baptism because the Messiah was among them. John’s work was preparatory and complete.

We cannot always discern the wisdom and ways of the Lord. We know that He is good and always does what is best for us. His ways, Paul said, are “past finding out”. He asks us to trust Him when we cannot see the way ahead.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

AFRAID OF WHAT?

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AFRAID OF WHAT?

“‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.

“‘Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.'” John 3:16-19 (NIV).

Strange that Jesus almost sounds as though He were a preacher preaching a sermon instead of the Son of God speaking about Himself — the simplest, most well-known and well-loved, yet profoundest words in the Bible!

These words are so simple that a child can understand them. “God loved the world so much that He gave His Son…”

Why did God give His Son? The world was in darkness. What is darkness? We’ve already spoken about John’s use of “darkness”. Adam’s choice to go it alone instead of submitting to God’s authority and doing life God’s way, brought the whole world into disrepair, messed up and falling apart. God had other plans for His creation, plans for everything, including people, to work together in perfect harmony with Him but instead, darkness…

The result was condemnation. God passed sentence on His creation; not just people but everything; the natural world and even the heavens come under the hammer — guilty, condemned and sentenced to death. We see the sad result everywhere.

However, God had a solution — Jesus. He sent His Son to fix everything that was broken. How did Jesus do that? He showed us what the Father is like and what a true son is like and then threw down the gauntlet to the devil, ‘Do your worst and I’ll take it. I’ll release my creation from the curse of their choice. Let’s see what darkness can do.’

Darkness did its worst but Jesus bounced back. There was no darkness in Him and darkness could not hold Him captive. The Prince of Darkness did his worst through the darkness in people but it was not strong enough to snuff out the Light. When Jesus walked out of the tomb, darkness was overcome and He could offer pardon and peace to anyone who comes to Him.

No condemnation! That’s what Paul said. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NIV). They came to the Light, believed in the Light and shed their guilt, shame and fear — forever. God’s verdict is now, “Not guilty; cased dismissed.” Every case the devil brings to Him for judgment is thrown out of court. There is no case because the debt has already been paid.

But there is a peculiar twist to the tale — there are people who actually refuse to accept the verdict — not guilty — and prefer to carry on with the trial and accept a guilty verdict and the sentence that goes with it. Why? How can they be so perverse?

There is only one reason. They love their filthy, twisted, selfish, perverse lives so much that they would rather go to jail than come clean and be set free. It’s okay to enjoy your sin while you can and get away with it but you have to live with the consequences afterwards. That’s one of the problems. People deliberately ignore the “afterwards” bit.

Come on now, let’s be real. What keeps people in darkness? “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” John 3:20 (NIV). There it is! The oldest reason in the Book. Adam hid from God because he was afraid. People hide from God because they are afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of being found out. And when they are found out, they will be punished, so they think.

But wait a minute. Didn’t we say that Jesus has already been punished? No condemnation? So, what’s the problem? They either don’t know or they don’t believe. “God so loved the world…” a love so big and so unfathomable that it sounds too good to be true. But it is true.

Listen to this one: “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love.”1 John 4:18 (NLT).

But there is also hope. “‘But whoever lives by the truth comes to the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.'” John 3:21, 22 (NIV). 

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

HISTORY OR HIS STORY?

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HISTORY OR HIS STORY?

“‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things?’

“‘Very truly I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him.'” John 3:9-15 (NIV).

Such familiar words that we can almost recite them from memory! But what do they mean?

Although Nicodemus was a prominent teacher in the ranks of the religion scholars and was familiar with the Word of God, it was obvious to Jesus that he did not understand the truths he was teaching. It had been so long since God has spoken and actively intervened in the affairs of His people that Nicodemus was essentially teaching history.

Jesus must have startled him by saying that, although He was also a rabbi, He wasn’t teaching history; He was teaching truth from experience. He was speaking about reality because He had been in the heavenly realm; He had come from there and was relating what He knew, hence He could speak with authority.

How does one move from history to experience? Once again, John brings his readers back to the main theme of his gospel — believing in Jesus. Nicodemus had nothing more than sterile religion to pass on to his learners. He needed something much more to have access to the “heavenly things” of which Jesus spoke.

Eternal life is not just unending life somewhere out there when we die. It begins here and now with a transfer from the dimension of existence in a purely self-dominated and soulish way to a dimension of living in union with God, experiencing His presence and His power to live unselfishly for other people and to submit lovingly to His will and purpose.   

How can this transfer happen? Jesus put it in a nutshell and in the imagery of what was familiar to Jewish readers — Moses and the snake. This was history to the Jews and to the Gentiles who had embraced the Jewish religion. They knew about Moses and the snake.

During their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, the children of Israel were familiar with the inhabitants of the desert — the “nasties” of that kind of terrain. But God protected them from their deadly neighbours until they infuriated Him so much with their complaining and rebellion that He withdrew His protection and let the fiery serpents loose on them. Many of them perished from the poisonous bites until the people cried out in desperation.

God instructed Moses to fashion a model of a snake out of bronze and lift it up on a pole. Whoever looked at the snake and trusted God for healing would be saved from the effects of the snake’s venom.

‘This, Nicodemus, is the key to understanding what I am telling you.’ The key to their healing lay in the condition and the promise — if they looked at the snake and believed what God had said, the miracle happened. They were rescued from death and given back their lives.

Jesus would also be “lifted up” on a wooden stake for everyone to see, but not everyone would experience the life He promised. Only those who gazed at Him with faith in His promise would make that transfer from death to life. Something supernatural would take place in their spirits. They would literally “come alive” to God; they would have a spiritual awakening to a dimension of living they have never “seen”, a new life thrumming with God, everywhere. 

That’s what changes history to His story, and our story.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.