Tag Archives: drink

JOHN’S GOSPEL…LIVING WATER- 13a

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“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Another beautiful symbol of the Holy Spirit in Scripture… a river. No one and nothing on earth can survive without water. Just as “bread” is a symbol of that which sustains life…”bread is the staff of life”, so water completes the picture of what is utterly necessary for every living thing. 

The greatest tragedy of Adam’s disobedience was the loss of the life-giving Spirit. He could no longer indwell a heart polluted with sin. When the Holy Spirit left Adam, He left behind an empty shell. Adam was physically alive but spiritually dead, and he passed on this condition to the whole human race. 

What did God’s people think when John the Baptiser made this announcement? Did they even recognise the significance and implication of this promise?

“Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭32‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The entire history of Israel was one of failure…no Spirit, no power to obey. Only rebellion! Failure brought judgment, punishment, exile, suffering, and eventually, occupation by the hated Romans. They were slaves of sin and had no hope of deliverance outside of God’s intervention…

…Then came John…with a promise! The Holy Spirit is coming back…not just on special people for special tasks, like on Samson, or on Gideon! On everyone! Not just a trickle but a river! A perennial flow of the life-giving Spirit…now, through Jesus, if we believe in Him. 

At the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest performed a ritual that ironically pictured a system that could never slake anyone’s thirst for real life. He poured water onto the dry ground, to be swallowed up in the dust, producing nothing…By contrast, Jesus offered water that would satisfy and keep flowing from within forever. 

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 

The people of Israel understood the imagery. God had often spoken of Himself as a “fountain of living water.” Israel was cursed because they had chosen to drink water from a polluted fountain. 

“Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”

‭‭Jeremiah 17‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s people today have been robbed by a terrible lie that teaches that we need a special and separate “baptism” in the Holy Spirit to enjoy the benefits of the Spirit’s presence in us. This teaching contradicts Paul’s words…

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What can be clearer than this? “All”, meaning “all”, used three times, emphasises that everyone who believes enjoys the fulness of the Holy Spirit, not only those who have a “special anointing” or a separate “baptism”.  The Holy Spirit is not divided into a little bit and later, ”fulness” after a separate “baptism”. 

Joel’s prophecy, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, to explain the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is an all-inclusive promise. 

“These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! “No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:” ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Fellow believers, don’t be carried away by any “second blessing” deception. Jesus promised the fullness of the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Him. His presence and His power is for all who obey Him.  We need only drink and keep drinking from His fountain of truth. 

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This fountain keeps flowing as we keep praising Him and living for Him.  

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued…

JESUS SAID-2

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Jesus said…nothing, but what He did not say spoke volumes. Sometimes Jesus didn’t need to say anything. He allowed His actions to speak for Him.

Here is an excellent example.

John 8:3-6 NIV
[3] “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group [4] and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. [5] In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” [6] They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.”

Why did Jesus let His finger speak for Him?

Many are the interpretations of His action, most speculation but few with understanding.

Jesus knew that His audience of religious leaders would recognise, immediately, what He meant because, as men thoroughly familiar with every word of the Tanach which they could recite by heart, they knew that He was quoting from Jeremiah 17:13.

Jeremiah 17:13 NIV
[13] “Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”

Jesus had just offered His people the “living water” of the Spirit to which the high priest’s action pointed. To complete the Festival of Tabernacles, the high priest performed the ritual of pouring water on the ground. Jesus cried out, in response,

John 7:37-39 NIV
[37] “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. [38] Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” [39] By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

The “water” He offered would not disappear into the dry ground as did the water poured out by the high priest. Instead, the “water” He offered would continue to flow and quench the thirst of anyone who drank it.

The Pharisees has so repudiated His words that they had sent soldiers to arrest Him. The soldiers returned empty-handed, to the wrath of the religious leaders.

John 7:45-48 NIV
[45] “Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” [46] “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. [47] “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. [48] “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?”

On the strength of the rejection of the religious leaders, Jesus wrote His indictment in the dust. What did He write? He wrote their names! His prophetic action meant that, since they had rejected Yahweh, the fountain of living water, they would be obliterated from the earth, like their names written in the dust.

His second indictment! How did He know their names? Only He, the Son of God, could know their names without ever being introduced!

Isaiah 43:1 NLT
[1]”But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.”

Jesus knew much more than Jack, John, or James. He knew them, deep in their wicked hearts. So convicted were they when they realised what He was doing that they slunk away in disgrace without another word.

John 8:7-9 NLT
[7]” They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” [8] Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. [9] When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.”

Case dismissed! Not only had Jesus exposed their hypocrisy once again but He had also driven away the woman’s accusers. He was free to forgive, to show mercy, and to send her away a new person.

The Woes Of Wickeness

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THE WOES OF WICKEDNESS 

Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! . . . Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin . . . Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town with injustice . . . Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbours, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so he can gaze on their naked bodies . . . Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ (Hab. 2: 6b; 9; 12; 15; 19).

From the background and culture of his day, Habakkuk encapsulated the evils of his own nation and the nation that was about to capture and enslave them. Israel was no better than Babylon. Its people were just as corrupt and unjust as their heathen neighbours. Why? Because the people of Israel loved and worshipped the same idol gods of their neighbours.

Habakkuk pronounced woes on them all. Regardless of the covenant that God had with Israel, which they had long disregarded and forsaken, they were now under the same pronouncement of judgment as the godless nations around them. God is no respecter of persons. He will use the same measure for every person who disregards His holy standards and breaks His laws.

Habakkuk recognised that God had His answer to the problem of evil, but only for His own people but for all the nations of the earth. Because people refuse to acknowledge Him and choose to worship their own gods and set up their own standards does not absolve anyone from accountability to Him. His word is not only for believers but for everyone because all are answerable to Him as their Creator, and the Creator of the universe.

Two verses in this prophecy stand out as universal and timeless truths. They shine as beacon lights in the darkness of a rebellious, evil and corrupt society. It would be well for the world of people who ignore God, side-line Him and treat Him as irrelevant to wake up to the truth that God will not be treated as an intrusion because:-

Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God (Rom. 14: 12).

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5; 10).

What was God’s response to the arrogance of humans who think that whatever they have achieved, even if through wickedness, is impressive? Even the best that human beings have done will be judged worthless in God’s time.

Has not the Lord determined that the people’s labour is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2: 13-14).

People choose to reject God and worship whatever they have made for themselves, be it some image they have created and tried to bring to life as a substitute for Him, or their achievements or work of their hands. However noble or great they may think they are or what they have done, when they stand before God in the light of His indescribable glory, they will have nothing to say.

The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him (Hab. 2: 20).

This is God’s response to the blustering defence of every human being: “Just shut up and realise who God is!” Whatever excuses men may offer, whatever defence they may have against the irrefutable truth of God’s presence and glory, everyone and everything will be silenced in His presence

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God (Rom. 3: 19).

No one must ever think that, because he or she does not acknowledge God, they will not need to have anything to do with Him. Like it or not, they will be judged. Like it or not, they will receive what they wanted. If they want nothing to do with Him, they will be shutout of His presence and everything that He is to endure for the rest of eternity the darkness they thought so enjoyed in this present life.

Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (Gal. 6:7).

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.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

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Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Christ Is The Reality

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CHRIST IS THE REALITY

Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Col. 2: 16-17).

This is quite startling! Paul was a Jew and had been a fanatical stickler for the Law, and yet he made a radical statement which contradicted everything he had believed in and taught as a Pharisee and a rabbi.

Religious festivals, New Moon celebrations and Sabbaths were the backbone of Jewish life. They were the weekly, monthly and annual festivals which brought the family and the nation together regularly to cement their unity and to express their faith in God and their anticipation of their Messiah. Elaborate rituals were developed around each celebration which were full of symbolism and meaning for God’s people.

Yet Paul was saying that all of these celebrations and rituals were no longer necessary in their family and national lives? Was he not treading on thin ice by contradicting God’s commands? What right had he to tell God’s people that all of these were fulfilled and done away with in Christ?

As a disciple of Jesus, and an apostle appointed by God, Paul had authority to interpret and ‘bind’ Jesus’s yoke on His followers. The ritualistic celebration of special days was part of the old yoke of Judaism which Jesus fulfilled and abolished by His life, death and resurrection. As his understanding grew, Paul clearly recognised that these special days were prophetic of Messiah. To continue celebrating them was to say, in effect, that they were still anticipating the coming of their Messiah when He had already come.

In what way did Jesus fulfil these prophetic actions? This demands a much more detailed study of the meaning of the Sabbath and the annual festivals which God commanded them to celebrate in Leviticus 23 than we can do here.

However, reading Hebrews 3 and 4 will clear up the issue of the Sabbath, for a start. The command to rest from their weekly labour was prophetic of their perpetual rest of faith in Jesus which sets them and us free from the ‘labour’ of trying to be righteous by keeping God’s laws.

The seven annual feasts were prophetic of the major events of Jesus’s first coming and symbolise what will happen when He returns. He fulfilled the first four feasts in order: He was God’s Passover lamb, sacrificed to deliver us from bondage to sin; He fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread by removing our sin from us just as the Israelites were commanded to remove all leaven from their homes; He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by becoming the firstfruits of the resurrection; He fulfilled the Feast of Pentecost by sending the Holy Spirit to begin the ingathering of the harvest – the church.

There are three feasts yet to be fulfilled when Jesus comes again; the Feast of Trumpets – the announcement of His return; the Day of Atonement when sin will be judged and removed forever and Feast of Tabernacles when God will take up residence with His people, not in booths in the wilderness but in an eternal new heaven and new earth where all the effects of Adam’s disobedience will be removed forever.

That brings me to another important topic. If Jesus has fulfilled days, months and annual celebrations, and did away with food taboos, why do some streams in the church still make them obligatory and legalistically hold to them, especially the Sabbath and food taboos? Is this not a denial of what Jesus accomplished on the cross?

Paul said categorically, ‘Do not let anyone judge you . . .’ We cannot help it if people judge us but what we can help is being affected by their judgment. If someone judges us, it comes from their scruples, not ours.

Jesus gave us two sacraments to observe, not as prophetic of what He would do, but as a remembrance of what He has done; the Lord’s Supper is a remembrance of His sacrifice to seal the New Covenant; baptism is a celebration of His death, burial and resurrection which He accomplished for us to set us free from our slavery to sin and death.

Even festivals like Christmas and Easter, which have become nothing more than an opportunity for merchants to peddle their wares – their success in the commercial world is reckoned by their profits –  and people to overindulge, are not rooted in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ but in paganism which has been ‘Christianised’ for convenience.

There is no such thing as ‘Put Christ back into Christmas’ which is the hopeless cry of many churches, because Jesus Christ was never in Christmas. How dare we involve Him in the frenzy, overspending, overindulgence, pandering to the demands of children and hypocrisy of the ‘silly season’? There is very little about Christmas or Easter that resembles the Spirit of Jesus. He has been tagged on to paganism to make it acceptable and to hold us in bondage to tradition, and believers the world over have been sucked into this tradition and are enraged by anyone who dares to challenge it.

Come on, church! Let’s get back to the Word of God and to the truth! When you see what goes on at Christmas in the name of Jesus, ask yourself honestly, ‘Is this why Jesus came?’ Does He really identify with Christmas? Even the name of the season, ‘Christmas’ is an insult to Him and trivialises what He did for us. Christ-mass implies the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. How can we wish people a merry sacrifice of Jesus?

If we are true worshippers of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us put Him and His life and death back into perspective. Simplify your life. Live in the wonder of His salvation which we remember in two simple observances, and in the daily reality of the rest He made possible for us by removing our need to satisfy God’s holy requirements.

He is, after all, everything we need!

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.

 

Who Was In Charge?

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WHO WAS IN CHARGE? 

“Again He asked them, ‘Who do you want?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ they said. Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I am He. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.’ This happened so that the words He has spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus). Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?'” John 18: 7-11 NIV.

Who is in charge around here?

This is a very strange situation. A mob of soldiers and religious big shots, armed to the teeth had come to arrest Jesus but they couldn’t. He was protected by the power of His name. The very words, “I AM!” struck terror into these men and they fell backwards to the ground when He spoke. Never had they had dealings with a prisoner like this!

He was fully aware of why they had come. He had been anticipating their arrival and had actually gone to meet them. What criminal would ever deliberately put himself in the path of the authorities unless he knew he was guilty and wanted to hand himself over? Not only could they not lay a hand on them, but they were also afraid of Him. There was something about Him they could not fathom.

He, the felon, was actually in charge. He gave the orders; He called the shots and they obeyed Him. How crazy was that! ‘You can take me,’ He instructed them, ‘but leave these men alone.’ And even when they took Him and roughed Him up, He was still in charge. Everyone who had dealings with Him, soldiers, Sanhedrin, Herod, Pilate, Jewish mob, lost it while He remained calm and serene throughout the entire debacle.

Peter lost it too; Peter, the big, brave fisherman, pulled out his sword and lashed out wildly at the nearest guy — what a way to handle the crisis! Did he think he was going to pick them all off, one by one, while they waited in line to be taken out? Did he really think that Jesus would stand by and allow him to do that? No, Peter acted brainlessly and instinctively, so unlike his Master whose response was deliberate and carefully controlled.

Jesus’ response to Peter’s reaction was typically Jesus. Never for a moment did He lose focus. He had come for this reason and He was not about to allow Peter’s panic to side-track Him or cause Him to deviate from His purpose. Listen to His response! ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’ I wonder what the soldiers and the rest of the mob made of that!

How did the military men react to Jesus? What did they think when He allowed them to arrest Him? How many of them would gladly have walked away rather than take a man prisoner who literally invited them to do so? I would not like to have been in their shoes. What went through their minds when they lay in bed that night?

John did not record the sequel to Peter’s cowardly act, not that it didn’t happen or that it was unimportant but that it was just not a part of his purpose. He probably did not want to deviate from what he intended to convey. He was presenting Jesus as the Son of God and, at this moment Jesus was behaving as perfectly obedient to His Father, a true Son of the Father, doing the Father’s will without question because He had chosen to submit and become the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world.

He was fully aware of the “cup” which His Father had given Him to drink and the baptism of suffering He was about to undergo and He faced it without flinching because the reward that lay beyond it far outweighed the agony of the next few hours. But His suffering was to be His alone. The time would come when His disciples would have their own cup to drink. But not now. For the moment they were only spectators.

His words of command protected them from any thoughtless action by the soldiers. They would, in the future, be guilty by association but, for now they would be unmolested and free to follow, watch and try to process what was happening to their Master until He returned from the grave to shake their lives to the core and to send them on their way as witnesses to all these events.