Tag Archives: the word

JOHN’S GOSPEL…THE WORD – 19

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“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭47‬-‭50‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The words of Jesus are pivotal to who He is and what He does as equal partner in the divine “three-in-one”. John introduced Jesus as the Word of God who existed with God in the beginning. Through the Word, the universe came into being. 

 “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Through His Word, Jesus upholds and sustains the universe…its cohesion, its functions, and its purpose. 

“The Son is the radiance God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…”

Hebrews 1:3 NIV

The Word came into the world in human form to speak God’s will into being. Jesus spoke only what the Father told Him to speak…so He testified. 

“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭49

The Word of God, spoken by the Word of God, has the power to arouse in us the faith that saves us from sin and gives us eternal life. 

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

At the end of time, when Jesus returns to judge the world, to restore God’s earth to its original purpose, and to set up His kingdom on earth, He will accomplish the Father’s will through His Word. 

“There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day”

God has invested all of history and the destiny of all mankind in His Son. By the authority of His Word, He will wrap up history and usher in the eternal kingdom of God in all its fulness.  

“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and Lord of Lords.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭11‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 What a glorious picture of our Lord Jesus, the warrior king who defeated the enemy, who will purify the earth, and reign in righteousness over all creation forever through His Word! 

How important for us His followers, to heed His Word with diligence and faithfulness because, outside of His Word, we have nothing to show us the way or to keep us on track on our journey to the Father.  

“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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…IN THE BEGINNING -1

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John 1:1-2 NIV

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

John’s gospel, often called “the spiritual gospel”, is one of the richest sources on earth of both information and insight into the person of Jesus, the God-man. It is understood that John wrote his story years after the other three “synoptic” gospels which focus primarily on who He was and what He did on earth as a man. To Matthew…He was the king of the Jews, to Mark…the Servant of Yahweh, and to Luke…the Son of Man, but to John…Jesus is the Son of God. 

Even a superficial reading of John’s writing will show us that his record of Jesus’ life is different from the others. John must have taken time to ponder, and had experience of Jesus through the Holy Spirit that gave him much clearer insight than the earlier writers.

Jesus had promised…

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John’s theme was Jesus, the Son of God. Perhaps, during his exile on Patmos, he had gained the deeper insights of Jesus’ words and works through meditation, revelation, and prayer, which he used in his gospel to give us greater understanding of the divine nature of Jesus than we gain from the other gospels. 

So, John reaches back into the book of Genesis to explain the deity of the human Jesus. Jesus was much more than an unusual man who said and did amazing things. He was God! He was there with God before and when creation happened. Much more than that…He was the Father’s agent to make creation happen. 

“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How did John know this? How could he have written these words  as fact with such confidence? Revelation! 

The book of Genesis tells us that the Holy Spirit was at work, brooding, like a hen incubating eggs, over the planet earth, bringing order out of chaos as God spoke. John adds that Jesus, the divine Son, was part of that creation event. He was and is the very Word in person that God uttered to bring the universe into being. 

All of this is a mystery to our finite minds. Since God’s Word is truth, we must receive this revelation by faith as the authoritative explanation of the holy Trinity’s combined involvement in creation.  

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To the unbeliever, none of this makes sense so, he chooses to believe a theory more nonsensical than the Biblical record, that the entire universe, with all its beauty, intricacy, and complexity, came into being by chance!

The rest of John’s story can only make sense to us if it rests firmly on the foundation that Jesus’ interlude on earth was just that… It was a period in time in which Jesus set aside the privileges of His divine nature, was veiled and clothed in a human body, and lived among His people on earth to reveal the true nature of Father. 

Jesus was the bridge between heaven and earth. He said to Nicodemus…

“Very truly I tell 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.”

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬

As John’s story unfolds, his aim becomes clear. This man, Jesus, who had no beginning in time, no birth record, came into the earthly scene for one purpose. He came to redeem a broken humanity and to restore the Father’s alienated children to fellowship Him and to His predetermined purpose to be His forever family. 

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

John’s gospel was aimed at presenting all the evidence humans need to put our trust in Jesus and to live under His authority. Why? …Because He is who He said He is, He did what He came to do, and He rescues all who trust in Him, forgives their sin and allows them to enter the realm of His kingdom. 

John admitted that his record was incomplete but what he had written was sufficient to convince his readers that Jesus is God’s Son and that faith in Him gives them eternal life. 

“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, God momentarily left heaven, came to earth as one of us, and revealed the majesty of the Father    and the power of the Spirit in His coming. 

To be continued…

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 1

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THE GOD-MAN, HIS ORIGIN

I enjoy writing series because, like painting a picture, little by little, a series builds a mental image of our topic and we gain knowledge and understanding as we go along.

I have entitled this series, “Jesus, the God-man” because nowhere in human history is there any other record of God coming to earth as a man except Jesus. There may be fanciful stories of such an event but no evidence that these stories are true. However, we have a book, an authentic book, rooted in history and brimful of the records of God interacting with humans, that tells us that such an event happened!

This story covers millennia of time. It is the story of, first, one nation, Israel, that spreads into all nations. It’s a complete story, yet open-ended, continuing on, mostly unwritten, in the lives of millions of people down the generations.

Despite the time it took to write this book, more that 2000 years, the number of contributors, more than 40, originating in more countries and continents than one, as well as a collection of different genres, this story ultimately has one central figure and one subject, the God-man, Jesus.

The Bible presents this Jesus from eternity to eternity. From before the first record of human history when the story of people begins and when the original pair decided to ditch their allegiance to their Creator for self-made rules, He was already present.

John 1:1-3 NIV
[1] “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

“The Word”, said John, “who is the God-man, that spoke the universe into being, became part of the creation He made”. He came from eternity to be part of His own creation, to share in its life, to suffer with and for those He had made. He was the bridge between heaven and earth, to reveal the true God to the world.

John 1:14 NIV
[14] “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.”

However, long before the historical event of Jesus’ birth, our book gives us detailed hints about Him in the writings of His ancient people. This fact alone should alert us to the authenticity of this book. No one else can tell a story so accurately and in such detail before it happens as tgecstory of Jesus. Prophecy is God’s prerogative and ability alone, not ours.

God alerted His prophets to the promise of this God-human person in the types and shadows of His religious system as well as in the visions and impressions they received through the Holy Spirit.

These “hints” added up to the promise so accurate that, when the God-man came, His disciples were able to match picture and person, and conclude, as Peter, their spokesman, declared, when Jesus asked outright about His identity…

Matthew 16:15-16 NIV
[15] “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
[16] “Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came in power on the fledgling church, Peter was able, finally, to match prophecy and fulfilment.

Acts 2:14-17 NIV
[14] “Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. [15] These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! [16] No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: [17] “ ‘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… “

In his masterful sermon, Peter put the story together. Finally, it was Jesus, the God-man, the one God had promised, described, and spoken about in His ancient writings who had come…and gone, leaving behind His Holy Spirit to continue the work He had come to do.

After thousands of years, our story ends where it began. Isn’t that amazing! It ends with the restoration of everything the first pair messed up when they decided to go it alone.

Revelation 21:1-4 NIV
[1] Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. [2] I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. [4] ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Let’s look at the process…

In the beginning, the earth was good and everything worked perfectly.

Genesis 1:31 NIV
[31] “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

Genesis 2:25 NIV
[25] “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

Isn’t this what God wanted the earth to be when He made it… God and man, living together on a perfect earth, in harmony and without shame?

So, He planned, prepared and sent His man to reset the earth and mankind to His plan.

So, what went wrong?

One wrong choice, one act of disobedience, and the unthinkable happened.

Romans 5:12 NIV
[12] “Therefore,… sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned…”

Poof! Gone in a moment! All the amazing things God planned and prepared for His children…gone!

But…take heart. God had it all prepared before it happened.

His plan? It starts with the whisper of a God-man, standing in the wings to fix the mess the first pair made. No names, no pack drill, just a hint of things to come.

To the initiator of the mess God said…

Genesis 3:15 NLT
[15] And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

The rest of the story unpacks, in detail, the careful preparation for this momentous event, when the God-man would come to set the earth and its destiny back in order.

To be continued…

SOME PUZZLES OF SCRIPTURE – 1

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The Bible is often criticised for its contradictions or misused by misinterpretions, but only because its critics don’t understand the nature of the book.

Many of its puzzles come from our own misunderstandings and misinterpretations. If we allow the Word to explain itself, at least some of our questions will be answered.

God’s book was written within a specific time span, by people with a specific language and culture, for a specific purpose. To read it in any other way is to dishonour God and His book. We will understand it better if we take the trouble to look within the words used to translate the book for the intended meaning of its author.

We may not be familiar with ancient Hebrew and Greek, the two languages mostly used in the original, but we have many experts to help us. A little digging will provide amazing insights into this amazing book.

I am not a language expert. However, with some help, let me offer a few examples of light shed on God’s Word.

Scholars and Bible teachers use the Latin words, “ex nihilo”, to explain God’s creation. Translated, ex nihilo means “out of nothing”. I find at least two ways in the Bible in which God created…

‭Psalms 33:6 NIV‬
[6] “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.”

This and many other references to God’s method of creation affirm that His creative power was in His spoken Word.

This explains the “how” but of what did He fashion the universe?

He used two different materials, one for the first man, and one for the universe in all its intricate details.

‭Genesis 2:7 NLT‬
[7] “Then the Lord God formed the man from the DUST of the ground. He breathed the BREATH of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”

This takes care of the first human. Every other human, including the first woman, came from the first man.

‭Genesis 2:21-22 NLT‬
[21] So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. [22] Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

‭Genesis 4:1 NLT‬
[1] Now Adam had sexual relations 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!”

The rest of the universe came from intriguing material, vaguely mentioned by the writer to the Hebrews.

‭Hebrews 11:3 NIV‬
[3] “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that WHAT IS SEEN Gwas not made out of what was visible.”

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God created the universe “ex nihilo”, out of nothing. We believe that, by His spoken word, He commanded energy and atoms, which are invisible, to become everything in the universe that is now visible. What awesome power is His to do this!

‭Isaiah 40:26 NLT‬
[26]”Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.”

The Hebrew word, “bara”, translated “created”, can mean to “shape” or “make fat”. Used in another context, speaking to the priest Eli, God said…

1 Samuel 2:29 NLT‬
[29] “So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me—for you and they have BECOME FAT from the best offerings of my people Israel!”

…the word “bara” here is translated, “become fat”. “Create” makes no sense.

The sense, then, in Genesis 1, could be that God “fattened” the earth for human habitation. By His spoken word, He introduced order and function into a chaotic planet, bringing in light, dividing water and land, creating plants and animals, and completing His work by fashioning the first human pair.

Since the earth already existed, as in Genesis 1:2, it makes sense that God worked on an rudimentary planet to prepare it for human habitation. The Hebrew words used to describe the earth’s condition between Genesis 1:1 and 2 seem to hint at something sinister that might have happened after earth’s creation.

‭‭Genesis 1:2 NLT‬
[2] “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

Could it be that the rebellious members of God’s Heavenly Council, cast down to the earth out of heaven, caused the chaos on earth that God had to repair?

‭‭Isaiah 14:12 NLT‬
[12] “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.”

God’s story, from beginning to end, is the story of redemption and restoration. He permitted the process of destruction to happen to reveal to the entire races of spirit and human beings that He is God in all His attributes, including His compassion, mercy, and grace only made visible through the cross.

To be continued…