Ian’s lets listen to Jesus

I stand at the foot of the cross looking past it up into the heavens, overawed by the might and wisdom and variety of creation, pointing to an amazing Creator. The story revealed in the Bible shows His commitment to restoring everything as it was in tended to be, the story of the cross as it unfolds to reveal the wonderful and intricate plan our Creator is busy unfolding and I am, we all are part of that!

”It is good that you can look at creation and look past it to what and Who it points to. The One who is behind everything, making everything come about, sustaining and maintaining it all. And, yes I have made it ultimately for My glory and for each one of you and your readers. The presence of man in the midst of My creation attests to the fact that you are central to that place and I seek My glory through you as you grow in grace and are ultimately glorified. There we will be joined together in a glory which you can’t even begin to imagine. So persevere – continue to persevere I am holding you all in My grace and love – working to bring all things together for My glory.”

Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel is strategically placed to teach and emphasise a truth which is repeated in many places in God’s word. That truth is that we are all spiritually blind and unable to see and experience His spiritual activities and to meet Him without Him giving us sight. John devotes a whole chapter to the healing of a blind man and an explanation of the spiritual significance of this act. It is placed more or less in the middle of the gospel after a long revelation of who Jesus is. He has been inviting the reader to decide who this Man is by taking us into that world to experience the story for him/herself. Now he makes the important point. No-one can understand all that without Jesus’s supernatural help.

The chapter has one main message but we will deal with it over two weeks. Today we will look at the actual healing and restoration of sight to a man born blind and hear Jesus speak through that.

The first question is,”why did Jesus choose this man? There were probably plenty of blind people in Palestine at the time. Why him?” This is an important question for each of us. We are all praying for some “miracle”. Someone to be healed, someone to be saved, a relationship restored etc. We see miraculous answers to other’s prayers and we ask ourselves, “What am I doing wrong? How can I pray otherwise to get the answer. Maybe there is something I must do or stop doing.” You get the drift?

A large part of the answer to that question lies wrapped up here. We are all invited to come to Jesus in prayer. To bring whatever is on our minds to Him. He promises and can be trusted to hear every word we call out to Him. Here is the crunch. It is His prerogative how and when He will answer. Each of us is unique and on a personal journey with Him and He is handling each plea in a way unique to us and our personality and needs. He hears the loud shouts of joy and of pain with absolute compassion. The quality of our lives belies His grace. He hears even the feeblest whimper of the smoking flax.

One thing He desires from us is humble surrender to Him and a desire to obey His will, as imperfect or weak as that may be. This is hugely liberating. It takes all the pressure off us. We can be our natural selves with Him at all times.

There is no explanation why Jesus put mud on his eyes and told him to wash publicly. Very likely He wanted him to be seen to provoke a response from the Jews. It was certainly not necessary for the healing. He did many other miracles without touching and even from a distance.

The other theme that becomes apparent is even the religious leaders were unable to accept and understand the miracle, even despite its obviousness. This is what sin and unbelief do. True blindness in the face of real sight.

We will pick up this story again next week. I would love to hear your experience of prayer and how God answers in the most unusual and unexpected ways. May He bless each one of you as you discover more about your relationship with Him.

I am supremely conscious this morning of the fact that I am here because Jesus has invited me. I am conscious of the very fact that Jesus has taken every initiative in our relationship, that He wants to meet with me and appreciates my response. Yet that response is so important – I cannot just be a passive spectator. After his invitation in Matthew 11:28 to come to Him He then instructs the listeners, “take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and light”. I am to become part of his team as he draws alongside me.

”It is My pleasure to experience and see My beloved one’s responding to my call and coming to Me, seeking a continued and deeper relationship. Yes and it starts in the quiet where we can just be together – where I can speak to you and you can listen and respond, but it goes on through the whole day all the time I am there walking with you as you negotiate the many ups and downs of your life, helping you many times without you even being aware of it. Drawing you closer and helping to build your faith as you see and experience Me more clearly. It is a joy to Me to have this relationship with you, especially as you respond to Me “.

As we continue in John 8 from vs 48, we are still among those who are walking the dusty roads of Palestine following the path of this One who appears to be so unique. John, calling us all the time to decide from the evidence who He is. This journey almost reaches a climax in this passage as the Jews call out derisively, “Who do you think you are?” (v53b). The power and significance of Jesus’s reply in vs 56 cannot be overestimated.

It is clear that the Jews have recognised that Jesus is exercising supernatural power in His miracles. However they refuse to accept that He is from God the Father and seek an alternative explanation. They conclude that it must be by a Satanic power that He is performing miracles. To add to the insult they call Him a Samaritan for which there is no evidence at all. Then the derisive challenge, “Who do you think you are?” v53

Much of Jesus’s dialogue that follows is aimed at pointing out to them that by suggesting these things they were not only insulting Him but they were also insulting the Father which was much more serious. He points out that it is actually the Father who is doing the miracles through Him and He is doing them to demonstrate His own glory in Jesus. As they sought to call on Abraham as a witness Jesus points out to them that even Abraham had foreseen the day that He would arrive on earth, but actually He was around long before Abraham appeared on the scene.

Then He makes the climactic statement in v58. “Before Abraham was born, I AM”. This is clearly a reminder of the name God called Himself when he met with Moses in the desert. So in the mysterious way of the Trinity Jesus is in fact claiming to be God Himself. This is a mind boggling claim which deserves our full surrender and worship.

Woven into the passage John has included two statements which continue to demonstrate how to become a full disciple of Jesus. Throughout his gospel John has repeatedly said that the key ingredient to inheriting eternal life is faith. Here He rounds this out with two further statements. Firstly in v51b, “if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death “. Then the proof of true discipleship is “knowing God”. v 55

Drawing this all together the fundamental way to grow in faith is getting to know Jesus better and better. These passages in John should be helping us all to grow in knowledge and understanding of Him, helping our faith to grow in leaps and bounds. May you be blessed as these wonderful truths strike home. Till next week then.

As I sing the song, “He touched me” memories come flooding in – a moment when my general sense that God is out there and somehow Jesus died – in that moment changed to a supreme conviction that He is real and in fact I felt He was standing right there next to me. That moment heralded a total new life path which was launched and on which I walk today with extreme gratefulness, thanksgiving and joy.

”Yes Ian I do seek that intimate relationship with every person who responds to my call. I am there ready, not only to touch you into real life – to give you a new birth, but to continue building that moment into a lifetime of friendship and worship. Although many may not realise it, I am as close to them every moment of the day, as I seemed so close at special times, it simply requires you to be conscious of that, to accept it and enjoy it by faith. Each one of you is supremely precious to Me and I long to touch you and walk with you every day. My love and grace overflows to you all”.

As we return to John 8: 31 I want to revisit the passage and look at something which is going on in the background of this story. There is a play on the concept of fatherhood and sonship which is quite revealing.

As the passage opens there seems some confusion as to the genuineness of the faith that was expressed in verse 30. Despite the Jews being described as having put their faith in Jesus, there is real doubt that they have become true disciples. Jesus uses the words “Son” and “setting free” to provoke a response in them. Their claim to sonship is based on their descent from Abraham. Jesus moves the conversation to demonstrate that real disciple ship requires a recognition and acceptance of their true Father, God.

However he wants them to realise that they do you not really qualify as true sons of Yahweh because words are not sufficient and their actions demonstrate the contrary. The fact that they are planning to kill him shows that God is not really their father. There is only one alternative to God being their father and that is that the devil is in fact their real father.

This brought me to a consideration of the understanding of our relationship with God as Father. In the Old Testament God is seldom called Father and when He is He is usually called the Father. The idea of fatherhood under the Old Covenant was generally regarded as being Father of the whole nation of Israel. Few people in that era had an intimate relationship with him.

When Jesus appears on the scene introducing the New Covenant we see that He often calls Himself the Son. Obviously this indicates a close personal relationship with the Father. As we read this passage it is a prelude to the eventual revelation that once we are “in Jesus” we have an equally close relationship with the Father through Him. This was not possible under the Old Covenant. Reading Romans 8:15 again I was struck by the incredible privilege that we have of being able to call Yahweh “ABBA” the most intimate name for father and we have the full privileges of sonship because we have been adopted into His family.

A few things arise out of this. Firstly it is not good enough to speak words of relationship and following. Our whole lives must demonstrate this new relationship. Words are easy to say but their genuineness is only proved by putting them into practice. We are not saved by works but works flowing from our salvation is a demonstration of the genuineness of that faith.

Secondly something was triggered in me recently by words spoken by Brian during his sermon about fatherhood. I was again reminded of what the genuine Fatherhood of God means to me personally. We tend to measure our concept of fatherhood from our experience of our earthly fathers. No earthly father can demonstrate true fatherhood as God himself does and this has enormous consequences for each one of our faith.

So wallow in the pleasant thought that God, the Creator of everything has chosen to call you and enjoy you as a real son or daughter until next week.

Precious love – flowing like a river – washing sinners – me/you clean in its blood stained water. What a privilege to benefit from this grace.

”Yes, My love is like a river – more like a raging torrent – carrying everything before it, washing all the dross away and lifting you up into My very Presence where you can meet with Me. Remember the picture of Peter – walking on the water when he saw Me coming across the waves – till he doubted and when he did and started sinking I lifted him up again. So, I am also inviting you all to step out of the boat onto the storm tossed waters of this life and to walk to Me, to walk with Me into the future. The waves as fearsome as they may seem to be represent My love for you and the world – ready to wash clean and then to take you forward in power into My new kingdom. My invitation to you is to join Me in the great venture – building My new kingdom of which you are now an honoured member, invited by grace through My blood which washed you clean.”

Now let’s continue to listen to Jesus from John 8:31. Jesus is addressing the Jews who had believed in him, verse 31. Referring back to the previous verse. Yet as we read this passage it appears that they still do not understand the true requirements of discipleship. They have still not been set free, because they did not even understand what it was all about. They still believed that to be a true Jew you simply needed to be descended from Abraham. They believed that they had been set free from slavery when Moses took them out of Egypt. Therefore they were surely not slaves any more.

In reality they were slaves to the law and to sin. Jesus starts by telling them that a real disciple would be one that would hold to His teaching. If they did this then they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. But what did he mean by the Truth? We see the answer to that in verse 36 for it is the Son that is the one who sets us free and is the embodiment of Truth in a person. Once they had been set free they would be true sons not of Abraham but of the Father himself.

The proof that they were not yet true sons of the Father is the fact that they were planning to kill Him. We will revisit the whole question of fatherhood and who we belong to next week as we complete the piece up to verse 47. Please read through this passage and contemplate it and if you have any questions please place them on the blog.

Let’s gather our thoughts together now about what Jesus has said to us in this passage. The first question I found myself grappling with is whether I am in fact living in true freedom. In Galatians 5:1 Paul tells the reader: it is for freedom that they have been set free. He then tells them that although they have been set free they had moved back into a slavery to the law. The question I ask myself is, “Am I living in true freedom?” “Do I truly accept the full liberation Jesus offers me daily?” “How does that show in my life?”

I am also reminded again of the slow process that people seem to go through to gain understanding of biblical teaching. In a way it is discouraging because as I teach the Bible I know that many are not really grasping what I am trying to teach. Yet it is also in a way encouraging because many of these folk would eventually come to full faith and understanding of what it means to be a disciple and would become true followers of Jesus. Jesus’s timing is often so different to ours. Maybe our greatest need here is patience. As we consider these things it should encourage us to continue praying for people who we may have been praying for for many years already without any response because there is always a possibility that they may still come to faith in Jesus‘s time.

This teaching is so important and dense that I am going to leave it there till next week. May Our dear Lord be close to you and bless you all.

“My heart is steadfast oh Lord, I will sing and make music with all my soul, I will awaken at the dawn and praise you oh Lord….(Psalm 108:1). Thank you Lord for the gift of music which lifts our hearts and enables us to express our love for you Lord and to recognise and receive your love for us as you make the events of the past really come alive to us. “As I look at the cross your Grace takes a hold of me.”

“My whole creation is like a vast eternal song, with poetic lines which extends into eternity and you know what? You are part of that song. A vital note to make the whole complete – that is why I have said in Ephesians 2:10 that you are my “workmanship” – the exact word is you are my poem – part of the whole. That is why I call everyone of My people to be the special note I have made them to be so that the song will be perfect in the end.”

We continue today in John 8 from vs 21 – 29 as we listen to Jesus’s revelation of who He is. “Who are you? “ is the central question in vs 25. So we think to ourselves, “have they not been listening?” But we should not be too hard on them. They were being faced with concepts and ideas that would have stretched any mind. Just as Jesus has been speaking about His own testimony and His Father’s testimony backing that up, He now tells them that He is about to go away and what is worse, they are going to die in there sin verse 21.

So confusing. A reminder that He is not of this world and that they cannot go with Him when He goes and then He follows that up with, “ you are going to die in your sins.” But then comes the proviso: “if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”. That is bracketed by his statement that they will die in their sins verse 24. But who is He claiming to be?

By now we should be used to that word which John has been emphasising right from the beginning of his gospel. BELIEVE. The problem that has been becoming more obvious as we read through this Gospel is, what were the people are supposed to believe? Who is this they are expected to believe in? And what was preventing them from seeing that?

So it becomes apparent that Jesus’s identity was slowly being revealed and the people that met Him would have had an incomplete understanding of who He was. In this passage He mentions for the first time that He has to go away which is a prediction of his death. Later on in the passage in verse 28 he refers to that again as He speaks about being lifted up. He has already use that phrase in chapter 3, however it was far from clear as to what exactly He meant. It is easy for us to look back after the whole story has been told and to recognise these revelations He was giving. Yet those people would have had little point of reference to understand it.

At the end of the passage in vs 30 we see that many put their faith in Him. However we know that later on most of those people deserted Him. The problem was that they were putting their faith in a person without completely understanding who He was and what He had come to do.

As I contemplated this passage I realised that each one of us goes through a similar growing revelation and understanding of who Jesus is even after we have put our faith in Him. In fact we continue to grow in knowledge and understanding of Him and His ways and expectations all our lives. It is important that we realize how we need to grow in this area so that our faith will be continually strengthened.

One of the problems with some modern day preaching is that an image of Jesus is presented which is shallow and incomplete and people are asked to accept him without understanding who He really is and what He went through to save us. This accounts for many who set off on a Christian trajectory and end drifting away.

We also need to understand how we should give an answer for the hope we have to those who ask us.

Well dear friends enjoy every day this week as one that the Lord has made and given to us.

As I sit at Jesus‘s feet this morning – looking up at His face – waves of love flow over me, yet I remind myself I cannot rely on my emotions because emotions are volatile, I must rely on a choice I make daily, even more often a choice I make regularly through the day – to love God, through Jesus with all my heart, body, soul and mind and to let that choice determine my actions, attitudes and words – praise the Lord hallelujah!

”You are coming to understand the statement in 1 John – “God is love”. If you see Me as Love personified you will experience every part of your relationship with Me as My expression of love to you. This will make it easier for you to respond in love to Me. Even as the high point of the demonstration of that fact was My death upon the cross, it continues to flow into every part of society, into every heart that responds, calling the many who are lost to come and drink of the Living Water from the Eternal Fountain. Yes make a decision to respond to Me in love and I will promise to overwhelm you with every aspect of My love for you”.

Now to John 8:12 – 20. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus has been speaking at the temple during the feast of Tabernacles. One of the traditional customs at that feast was to light a strong light in the temple to remind the people of the pillar of Fire which God used to guide His people through the desert on their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Here Jesus identifies Himself as the reality of that light to show once again His fulfilment of a picture from the Old Covenant.

This is also one of the “ I Am” statements in John’s Gospel, which show that Jesus is identifying himself with the name that God gave to Moses when He met him. Remember: “I am who I am.” The other things to note in that sentence in verse 12: “Who ever follows me will never walk in the darkness…” are firstly that in the Greek the word never is a double negative which actually reads, “never, no never will you walk in the darkness. Then the Greek word which is translated as follow has a much stronger sense about it than the English. It involves more than just walking behind a person but denotes embracing the values of the one whom you are following and actively participating in his purpose.

From vs 13 to 18, the focus is very much on Jesus‘s identity. The Pharisees challenge him saying that He has no standing to testify about Himself as to who He is, so Jesus calls as His second witness his Father. The passage does not identify how the Father is the second witness but he is probably calling on the supernatural signs that He has been performing as the witness of His Father to prove His identity

What is important is His statement in verse 19 where He challenges them, suggesting that the reason they don’t accept His identity is because they actually don’t know the Father. Later in his gospel John is going to expand on how important this concept is. It is actually impossible to fully grasp the identity of Jesus without coming to know God as Father. This is the great barrier that prevents the Pharisees from understanding who Jesus is and how His own testimony points to His identity.

Once again we see the interesting reference in the last verse to the appropriate timing of Jesus‘s life on Earth. It is easily possible for us to think that it is only Jesus’s life which was appropriately timed, where in actual fact everyone of us has a time schedule with God which is hugely comforting.

So as we wrap this up I ask myself the question who do I really think Jesus is and I’m I truly following him according to the biblical concept? I am hugely comforted by Jesus’ promise that I will never walk in the dark again. I am also challenged as to my relationship with the Father because knowing God is a privilege we have through Jesus and that relationship with Jesus and the Father is the basis of our lives with Him which constantly needs to be practised and refreshed.

May you all experience God’s closeness and love till next week.

Singing Psalm 8 and 71 with Aaron Shust. “Oh Lord, my Lord, how majestic is your name In all the world, who is man that you remember him. Even when I am old and grey do not forsake me Lord”.

“Majestic is My name. I am described and My nature revealed by the names which I am known by in My word. Do you really grasp the meaning of the word Majestic? The full extent of My Majesty extends far beyond how I may look, to My Almighty power as Ruler and Creator of the Earth. I am everywhere, everything you see, handle, smell, taste experience – it all has my hand upon it. There is nowhere, nothing that is beyond my reach, after all I made it all and am still creating and sustaining everything. And within that I am inviting you into an intimate relationship with Me – made possible by the greatest love act in the history of the world – Jesus, my beloved Son’s sacrificial death upon the cross. The gap seems impossible for you to bridge, the power to do that, the power to understand it all comes from Me. Welcome to all of you as you draw closer to Me by My personal invitation through Jesus”.

We go on in John’s Gospel to chapter 8: 1–11. As John continues to reveal who this Man Jesus is, he re-visits the concept of condemnation vs 11, he had raised in chapter 3 : 17 and 18. Jesus makes it quite clear that His aim in coming to the world as a human was not to bring condemnation upon a people who had rejected Him. Instead He came with the idea to rescue us from the awful plight mankind is in. He came to rescue us in fact also from ourselves and all our evil intentions and the pain which spins off from that

It is clear from this passage that the Pharisees were using this woman who had been caught in adultery as a pawn in an effort to catch Jesus out in his interpretation of the law. They had no interest in her personal feelings or plight, or for the good name of Yahweh, they were simply using her to try and catch Jesus out. As far as they were concerned she was already written off as a human being and simply deserved to be snuffed out. However Jesus shows that no matter the sinful state of the woman she still mattered to him as a human, struggling and lost in a world which is broken.

This does not mean that He condoned her sinful life, as we read in His last words to her, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” vs 11.

I have been told by a neuro scientist that the human brain is programmed by default to keep comparing yourself to other people. This results in the way we see others and how we deal with them. This is mostly subconscious and we are usually not aware of it. It is a powerful force however and can clearly affect relationships on every level. Reading this passage reminded me of the importance of the Gospel power available to us through the Holy Spirit and the need to constantly reaffirm our attitude towards others of regarding everybody of deserving greater honour than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3).

I was also reminded of the importance of seeing each person we come into contact with as a human created by God in His image and no matter how difficult or evil they may seem to be, we should follow Jesus‘s example and not write them off or condemn them, but rather see them as deserving Jesus’s rescue and love.

May you continue to experience His love. Till next week then.

I am overwhelmed at the thought that the awesome, Almighty Creator of the whole universe, as large and as powerful, as magnificent in Majesty, should be concerned about me, about us – not only concerned but loving to the point of visiting us in human form to experience our lives and then to die on our behalf. What an awesome God we serve.

”If your eyes could only see, really see and perceive the vastness of My creation you would be even more taken aback, but I have revealed and am revealing enough that you can bury yourself in worship, that you can drown in the reality of all this. it is indeed a gift to have some insight into this universe – focusing on this world and the people in it. Each one known intimately by Me, loved to the utmost. The enjoyment I experience when they/you respond in worship and adoration. But also in being obedient and demonstrating your love for Me by loving one another. So – yes here I am in the midst of you all enjoying every minute of it”.

We continue in John ch 7 from vs 37. The key in this section comes in the second part of verse 37 and 38 as Jesus repeats the statement that he made to the woman at the well John 4:13. This closes the bracket around this whole section of teaching that Jesus is reported to have done. The main focus has been on his metaphor of being the Bread of life. Bread and water are the basic requirements for life. Jesus uses these metaphors to bring home to the listeners and us His very nature and purpose. Do you see that? He is the only provider of these essentials which are necessary for us to receive eternal life. Notice that it is not good enough to only know this, but one must actually partake of what he is offering. So we see in 6:53 that it is necessary to eat the flesh of the son of man and to drink his blood to have life and in today’s verse, it is necessary to drink of the living water to benefit from it. Notice also in vs 38 how Jesus equates drinking the water of life with believing in him. We have seen from the beginning of John how he has emphasised the role of faith in our developing and maintaining a relationship with Jesus.

To believe in him it is necessary to understand who he was/is. John is using the bystanders in their discussion about who Jesus is for us to draw our own conclusion. We can see here that there are basically two groups of people. One group who is for him and one group who is against him. The group that is for him discuss various possibilities as to his identity. John takes us right in to the community to hear what they have to say so that we can draw our own conclusions.

He makes a point of reminding the reader that the Spirit has not yet been given. This is important information since way back in chapter 3 and in other places Jesus has pointed out that no one will really understand who He is without the Spirit’s help and he had not been given yet. However we have the benefit of the Spirit’s help as we study this passage so that we can come to the correct conclusion. Ultimately he wants the reader to see that everything points to him being expected Messiah. The information about his birth is wrong as we know that he actually was born in Bethelehem not in Galilee as it was thought by those people.

What do we do with all this information? Surely it should bolster our faith, reminding us that faith is not just about believing but actually trusting and living by that trust and our hope for eternity is ultimately based on placing our trust on the Messiah who gave his life on the cross for us. Hopefully as we read through this Gospel our understanding of who Jesus is will grow stronger and more clearer over time thus strengthening our ability place our trust in him alone.

May he continue to bless you all with His living Presence during this coming week.

Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me – surround me please Lord with yourself.

” You are in Me – not because of anything you have done or achieved – but because I chose you before you were born, I predestined your life as part of my greater plan, I forgave your sins and sealed you into myself and all this I did because of my love, covering you with my grace. You are safely buried within me and my love – my death on the cross made that not only possible but certain. So every one out there who has encountered my love and is sealed within me may have absolute assurance. All that you need now is to realise the full extent of my love for you and all the saints. What a glorious community you are part of even though it doesn’t always look like it! It is My community and My family and I am building it into My glorious kingdom which will last forever. So rejoice in Me, keep rejoicing always.“

We continue in John 7:25 – 36. In his narrative John is casting his net wider now to get more opinions about who Jesus is. The key verse in this section is perhaps verse 27, “But we know where this man is from, when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from”. We have already seen in verse five that his own family did not believe in him being the Messiah because they knew him too well. Probably we should not blame them, having grown up with him through all the phases of childhood into his present adulthood.

Later in the chapter in next week’s reading we will see a number of opinions about who this man really was. What struck me as I read through this passage was the fact that the Creator God had come to identify himself with mankind and done it so successfully that it was difficult to distinguish him from anyone else. The only way to know who he was was by the unique characteristics that he displayed in being able to do supernatural miracles and the amazing teaching that he gave whenever he opened his mouth.

This concept of God coming to earth to experience and identify himself with mankind is totally unique amongst all religions. Divesting himself of his supernatural Divinity he was able to so mingle with us here that people had difficulty in identifying him as the expected Messiah king. Not only did he fully identify himself with us he also suffered with us and on our behalf. This placed him in a unique position to be able to understand exactly how we experienced all the different facets of life from great joy and elation to deep pain, suffering and rejection..

In Hebrews 2:17 ff we read, “ for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.“ It bears meditating on the uniqueness of this ministry of God through Jesus to us and the incredible comfort that brings us.

Back in John’s gospel we read in verse 31 that many in the crowd put their faith in him. This concept of people putting their faith in Jesus is mentioned several times in this early part of John and it appears that it was often just superficial belief. Of course it would only be possible to really trust Jesus once he had gone through the crucifixion and resurrection, showing what his mission really was intended to accomplish. I suppose John was trying to differentiate between those who wanted to believe and follow him from those who sought to harm him and were actively planning against him.

Wrapping this up I found new meaning in Jesus’ humanity and his ability to identify with me as a person in my particular circumstances. What an incredible comfort that is. At the same time I needed to ask myself how deep is my faith really? Do I really understand these amazing revelations and do I really fully trust in my Saviour Jesus?

Bless you till next week.

Christ is risen – arise my soul! The thought of your resurrection explodes on me again. Against all the laws of this world you took back your life – as a demonstration of your dominance and control of your creation.

” The act of my resurrection was not only or primarily to demonstrate my control of creation, although it does do that. It was primarily to demonstrate the finality of the victory which I won on the cross. The victory over the forces of darkness, the victory over the sinful nature of all those who would choose to share it. The victory over the curse my Father has placed on the earth. The victory which shows that I have the final say. There are many convulsions going on in the world as the forces of evil try to fight a rearguard battle – but I have news for them – the battle has already been won – and you all participate in that victory although the dust of the battle is still all around you. Look up and see the light – my light shining brighter than the Sun and calling you Home.”

We are reading John 7:14 – 24. Jesus follows his brothers to the Passover festival at Jerusalem secretly. He is not yet ready to expose himself to the possibility of a premature conclusion to His ministry by being put to death at this stage. However He is seen teaching in the temple courts and the crowd is amazed by His teaching. This reaction of amazement is mentioned a number of times in the gospels as a response by the hearers to the demonstration of His supernatural nature in His actions and teaching.

This section makes two important points. The Pharisees have been beating Jesus with the law and here Jesus addresses His relationship to the law. The first important point that we can see from this section is that the law was intended to bring life and wholeness. We see that in verse 23 b: “Why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the sabbath“?The law was never meant to limit and judge. We read in Paul’s letters that the law was given so that we may understand what sin is. However the ultimate purpose of the law was to lead us to Christ. In Romans 10:4 we read that “Christ is the end of the law”, in other words he was the ultimate fulfilment of the law. He personifies the law in all His actions and teaching.

Although the Pharisees held the law up constantly as a standard by which people should live, they themselves were guilty of breaking the very spirit of the law which was to give life. It is so important for us today to understand the role of the law so that we live our lives according to the gospel of Jesus who is the fulfilment of the law and not by trying to legalistically obey each letter of the law.

The second point in this message comes from verse 17, where Jesus says, “if anyone chooses to do God’s will, he find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own”. The underlying message of that statement is that for us to understand the whole of the interaction of the law and Jesus we have to have an attitude of willing obedience to God’s will. We see elsewhere where Jesus explained this in his parables for instance in Matthew chapter 13 where he says, “whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance”. This is an underlying principle which is necessary for us to understand if we are going to fully grasp the whole teaching not only of the law but of the Bible.

This spiritual principle pervades the whole New Testament. On the one hand there are the insiders who are willing to receive and obey the teachings of Jesus of whom it is said they will receive more and understand more clearly. On the other hand are those that are sceptical and are called outsiders. What little understanding they have is drained away from them. The Pharisees were a clear example of this latter group. Despite the clear evidence that had as to who Jesus was they did not understand and continually rejected him. This reminds me of the importance of our attitude towards the Scriptures when we read them. Are we ready to receive them and put them into practice or are they simply words which may be interesting or not?

It is also important to note that Jesus continues to hold up His relationship to His Father as a vital part of understanding who He is and what His mission is.

There is plenty here to consider and apply to ourselves. Be blessed till I see you again next week.