He saw, and Believed

John's succinct comment on the beloved disciple's (John himself?) response to the empty tomb (John 20.8). I find the comment fascinating. Obviously, when the disciple witnessed the empty tomb everything that he had seen, witnessed, and heard from Christ came rushing back and he understood; he perceived; he believed.

The beloved disciple is the only one in the gospels who is described as believing at the sight of the empty tomb (although it appears to be implied that Peter also believed at that point). Everyone else would need to understand the empty tomb AND see the risen Christ. As one commentator put it: "The beloved disciple, however, is here viewed as the model for the church."

And It was Night

John slips in this comment at the end of John 13.30 so that we almost miss it. He is certainly not just making a reference to the time of day here. There is something going on far deeper than that. Darkness is a time of evil because evil hates the light and Christ is the light of the world. When else to betray Christ except at night?

Adam Clarke puts it most succinctly and well: Under the conduct of the prince of darkness, and in the time of darkness, he did this work of darkness.

He That is of God...

...heareth God's words (John 8.47, KJV). Christ to the unbelieving Jews. The second half of the sentence is: "Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." Christ was never one to hold back truth when it needed to be spoken, as it did here. His most direct comments were always made to those who were the most self-righteous; one assumes because others knew they were sinners, the legalists, not so much.

This is why we should always be evaluating our own theology and motives. Who knows that self-righteousness hasn't crept in when we weren't looking. Humility is the key. The humility to reexamine ourselves and ask, "have I wandered away from the truth?" "Am I more interested in my own theological scheme than I am in ferreting out the truth?" "Can I be wrong here?"

This lays a healthy foundation for, as Millard Erickson once put it, holding our theology with humility because we may be wrong, as the unbelieving Jews were wrong here.

To Whom Shall We Go?

Such a pertinent and crucial question from Peter. He rightly understands that apart from Christ we have no hope. Apart from Christ to whom shall we go to for salvation? Who will cleanse us from our sins? Who is able to make us right with God? Who can solve the desperate broken nature of the world? None but Christ. In this incredible moment, Peter understands. Christ has the words of eternal life. Christ alone.

"Then Simon Peter answered him, "Lord to whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal life" (John 6.68,KJV)

The World's Sin

According to Christ the world's sin is unbelief: The world's sin is that it refuses to believe me; he tells the disciples in John 16.9 (NLT). This seems to fit squarely into Paul's description of sinful man and his penchant to worship anything and everything but the Creator.

Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Rom 1.22-23, NASB).

Just so. It is not difficult to explain why this is. Mankind is prone to pride; refusing to believe that Christ is God is the outward indication of the desire to be one's own God.

The Word of Truth = The Gospel

So says Paul in Col. 1.5. If Pilate had only understood this. When he asks Christ, "What is truth?" (John 18.38), Christ doesn't bother explaining to Pilate because Pilate obviously was not open to what exactly truth was. He commands/allows the murder of Christ (heeding the predetermined plan of God by making his own choices—a mystery). A guy who is going to let an innocent man be murdered in the most heinous manner is not a person who is open to hearing the truth; however, it does explain why he allows Christ to die. If one does not believe in absolute truth, then whatever is expedient is fine.

He Loved Them to the End

In John 13.1 this morning where John says that Christ, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end. The phrase to the end might not be the best way to translate the expression, to the uttermost is perhaps a better way. It is an expression that while Christ fully understood what he was about to suffer and why he was to suffer it, he pressed forward because of his love for his own. He did it for us.

Some Were Paying Attention

In John 10. 41, 42, this morning. Some in Israel were paying attention. They had watched John's ministry and understood that he had preached about the coming of Messiah, but had done no works. Along came Christ who said he was Messiah and who did miraculous works. They rightly concluded that everything that John said about this man was true. The result: And many believed in him there.

One cannot overemphasize the importance of paying attention like this. The Pharisees and scribes had the exact same information as those who believed, but because of their preconceived notion of how Messiah should act and what he should do, they were spiritually blind.

Come!

In Revelation 22.17, this morning. Three times the word come is repeated (in one form or another) in this verse. It is a call for the Lord Jesus to come (again). It is a call from the Saints to Christ to come. It is also a call to those who are thirsty to come (to Christ!).

There is a close connection between this verse and Isaiah 55.1. “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah calls everyone who thirsts to come. John calls everyone who thirsts to come. It is the same call. It is a free call. It is the offer of the gospel, "Come to faith in Jesus. Come and accept his free offer of salvation. He died for you. It will cost you nothing. It cost him everything."

I like how Bengel comments on this verse (quoted in JFB): The whole question of your salvation hinges on this, that you be able to hear with joy Christ’s announcement, “I come,” and to reply, “Come.”

Wondering What God's Will Is?

Wonder no more. Proceed directly to John 15.12, Love one another. Voila! You have God's will for you. Sure it isn't all of God's will and it doesn't necessarily tell you the direction that you're supposed to take, but my point is that, sometimes God's will for you is very clear. In this case, Christ doesn't speak in parables. He doesn't hide what he means in a veil of obscure reference or a story. He simply tells us. My will for you is that you love one another. I like it when Christ is simple and straightforward...probably because that's the way I am.

Adam Clarke, in his commentary on this verse, tells an interesting story about the apostle John who wrote it:

So deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his constant saying was, Little children, love one another. His disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same thing? “Because (said he) it is the commandment of the Lord, and the observation of it alone is sufficient.” Quia praeceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sufficit.

No Orphans in the Christian Faith

Thinking about John 14.18. I will not leave you as orphans. In a world in which orphans were virtually ubiquitous due to disease, this is a very precious promise. Christ was leaving—he had explained this in vv 1-6. He would not leave them as orphans. He promises to come to them. I will come to you. There are no orphans in the Christian faith. Christ promised he will come. He will come!

We know!

In John 9.24, this morning where the Pharisees encounter the man who had been blind from birth, but whose eyes Christ had opened. The whole encounter has a side element of comedy to it as the blue collar guy—without education and intellect—schools the guys who have all of the education and intelligence.

What struck me is that the Pharisees used the language of devotion. They call for the unnamed ex-blind guy to give glory to God. Sounds good! What could possibly be wrong with that. Then they say, we know that this man is a sinner. In the Greek the we is emphasized as if they were saying, "we and not you," or "of this we are sure." The language of devotion masked a spirit of pride that could not or would not see what was plainly in front of them, as the ex-blind guy points out for them: Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. Ouch! How that must have hurt.

The learning point is two-fold: First, I had better make sure that my heart does not hide unbelief and pride behind a mask of devotion. Second, it is possible that I can be so convinced that what I believe is correct—even when it is absolutely wrong—that I miss the truth, even when it smacks me squarely in the eyes. Be careful, O wandering heart!

Who Says This Stuff?!?

Thinking about John 8.23ff this morning. You are from below. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Who says this kind of thing? It's absolutely breathtaking. Once again Christ forces us to take him on his own terms or to take nothing. He was not and never claimed to be a good, moral teacher. He claimed to be different. Unique. From above. We take him as that or nothing.

C. S. Lewis captures the import of Christ's words better than anyone I've ever read: A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Look and Believe

In John 6.40, this morning, a verse packed with meaning. The main point is simple and straightforward. Look and believe. The will of God the Father is that we look on his Son and believe. If we do this we will have eternal life. If we do this Christ will raise us upon on the last day. Great promises. Simple. Profound.

Confused about who Christ was?

Christ was not. Reading in John 5.17, this morning. It is the beginning of one of the most remarkable passages of the New Testament in which Christ clearly sets forth his sonship with God the Father. He understood it that way. The Jews understood it that way (John 5.18).

If you take a step back and ponder the meaning of the whole passage (John 5.17-47), it is absolutely breathtaking. What kind of person comes to the Jewish leaders and the most religious of Jewish society and says, "I am of one essence with God the Father!"? It was either on par with the utmost blasphemy, or it was true, or possibly as C. S. Lewis points out, Christ was crazy. We have only those three choices.

Imagine someone showing up in our day and culture and doing some impressive miracles and saying, "I am of the same essence as the God who created the universe." It would certainly cause us to catch our breath and say, "can it possibly be true? Who is this guy?" This is the claim that Christ was making.

John Calvin points out that possibilities and pitfalls in Christ's claim: So great is our depravity that we choose rather to perish of our own accord than to surrender ourselves to obey the Son of God, that we may be saved by his grace.

As for me, I will take Christ at his word and fall at his feet (gladly!) and call him Lord and God.

Who is Worthy? Christ is Worthy!

In Revelation 5.4,5,9,10, this morning. In vs. 4, John weeps because there was no one found worthy to open the scroll so that he could understand what was written in it. In vs. 5, we find that Christ is worthy to open the scroll. In vv. 9,10, we find out why Christ was worthy to open the scroll.

He is worthy because:

1. He died and rose again, thus conquering death.

2. By his blood he ransomed people for God from every tribe and people and tongue and nation (every!).

3. What Christ ransomed, he made kings and priests to our God.

Words to lift up one's spirits because the end is revealed. Christ ransoms. God wins! It's good to be on God's side!

You Must Be Born Again...Born from Above

Christ uses an interesting word when he tells Nicodemus that he must be born again in John 3.3. He says γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν The word ἄνωθεν can mean either again or from above. Which does he mean here? Most translations take it as meaning again. I'm wondering if he means both again and from above, because it is a new birth that happens from above.

At any rate, the most important thing, the thing we must not miss is that something has to happen to us. We must be born again, or born from above, or born again from above. Unless this happens we will not see the kingdom of God.

How then, can we make it happen. We cannot. Christ makes this very clear. He compares the movement of the Spirit of God to the movement of physical wind. Just like we cannot tell where the wind comes from or where it is going, but we can feel it on our cheek and see its operation on trees and clouds, so is the Spirit of God. We cannot force him to work. We do not know how he is going to work. We do not know where he is going to work next. We can only witness it in action. In other words, salvation is from God, not from our own efforts.

Don't miss this verse! You must be born again.

What Does it Mean to Love God?

I'm glad you asked, and John is happy to answer for us in his first letter to the churches. We demonstrate our love to God by keeping his commandments. It's that simple and that difficult. No rocket science needed. No difficult exegesis. No confusion. You say you love God? Show me your obedience to what he has commanded you to do.

We are prone to say that we love God and then do what we want, especially in our day and age. There are numerous Christians who profess love of God, but then live as if his commandments were non-existent. If this is you, then you do not love God. Plain. Simple. Straightforward.

Adam Clarke: It is vain to pretend love to God while we live in opposition to his will.

Created By Power, Wisdom, and Understanding

The Scriptures are remarkably consistent in their claims concerning how the world was created. Jeremiah 51.15 agrees with John 1.1-3. The universe was made by the power of God. As he spoke it came into being. This is a theological description of origins, not a science textbook, so the mechanics of the world coming into being are only described in the vaguest way. The reason for this is that the Scriptures' emphasize who created the world, not how it was created.

The world was created by God's power, wisdom, and understanding and this is self-evident by simply looking at what is around us. This is exactly Paul's argument in Romans 1.20. It is a measure of how deep God's wisdom is, how great his power is, and how rich his understanding, that the deeper we delve into the mystery of nature, the more complex it becomes. Our God is great!

Christ to Mary Magdalene: Don't Cling to Me!

One of the first statements that Christ makes after his resurrection is to command Mary Magadalene not to cling to him (John 20.17). What to make of this command? Commentators have offered different opinions and who knows who is correct. I tend to agree with Thomas Constable. He says that Mary was holding onto Jesus as if she would never let him go and he needed to point out that there was work to be done on her part and on his part as well. He is also implying that there will be a new relationship to him soon, one in which his disciples will not be able to see and speak to him.

Constable: Thomas needed to touch Jesus to strengthen his faith. Mary needed to release Him because He would not depart immediately, and Jesus had something else for her to do.