John’s Gospel – Lesson 4

In the last few weeks the Apostle John has taken us from a Genesis-like start to his Gospel through God's revelation through the Word or λόγος to John's testimony prior to Jesus' public ministry, the call of the Disciples, and then a "private" miracle or sign at Cana when He turned the water into wine.

 

We briefly discussed miracles last week and I wanted to give a better definition than what I gave last week. Grudem says that "A miracle is a less common kind of God's activity in which he arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself." This definition is carefully chosen to take into account God's providence whereby God preserves, controls, and governs all things. Some definitions have poor consequences when you examine them. For example, one definition of miracle is "a direct intervention of God in the world." But this definition assumes a deistic view of God's relationship to the world, in which the world continues on its own and God only intervenes in it occasionally. That is far from biblical. Yet another definition of miracle is "an exception to a natural law" or "God acting contrary to the laws of nature." But the phrase "laws of nature" in popular understanding implies that there are certain qualities inherent in the things that exist, "laws of nature" that operate independently of God, and that God must intervene or "break" these laws for a miracle to occur. Nothing is independent of God. Another definition of miracle is "an event impossible to explain by natural causes." This definition is inadequate because it assumes that God does not use some natural causes when he works in an unusual or amazing way, and it assumes again that God only occasionally intervenes in the world. Unfortunately it also minimizes actual miracles and increases skepticism since many times when God works in answer to prayer the result is amazing to those who prayed but it is not impossible to explain by natural causes. So the skeptic can reject it simply because some extreme physical cause can be proposed. So a miracle is a less common kind of God's activity in which He arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself.

 

The miracle or sign of turning water into wine was "semi-private" (as Jesus politely reminded his mother that it needed to be) and was for the disciples and some awe struck servants. Of course, for us, it looks forward to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and marks the end of Old Testament ritual purification. This week we will cover the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. In this part of the Gospel, John contrasts and parallels the responses of those who encounter Jesus.

 

John 2:13-17

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

The Old Testament Temple was constructed as a place of God's presence on earth for Worship. Emmanuel was foreshadowed in the Temple but Emmanuel was and is the Temple. So Jesus objection was to the pollution to the earthly representation to His image. Pollution and dead hearts will be a recurring theme. The activities could have been conducted outside the Temple. People had to come long distances for Passover and found it more convenient to purchase animals for worship than to bring them from home. That is a nice thing and it was customary for it to be done across the valley from the Temple and not in the temple. In addition, the coinage used to pay the Temple Tax had to be pure. You couldn't just bring in impure silver from the boonies and expect it to be accepted so you needed a money changer. It appears they may have been charging more than a fair amount to make the conversion but it was a useful service. So both of these things facilitated worship but they were out of place. They made it easier to get worship done efficiently and on time but they made it harder to worship. They were out of place. It was man-centered worship rather than God-centered worship and Jesus drove them out of the temple.

 

The Scripture quotation used by the Apostle John is interesting because it isn't from a Messianic Psalm. It is from Psalm 69 and it is a Psalm of David in which he describes persecution because of his zeal or love for the Temple and worship of God. So John, remembering the Psalm, realized that Jesus as David's offspring had this same characteristic passion for purity in worship and in the Temple.

 

John 2:18-22

So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

Jesus acted with authority and as a prophet so the Jews wanted a sign. They asked who do you think you are and can you prove it with a sign from God? The actions of Jesus were prophesied by Malachi.

 

Malachi 3:1-4

"Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

 

So, in reality, Jesus driving out the animals and money changers was a sign. Signs act as signs to those who conform to the law and are a curiosity to those who are spiritually dead. Jesus gave them a perfect answer and His point was to draw attention to the real Temple. Signs don't save people because they don't change hearts. These signs point at, or testify to, Christ but the Holy Spirit saves spiritually dead people to glorify Jesus and the Father. Signs are sometimes associated with salvations of those whom are being raised from death to new life by the Holy Spirit but real signs would never distract from the glory of Christ in the miracle of salvation of sinners.

 

John 2:23-25

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Remember that we have three stages mediated by the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ. Those stages are given Latin names and they are noticia, assensus, and fiducia. These correspond to an awareness of the Gospel facts, conceding that the facts are true, and then finally saving (fiducia) faith. We see that here in the response to the signs that Jesus was doing. The Bible makes it clear that all believing is not fiduciary in regards to regeneration. In fact, as we've said before, if you have noticia and assensus then you are simply qualified for serving as a demon. Jesus was aware that men often hear only what they want to hear and remake His words to fit their sinful desires. The Jews wanted a political solution to remove the Romans from their midst. With a few exceptions, the belief in this verse was not based in repentance and the desire for salvation from sins. This belief was that provisional and empirical belief that tests out Jesus to see if He is can make things better for the sinner. This is the lucky rabbit's foot approach to religion.

 

John’s Gospel - Lesson 3

Audio

This week we'll go over Jesus' call of the first disciples. I want to stress what John the Apostle or author of this Gospel stressed and that is the way in which the call of the disciples is a call of Grace. It is not based on the skills of the disciples. In addition, it is Jesus who is glorified in the calling and it is not man who is glorified in the seeking. That last point is fleshed out in this Gospel very clearly.

John 1:35-39

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

We have many titles for the name of Christ in the Gospel of John. Here is a fairly unique name. John the Apostle records John the Baptist as calling Christ the "Lamb of God" or "Agnes Dei". It is a name that we've become attached to but it is only found in this form in the Gospel of John and in John's Revelation. It is part of Christian worship to use that name for God. Most people don't realize that it is only recorded by John the Apostle. Some critics have said that John the Apostle must have made up the title and put it in the mouth of John the Baptist. However, if you ever need to explain this title, remember first of all that John the Baptist was a prophet and as a prophet could speak a word directly from God and expound the truth of God in a new way. This was obvious from his ministry of baptism offered to the Jewish nation. Secondly, remember that in Isaiah 53 the messiah as the suffering servant is compared to a lamb. Moving backward in time, then thirdly remember that the blood of the Passover lamb on the door posts of the Egyptian bondage caused God's wrath to pass over that house and leave the first born male alive. Finally, remember Abraham and Isaac. Abraham knew God's grace. He knew that Isaac was the child of promise and not the child of merit. If God called for the life of Isaac then all Abraham could do was trust the promise and offer him up.


But Abraham has that great confession of faith that all the Old Testaments saints held to. When Isaac was carrying the wood up Mt. Calvary and asked "where is the lamb" in Genesis 22:8, Abraham said "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering". Abraham gives us all a new name for God. That name is "God will Provide" or Jehovah Jireh. Abraham was a sinner. Isaac was a sinner. God is a Holy God who will not tolerate sin. Abraham rightly hoped for God's mercy and for God's provision. I pray that if we sing those songs of Jehovah Jireh we'll never think about physical needs but only of the depth of our spiritual need met by the mercy of God.


Another thing we see in the text of John's Gospel is the work of the Holy Spirit all around the Lord. Here two disciples of John the Baptist just turn away from John and follow Jesus. It was the custom to walk along behind the Rabbi and they find themselves following Him as if they were already disciples. Jesus asks them what they want and the best they can come up with is, "where are you staying?" So they stayed with him because it was already afternoon (4 pm is approximately the 10^th hour). If you had asked these two disciples if they chose Jesus then I think it is likely that at the time they would have said they had. And if a reporter had been working on a story for the religious page of the Jerusalem newspaper the reporter would likely have said that they obviously decided to choose Jesus over John the Baptist for their Rabbi. However, Jesus explains what happened to them in John 15:16 when He says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." This is something that we struggle with because of our natural ignorance of the Holy Spirit. If we are truly a child of God then we have affection for Christ. We tend to attribute our affection for Christ to our own nature and to ignore what Scripture teaches about our unregenerate nature and our need for the work of the Holy Spirit.


Remember that John the Baptist said that he wasn't qualified for the position of least honor as a disciple of Jesus. Jesus confirmed that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater than John the Baptist. All of these disciples are being called by the Grace of God. It is unmerited blessing just as your calling as a disciple is unmerited.

John 1:40

One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).

The author of this Gospel doesn't use his own name in the text so it is likely that the first two disciples were John and Andrew (since only Andrew is mentioned). Then they went and got Simon and introduced him to Jesus who renames him Cephas or Peter (Aramaic and Greek for Rock). The Holy Spirit is active here in sweeping the disciples toward Jesus. Andrew is recorded as being the first disciple to identify Christ as the Messiah but men waffle and these revelations took time to pierce to the core.

John 1:43-51

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Here we have the call of Philip and Nathanael. Notice that each call is unique but each call is a call of Grace. The Holy Spirit is orchestrating events and bringing the right individuals together. Nathanael has an attitude and is discouraged. It isn't fully clear why he is troubled but things were bleak and the Romans were really the ones in charge. We don't want to speculate too much about Nathanael's condition but his response to Jesus' comment shows that he likely had a crisis moment with God. Maybe he told God he needed an answer or that he needed a savior. In any case his crisis under the fig tree was sufficient to make it rational that when Jesus told him that He saw him then Nathanael knew that Jesus was the Son of God and King of Israel (two more names for Jesus).


We are also confronted with the two natures of Jesus again in this verse. Remember that Jesus is fully God and fully man without confusion, change, mixture, or separation. So when Jesus told Nathanael that He had seen him under the fig tree then Jesus in His divine nature could do that because He would not be limited as His human nature was. Keep that in mind for reading all of Scripture because that understanding was hard to come by and we don't want to be slack and sloppy in understanding Scripture. We want to be a workman who is not ashamed and rightly handling the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15)

John 2:1-5

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Mary was a smart woman and you should always try to obey the command of Mary found in this verse. That is to do whatever Jesus tells you to do. This was great advice for all servants for all time. It is necessary to clear up some cultural points for our understanding. First of all it was very important to be able to provide enough wine for the entire celebration and it may last a week. Drunkenness wasn't an objective but to have your fill of wine and celebrate was an objective. It was very embarrassing and there is some evidence it was a legal problem if the groom came up short on wine. Perhaps they were not wealthy but for some reason the wine was gone. Mary didn't want them (him) embarrassed and came to Jesus and told Him that they were out of wine. The clear implication was that Jesus was supposed to fix the problem. Jesus' response was very polite. We don't use the word "woman" in this way but this was a very polite and He was simply saying that this would require a miracle and my time for miracles is not yet come. Mary, as only a mother can do to a son, lines up some help and tells them to do whatever Jesus says to do. She had been watching Him for 30 years and she apparently knew that He could do something. But, in complete submission to the Father, Jesus performed the first of His recorded miracles. He gives a testimony of His purpose and sets a symbolic separation between the Old Testament purification rites and the wine of the New Kingdom (Luke 5:36-37).

John 2:6-12

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Everyone in the feast would have gone through a ritual washing as they entered. Jesus would have washed and watched others wash. He understood why and what the purification pointed to in His life. These stone jars were the containers for the water used in these "rites of purification" and they were pretty big. So Jesus had the servants fill them up to the brim. That gave about 150 gallons of water that Jesus turned into wine. It was good wine and not vinegary stuff with dregs. The bridegroom was subjected to a shock of relief in God's provision. Again we have "Jehovah Jireh" and it isn't just wine. It is a promise of real cleansing and real righteousness. The person in charge of the feast was confused about why the groom held back the good stuff.


The people came in purified on the outside by the ritual washing of the Old Testament and then drank wine that foreshadowed the wine of the New Covenant and blood of Christ on the Cross and the righteousness that would be purchased there. We are so blessed to know Him from the inside out rather than the outside in. In Romans 8:26-27 we see that God the Holy Spirit is in us and helps us in our prayer life. He doesn't wait for us but intercedes for us according to the will of God. That isn't a ritual purification of the outward man but God's Grace in our inward parts.

Hebrews 9:12-14

He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.